Little Red Riding Hood

Stallion 1

Don’t talk to strangers

We all have had that moment in life that we were in harm’s way, or of some sort could have

been when we were young. This is definitely the case when discussing the obvious theme of Little Red

Riding Hood. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the

underlying idea concrete. That's how theme is created. In other words, the theme in a story is a

representation of the idea behind the story (Clugston, R. W. (2010). I believe that the theme of this story

is simple, don’t talk to strangers/don’t let your children wander off alone into harm’s way. First off, I

think that little red riding hoods mother should have accompanied her to her grand-mothers house,

instead of her walking alone in the woods. As she takes off into the woods, she is met by a stranger, who

obviously wants to do harm to her. LRRH gives him all of her information including, her name, where she

is going, why she is going, and where her grandmother lives. There were many questions I asked while

reading this story. These questions were what kind of parents would let their young daughter travel

through the woods? Also, How could LRRH not tell the difference between her grandmother and the

wolf?

Two literary elements that contribute to the theme of Little Red Riding Hood are symbolism and

point-of-view. Symbolism is defined as something that has a literal identity but also stands for

something else—something that is widely understood and has been developed over a long period of

time or by common agreement (Clugston, R. W. (2010). One example of symbolism that I got from the

story is the big bad wolf. Usually in literature, if the bad guy was an animal, beast, of some sort, he

would have some kind of unique powers that he uses to justify his role in the story. But in Little Red

Riding Hood, the wolf plays a role that is similar to the thoughts and actions of a typical male who wants...