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.