Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf from Roald Dahl's Essay

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf from Roald Dahl's - Essay Example Consequently, she is able to be a mistress of her own, daring all kinds of situations, without outside help. She is also seen seen stripping herself of the â€Å"silly† red riding hood that was presented to her by an over-protective society (Dahl, 40). She is depicted as a young woman who has finally got rid of her self-image of vulnerability, imposed upon her by the society. Dahl has peripherally sticked to the original version of the story of Little Red Riding Hood until by the end. But by imparting the authorship of restoration to Little Red Riding Hood herself, he (Dahl) has banished the outside help that came to rescue her in the original story (40). The uniqueness of this story unlike many other popular fairy tales is in that it has always been open to new interpretations. There are many versions of the story already available and Dahl's attempt at a new interpretation hence seems to be becoming of the spirit of the story. Dahl has begun his story from the middle without introducing the heroine, Little Red Riding Hood (36). It is the wolf instead who takes center stage of the narrative (Dahl, 36). The story is reversed in an act mindful of the time that has passed since the story was first told. In other words, Dahl seems to believe that it is high time Little Red Riding Hood realizes the betrayal of the wolf and be prepared to handle it. So she is seen redrafting her original queries to the wolf once she arrives at her grand mother's hut (Dahl, 40). Parallel to this, it can be seen that the villainy of the wolf did not get updated in time (Dahl, 40). He is practicing his centuries old trick while Little Red Riding Hood has grown into the self-confident lass that the author meets later in the woods (Dahl, 40). The author (Dahl) has used Little Red Riding Hood material as a metaphor that tells the story of the empowerment of modern woman. She is once and for all breaking the stereotyped molds that the society has been putting her in since centuries (Dahl). She turns to be a little surprise for all as to the author (Dahl) of the story and he says, â€Å"But what a change! No cloak of red, No silly hood upon her head.† (40). Dahl has also got rid of the moralizing elements of the story-the dictate of the mother that the girl should not talk to strangers, and that she should not stray from her path. In Dahl's version, it does not matter whether Little Red Riding Hood talked to strangers on the way or whether she strayed a little from the forest path and picked some wild flowers. Windling has opined that this story, now told as a â€Å"cautonary tale†, meant to be a warning to the girls who disobeyed their parents' advice, had originally been a tale of â€Å"female initiative and maturation.† Windling has explained how this story was meant to be one of female initiation into sexual experiences. He has added that in the â€Å"Victorian middle-class† anxieties turned this tale into a moralizing one that t ells how led by her own â€Å"sensual drives†, Little Red Riding Hood fails to obey her mothers' cautions and nearly looses her â€Å"virtue†. On the other hand, in Dahl's tale, it might have been these very sensual experiences of straying from the prescribed path that could have given her the courage to put three bullets into the wolf's head, in the end (Dahl, 40). Dahl's Riding Hood is a woman who has sexual freedom and fearlessness. As Windling noted, in the original story, the wolf is a ware wolf, who can take on the shape of