Little Red Riding Hood - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Children's stories are items of folk lore that have been passed down through generations. The story of The Little Red Riding hood is one of the famous fairy tales that has been handed down through ages, allowing it a wide scope of adaptations over the years in theatres and films. And as such, it has become part of most cultural understanding. Although it is characteristically understood as a cautionary tale - according to Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood-, there are different interpretations of the characters and the symbolism entailed in the story.

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Among the many variations of the story is one from a book in the Grimmtastic Girls series called "Red Riding Hood Gets Lost" by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams (2014). In this context, the authors draw attention to the confident protagonist Red Riding Hood and her fairy tale cohort (Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel) at their school Grimm Academy. Red Riding Hood has to overcome her stage fright to secure the lead role in Tom Thumb's new production, "Robin Hood." Unfortunately, her hopes for landing the part were crashed when she was overwhelmed by fear and fainted on the stage. The main focus however, is the girls' attempts to stop a clandestine evil. Society that allegedly had its members at the academy.

The plot of the rendition involves creating an attractive plot that can be easily understood and contribute to behavioral lessons to the children who are the primary target audience for the fairy tale. In this adaptation of the fairy tale 'Little Riding Hood' characters are borrowed from the 'Little Riding Hood' by Perrault especially the little country girl and the context which involves being engulfed in a situation that causes fear and has a moral lesson for the children. In this rendition, Little Riding Hood (the little country girl) has accomplices who have to undergo through an evil plot in the Grimm academy. To overcome this challenge the girls have to show the dangers of being curious and gullible as the primary lesson for the children.

In the Grimmtastic Girls adaptation of the 'Little Riding Hood,' the authors further build the plot by mysteriously introducing the Wolfgang, who also seems to know about the society. He helps her off the floor in a gesture that she never expected, which provides a chance for them to finally talk. Although he did not get her name right the first time, she feels drawn to him, a mystery that begs revealing as she ponders over whether he might be working for or against the evil society. This appears to be a plot twist as the authors introduce a thematic variation from Perrault's 'Little Red Riding Hood.' As the tale unfolds, Little Red Riding Hood has thoughts of whether her mystery man is falling for her charm or just looking to unearth her secrets. This depicts similar curiosity like the little country girl in the 'Little Riding Hood' who is naive enough to talk to a wolf in the woods. It was clear that she wanted him to be her "Prince charming", a similar path taken by the little country girl character in Perrault's 'Little Riding Hood' fairy tale.

Nonetheless, Little Red Riding Hood adaptation of the classic fairy tale by Perrault leads to a clever and dramatic unfolding of answers, as their quest leads them to Neverwood forest on the edge of Grimm Academy. Little Red Riding Hood finds the magical basket and becomes sure that it is her "charm", just like her friends Cinderella and her slippers, Snow and Rapunzel. The writers portray the magical basket to be a source of confidence for Little Red Riding Hood, who only had her friends amidst other suspicious characters like their principal Rumpelstiltkin. As such, more secrets and background knowledge about Grimm Academy are discovered by the ladies in their attempt to find "long-lost treasure of Grimmlandia". The plot hints to an impending showdown of good and evil. Society's plan to purge all of Grimmlandia into darkness.

Along with social concerns, the authors build on the theme of continual progress and personal growth of the characters, are they try to overcome some of the obstacles thrown their way. Little Red Riding Hood gets lost and is forced to explore mild anxiety and irrational fears, portraying the social issues that affect individuals on a daily basis. Her adventure in the forest makes her realize that she can face and overcome her fears, instead of letting herself be engulfed by them and deter her from achieving what she desired. Just like the little country princess in 'Little Red Riding Hood' the character curiosity and courage can lead to the discovery of dangers which can lead her to lose her life. In the adaptation there is suspense on what happened to the girls in the Grimm Academy. It is a potential outcome that the Little Red Riding Hood escaped with her life or just like the little country princess she met her end by trusting the wrong person.

The primary moral lesson in the adaptation is that girls should avoid easily trusting strangers despite their good looks and camouflage because they might be harboring ill intensions and meet the same ending like in the case of Little Red Riding Hood who gets herself and her grandmother eaten by the big cunning wolf.

Bibliography

Delaney, Bill. "Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood." The Explicator 64.2 (2006): 70-72.

Holub, Joan, and Suzanne Williams. Red Riding Hood Gets Lost. Scholastic Inc., 2014.