Great Work!!

Hi,
I have to say, its nice to see all the posts in! Good going!
Ann

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.

Chiang Mi "Goldflower and the Bear"

Chiang Mi recorded “Goldflower and the Bear” in 1979, just a few years after the end of the Cultural Revolution in China and the death of Chairman Mao. Prior to the Cultural Revolution, another one of Mao’s programs to modernize China, the Great Leap Forward, had resulted in a widespread and devastating famine, which killed millions and millions. In addition to those who died from starvation, many Chinese also suffered illnesses as a result of the famine. Thus, the beginning of “Goldflower and the Bear” would probably seem very plausible to Chinese readers who lived in a country recently devastated by both illness and death. Famine would also be fresh in many people’s minds, which could explain Goldflower’s success in utilizing the bear’s gluttony against him. The bear wants both the children and the pears that Goldflower offers him, and the desire for pears offers Goldflower the opportunity to kill the bear. This also ties in with the common fairy tale trope of the evils and consequences of gluttony.

The Cultural Revolution, another one of Mao’s attempts at modernization, led to rampant persecution, violence, and chaos as Mao tried to rid China of its “old” ways. Mao enacted many of his policies with the help of the Red Guard, which was composed of radical students who perpetrated many violent acts against those deemed in opposition to Mao’s modernization goals. Thus, I would argue that “Goldflower and the Bear” was written for children, who during this period in Chinese history had seen much more of the evil existent in the “adult world” than most children their age at a different time or in a different country. The line between child and adult at this time was probably not as easily demarcated because of children’s knowledge of many things usually hidden from them by adults, such as violence and fear. Therefore, Chiang perhaps deemed children better equipped to deal with the violence in this tale and better able to appreciate the need for the strength and courage demonstrated by Goldflower. Also, after so much chaos a happy ending in which the brave girl conquers an enemy with the sun “rising red in the East” likely gave much needed hope to many readers (Tartar 20).

Roald Dahl

Considering Dahl's famous works, such as James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG, his age group has always been that of the maturing child, who is old enough to read the stories himself and to have been exposed to basic ideals of adult humor and themes. The books listed are of decent length and reading level, such that death and crime are just as well understood as say, a big friendly giant farting as he drinks his fizzy drink. Therefore, the same target audience is ripe for a twist on their former standby fairytales. They can start to understand the comedy in satire. They can still remember and appreciate the rhyming couplets of the stories, and enjoy this fresh brand of humor that will prepare them for the more complex stories and jokes of their adult futures.

Thurber vs Traditional Versions

James Thurber’s short story “The Little Girl and the Wolf” is a modernized version of “Little Red Cap,” with some interesting twists when compared to the Grimms tale. As an American cartoonist and writer, Thurber was known for his wittiness during his life, as well as having grown up in an environment full of practical jokes and humor. Thurber’s version of this story turns Little Red Riding Hood into a keenly intelligent protagonist who takes “an automatic out of her basket” and shoots “the wolf dead.” The short story ends with a plainly stated moral which says that “it is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.” This moral connects Thurber’s version back to Perrault’s version; Perrault’s moral warns young, pretty girls to beware of men, whereas Thurber’s moral wryly states that young women are not as easy to trick anymore.

Importantly, the title of the book in which this story was published in is Fables of Our Time and Famous Poems, in 1940. The humor seen in this story suggests that the primary intended audience is not children, but adults who would be familiar with the more traditional Grimms tale. Adults would be able to appreciate the changes in the story, whereas children would most likely be reading this story for the first time and not know the differences. Thurber transforms the naïve, innocent, and disobedient girl in the Grimms tale into a savvy, street-smart girl who recognizes the wolf in her grandmother’s clothing “twenty-five feet from the bed.” I believe this retelling represents the hardiness and quickness that people, men and women, had to have during the time in which it was written. Coming after the end of the Depression, it is easy to think that people who had just survived an incredibly difficult time would better appreciate a story in which the heroine is a true heroine, and in modern style with her gun.

James Thurber

Thurber wrote his version of little red riding hood in the WWII era, when the world was experiencing a time of great social upheaval. This included a loss of innocence, children witnessed many atrocities , so the idea of the overly innocent and naive protagonist didn't work anymore. Thurber keeps the fairytale atmosphere by having the wolf know where little red riding hood is, and where she is going without having to ask. The wolf's character doesn't evolve, but sticks to its original plan to disguise itself as the grandmother.  The major change Thurber makes to the plot is that little red riding hood recognizes that the wolf is in fact not her grandmother. This part of the story has always bothered be because, even after factoring in that these stories  occurred before the mass testing and distribution of eye glasses, the difference between a grandmother and a wolf is so huge that anyone, no matter how young or stupid should recognize that something is wrong. I like that Thurber adds that little red riding hood show that it was the wolf from over 25 ft away, emphasizing how obvious the impostor's feeble costume was. I love that little red riding hood pulls out an automatic from her basket and shoots the wolf dead. The abruptness of the action is rather shocking, but the substitution of the gun for the scissors or ax is just a reflection of the time. The moral posed at the end is almost a response to the moral at the end of Perrault's version. Perrault warns the young and beautiful women against all kinds of wolves, and Thurber informs the reader that little girls (and women) have changed, and are not so easy to trick as they once were. This moral may reflect the changing roles of women in society after the war. Women were now in the workplace, many had actually fought in the war, and they had all suffered immense hardship. In Thurber's version, the innocent have learned to defend themselves and stand up to defeat evil.

Assignment 3- 27.Jan 2009

Hi Brian, Caitlin, Lydia,Briana and Amy-Lee,

Below is the assignment, to which you will send in responses by Midnight on Tuesday.

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 is written.

Looking forward to your posts,

Ann