CASD 1717 – Fall 2024
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What did you think of the differences in the previous and three traditional versions of the story you read? The theme of “stranger danger” is most often associated with this story, but do you see other themes emerging?
The differences in the previous and three traditional versions of the story is that it ranges from cautionary and tragic to hopeful and redemptive where characters are depicted in a variety of ways that reflect changing cultural values overtime. Yes there are other themes emerging such as “Obedience and Disobedience where Little Red Riding hood failed to follow her mother’s instructions to stay on the path. Another one is “Deception and Trust” where the wolf deceived the grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood.
The main differences in the story were in their endings. I think that the ending probably reflects the culture that the story was written for and what the author wanted the message for the readers to be. While some scare and get the point of stranger danger across through death more harshly, other stories had a happy ending, leaving the reader with hope. Another theme that was explored was female endangerment, as it was made clear that younger girls are more susceptible to danger that may be around in the world.
I agree that I think the cultural background of each version of the story can impact its ending. For instance, my family is from Ukraine and they only ever heard the version where the wolf eats the grandma and then the grandma gets saved by getting cut out of the wolf’s stomach.
I agree; I am from Ukraine too, and when I was growing up, that was the only version that I knew about.
For a long time I think this was a common ending that circulated as it made things more hopeful, but maintained the cautionary warning/danger through grandma’s death.
I noticed a lot of differences within all 4 stories, some differences that include their writing structure, how it is being told to the readers, the change in character names, their overall endings, and the overview of how dark the writing was in some of the stories. I did notice other themes emerging, such as trust and loyalty, and childlike innocence, but this can connect to the theme of trust and loyalty as little red riding hood was only a child who was innocently unaware of who she could truly trust and tell things to, such as her grandmothers address and it’s surroundings that lead her to unfortunate situations.
In all three stories/versions, there are many contrasts. All of the versions address the main idea of “stranger danger,” but they also go into other themes. Grimm’s story highlights the wolf’s cunning while emphasizing the value of obedience. Schneller’s version integrates cultural components that emphasize the protecting power of communal ties. Marelle’s version emphasizes the value of wisdom and the consequences of ignorance through a moralizing tone. Lastly, each version not only issues a warning against strangers, but also talks about societal views on morality, family, and the importance of individual judgment.
I really enjoy the way you phrased/explained the cultural component of community and the protection it can provide. Personally, I believe this applies more to Marelle’s version (Little Golden-Hood) because of the emphasis on the magic of the hood and how it was made/gifted by the grandmother.
I think the most noticeable difference between the stories is the ending. One tale ends with the grandmother and the girl being eaten, but they are saved. Another has the girl saved by her magical hood (the only version we read that includes magic, making it more of a ‘traditional’ fairy tale). In the most horrifying ending, the ogre tricks the girl into eating her grandmother’s dead body before he eats her too. Besides ‘stranger danger,’ all these versions highlight the consequences of disobeying one’s mother, as the girl was clearly warned. Also, the warning signs along the way are very obvious. It’s surprising that the girl still tells the wolf or an ogre (which is clearly a monster) exactly where she’s going, which reflects a theme of childhood innocence.
I agree I think the most noticeable difference is the endings of the stories. Each tale had either an ending that was good, a plot twist or a tragic ending. I also do agree with childhood innocence being another theme.
I think the main differences in the previous and three traditional versions of the story I read is the ending of the stories. I realized all the endings are different
I agree that the endings are different for all three of the stories.
I think that the difference between the stories is that the endings of each are all different. They all reflect themes of childhood innocence, as well as the importance of “Stranger Danger”.
There are quite a few differences between these stories. The main one is the endings because, in the previous one and these three, each ending is different. It is very interesting how each story was progressing. A theme in these stories is how Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t listen to her mother/grandmother and still talks to a stranger and then goes off the path instead of just going straight to her grandmother’s. Also, the ogre version surprised me and it was the most disturbing one of all of those.
I think the main difference between the stories were the endings and they all show the importance of being cautious and “stranger danger”.
The divergent endings of the stories underscored the author’s intention and the cultural context. There were happy ends and sad endings in different stories. A study on how fragile women are found that girls younger than 13 are more at risk. The story was told differently, the people had different names, and the story was all around sad. Other themes that keep coming up have to do with how little Little Red Riding Hood knew and the house her grandma owned. Some of these are trust, loyalty, and being young and naive.
