MASARYK UNIVERSITY Little Red Riding Hood Goes Feminist

MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

Little Red Riding Hood Goes Feminist

Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2018

Supervisor Author Mgr. Pavla Buchtová Veronika Jirků

Declaration I hereby declare that I worked on the following thesis on my own and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography.

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních zdrojů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy university a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb. o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

V Brně dne 28. 3. 2018 ………………………… Veronika Jirků

Acknowledgment I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Pavla Buchtová for the useful comments, remarks and guidance that she provided through the writing process of this thesis.

Annotation

This thesis analyzes feminist features in the four versions of a tale best known as “Little Red Riding Hood”. The sample of chosen versions includes a well-known version by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm “The Little Red Cap” that serves best for the comparison with the remaining three versions of the tale the choice of which was determined by the time period in which the second-wave feminism has emerged. The contemporary versions of the tale include the poem “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy, the short story “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter and the poem “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas. The analyses of the contemporary versions are conducted with special regard to the issues brought to attention in the second half of the twentieth century by the second- wave feminism.

Key words

Little Red Riding Hood, feminism, second-wave feminism, sexism, sexuality, fairy-tale, fairy-tales

Anotace Tato práce se zabývá analýzou feministických prvků ve čtyřech verzích příběhu nejlépe známého jako „O Červené Karkulce“. Vzorek vybraných verzí zahrnuje známou verzi od bratří Grimů „O Červené Karkulce“, která slouží nejlépe pro následné porovnání s dalšími třemi verzemi příběhu, jejichž volba byla provedena na základě toho, že byly napsány v druhé polovině dvacátého století; období druhé vlny feminismu. Tyto verze zahrnují básně od Carol Ann Duffy a Olgy Broumas a povídku od Angely Carter. V analýzách těchto pozdějších verzí příběhu je věnována zvláštní pozornost zejména problematice zdůrazňované feminismem druhé vlny ve druhé polovině dvacátého století.

Klíčová slova

O Červené Karkulce, feminismus, druhá vlna feminismu, sexismus, sexualita, pohádka, pohádky

Content

Introduction ...... 7 1 On the history and purpose of fairy tales ...... 8 2 The second-wave feminism ...... 12 2.1 Embracing sexuality ...... 14 2.2 Gaining independence ...... 15 2.3 The power of sisterhood ...... 16 2.4 Self-esteem ...... 17 3 Analysis of “The Little Red Cap” by Brothers Grimm ...... 19 3.1 Main symbols ...... 20 3.2 Sexual symbols ...... 21 3.3 Feminist features ...... 23 4 Analysis of “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy ...... 26 4.1 Embracing sexuality ...... 26 4.2 Independence ...... 27 4.3 Sisterhood ...... 29 4.4 Self-esteem ...... 30 4.5 Symbolism ...... 32 5 The analysis of “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter ...... 34 5.1 Embracing sexuality ...... 34 5.2 Independence ...... 37 5.3 Sisterhood ...... 39 5.4 Self-esteem ...... 40 5.5 Symbolism ...... 41 6 Analysis of “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas ...... 44 6.1 Embracing sexuality ...... 44 6.2 Independence ...... 45 6.3 Sisterhood ...... 46 6.4 Self-esteem ...... 47 6.5 Symbolism ...... 48 7 The versions compared ...... 51 7.1 The refusal to be a victim ...... 52 7.2 Rebirth ...... 53 7.3 The wolf as a love interest ...... 55

7.4 The absence of savior archetype ...... 56 Conclusion ...... 58 Bibliography ...... 60

Introduction

Fairy tales are no longer mere stories for children. Thorough centuries, they have become a source of inspiration for many authors and were remodeled into many forms. Fairy tales keep growing and as a consequence their genre is immortal. These short narratives are usually the first ones that a child comes to contact with. For this reason, we should be cautious about the messages that they convey.

Even though fairy tales survive and many of them can be learned from, they possess many features that are no longer relevant. Some fairy tales do not set a good example as they reflect old-fashioned values. Many fairy tales have emerged during the times the patriarchy was at power. As a consequence, a number of fairy tales reflect sexist patriarchal values into the modern society.

Many feminist writers in the second half of the twentieth century were able to see how unjustly fairy tales treat female characters and decided to transform them. This thesis explores the transformation of one of the most famous tales best-known as the tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” and attempts to finds common feminist features in three contemporary versions of the tale. Furthermore, it explains why the well-known version of the tale is not a feminist one and answers what makes the female protagonists of the contemporary versions feminist.

It was the fascination with fairy tales combined with interest in feminist literature that sparkled the idea to combine the two and to write a thesis that would uncover the flawed side of the well-known tale. It was my priority to find an intriguing topic that would nourish both my passion for children literature and my interest in feminist literary criticism.

1 On the history and purpose of fairy tales

Millions of parents around the world read fairy tales as bed time stories to their children, knowing little about their origin or the impact they can have on their offspring’s development and perception of self. Fairy tales are ever present, references to them are to be found in art, poetry, movies, songs and even commercials. These short narratives are often subjects of allusions in both old and contemporary pieces of literature. Establishing the purpose of fairy tales is much simpler than tracing its origins back to the very beginning. This chapter is a short survey to the purpose and history of fairy tales.

Fairy tales, a genre rooted in oral tradition have a great deal of functions. They were never told without a purpose. If not told to entertain, they were shared because of the messages hidden in between the lines or stated clear and loud.

These tales were not always as intricate as we know them. As the narrative form of speech has started to develop, narratives were used mainly to form tales which were told to entertain or to accompany some rituals (Zipes, 2006, p. 13).

