Roald Dahl's "Little Red" and "Three Pigs"

Roald Dahl is an author that almost every child, at least in America, grows up reading. He writes with children in mind and by making them the main characters of his stories, children can relate to them more easily. In his retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” he twists the story in the same way James Thurber does, by having the little girl shoot the wolf. I feel that this twist only works if the audience is familiar with the version of the story that has Little Red Riding Hood get eaten by the wolf. Dahl even has the wolf tell Little Red Riding Hood that she asked the wrong question. By bringing Little Red Riding Hood into the story of “The Three Little Pigs,” the audience must be familiar with that story as well. Dahl does not go into all of the details of the story; he only reiterates the main plot points and expects the reader to be able to fill in the blanks. This retelling, which was published in 1982, shows how important fairy tales have become in our culture. Dahl is expecting that his audience will have a firm grasp of how the stories usually end and that through that knowledge, understand the humor of the ending.

Things Kids Don't Understand

Italo Calvino certainly  had a sense of humor when composing this tale, one I feel is aimed at adults.  After studying French fablieux, aka lais of a pornographic/inappropriate nature, I found similarities in the details that Calvino's tale offers and fablieux of the middle ages.  For example, when the little girl asks why the "grandmother" (ogress) is hairy in the hands, chest, and hips, I can't help but notice that these are all very sensitive, private, and references to erogenous zones.  The fact that they're so hairy and that the "grandmother" responds with answers that are very adult in nature (rings, necklaces, and corsets), I feel would have been a riot, of a lower-class humor, though.  Then later when the little girl has to relieve herself, I found that to also be particular in lower-class humor, understandable to adults who have already successfully passed through what Freud called the anal stage.  

breaking stereotypes

Growing up, I remember reading a lot of Chinese version of fairytales, so I was really surprised that I had not read the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood before. It has taken me a long time to really come to appreciate and embrace my Chinese heritage, so I very much enjoyed reading this version and then looking up the history behind when it was it written. I think that it was really interesting that it was the girl that was the heroine and the brave one in the story, because even until now, sons were more desired in Chinese families because they not only carried the family name, but because they can be worked, thus supplying for the economic purposes of the families. This is especially interesting as this version was published in 1979 (in the wake of the Cultural Revolution in China), the same year that China passed its “One-Child” policy to ease social, economic, and environmental problems in China, so couples only had one chance for a son, making it even more fascinating that the main character and hero of the story is a girl. As a stereotype, Asian women are also rendered as meek, passive, and gentle, but Goldflower in this version completely breaks that stereotype and I think truly inspires and empowers all women, Asian or not alike. She is not only brave, but clever and witty, ultimately tricking the wolf to give her the very weapon he was probably going to kill her with, which she used to gorily spear into deep into the Bear’s throat. Because of this, I think that this version was intended for a more mature, and adult audience. Children back then did not have the freedom to just play and enjoy childhood in the way that is so common for us living in the Western world in the 21st century, for they were very much an integral part of supporting and providing for the family. Thus, stories would not be specifying or especially written for children nor for their entertainment. Lastly, this version of the traditional Little Red Riding Hood story is that it highlights several aspects that are important to the Chinese family unit. The story starts out with the mother going to visit and care for a sick aunt- this shows that the family is treated as a communal thing, without members of the family caring and helping each other out. In everything that Chinese people do, it is not so much for themselves or how it affects them individually, but it is usually with the family in mind- you never just bring shame on yourself, but shame on the whole family. Also, the eldest in the family will always play the pseudo mom and cares for the younger siblings, as the older sister is in charge of caring for her younger brother when the mom was away. So not only was this version published during an a very important and defining period in Chinese history, but it also highlights and emphasizes several fundamental parts of Chinese family life. This might not even be connected to this version and it can be a complete coincidence, but this is another version of Little Red Riding Hood, and the color red is very important, symbolizing happiness/joy, good fortune/prosperity, dignity, mystery, and signifying reunion/unity, health, harmony, and peace. For China, red is not just a color, but something that embodies and reflects traditions, cultures, and a wealth of history.

Rewriting Red

Of all the tales of Riding Hood
The only one that's any good
Is the story written by R. Dahl
Because it's the shortest of them all.

I like its humor and quick wit,
And how soon I was done with it,
But what was best, without a doubt
Is how the tale's turned inside out.

He took a tale that we all know
And wrapped it with a modern bow
He cut the boring moral knowledge
And made it fun to read for college.

Within two seconds grandma's lunch
This tale is different is our hunch.
The wolf starts on his hungry pitch
But he's no match for Lil Red Bitch.

For New Red deals with firearms
Instead of young, insipid charms.
Red's a hero, no fragile flower,
The height of fashion and girl power.

The poem's fun if we all know
The story told so long ago.
The tale is good for being able
To tipsy topsy turn the table.

Sometimes people write a story
Not as a boring allegory
But just to have a little fun
That's all I know, my poem's done.

Thurber's "The Little Girl and the Wolf"

My favorite of all of these versions of Little Red Riding Hood was definitely James Thurber's The Little Girl and the Wolf". I laughed out loud at reading the ending to this very short rendition of the classic tale and immediately looked up more of Thurber's work. I discovered that this was actually a part of a compilation of satirical fables that he had put out in 1940, which led me to think about the audience of this time. The readers of this story had most certainly heard the original tale of Little Red Riding Hood, as it had been in circulation for a few hundred years. I could tell that Thurber was aware of this because the whole story really is about the shock value in the punchline and the moral. Thurber spends very little time with the actual descriptions of the characters and the story, instead giving a brief summary of the events leading up to the twist at the end. Another thing that I noticed was his use of the image of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer Lion as a joke, indicating that the people who read this story were also those who frequented the cinemas. 1940 was the year before the US entered into World War Two, and the stresses of Europe's war was definitely reaching the American public. Americans, like the Europeans at this time, turned to the cinema for a brief escape from reality and the stresses of their everyday lives. Like the movies, Thurber's version of this fairy tale serves to give that same audience a brief release from their daily stresses by surprising them with an unexpected and whimsical twist on something that had been heard for so long. The violent ending to this story also suggests that the main audience for this story was adults, furthering the idea that they would appreciate this twist, having by this point in their lives heard the tale so many times.

Assignment: 27 January 2009

Please respond to the following by midnight tonight. On Wednesday, read over the other posts in your sub-group and comment on at least two.

You have read Shavit's essay comparing the Perrault and Grimm versions of “Little Red Riding Hood.” Using Shavit's method, consider one of the other versions you read for this week (Dahl, Calvino, Thurber, Chiang Mi). With a little research (you may use Wikipedia, since this is not a research paper), outline who you think the audience is and what the fairy tale’s retelling says about the culture and time in which it was written.