Analyses Take 2
The Wolf's Postscript to 'Little Red Riding Hood'
Prewriting
Binary: Good Humans v. Evil Creatures: Little Red Riding Hood obviously was an innocent little girl, but she knew better than to talk to strangers during her walk to her Grandmother's cottage. On the other hand, the wolf no matter what will always be depicted as an evil animal whose sole ambitions are of eating others.
Complication: While wolves are known to be vicious and little girls innocent,in the story the wolf could have easily eaten Miss Little Red Riding Hood at any moment he pleased but instead resisted and let himself be hunted in order to teach the audience a lesson about not talking to strangers. His sacrifice of conforming to what the audience expected was a voluntary act of goodwill, yet he is seen as evil by everyone.
Evidence:
"Couldn't I have gobbled her up right there in the jungle? Why did I ask her where her grandma lived?... As if I couldn't ave swallowed her years before?" (9-17)
1) The wolf sarcastically states that if he really wanted to eat the little girl and her grandmother, he could have easily done so. 2) By not doing so, it proves his intentions were not of malice and that he refrained from his temptations for some other cause.
"And the huntsman; Was i sleeping while he snipped my thick black fur and filed me with garbage and stones? ... just when the tale should have come to an end."
1) The wolf implies that he was conscious when the huntsman filled him with sharp stones and therefore had to have let him do so. 2) Meanwhile the children laughed at his suffering, he dealt with the pain when he could have ended it, for the purpose that children see wolves and strangers as evil so as to later avoid them.
Claim: Instead of the wolf being the evil creature in this story, he was rather the smarter and stronger one, for he followed through what was expected of him to do in order to teach the lesson of avoiding strangers and animals. The humans instead were the rash ones by wrongfully depicting him as evil, meanwhile laughing at his suffering in amusement.
Analyses: It is evident via the wolf's reasoning that he was in fact not an evil creature after all, though everyone makes him out to be. Rather, he possessed virtues and sacrificed his well being to teach the audience a lesson. While it is rash to say that Little Red Riding Hood was actually the evil one instead, it is undeniable that humans in general place labels of "cruel" and "monster" on creatures they may not understand. The wolf in this case showed more qualities of goodwill than humans, since he did not have to endure the pain he let himself be inflicted with. The humans rather brought themselves down to a lower level by enjoying the wolf's sufferings, enacting the irony of the binary. What was most honorable, however, was the fact that the wolf remained modest in his actions. It wasn't his intentions to be praised for his sacrifice but instead he did for personal satisfaction.