As they developed, narrative stories have started to gain much deeper meaning and as Zipes (2012) states, “they have evolved into both an elaborate and simple narrative” (p. 9). We can assume that when Zipes (2012) uses the words elaborate and simple to describe fairy tales, he is referring to the contrast between their meaning and form. While the meaning of fairy tales is encrypted and often concerning both the serious and the less vital problematic of everyday life, the form remains simple and straightforward. It is this stark contrast in between the message and the form what makes fairy tales so universal and popular.

Fairy tales, despite having a problematic definition, have some common features which help us distinguish them from other literary genres.

In her book Once upon a time, Marina Warner (2014), describes fairy tales subsequently:

First, ‘a fairy tale’ is a short narrative, sometimes less than a single page, sometimes running to many more, but the term no longer applies, as it once did, to a novel length work. Secondly, fairy tales are familiar stories, either verifiably old, because they have been passed down the generations or because the listener or reader is struck by their family resemblance to another story; they can appear pieced and patched, like an identikit photofit. The genre belongs in the general realm of folklore, and many

fairy tales are called ‘folk tales’, and are attributed to oral tradition, and considered anonymous and popular in the sense of originating not among an elite, but among the unlettered, the Volk (the people in German, as in ‘Volkswagen’, the ‘People’s Car’).” (2014, p. xvi)

The definition by Marina Warner (2014) seems to be straightforward and clear. From her words, we can gather that fairy tales are short stories, nowadays not more than few pages long, which were brought to life by common people and are still present until today thanks to their adaptability and the oral tradition. However, there are some problematic areas in defining the genre. To give an example, Eisfield (2015) states in her book How Fairy Tales Live Happily Ever After: (Analyzing) The Art of Adapting Fairy Tales that “as sub- genre, the fairy tale belongs to the genre of general folktales, which also includes legends, fables and myths. However, the lines between those sub-genres are often indistinct and can blur easily, making it impossible to be properly distinguished from one other” (p. 12). The existence of legends, fables and myths makes it harder to define fairy tales. As Warner (2014) said, fairy tales can be “pieced and patched” (p. xvi) which makes it very difficult to distinguish where they originated and what was their primal form.

Further on, Marina Warner (2014) continues with her definition of fairy tale by introducing yet another characteristic:

A third defining characteristic of fairy tales follows organically from the implied oral and popular tradition: the necessary presence of the past makes itself felt through combinations and recombinations of familiar plots and characters, devices and images … (p. xvii)

This characteristic states that fairy tales are not fixed, they went through many changes since they first emerged and kept changing ever since. This ability to adapt makes them universal and adds to their popularity in great amount. The reason why fairy tales are so popular hundreds of years after they started to form in the homes of people, is because they are able to keep up with the proceeding time and to keep growing.

The fourth characteristic that Warner (2014) introduces, deals with imagination, which is, according to her, the language of fairy tales. Further on, she introduces certain features typical for fairy tales such as certain character archetypes, motifs which tend to recur in the genre, and the symbolism (p. xix).

As we can see there are many features that are helpful in defining the genre. For the purposes of this thesis, it is their ability to change to the whims of both storytellers and listeners altogether with the symbolic value contained in fairy tales.

Now that the genre has been roughly defined, the following paragraphs are centered on another, equally important feature of their being – the time they came to exist. As was mentioned in the previous paragraphs, fairy tales have abundance of functions and are valuable for the history of literature but it is unclear when exactly they have emerged. The matter of the origins and the exact time of the onset of fairy tales is hard to decipher. Zipes (2012) noted that “it is impossible to trace the historical origins and evolution of fairy tales to a particular time and place” (p. 2). While acknowledging this information, one would deduce that we can only guess when and where the era of fairy tales began. Zipes (2012) also remarks that “we do know that humans began telling tales as soon as they developed the capacity of speech” (p. 2) which allows us to make our guess a bit more accurate and educated.

There has been many research conducted on the topic of human language and while the findings might differ in details, the most important feature remains. Robbins Burling (2005) estimates in his book The Talking Ape: how language evolved, that “the full capacity for language was in place 35,000 years ago, more than 20,000 years before the beginning of agriculture or urban life ” (p. 182). This takes us thousands of years back to where speech did not resemble a language as we know it today. It is very difficult to estimate how many centuries have passed until a first narrative which resembled a fairy tale emerged.

As it is becoming apparent, the oral tradition of fairy tales does not allow us to accurately trace its origins. Tales have roamed the world long before they were first written down and preserved but we simply do not have any record of that.

During the history of fairy tales, there came a point where, in addition to their oral form, they gained a written form as well. According to Zipes (2012), the written form of folk tales appeared much later than one would expect. “General theories about the origins and spread of the folk tales leading to the formation of the literary tales were first conceived only at the beginning of the nineteenth century” (p. 121). To give an example of some of the most famous collectors of folktales and fairy tales who began to transform oral tales

into the written form, it is certainly appropriate to mention Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (Zipes, 2012, p. 121).

To conclude, fairy tales are an immortal genre. Written or told, they are ever present in our lives and, despite gaining their written form, fairy tales have never stopped evolving and expanding. It is an old literary genre which circles around for hundreds of years. Its tradition has been passed from one generation to another, carrying a legacy no other genre ever could. Ensuring never ending popularity by their relevance and adaptability, fairy tales survive.

2 The second-wave feminism

This chapter provides an explanation of basic terms regarding feminism and defines some of the ideas of the second-wave feminism which spread thorough the Europe and USA in the second half of the twentieth century and which are therefore relevant for the purposes of this thesis.

A definition from the book Feminism is for Everybody by Bell Hooks (2000) states that “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (p. 1). To clarify Hooks definition, it is essential to also understand the term of sexism. According to The Dictionary of Feminist Theory sexism is “a social relationship in which males have authority over females” (Humm, 1995, p. 258).

