Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs

-A Comparative Book Review

"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in." and "What a deep voice you
have! Generations of younglings of the homo sapien species have been left
ensorcelled and spellbound by the prestidigitation cast by the writers words. But,
these tales are more than simply childrens bedtime stories. Weaving the story with
the support of anthropomorphic bestial characters, these deal with mature hues that
leave the reader in a state of precipitousness marveling at the ingenuity of the writer
in deftly presenting myriad themes like righteousness, rebirth, retribution through
these like a dexterous card player.
Coming to the tale of the Three Little Pigs, capitalizing on the use of the belletristic
device Omne Trium Perfectum", used to great success in the tale of Goldilocks and
the three Bears, the writer spins a tale of deceit, perseverance and comeuppance
where in the end rectitude is rewarded and the treacherous get their retribution. At its
heart, it is a family saga, a tale of three brothers who find that their different decisions
in the past lead to a butterfly effect in their future, with the arrival of the big bad Wolf
who has decided to satiate his vociferous appetite by a scrumptious Pigs roast. How
do these little heroes overcome their personal differences and rally themselves in the
face of adversity forms the crux of the rest of the story.
If the fable of The Three Little Pigs had its protagonists in three little
anthropomorphic pigs, the narrative of Little Red Riding Hood is told from the point of
view of an innocent young girl called Red, who got her name due to the red color of
the mantle she always used to wear. The story begins with Red going to have a
rendezvous with her sick grandmother who lives all alone in the jungle. A chance
encounter with a vagrant wolf while on the way sets in motion a deadly chain of
events that will leave the lives of the main characters changed forever. All this comes
to a head in a thrilling finale that will leave even the most suspecting of readers on
the edge of their seats.
Both the tales embody evil in the form of a wolf, who will stop at nothing to achieve
his nefarious intents and will utilize the full arsenal of malevolent skills that he has at
his disposal to achieve his abominable designs. The author advises the readers of
being cognizant of such wolves in their daily lives. Through the tale of the three little
pigs, the author stresses the importance of tenacity and labor and warns the reader
about the perils of taking the easy way out. While in the story of Red Riding Hood, he
chooses to concentrate on a separate crucial issue, about the dangers of being too
trusting and nave in ones outlook. The ordeal that Red passes through is often
compared to the process of rebirth, as by going through the various acts, she
emerges as a young woman, confident and self-assured.

However the main takeaway from these narratives is a positive message for their
blossoming readers that villainy and baseness may win the battle but they will never
win the war and to have faith in the inevitability of a new dawn, however long and full
of terrors the night may appear to be.
Digvijay Singh Parmar
1511092
PGP 2015-17 | IIM Bangalore

Proposal for New Event to be organized

LitTeller-

A competition to judge participants on their creativity and wackiness of

ideas.

The preliminary round can be a elimination round based on participants knowledge

on literary characters, novels and plays.
Participants will be given summary extracts of short stories and novels, and asked
how according to them the story/novel must have ended. Another round can be,
contestants can be given 3 panel comics with two filled Comic panels and asked to fill
the third Panel to make it as rib-tickling as possible. Another possible round can be a
round table can be formed of the contestants with each participant given a particular
literary character to play and then judging him on how much justice he is able to do to
the character, he is portraying. One idea could be to ask contestants to write
acrostics using a pre-decided sequence of letters, using which he will frame an
acrostic that will give the summary of a popular novel or play.