Narrative Structure and Point of View in Little Red Riding Hood Variations

Throughout history, Red Riding Hood has been one of the most retold stories, since the
beginning this story has been shifted and adapted into multiple variations, with different
intentions, and in the following essay it'll be analyzed how this tale can be altered to push
different type of narratives, going from trying to warn young women, acting as a cautionary tale,
to doing the contrary and intentionally or unintentionally maintaining them clueless and exposed
to the equivalent real-life danger of what the wolf means in the stories.

Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault for example depicts the more traditional narrative of
the popular story, showing Red as the victim, and it serves as a cautionary tale for all young,
innocent and “nicely brought up ladies”. Red displays such a level of innocence to the outside
dangers, sheltered by the love she had felt until then from those close to her, that ultimately
causes her demise, as she does not have the skills to recognize and save herself from danger.
Beauty, which can be enhanced by clothes such as her hood, gives women a certain social
standard, nonetheless, the story shows how acquired status is not an impediment nor protection
from abuse. As the moral shows, innocent young beautiful girls from any social background
need to be taught that wolves in the real world, are usually like the ones in this story, disguised,
and most of the time, they will attack the least expecting girls. That is precisely how the story
involves the reader, by narrating in the third person creating this feeling of a lesson being given,
and making it known to girls they should listen and learn by contrast and not example. If not
desiring to end up like Red, don't repeat her same mistakes. I believe it's an effective way to
convey the message, as the story at all times remains realistic, contrary to other stories, and
that makes it so other little girls can see themselves in red, and can easily see similarities with
her and her situation, so they can male the conscious choice to act differently if a similar
situation presented itself to not end up like Red.

A response to the message of the previous story can perhaps be The story of the Grandmother
by Delarue. Contrary to Peraults Red, Delarue’s when placed in the same situation of danger
and unfamiliarness remains alert and aware of the possibility of danger, and when in doubt
chooses to anyways take action to protect herself, no matter what anyone would think if she
were to be wrong. Red chooses to take action and make a plan to escape through the window
instead of hoping someone comes and saves her or just does nothing, she takes the role of an
agent of change in this usually fatal chain of events Red Riding Hood tends to follow. Red in this
opportunity takes agency and saves herself from the danger, and this story displays all the
lessons that in the former story were presented as a cautionary tale by contrast, and does it by
example this time. Meaning instead of showing all you shouldn't do if you do not want to end up
dead like Red, it shows all the things you can do so you survive like Red. I believe this is a more
empowering and liberating approach to a cautionary tale as it shows women in a more
empowered light, and given that the target audience of this story is usually young girls, it is a
more formative approach, as the goal if for them to be strong and learn to protect themselves,
and not only be afraid.

On the contrary, some stories don’t even achieve either of the formerly mentioned common
goals in other versions of the same story. An example of such is The False Grandmother by
Calvin, where the magic shown in the story makes it so that a young girl can confuse this story
for a fable instead of a cautionary tale. It would be significantly harder for a young girl to see
herself in a story, if she reads the protagonist, in this case Red, is feeding a river and a gate,
and out of thankfulness for that, she gets saved. A young girl might not be able to easily
comprehend the dangers of the world but does know that rivers and gates are not human, and
don’t eat nor think, which will create this emotional distance between the reader and the
protagonist, which is detrimental when talking about a cautionary tale. This version of Red, has
a different point of view, instead of either painting Red as a victim, or having Red take action
and save herself, it pushes the narrative that kindness alone can save you. This story has a
completely different aim, in my interpretation, it doesn’t try to warn and protect the “nicely
brought up ladies” Perault mentions in his story who need to change for their good, but rather
fights to keep them that way, kind, aloof, and vulnerable. Despite kindness being fundamental in
people for a story that always has Red as a victim, and where the only thing that varies is her
approach to the abuse, having her trust the loyalty outside factors could feel after her kindness,
and have that be the only thing that saves her, takes all power away from her and if applied in
real life, more than likely that girl would’ve ended up dead as there most likely wouldn’t be a
talking river to save you from the wolf, or even if there is and you were kind to it, it might still not
be enough for it to want to save you.

A fairy tale can be used to push multiple narratives and as formerly mentioned each one of them
pushes a different message to the target audience, all the way from empowering women, to
keeping them vulnerable. Red is the perfect protagonist to do that as the story can change
dramatically by her decision-making alone as there aren’t usually that many outside factors such
as a fairy godmother or a flying carpet, and it reflects the impact one choice can have in their
fate.