Essay on Gender and Societal Behavior: Morals, Values, Roles

Gender behavior roles such as morals and values depend on societal rules, culture, and political stability of the community. The societal moral codes are the ones which determine to a great extent the patterns of behavior that an individual has to strictly follow depending on their gender. These societal moral codes are "passed" from one age group to another strengthened by a positive, and negative response. Throughout history men and women have been depicted in different ways. The plight of women in the eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries was well represented by literary works during that period. Throughout history, women have always been seen as the weaker sex in society. The society has also placed stringent morals regarding how women should dress, behave both in public, and privately, and in marriage, they are expected to be subservient to their husbands. For example, gender roles in the "Victorian era" was based on a fixed structure that was dictated by social expectations. Children's books in literature are important cultural instruments for tutoring children on gender roles. However, they are a source of gender stereotypes that a child will later apply to establish gendered behavior. Children's books are perceived as facets of beliefs and values which allows children to learn more about their culture. For instance, learning how to read is a key step of enhancing socialization process, and an important tool for spreading cultural ideologies from one generation to another. The role of gender is well explained in most versions of Little Red Riding Hood where there is a great gap between how males and females are depicted in children's fairytales.

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In most of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tales, gender is brought up through the different stories of a little girl and her grandmother. For example, based on the story written by Charles Perrault, there appears to be extreme marginalization when it comes to the issues of gender in society (Dahl 30). A female protagonist in the book is "sent to an errand to bring a basket of cakes to her grandmother who lives in a forest." On her way, she meets a wolf who after learning the final destination of the girl, runs and eats her grandmother and then waits for the girl. However, when the story ends, both the girl and the grandmother are rescued by a woodsman. Perrault tends to provide a moral message to the reader that women especially young girls should be careful when meeting strangers and also sharing information. It also justifies that women are feminine and therefore they cannot defend themselves. Therefore, they need masculine characters to protect them from unsafe places like the jungle.

Men and women are represented differently in literature, that is, men tend to be superior when compared to women. Example of this is portrayed when woodsman is seen rescuing the little girl and the grandmother from being eaten by the cunning wolf. Though the fairytale was written in the traditional period, it holds that female hold dependent roles and they are always brought down by temptation (Bradmetz and Schneider 504) At the same time, Perrault justifies that women and girls are defined by the identities of domesticity and indoor services such as nurturing, love, and caring. A good illustration is when the mother of the little girl sends her to her grandmother to take food.

On the other hand, James Finn Garner tells a story of a young person who is most likely to be a young girl, she is sent to her grandmother's house to take care of her even though her grandmother was physically and mentally healthy. The rest of the story appears to be retelling the first glance as it appears in Little Red Riding Hood stories. However, based on gender roles, the writer contends that society is trying to ridicule the existence of men (Hassett 123). An example is the use of the phrase womyn instead of women. The spelling is used to eliminate the -men ending to justify that women do not need men in order to be safe.

In contrast, the Garner expounds that the grandmother is mature and she doesn't need any assistance. The story appears feminine in nature for the fact that it uses the theme of independence (Hassett 123). Fortunately, the grandmother is eaten by the wolf, hence the more important of the role of men in society. Adding more to Garner version stories, women are supposed to be doing nurturing roles and also taking care of the household while on the other hand men's role in society is felt through their masculine nature.

In Little Red Riding Hood Version Little Red Riding Hood by Roald Dahl, the wolf enters the grandma's house and eats the grandma (Bradmetz 503-505). In the perspective of how gender roles are depicted by Roald Dahl the wolf can be equated to dangerous situations that most women are often susceptible since the society sees them as frail, and weaker sex (Dahl 30). However, the wolf was not yet full, and it decided to play try and fool the innocent girls when she came to her grandma's house. Again, the statement has a gender roles element where traditionally women are expected to conform with certain social codes and standards like not speaking to strangers. Since she defies these rules, she is able to be tricked by the wolf that disguises itself as the grandma after wearing her clothes.

Once the wolf realizes that the wolf is not her grandmother, the girl "whips out a revolver from her knickers, and aims it at the wolf's head, and bang!! she shoots the wolf dead." This represents that females should wake up, and ensure they liberate themselves from oppression by men. It is time that they should rise up and free themselves from lingering on the complacent thoughts that the society dictates to them (Dahl 30-31). For example, if the girl had screamed for assistance probably, she would have been eaten even before someone would have come to help her. Another feministic feature that can be derived from Roald Dahl version is the girl expresses not traits of weakness, and innocence as the society might obviously expect them, but she defines her own story by being brave and killing the wolf. Women should stop being viewed as the weaker sex in the society, and also should not always become subservient to the detriment of men oppressing them through sexual harassment, and gender-based violence. However, it is time for them to arise, and unleash the strength within them. Finally, the poetic version by Roald Dahl is different from another version as it explains that innocent girls can also have inner strength, and heroic traits, differently to how the society views them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, despite the fact that Little Red Riding Hood stories are seen as children stories, they illustrate how gender roles are portrayed in society. They are traditional stories, which promote gender roles and themes to the contemporary world through symbols and ideas. The wolf is any human being who is waiting to attack girls and women from achieving their happiness and at the same time, men must exist in society to offer protection.

Works Cited

Dahl, Roald. "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf." Revolting rhymes (1982): 30-33. Retrieved from: http://spalding.pbworks.com/f/Dahl_Little+Red+Riding+Hood.doc

Perrault, Charles. Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories. Everyman's Library, 1996, english.scu.edu.tw/jmklassen/scu102/102aWChLit/folktales-NTUE.docx

Hassett, Marie. "Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life & Times by James Finn Garner (Book Review)." Contemporary Education 66.2 (1995): 123, search.proquest.com/openview/aaee083f0202f4e2ec00d2586be9fcd7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816594

Garner, James Finn. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories: Modern Tales for Our Life And Times. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1994, search.proquest.com/openview/aaee083f0202f4e2ec00d2586be9fcd7/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816594

Bradmetz, Joel, and Roland Schneider. "Is Little Red Riding Hood afraid of her grandmother? Cognitive vs. emotional response to a false belief." British Journal of Developmental Psychology 17.4 (1999): 501-514, www.scanbridge.net/Fichiers_PDF/ChaperonRouge.pdf