I agree with everyone, the main difference was the ending. While the “stranger danger” theme is central to “Little Red Riding Hood” and its variations, other themes emerge, including gender roles, the power of nature, and moral lessons.
The differences in all of the stories are based on their endings. In the Grimm;s story, there was a happy ending where the huntsman cut open the wolf’s belly and the little girl and her grandma were saved. In the story collected by Chrostian Scheller, there was no happy ending in this story where the huntsman would save the girl and her grandma. This story had a sad ending where the ogre ate both the grandma and the girl. The Charles Marelles story had a happy ending where the wolf was tricked. Another theme in the story I can see is that the girl has to be more careful, follow her mom’s directions, and it also shows us the example when the girl didn’t follow her mom’s directions, she was in trouble.
i agree, i felt some endings were graphic especially when the grandma bits were scattered about.
It seems that along with “stranger danger,” there are also themes like being resourceful when in danger, like in Little Red Hat, and how the story shifts to being more adventure-like, like in Little Golden Cap.
Most of the differences in the story were how they spoke about red riding hood, wolfs mannerism, the intense detail and what happened at the end of the story. In most, red riding hood and the grandmother were eaten and then saved. In others, the wolf was very graphic with how he ate them. The themes all correlated with the association of ‘stranger danger’ but had a story in particular of problem solving. Ex: one of the stories red riding hood was able to out smart the wolf and go free.
Reading all of the 3 versions was extraordinarily shocking. Since I only knew 1 version for so long, now that I read other versions of this same story I’m wondering why there were so many versions. I can understand how the story portrays “stranger danger” but I’m wondering why there are so many horrific endings. The 2nd story really “Little Red Hat” certainly startled me. As I was reading all I could think was OH NO! she’s eating her own grandmother!! Overall, I believe they may have different endings both horrific and delightful ones because we truly never know what the outcome of coming in contact with a stranger can do. Sometimes things end very tragically and other times we are able to be saved from any danger.
I think another theme that all 4 versions share is the concept of children being prey (and not just because they were food!). They are depicted as trusting and gullible, easily lured (who can get there faster / there are pretty things over there), and safe only when there are others around or when they are fully obedient. However, it is also their obedience (come get into bed with me) that has them get eaten so quickly.
I am also surprised that no one pointed out how, in all versions except Grimm’s, the Wolf tells the little girl —all stories, except the Ogre, note the remarkable beauty of the child— to take off her clothes before climbing into bed with him. I understand that it is supposed to be the grandma saying this, and culture plays a big part in content (I shared a bed with my grandma growing up!) but they all specifically say clothes/frock; and at this point in the story the audience is privy to the idea that all Wolfy utterances are disturbing.
Another common theme is putting ALL of the blame on a CHILD! Meanwhile, the grandmother is the one giving the wolf directions on how to enter her home simply because he says he is her granddaughter. Additionally, “Let us see, my Little Golden-Hood, if you know now how to find your way by yourself” ??? Is this supposed to be a test? What if she didn’t know?
With the other stories, we can at least buy into the idea that this is a journey LRR has made before, which implies a level of safety/standard.
The theme of stranger danger is most associated with this story because it is ‘telling’ the reader to be aware of people who you don’t know because we never know their intentions. Other themes that emerge would be disobedience, trust, and self awareness. The difference in the stories vary from happy and sad.
The version of the story I was familiar with and the Italian version are extremely different in terms of how graphic the language is. When I read, “He also tied her intestine onto the door in place of the latch string and placed her blood, teeth, and jaws in the kitchen cupboard.”, I felt very disturbed that children have been read this. The little girl eating her grandmother’s jaws and drinking her blood feels extremely unnecessary to tell them about just to teach them “stranger danger”.
The version differ by going from a more gruesome ending to a less violent one based on who wrote it and the audience it was intender for.
The various versions of Little Red Riding Hood reflect themes of “stranger danger,” disobedience, resilience, and coming of age, with each adaptation showing unique cultural views on safety, growing up, and learning to follow advice.
I think the differences in the previous and three traditional versions of the story i’ve read is the storyline seems to be the same they all follow the sequence of her in the home with the wolf. The theme stranger danger seems to be the only theme emerging because it explains if speaking to a stranger can lead you to somewhere you weren’t intended to go.
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