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Ricardo Martinez
Professor Beeny
ENC1102
10 October 2023
The Deeper Meaning of Little Red
“Little Red Riding Hood” is a story filled with symbolism that when not considered will
leave the reader blind to the subtext of this short story. While symbolism is a tool to give deeper
meaning, it can also be seen as a narrative way to not give the reader all the information so that
they may come to conclusions on their own. In “Little Red Riding Hood” a theme about the
perils a young women faces is developed through symbolism consisting of Little Reds clothing,
the forest, and lastly the wolf.
The first aspect of symbolism is the clothing that Little Red uses throughout the story
and how it presents conflicting statements being promiscuity and innocence. According to “A
Dictionary of Literary Symbols” “Red is sometimes the color of the devil” (Ferber, “Red”)
which in context to Little Red is how the color is meant to gain attraction of the opposite sex. At
the beginning of the story, we are told how Little Red is “the prettiest creature who was ever
seen” (Perrault) which leads the reader to presume that at some point Little Red might have been
aware she was an attractive young woman. Knowing this information, it’s easy to see the
likeness between this fictional story and real life on how young women can wear provocative
clothes and how men will see this as an invitation to interact with them. You can also see the
color red in this instance as a form of foreshadow to her eventual peril where the color red can
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be perceived as blood. In the case of “Little Red” the wolf represents men taking this
opportunity and damaging them either mentally or in the case of Little Red physically. Little
Red innocence derives from the fact she is young and potentially unaware of how she is viewed
by other parties and while she was not the one who chose her clothing herself it was the adult
women in her life who failed to protect her of the dangers of the world by not teaching her the
dangers associated with being a young woman traversing alone.
Secondly, another symbol in this short story is the forest that little red traverses through
which represent the unknown. According to “A Dictionary of Literary Symbols” “Forest used to
be places of danger” (Ferber, “Forest”). Today, we have trivialized the dangers and the unknown
of the forest to the point as humanity has moved away from fear of the forest; we have turned it
into a leisure activity were families take “nature walks” through marked path with lighting being
strode around for visibility. Prior to us domesticating the forest it was seen as a dangerous
activity that would need to be planned and executed properly as to not run into any danger; The
unknown aspect comes from the fact that whether its night or day the forest is able to hide many
things within its darkest corners obscured by shadows. The literal dangers in forest are predator
creatures such as wolves, bears, and poisonous snakes but in Little Red these all represent the
type of men that exist in the world and how they desire to take advantage of young women who
are unaware of the danger they present. Not everything is dangerous in forests such as in “Little
Red” there are the woodcutters who by their mere presence stop the wolf from attacking little
red or the butterflies being a form of entertainment for the young girl (Perrault). Another way to
interpret how not everything in the forest is dangerous is how not all men are praying on young
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women and even how some go out of their way to protect them at whatever cost they deem fit.
Little Red did not get any warning of what she would encounter on the way to her
grandmother’s, which can also be interpreted as no one truly knew what dangers could lurk
within. Another piece of information regarding the forest is how in “A Dictionary of Literary
Symbols” it also states that in older stories they would differentiate between cities and woods to
depict safety and danger (Ferber, “Forest”). “Little Red’ achieves this same result by showing
that as soon as she steps out of her safety being her home with her mother, she is immediately
met by a wolf also interpreted as danger.
Lastly, the final symbolism is the wolf and how it represents the worst in humanity.
According to “A Dictionary of Literary Symbols” (Ferber, “wolf”) wolves can be seen since the
time of Shakespeare as “greedy and ravenous” which is a description we give to men who are
seen as vile beings. Wolves in nature are also seen as predators for sheep which in symbolism
can mean wolves are creatures who take advantage of the weak and in the case of Little Red can
be shown by how the wolf avoids killing Little Red to achieve a greater prize of killing the
grandmother, followed by killing her. The wolf is supposed to represent a man rather than an
actual creature and we can surmise that off the fact the author states “There are also those who
are charming, quiet, polite, unassuming, complacent, and sweet, who pursue young women at
home and in the streets.” This is not the author referring to wolves in the literal sense but
referring to men who take advantage of young women. After translating this information, we
start to see the true story come to light which is one of the plights of young women venturing
into the world without anyone there to protect them every step of the way.
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By taking the literal words and reinterpreting them into their true meanings, “Little Red”
turns into a completely different story that if not transcribed would not allow for the subtext to
be driven into the fore front. Knowing what the symbolism means shows that “Little Red” was
a story about how a young girl sheltered by the adults in her life treks into the unknown to be
met by a dangerous “man”. Perrault was trying to teach using this story to children to inform
them that there are dangerous people in the world and to not trust strangers they have just met.
Fairy tales are a tool to teach valuable life lessons to children while hiding the true horrors that
humanity can create or do to one another. Taking Perrault’s other stories, you can begin to see
how all these lessons cumulatively equal to experience and adult has and lessons they wish to
bestow onto their kin so that they might not deal with the same issues they faced.
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Works Cited
Ferber, Michael. “Red.” A Dictionary of Literary Symbols. 2nd ed., Cambridge University
Press, 2007.
Ferber, Michael. “Forest.” A Dictionary of Literary Symbols. 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press,
2007.
Ferber, Michael. “Wolf.” A Dictionary of Literary Symbols. 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood.” Charles Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales, edited by D.L.
Ashliman, 2013, https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault02.html