ÇOCUK EDEBİYATI BY AHMET HOCA

THE RED RİDİNG HOOD GİRL

The girl is sent by her mother. She encounters a wolf, and the wolf goes to the house of the
grandmother and eats her. Then, the wolf eats the girl. Why is it “the little girl”? Why don’t we have
an actual name? The lack of a name is a question for feminism. In other stories, the girl disobeys her
mother. Then, she encounters the wolf. The wolves are inevitable. Why she chooses the way of
needle? Maybe becasue she can use the needle to make clothes and gain money or it can be a
sexual desire. She is in a sense prefering the traditional way because needle is like uncivilized
way,but the pin is like civilized and fabricate age. The girl is like a generation, and the grandmother is
like a generation before her, and she is going there to learn things. However, there is a wolf on the
way. The wolf takes the other path, and kills the grandmother. We do not know how he got into the
house. A cat criticizes her, and the cat symbolizes the society and their opinion. The girl eats the raw
meat of her grandmother, and drinks her grandmother’s blood without question when the wolf
wants her to do, and that shows us that she is also not innocent. She wants to exprerience that
things. About the apron, the wolf says “throw it on the fire, you won’t need it anymore”. As she
throws them to the fire, she leaves them behind. She leaves her childhood behind with the dresses.
Maybe she is not innocent, maybe she is also playing with the wolf. She will transform to another
person, and she will not be the same. She is also participating the fantasy while she is taking off her
clothes and throwing them on the fire. It is like a male fantasy story. It is a didactic story for the
children, but it has different meanings. Eating her also means they had sex.

On the second story, it is different from the first one. She obeys her mother in this story. She amuses
herself outside of the path, and it is a sign of her carelessness. Forest is a dangerous place, but she
forgets about the grandmother. Time passes, and it becomes night. Her encounter with the wolf is
becasue of her mistake. She did not follow mother’s orders. The girl is cooking the meat of the
grandmother, and she does not enjoys the food. She does not want to play into the wolf’s fantasy. In
this version, she saves herself. She escapes from the wolf with her intelligence.We have a happy
ending.

Week 4
In this story, we have a name for the wolf. Our girl also wants to experience wordly pleasure
because she says “where should I put my apron?” She is not stupid. She is enjoying dancing
with the danger itself. It would be persuassive to be a female fantasy. In this one, it ends
possitively. Threat comes from a male persona. We have different kinds of the story. One of
them is male fantasy, and the other is didactic.
PAGE 91- This is the first version of story in 1697. The male version of the witch was
werewolf. It was in medeival times. The wolf is now a neighbour.

Week 5
She could save herself from the wolf with her intelligence, but in Charles Weros version, the
girl is portrayed naiv and someone who cannot save herself when she encounters a danger.
She is Victorian Era woman as angel in the house. In this version, children are helpless, and
they need the help of someone who is older than them. Girl is portrayed helpless who leads
the house in the house. In the first oral forms, the girl repeatedly asks what to take out off
her dress. It seemed she also enjoyed the fantasy.

135-Little Red Cap by Jacop and Wilhelm Grimm

The hunter is like a soilder, and the girl is wearing a red cap instead of hood. It refers to
French Revolution. The wolf becomes a metaphor of ideas French people had who
supported French Revolution. Male hunter represents the true ideas of German people who
save people from French Revolution because hunter saves grandmother and the girl from
the wolf’s belly by cutting the wolf. The girl had responsibilities, but she followed the orders
of wolf. It is the wolf who changes her ideas. She starts to collect flowers. It is depicted as
desires, pleasure time, things to satisfy her needs instead of her country’s needs. This
version has a difference in the beginning. This time the beauty given to the girl by the
mother is not depicted. This time, it is just the duty given by the mother. It starts with
imperative words. The hunter is depicted as the perfect citizen. He does not shout the wolf
not to harm grandmother and girl. He cuts the wolf to save them. In the last, we see the girl
behaves as she is said. She sees another wolf. We see the obedience to the parents is shown
here. Children learn to obey the expectations of adult society. Little girl has no time and
space given to her to express herself and amuse herself. In this version, the state does not
want neither the girl nor the wolf to have their own desires, but to obey the society’s needs.
The main message is for children to obey their parents.

WEEK 6
Little Golden Hood by Charles Marelle
Page 193- Oral versions were shorter than this one. We did not have a hunter in the oral
versions. She gets eaten in oral versions. Charles Perov wrote it for the bourgeosie class, and
it was for moral education for children. Wolf was with bad intentions and outside of
bourgeosie class. Girl was discribed as not a clever person.
Charles’ version is about education for children. In this one, we have a Frame Narrative. We
have a voice telling us in the beginning. The Gold Hood represents the pureness of her
hearth. She does not want a sin. Because of the Red Hood, she had a sin, but she is not here.
The function of hood changes into protection. The Grondmother is protective, and she
catchs the wolf as soon as she sees it. In this version, we have a friend wolf. He looks more
younger. Wolf is like a small dog. It is not big. It is less threatening. The wolf is like
anthropomorthized. At the end, she is scolded by her parents, and she promises that she
will not do it again. It is like a test for her because her mother says let us see how you will do
it alone. The mother is instructing the girl. However, she still talks to wolf in a naive way.
Another mistake is taht she spends so much time outside the path. The good behaviours
are given by the parents, and they are expected to be obeyed.