tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2961777094841799518.post1633456640408801812..comments2023-03-19T09:34:40.112-04:00Comments on Whirling Leaves: So this just happenedcinnamon gurlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05363288586285868779noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2961777094841799518.post-45926229585648024962014-10-11T21:08:38.765-04:002014-10-11T21:08:38.765-04:00Okay, so this post is exactly what I think (and ex...Okay, so this post is exactly what I think (and explain each year to my Children's Lit classes) the Little Red Riding Hood story is all about. In some versions, LRRH gets eaten by the wolf, and that's where the story ends - it's a cautionary tale about not talking to strangers. In many versions, LRRH (assisted, sometimes, by her grandmother) comes up with a clever stratagem to outwit the wolf. But in the version we all know best, the little girl is not punished with death for her sin of talking to strangers, nor does she develop the resourcefulness to stand up for herself - instead she waits in the belly of the wolf until a kind hunter/woodcutter comes along and sets her free. It would be easy to dismiss that well-known ending under the heading of passive females/sexist fairy tales ... but isn't it odd that our culture has picked that version, the one whose protagonist has the least agency, the least cleverness, and chosen it as the one we retell? <br /><br />My theory is that the story isn't really about helpless young girls; it's about helpless parents. We send our much-loved children out into the forest and hope that when we're not there, we have a community who can be relied upon to step in and pull our kids out of the belly of the wolf.Beahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15957626443087438904noreply@blogger.com