The definition of feminism by Hooks is applicable no matter the time period in which we want to define the term. As Hooks (2000) also says, this definition does not imply that men are the enemy of women and does not exclude any gender from the possibility of being the victim of sexism. Hooks herself adds that “practically, it is a definition which implies that all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult” (p. 1). What Hooks means is that feminism’s biggest concern is sexism and the imbalance of power between the sexes and it is important to realize that it is not only men who can be sexist.

As the core of this thesis deals with the feminist issues featured in the contemporary versions of the story of LRRH and examines the influence of feminist ideas on the development of the story, it is necessary to define some of the main feminist ideas of the second half of the twentieth century as it was in this period that the versions were written. Feminism of this time period is called second-wave feminism and it appeared after the Second World War in number of countries (Walters, 2005, p. 97). To provide more understanding for this term, let us look at the definitions of both first-wave and second- wave feminism. In her book Feminism (2001) Jane Freedman gives a summary of the two:

In an attempt at some kind of classification, histories of feminism have talked about the historical appearance of strong feminist movements at different moments as a series of ‘waves’. Thus ‘first-wave’ feminism is used to refer to the late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century feminist movements that were concerned (although not exclusively) with gaining equal rights for women,

particularly the right of suffrage. ‘Second-wave’ feminism refers to the resurgence of feminist activity in the late 1960s and 1970s, when protest again centred around women’s inequality, although this time not only in terms of women’s lack of equal political rights but in the areas of family, sexuality and work. (p. 4)

Through the means of this short definition, we can see that thorough the centuries, the priorities of feminism had changed. In the second half of the twentieth century, feminism grew and expanded into different areas. Apart from the political equality, it also targeted the family life, the work life and the sexual life of women.

In addition to being different in its reach, feminism was no longer a singular noun. Thorough the second half of the twentieth century, many feminisms were formed, each of them responding to different priorities. In the book Separate roads to feminism: Black, Chicana, and White feminist movements in America’s second wave (2004), the author argues that “the second wave has to be understood as a group of feminisms, movements made by activist women that were largely organizationally distinct from one another, and from the beginning, largely organized along racial/ethnic lines” (Roth, p. 3). This new feature of feminism assured that even women of color, different sexual orientation or lower class were included in the fight against sexism and participated in the struggle for equality.

The second-wave feminism dealt mainly with the areas of family, sexuality and work but also raised awareness about number of different issues. For the purposes of thesis, the topics of female sexuality, independence, sisterhood and self-esteem are the most relevant and for this reason the following subchapters deal with them in detail.

2.1 Embracing sexuality

Concerning female sexuality, the second-wave feminism was spreading the idea that a woman is a sexual human being who does not exist solely to pleasure men. In her book Feminism is for everybody (2000), Hooks claims that “sexist thinking taught to females from birth on had made it clear that the domain of sexual desire and sexual pleasure was always and only male, that only a female of little or no virtue would lay claim to sexual need or sexual hunger” (p. 85). This way of thinking did not allow women to fully express themselves sexually. If they did, they were considered to be promiscuous and their sexual behavior stained their good name. This stigmatization of female sexual behavior resulted in feelings of shame in females when encountering sexual urges. “Divided by sexist thinking into the roles of madonnas or whores, females had no basis on which to construct a healthy sexual self” (Hooks, 2000, p. 85). Women themselves feared their sexuality and therefore were not capable to make a valuable connection with their bodies.

What is more, no matter whether a woman had the role of a “madonna” or a “whore”, both were problematic, as they were roles based on a woman’s sexual behavior or her desires. We can hardly call this division natural, or healthy. No matter at which side of the classification scale a woman was, neither side resulted in healthy self-esteem or self- love which are important qualities every emancipated woman should possess. Qualities which were also brought to attention by the contemporary feminism (Hooks, 2000, p. 31).

The time period of second-wave feminism was sexually liberating for both women and men. “While pleasure did not mean the same thing to every woman, it nonetheless became synonymous, brieﬂy, with liberation” (Gerhard, 2001, p. 2). Being able to perceive themselves as sexual beings without guilt helped women to gain power over themselves and their bodies. This sexual liberation brought to life by second-wave feminists reflected not only in the private lives of women but also in the contemporary literature. In her book Desiring Revolution (2001), Gerhard asserts that “despite the marginalizing of women’s writing, women writers wrote about sex throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Feminist ﬁction writers of the 1970s engaged with this tradition as well” (p. 126).

Many literary works and well known stories were written or rewritten by second wave feminist writers in order to strip the works of sexism and to endow them with feminist ideas. “Writers of feminist ﬁction borrowed from each literary world motifs of liberation and satisfaction, of sex and romance, of subjectivity and selfhood. To that combination,

they added a new element: feminism.” (Gerhard, 2001, p. 127) As a result, this powerful mix of features brought many feminist characters to life.

2.2 Gaining independence

Sexual abuse, oppression, and the imbalance of power between the sexes all led to females being depended on males. Many women sought validation in their male counterparts, they were financially and emotionally dependent on them and it was considered a norm. The second-wave feminists fought against the patriarchal structure of the society in order to gain their independence.

In the book Living with Patriarchy (2011), the concept of patriarchy is defined as “the relationship of a dominant group, considered superior, to a subordinate group, considered inferior, in which the dominance is mitigated by mutual obligations and reciprocal rights” (Lerner quoted by Majstorović and Lassen, p. 1). Drawing conclusion from this definition of patriarchy, we learn that it does not allow women to function on their own and it imposes a certain degree of dependence on them.

