Roald Dahl's Message of Female Empowerment

Roald Dahl was a 20^th century writer who wrote such well know “alternative” fairy tales as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda. Although he wrote for children and adults alike, I would argue that his primary audience was a new generation of adolescents looking for empowerment. The primary characters in his stories are not passive and helpless but rather active and empowered.

Dahl’s Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf is a wonderful example of this empowerment. Traditionally, Little Red Riding Hood is the epitome of the passive female; little more than a damsel in distress. Dahl’s version Little Red Riding Hood however is very different. She is intelligent, assertive, and, even importantly, proud of her self-empowerment. Not only does she shoot the wolf without a moment’s hesitation, she also brags about her wolfskin coat.

Because of Little Red Riding Hood’s self-empowerment in Dahl’s version I would argue that he is catering to a generation of children which are more likely to be active rather than passive; particularly female children. The 20^th century brought with it feminism and Dahl’s version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf certainly sends forth a message of female empowerment rather than the message of learned helplessness past versions of the story undoubtedly carried.