Essay

Journal of all the novels studied over the course of the stories and storytelling module

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Course
English Literature (Q320)

Institution
University Of Brighton (UoB)

A learning Journal analysing the novels and stories studied over the course of the stories and storytelling module of English literature at brighten university. It includes an analysis of red riding hood, metamorphosis, the Turn of the screw, the remains of the day, grand theft auto, and the last o...

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Uploaded on July 11, 2023
Number of pages 10
Written in 2021/2022
Type Essay
Professor(s) Unknown
Grade A+

story
stories
storytelling
stories and storyteliing
module
literature
english
english literature
brighton university
little red riding hood
angela carter
metamorphosis
franz kafka
the turn of the scre

Institution
University of Brighton (UoB)
Education Unknown
Course
English Literature (Q320)

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Little Red Riding Hood

There have been many reiterations of Little Red Riding Hood since its beginning as a spoken folk tale

and as such its meanings and morals have changed throughout its long existence. In Little Red Cap,

the written adaptation by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Little Red Cap loses the agency that she had

originally possessed in The Grandmother and instead becomes a conduit for the brothers’ ideals of a

perfect woman: chaste and subservient and “transformed an oral folk tale about the social initiation

of a young woman into a narrative about rape in which the heroine is obliged to bear the

responsibility for sexual violation.”1 Red Cap is punished for being disobedient and unafraid, and

rather than having the wit to escape the wolf herself, she has to be rescued by a huntsman- a man.

These are very well-suited standards for the 1900s, as women would be expected to be reliant on

men, and would have been told to children to warn them against becoming the kind of girl who gets

eaten by wolves, i.e. unchaste and unruly.

In Angela Carter’s version, The Company of Wolves, published ninety years after Little Red Cap, Red

Riding Hood regains her lost agency and becomes a character filled with personality. Carter rids the

story of its old-fashioned morals and tired ideals about perfect women and replaces it with messages

about a young girl who is strong willed and does not need to be saved by anyone other than herself.

When she speaks that iconic phrase “what big teeth you have” 2 and receives in turn that iconic

response “all the better to eat you with” 3, she does not cower in fear, but instead laughs directly in

the wolf’s face because, as Carter writes, “she knew she was nobody’s meat” 4. Red Riding Hood

outright rejects the narrative that had been set for her many years before and follows her own

desires. Throughout the story, Carter makes it known to the reader that Red Riding Hood is ‘ready’

for sex. Her hood itself is described as the colour of menses and is representative of both her period,
1
Jack Zipes, ‘A Second Gaze at Little Red Riding Hood Trials and Tribulations’, The Lion and the Unicorn,
(Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983), p.83.
2
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, (Gollancz, 1979) p.149
3
Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, p.149
4
Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories, p.150

, and the blood which she may spill when she loses her virginity. When she offers herself to the wolf,

it is not to save her life, or to escape. It is simply for her own desires. Carter’s moral in The Company

of Wolves is not to be obedient or pure. It is instead a stand against a patriarchy that believes

women should not have their own sexuality or seek their own sexual relief. Red Hood’s own desire is

what saves her from certain death. Her marriage and embracement to the wolf saves her life when

being pure or innocent would have killed her.

Though there are many more reiterations of the Little Red Riding Hood story, we can see in just the

comparison of these two that the messages or morals from the same story can alter dramatically

with the changing of times and the changing of society’s view. “Grimm versions became so crucial in

the socialization process of these countries that they generated a literary discourse about sexual

roles and behavior, a discourse whose fascinating antagonistic perspectives shed light on different

phases of social change.”5 At the time, the Grimm’s brother’s version was perfectly acceptable, and

appreciated by society, while nowadays a story preaching for young girls obedience and purity

would be seen as outdated and unnecessary.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis is a deeply reflective story rich in strange dark imagery as is custom with Franz

Kafka’s style of writing which is so unique it created its own term: ‘Kafkaesque’. Metamorphosis has

been subject to a wide range of interpretations but resonates particularly with those who suffer with

depression of any extremity. Gregor’s descent into apathy and disregard for his own well-being is

deeply reminiscent to those who experience depressive periods, and as Gregor’s family begin to

5
Jack Zipes, ‘A Second Gaze at Little Red Riding Hood’s Trials and Tribulations’, The Lion and the Unicorn,
(Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983), p.83.

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