“For second-wave feminists, the relationships between men and women constituted the very infrastructure upon which other oppressions relied” (Gerhard, 2001, p. 194). Females were oppressed by males and there was a tangible difference in the balance of power between men and women which, due to male domination, could result in violence. Hooks states that “sexist thinking continues to support male domination and the violence that is a consequence” (2000, p. 64). To end the oppression and abuse, the second-wave feminists wanted to raise awareness about the violence in order to eradicate it. The journey to this eradication was not thought to be easy. Hooks contemplates that “until they (men) unlearn the sexist thinking that tells them they have a right to rule over women by any means, male violence against women will continue to be a norm” (2000, p. 65). It was the second wave feminists who draw the attention to this sensitive and important topic and set the foundations for the next generations of feminists to tackle this issue and to change what was considered to be normal.

Closely connected to female independence was lesbian feminism which was one of many feminisms of the second-wave. “Some lesbians insisted that they were central to women’s liberation because their very existence threatens male supremacy at its most vulnerable

point” (Walters, 2005, p. 107). Though this assertion is radical, it is, to a certain degree, truthful. A life of a lesbian was rich and content despite the absence of men. Lesbian feminists were capable of complete independence and therefore their well-being did not rely on men. They knew their self-worth much better as it was not defined by men in their life. “We will never know how many millions of women stay in relationships with dominating sexist males simply because they cannot imagine a life where they can be happy without men, whether they are satisfied sexually and emotionally with the men in their life or not” (Hooks, 2000, p. 95). This dependence, whether sexual, emotional or financial, prevented women from being content on their own, to nurture their self-esteem and to truly respect themselves.

Lesbian feminism of the second-wave was an engine pushing women independence forward. In her essays, Estelle Freedman explains:

Lesbian feminism, by affirming the primacy of women’s relationships with each other and by providing an alternative feminist culture, forced many nonlesbians to reevaluate their relationships with men, male institutions, and male values. In the process, feminists have put to rest the myth of female dependence on men and rediscovered the significance of woman bonding. (2006, p. 34)

This power of female unity and the capability to learn from one another, despite the differences in sexual preferences, is what helped to redefine woman’s self-esteem and to realize their self-worth.

2.3 The power of sisterhood

In the second half of the twentieth century, the sexism was so deeply rooted that it resonated even between women themselves (Hooks, p. 14). It was women realizing the power of unity that allowed changes to happen. With the realization that other women are neither the enemy nor the competition but can be a valuable ally, feminism stood a great chance at fighting sexism and patriarchy. “Feminist sisterhood is rooted in shared commitment to struggle against patriarchal injustice, no matter the form that injustice takes. Political solidarity between women always undermines sexism and sets the stage for the overthrow of patriarchy” (Hooks, p. 15).

There was, unfortunately, a slight problem concerning the concept of sisterhood among women. A division was created between the women with better social background and

the others. Their priorities differed and due to internalized sexism in which the groups from a different background or of a different color were not capable of working together towards a common aim, the value of sisterhood slowly deteriorated. For some, however, sisterhood was still valuable and it survived. Women who were able to see through internalized sexism, racism and classism were able to bond and to create a sisterhood of women with similar aims and great determination (Hooks, pp. 16-17).

Bell Hooks advocates the concept of sisterhood and its immortality as one of the vital components of feminism in her book Feminism is for everybody:

Radical groups of women continue our commitment to building sisterhood, to making feminist political solidarity between women an ongoing reality. We continue the work of bonding across race and class. We continue to put in place the anti-sexist thinking and practice which affirms the reality that females can achieve self-actualization and success without dominating one another. And we have the good fortune to know every day of our lives that sisterhood is concretely possible, that sisterhood is still powerful. (2000, pp. 17-18)

To conclude, the power of sisterhood was vital as it helped to eradicate internalized sexism among women and to create relationships which are not based on dominance rooted in the differences of class or race. The presence of this powerful component of feminism will be searched for in all the contemporary pieces of literature this thesis analyzes and dealt with in detail.

2.4 Self-esteem

Self-esteem, without which it is impossible to develop healthy self-perception, is an essential part of feminist ideologies (Hooks, 2000, p. 31). It is very closely connected to the female independence. When a woman loves herself, she is able to favor her needs over the needs of her male or female counterpart and is therefore in no way dependent on them.

By using the term self-esteem, the author of this thesis means to refer to self-respect, self- love and all actions taken by a woman to preserve her mental and physical well-being. Even though this element of the second-wave feminism might not be of the most prominent ones, it is the element which drove feminism forward and is strongly connected to the previously mentioned aspects of it. Females who began to respect themselves and

who have realized that they deserve to be treated differently and equally, were the engines driving forward all the feminisms that emerged in the second half of the twentieth century.

Simply put, self-esteem in females is one of the cornerstones of feminism. For this reason, the author of this thesis has decided to search for signs of self-esteem in all contemporary versions of the story in order to analyze its impacts on the stories’ development.

3 Analysis of “The Little Red Cap” by Brothers Grimm

The story of a little girl wearing a red hood who encounters a wolf on her way to her grandmother is best known under the name “Little Red Riding Hood”. For this reason the abbreviation LRRH is used to refer to the general representative of one of the best-known versions – “The Little Red Cap” by Brothers Grimm and also to its protagonist. Additional reason for the usage of this abbreviation is to avoid confusion with the poems “Little Red- Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy and “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas which are analyzed later in this thesis.

The tale of LRRH exists in many versions and forms. Even though there is abundance of the narratives, this chapter deals with the most famous version. The reason for this analysis is to ensure the capability to compare the narrative which is well known with the narratives which were written later and are therefore not as widely spread.

