A Tale of the Times

Eric Limoges

Professor David Leahy

ANG245

A Tale of the Times

        “Little Red Riding Hood” is one of the fairy tales that holds a special place in many a person’s memory. From its humble beginnings as an oral story used to warn young girls to its comedic rendition in 2005’s movie “Hoodwinked”, the story of the little girl in the red hood has adapted to survive the evolution of our society’s moral structure; a fact which can be clearly seen when comparing a version of Paul Delarue’s “The Story of Grandmother” and Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood”. Some key elements to be observed include some specific and overall ways in which the plot unfolds, as well as the socio-historic setting.

        Although both stories follow the same general pattern, there are a certain amount of specific differences that have an impact on the overall meaning of the fairy tale. Firstly, the way the main character is introduced and portrayed in both stories is very different. Paul Delarue wastes no time on describing his character essentially leaving her appearance open to the imagination; this is one of the first hints of the more vulgar and common crowd to which Delarue’s story was told (Mythsweliveby, 2010). On the contrary, Perraults tale opens with: “Once upon a time, deep in the heart of the country, there lived a pretty little girl whose mother adored her, and her grandmother adored her even more” (Herman, 2010). This line is followed by the description of her signature red hood that is: “like the one the fine ladies wear when they go riding” (Herman, 2010). Together, these elements hint that the story seems to be directed towards higher-class women (Buchinger, n.d.). This fact is further reinforced by the kind of food each girl is expected to deliver to their granny: a loaf of bread and milk in Delarue’s story, unmistakably common fare in those times; and a little cake accompanied by a pot of butter, somewhat less substantial food meant more to satisfy someone’s sweet tooth instead of feeding them while they recover. Another difference is the nature of the ‘villain’ in these stories. Although Perrault decided to use an actual wolf to create a metaphor for a clever male ‘predator’, Delarue instead mentions that the villain is in fact ‘the bzou’. This particular choice references the well-known magical beast of the time, the ‘werewolf’, who in this sense of the word is part man and part wolf; this ‘wolf-man’ is also known in French folklore to be particularly charming (Delarue, 2015). In this case, it is fair to assume that, as the story evolved through time, the well-known bzou, who was part of the lower class superstitious beliefs of the earlier times, was eventually replaced by Perrault’s metaphorical wolf that was thought more suited for the audiences of his time. Continuing on in the story we reach an important point of comparison between the two stories: in both cases the young girl is foolish enough to talk to the wolf and divulge her destination. This indicates that, despite the passing of time, both stories still use the story to indicate that young women can make foolish choices when dealing with strangers that can lead to terrible results.

        Now that the effect of the more specific details has been explained, there are also some larger plot points that change the way we might perceive the intended moral of the story and how the society in which the story is based perceived women. Firstly, Delarue’s version of the story is much grittier and darker in its way of conveying the gravity of the mistakes that the young heroine made. Having the young girl end up performing an act of cannibalism when she eats her grandmother’s flesh and drinks her blood serves a double purpose in emphasizing the depths of the wolf’s cruelty and making clear how naïve and stupid the young woman is to not realize that she is eating her grandmother. The line that the cat passing by says further reinforces this second point: “A slut is she who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of her grandmother” (Herman, 2010). This entire scene is entirely skipped in Perrault’s version of the story to make the telling of it less vulgar and more appropriate for the ears of children of the time who were no longer used to hearing of such violence. Another point that Delarue capitalizes on more than Perrault is the perversion and sexual danger that the villain represents in the story. Rather than leave the danger that the villain could pose sexually as an insinuated metaphor, Delarue’s version clearly states that the bzou is lusting over more than a quick and easy meal by tricking the young woman to approach him. Not only does the bzou clearly ask the young woman to undress before joining him, the story includes a total of ten lines dedicated to the action of getting undressed, an exaggeration that is clearly intended to convey the secondary danger the bzou poses. Comparatively, Perrault’s story skips over the wolf asking Little Red Riding Hood to undress herself instead portraying her act as something natural at the time rather than a perverted request made by ‘predator’. The last major point that truly affects the meaning of the stories is the ending that changes radically from one to the other. Although both young girls eventually realize that something is different or strange with their grandmother and proceed to question her about it they both meet different ends. In the case of Delarue’s heroine, she rapidly realizes the mistake that she has made and proceeds to make up an excuse to flee the bzou before he has a chance to eat her. This is indicative of the belief that women at the time should be smart enough to realize that a situation is becoming dangerous for them and self-sufficient enough to find a solution to their problem without needing help from a man (Mythesweliveby, 2010). In Perrault’s version, the heroine makes no attempt at saving herself since she does not realize until the last moment that the wolf replaced her grandmother before being eaten. This ending coupled with the previous hints at her innocence such as: “The poor child did not know how dangerous it is to chatter away to wolves […]” and “[…] she dawdled along, gathering nuts and chasing butterflies and picking bunches of wayside flowers” (Herman, 2010), indicate that Little Red Riding hood is very naïve and unwary of her own safety when walking through the woods and dealing with strangers (Buchinger, n.d.). This portrayal of the heroine coupled with how easily the grandmother was tricked by the wolf into believing that he was her granddaughter paints the women of Perrault’s time as unable to protect themselves from mean, charming men and thus needing to be supported by their men in order to survive.

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