The LRRH by brothers Grimm is one of the most notorious version of the story. “In 1812, the Grimm Brothers delivered the second classic version of “Little Red Riding Hood”, based on Perrault's narrative, which had already become widely known through printed editions and oral transmissions by people from different social classes” (Zipes, 1983- 1984, p. 80). This analysis focuses on the LRRH titled “The Little Red Cap” from the very first edition of the Grimm’s tales retrieved from the book The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition (2015). The following subchapters deal with its essential symbols, metaphors and also explore the gender conflict in the story.

It is important to mention that as the analysis of this version was not written with regard to other folklore versions of the story. Many inaccuracies might arise when taking other folklore version or even later versions by the Grimm into consideration. For this reason, this analysis will deal solely with the very first version by Brothers Grimm, the most wide-spread version of the story. This analysis will not take into account other, later versions of the story.

3.1 Main symbols

The story by Brothers Grimm is full of symbols which, when deciphered, convey a message that some find applicable even today. This chapter and the following one deal with the most prominent symbols of the story and joins them together to decipher the meaning of the whole story.

The red cap is one of the most defining features of the heroine of the story. Its symbolic value adds to the definition of the protagonist’s character. At the beginning of the story, we learn that LRRH got her name after her grandmother gifted her with a small, red velvet cap. The little girl always wanted to wear it and so the people started to call her accordingly.

The color red might symbolize maturity of the character or in this case, to be more precise, her entrance to maturity – the first periodical cycle. Common association with color red is passion. This noun connotes sexual behavior which confirms the fact that the protagonist is on the verge of sexual maturity.

Another great symbol we can find in the story is a path. To be more precise it is the path which LRRH is told not to stray away from. The little girl is on the verge to her passage into a woman. When she meets the wolf she is easily tempted, or even manipulated into the possibility to stray away and gets easily distracted from her goal. This all happens in the forest which is unknown to the protagonist and therefore might symbolize the adult life.

The desire to explore is stronger than the willingness to obey the rules which signifies the protagonist’s curiosity for new and unknown things. The part of the story where LRRH chooses to stray away from the path symbolizes her early passage from childhood to adulthood.

On the path, LRRH meets the wolf who might symbolize many things but in this version, he mostly plays the part of a wicked predator. The Grimm’s version of the story says: “However, Little Red Cap didn’t know what a wicked sort of animal he was and was not afraid of him” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 85). As we can see, there is a certain undertone which makes it easy to imagine that the wolf is a metaphor for a wicked man who is trying to seduce the maturing girl with his cunningness. In her book The Hard

Facts of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1987), Maria Tatar’s words support this interpretation as she states that “there again, strength confronts weakness and any predatory power can be substituted for the wolf, with any innocent standing for the heroine” (p. 51). In other words, this part of the story is an allusion to real life situations, in which young females are being manipulated by older, more experienced men.

In the story by Brothers Grimm, there is a character which does not appear in the contemporary stories this thesis further deals with – the huntsman. Nevertheless, a part of this analysis takes interest in him as his character carries important symbolic value in this version of the story and is vital for the later analyses of other versions.

The huntsman is a father figure. His protective qualities and the fact that he saved both LRRH and her grandmother show that he is the opposite of the wolf and gives an example of a man who is virtuous and kind. However, there is a downside to the presence of the character.

The huntsman is important to the female characters of the story and the way they and their capability to take care of themselves is depicted. Unfortunately, the presence of the huntsman does not have a positive impact on the characters of women. The huntsman builds a wall in between the female characters and their self-reliance and puts them into the roles of damsels in distress. Without the character of the huntsman, the female characters would be doomed. The presence of a male savior in this story is especially important for the feminist issues featured in the contemporary stories this thesis deals with.

3.2 Sexual symbols

The sexual symbolism is to be found in several parts of the story. There is evidence implying sexual desires, behavior and abuse. This subchapter deals with the sexual implications and analyzes the story’s most prominent sexual symbols.

Although there are no direct mentions of sexuality in the story, from the context it is apparent that it is present. On the topic of sexuality in this version, Bettelheim says that “no sexuality is directly or indirectly mentioned; it may be subtly implied” (2010, p. 241).

The greatest sexual symbol of the story is the color red which is the color of the cap. Red is a color of menstrual blood, of passion, and it is also associated with seduction. The

protagonist wearing a red cap might be considered a parallel to a woman wearing red lipstick. In sexist society, such behavior would be considered lascivious and the given woman would be held responsible in case of male sexual violence. In other words, by the rules of patriarchy, she would be “asking for it”. In the same way, LRRH is, according to the implications of brothers Grimm, at blame for what had happened to her (Zipes, 2012, p. 141-142). By little hints, the Grimm version implies that the protagonist is held responsible for the sexual abuse she was subjected to for her alluring appearance.

Another symbol which might be considered to be sexual is the bottle. When the character of mother gives the bottle of wine and the cake to LRRH to carry it to her grandmother, she says: “Go directly there and don’t stray away from the path, otherwise you’ll fall and break the glass, and your grandmother will get nothing” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 85). This line seems to carry no further message than the worry of the mother for her daughter but when put into the context of the story, there is a certain symbolic value the bottle of wine might carry. The bottle might represent the LRRH’s virginity. To make this conclusion, we must connect “breaking the bottle” with “straying away from the path” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 85) which means going to the deep forest that represents the unknown – adult life. On this path, LRRH might come across someone dangerous and wicked. When the protagonist’s mother advises her not to stray away, it is not the wine she is worried about, it is her daughter’s chastity and the fragility of it. . This analysis is supported by the interpretation of Erich Fromm who, when analyzing the Grimm’s version, also came to the conclusion that the bottle is a symbol of the LRRH’s virginity (Tatar, 1987, p. 43). Furthermore, the word “fall” might signal a decline in morals which might occur as soon as the girl strays away from the path.

There is, however, a slight problem with interpreting the bottle as the protagonist’s virginity. At the end of the story, the grandmother gets better after eating the cake and drinking the wine. For this reason, we should assume that the wine itself is not supposed to represent the LRRH’s chastity but the bottle containing it is. The wine might symbolize some sort of feminine power or energy, or simply womanhood. To prove this, there is no further evidence in the story which leaves the interpretation of the symbolism of wine uncertain.

Another occurrence of sexual subtext can be found further in the story. When LRRH meets the wolf, he asks: “What are you carrying under your apron?” (Grimm, Dezsö,

Zipes, 2015, p. 85). According to the definition in The new penguin English dictionary (2000), an apron is “a garment tied round the waist and used to protect clothing” (p. 65). Apron traditionally covers the whole torso and also a part of lower limbs in order to protect the wearer from getting their clothes dirty. When we consider that it covers bosom and genitalia, it is not farfetched to assume that sexual implication is present in this question.

“The Little Red Cap” is possibly a story about sexual abuse. There is evidence which allows us to interpret the wolf’s character as a character of a man with intentions to rape LRRH. Towards the end of the story, after the wolf is dead and the protagonist learns her lesson, she encounters another wolf in the forest but this time, she refuses to speak to him. Later, she tells her grandmother about her encounter with the wolf and she says that “he would have eaten her if they hadn’t been on the open road” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 88). To translate this utterance into an explicit language, the man that the protagonist encountered would not hesitate to attack her sexually if there were no witnesses.

To conclude, “The Little Red Cap” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm is an allegory to the reality of rape. It is a story that warns adolescent girls to obey their mothers and to protect their chastity by not talking to strange men. Even though its symbolism might not convey the message of the story loud and clear, the sexual implications and the implications of rape are, with no doubt, present in the story.

3.3 Feminist features

As the further analyses of the more contemporary versions of the LRRH focus not only on the symbolism occurring in the story but also on its feminist issues, it is important to deal with those even in this version of the story to make sure the comparison of the narratives is as accurate as possible.

In the version by the Brothers Grimm there is abundance of symbolism connected to the character of LRRH yet there is very little depth to the character. All we inexplicitly learn about the female protagonist is that she is on the verge of adolescence and that she is disobedient and easy to manipulate. LRRH as the Brothers Grimm wrote her, is a female protagonist defined strictly by other, mostly male, characters.

During the story, LRRH takes many roles and none of them seems to respond to her actual character. The protagonist is easy to manipulate and seems to not have her own mind. When the protagonist is introduced, she is being instructed by her mother. This, of course, is a common occurrence among parents and their children. It is what comes next that implies how easy it is to manipulate the protagonist into doing something she was told not to. When LRRH meets the wolf, he encourages her to look around and to see the beauty of the surroundings. Without giving it a second thought, she lets the wolf to tempt her into straying away from the path, suspecting nothing at all. This shows how easily the protagonist can be controlled.

Further in the story, when the wolf devours the grandmother and lies in her bed in her clothes, LRRH finally arrives and in the way she is describing the situation, it is apparent that something is not the way it should be. “Oh my God, how frightened I feel today, and usually I like to be at grandmothers” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 86). This thought indicates that the protagonist evaluated the situation as potentially dangerous but she decided to stay. She also describes her grandmother as having a strange appearance but instead of abandoning the situation she finds herself in, she starts asking question which assure her more and more that her grandmother is, in fact, someone else. In this passage of the story, the one where the protagonist asks the wolf questions, wondering about the differences between him and her grandmother, we can see that LRRH is sure something is not quite right but she does not run away. It is questionable why the protagonist behaves this way.

One explanation for the protagonist’s behavior is that the character is not smart enough to realize that her life is at stake. Another explanation is that her need to be polite is stronger than her instinct to survive. The protagonist rather stays with the stranger in her grandmother’s bed so as not to offend him by running away and saving her own life. Either way, the situation ends badly for her as she gets “gobbled up” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 87) by the wolf.

The story could have ended very differently if the protagonist listened to her instincts and fled or called for help. She, however, became a victim, someone who needs to be saved. Thorough the whole story, LRRH is painted as a character who is incapable of her own decisions and thinking. She is either given orders or manipulated into doing things she would not think of on her own. This unfortunately makes her a rather two dimensional

character and not a very good role model for young girls. The character of LRRH Brothers Grimm is a negative role model as her behavior is not to be copied but avoided.

The fact that LRRH by Brothers Grimm victimization might have been avoided if she fled does not make her responsible for what had happened to her. It is not the girl who should have done something differently, but the wolf who should not have abuse her in the first place. It is important to clarify that the reaction of LRRH to the situation is analyzed solely to depict the character, not to blame the victim.

The well-known story is accompanied by an addition that is not as famous. It is about an incident in which the protagonist encounters another wolf and this time she is “on her guard” (Grimm, Dezsö, Zipes, 2015, p. 88). She tells her grandmother of the wolf and together they outsmart him. They pour water from boiled sausages into a well, the wolf cannon resist the smell and jumps in. This part of the story shows a certain degree of female independence and also a sense of sisterhood as the two female characters save themselves from the wolf. On the other hand it also teaches women that they are at blame if a man harms them. It conveys the message that if the protagonist was “on her guard” the first time, she might not get eaten by the wolf. When we consider the fact that it is a story of rape, the ending says that the victim is at blame for not being cautious enough.

To conclude, the version by the Brothers Grimm does not allow to function the main female character as self-reliant, independent and being able to take care of herself until the very end and even then it treats her as reformed despite the fact that she essentially did nothing wrong. Additionally, it blames the victim rather than the abuser. This version of the story is not a feminist one. Due to this fact, however, it is the perfect example to which later versions inspired by the story of LRRH can be compared.

4 Analysis of “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy, born in 1955 in Glasgow, is a female poet who is “one of the most important poets in contemporary British poetry” (Ismal Bala, 2012). “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy is a piece of poetry published in 1999 as a part of her poetry collection The World’s Wife. The poem is inspired by the story of LRRH. Its narrator is a young woman going through her passage from childhood to adulthood. The poem is opposing the traditional version of the story as we know it, especially when considering the male and female roles in it. The original story “The Little Red Cap” by Brothers Grimm is a story of male power over women and its symbolism implies sexual violence towards its protagonist. The poem by Carol Ann Duffy completely alters the tone of the original story and touches many feminist subjects while doing so. The following subchapters analyze the poem while taking second-wave feminism issues into consideration.

4.1 Embracing sexuality

“Little Red-Cap” by Duffy is a story of transition. It is a story about the journey from childhood to adulthood, or to use Duffy’s (1999) words, from “playing fields” to “the edge of the woods”.

In the version by Brothers Grimm, LRRH is metaphorically abused by the wolf and he is the one to control her. In this version, we get a radical change in the protagonist’s behavior. The author implies more than once that the protagonist knows her own mind and while she is gaining her sexual maturity, she is open to her desires and has no fear to fulfil them. The protagonist is willing to engage sexually with the wolf, and seems to take no shame in letting him seduce her. In the poem she states “I made quite sure he spotted me” (Duffy, 1999) which puts the protagonist into a very different position from the one LRRH by Grimm was in. In Duffy’s version, it is not only the wolf, but also the protagonist who is on her hunt. The fact that the protagonist is well aware of her actions and willingly encourages the wolf to buy her a drink by making sure he notices her makes her a very different character from the one brothers Grimm created.

When the wolf buys the protagonist a drink, she explains why she choose to enter “the woods” – the world of adulthood. Her short explanation is “poetry”. The meaning of this could be numerous. In the next line, she states “The wolf, I knew, would lead me deep

into the woods,/ away from home, to a dark tangled thorny place/ lit by the eyes of owls…” (Duffy, 1999) which might indicate that the protagonist believes that this experience will enrich her not only physically but also mentally. She expects being able to get away from her comfort zone – her home, and to find something profound when she allows the wolf to lead her. The protagonist is aware of what is going to follow and is comfortable with the idea of it. Even though she lets the wolf to take the lead, she feels in control over her actions.

Further in the poem, there is additional explanation of the significance of the term “poetry”. The line that says that “breath of the wolf in her ear, was the love poem” (Duffy, 1999) unravels that the protagonist is not searching for solely sexual relationship. It indicates that what might seem as a search to satisfy a sexual desire is becoming a desire for something much stronger and affectionate. In other words, the protagonist starts to have feelings for the man she decided to lose her virginity with. The “poetry”, as the protagonist chooses to refer to it, is what she is looking for – some sort of spiritual and intellectual enrichment or connection.

There is a significant line in the fourth stanza. The line rhetorically asks “what little girl doesn’t dearly love a wolf?” (Duffy, 1999). This line is vital as it clearly expresses the protagonist’s feelings towards the wolf. From this line, it is safe to assume that what has started as physical relationship is becoming something more, at least from the protagonist’s point of view.

As for the topic of embracing sexuality, this poem has tremendous amount of empowering metaphors and situations. It puts the female into the position of power over herself, her sexuality and her male companion. This is a novelty not often associated with the story of “The Little Red Cap” by Brothers Grimm which was originally a story of a protagonist who does not have her own mind.

4.2 Independence

As we established in the previous subchapter, there is no doubt that the protagonist of Carol Ann Duffy’s “Little Red-Cap” is a feminist character. The protagonist of “The Little Red Cap” by Grimm is not depicted as an independent character at all. In the case of LRRH by Grimm, it is the character of the wolf who controls the fate of the protagonist,

and later in the story, the protagonist’s life depends on the character of huntsman. The poem by Carol Ann Duffy, however, has a different development than the original version and as we proceed in reading, we uncover the complexity of the character.

The first indicator of the protagonist’s self-reliance and independence is strongly connected with the matter the previous sub-chapter deals with. The protagonist is independent on her journey to “the woods” – the adulthood. She has her own mind and decides to follow the wolf. During this passage, we get insight into what the protagonist is thinking and she even provides an explanation for her actions. This signifies that she independently chooses to follow the wolf into the woods which are a metaphor for adult life, while in the original version by the Grimm, the protagonist is manipulated and lured into straying away from the path.

Another indicator of her independence is to be found in the fourth stanza in which the protagonist says “then I slid from between his heavy matted paws/ and went in search of a living bird – white dove – “(Duffy, 1999). This action illustrates that the protagonist is still content to spend some time alone, even after discovering the companion of a man she clearly enjoyed. It also suggests that even after engaging with a man sexually, she is not intending to obey him. The word “slid” has a hint of secrecy, it informs us that this is not what the wolf would like to happen but the protagonist chooses to do so despite the fact that he might disapprove. This description of the action also gives away more about the character of the wolf. It can be gathered that the wolf, even though he is not depicted as the traditional predator of the original version, has inclinations towards controlling and possessiveness.

As we learn in the sixth stanza, the story is being told in retrospective. The protagonist states: “But then I was young – and it took ten years/ in the woods…” (Duffy, 1999) which means that what had happened did not end after the one night spent together but it lasted ten long years. It is obvious, towards the end of the poem, that the protagonist is no longer satisfied with her relationship with the wolf and that the dissatisfaction has lasted for a longer period of time. This provokes questions concerning the reasons the protagonist decided to stay with the wolf regardless her dissatisfaction. One reasonable explanation is the search for something more enriching, hoping there is a connection yet to be discovered. It must also be taken in consideration that the protagonist is fascinated by the “poetry” of the man she lives with. When we go back to the beginning of the poem,

we learn that “he stood clearing, reading his verse out loud” (Duffy, 1999). This depiction suggests that even though he was unwilling to enrich the protagonists’ life consciously, he was still a sophisticated and educated man and perhaps the protagonist had stayed in hopes to convince him to satisfy her hunger for enrichment. After the ten years, the protagonist loses her patience and realizes that the relationship is a dead end and there is no reason to keep it alive.

From the tone of the sixth stanza it seems that the protagonist feels trapped in the circle of stereotype. “A greying wolf/ howls the same old song at the moon, year in, year out,/ season after season, same rhyme, same reason…”(Duffy, 1999). She slowly starts to realize that the reason she stayed no longer fascinates her. She sees through the wolf and knows him too well to realize that he has nothing more to offer.

In this version of the story, the protagonist does not need help of a male to free herself from the wolf. She takes action and decides it is time to break the circle she currently lives in. She frees herself by taking an axe and killing the wolf by cutting him “scrotum to throat” (Duffy, 1999). This order of body parts parallels the target of interest the protagonist took in the wolf in the first place – the relationship started in order to satisfy a sexual desire and curiosity and ended for the insufficiency of the wolf’s poetry. This action is most likely a metaphor for either divorcing or breaking up with the man the protagonist spent ten long years with. The absence of any help during taking this action indicates the strength of the protagonist and her ability to be self-reliant and to be capable to save herself from a destiny which would not make her happy. It is the greatest metaphor of the protagonist’s independence in the entire poem.

4.3 Sisterhood

Even though there is only one line which uncovers the concept of sisterhood, it is certainly worth mentioning. When the protagonist kills the wolf, she mentions her grandmother’s bones. “As he slept, one chop, scrotum to throat, and saw/ The glistening, virgin white of my grandmother’s bones…” (Duffy, 1999). This way of describing the wolf’s bones signifies a reference to the previous generations of women that the protagonist thinks of when she is killing the wolf. It expresses female solidarity and also empathy. The protagonist realizes that she is not the only woman who wasted a great portion of her life

with a man who was not worth it. The act of killing him might be interpreted as the act of killing the patriarchy inflected upon both the protagonist and her sisters.

In the moment when the protagonist no longer feels connected to the wolf and ends his life – their relationship, she feels strong connection to the women of similar destiny and perhaps thinks that the act of killing the wolf was not only for herself but for all women. She feels motivated enough to kill the wolf because she realizes how many women before her had suffered in an unsatisfying relationship.

4.4 Self-esteem

From the very beginning, the protagonist is described as a woman who knows herself, her own desires and needs. She is aware of the changes her body is going through as she is maturing and decides to explore the adulthood lying ahead of her by experiencing her first sexual encounter with the wolf – an educated man who is older than her and who she knows will lead her “deep into the woods” (Duffy, 1999). This alone suggests that the protagonist is eager to get what she desires and is not afraid to take the necessary steps in order to achieve her goal. This lack of fear of her own sexuality is apparent especially from the second and the third stanza, which indicate that the protagonist respects herself and her own needs. In other words, she is at peace with herself, her body and her sexuality.

As the poem proceeds, we gain more clues suggesting the protagonist’s self-prioritization. After the sexual encounter, the female protagonist does not follow the typical progression the well-known version takes. When we consider LRRH by Grimm, we could assume the protagonist let the wolf manipulate her. In this poem, the protagonist decides to “slid from between his heavy matted paws” (Duffy, 1999). The symbolism hidden in this line supports the claim that the protagonist is not willing to succumb to the man and decides to keep her integrity. Simply put, she does not allow the man to become the center of her universe.

Towards the end, it might seem that the protagonist’s life has been controlled by the man she spent ten years with. This is arguable as we already know that the protagonist’s main interest was in an enriching experience – the “poetry” that the previous chapter has already discussed in detail. Therefore we can assume that the reason the protagonist decided to alter her life and to stay, was in the hope of finding what she was seeking.

Even though it takes the protagonist a great amount of time to realize that she needs to seek elsewhere, she eventually does come to the point of realization. After the protagonist discovers that the relationship with the wolf no longer makes her content, she takes action to free herself from his influence.

In addition to the previous evidence, there is the last, most important one. It is the very last line of the last stanza. “Out of the forest I come with my flowers, singing, all alone.” (Duffy, 1999). This part when the protagonist comes out of the forest is a metaphor for leaving an unsatisfying and unfulfilling relationship. We have established at the beginning of this chapter that the forest stands for adult life. Abandoning it might symbolize another passage. It indicates that taking a step back is often better for one’s development.

The protagonist comes out of the forest with her flowers. This interesting detail might be a symbol for many things. A flower is a common metaphor for virginity. The fact that the protagonist comes out of the forest bearing flowers suggests that she did not lose anything by engaging in sexual activities. It poetically explains that a woman’s value does not depend on her chastity. By losing her virginity, the protagonist did not actually “lose” anything. She comes out of the forest as complete as she entered it.

Another connotation flowers bring is peace. The image of a woman walking out of the woods, holding flowers evokes peaceful emotions. The protagonist is therefore at peace with herself and with what she did. What is more, she is singing which strengthens the idea of inner peace and content even more.

The last two words of the poem create a powerful ending. Even though “all alone” might sound negative when taken out of the context of the poem, the connotation of the words is merely positive here. The protagonist eventually finds what she has been looking for by exploring her sexuality and discovering the sense of self-worth which cannot be substituted by anything else. She is content with her individuality and not afraid of solitude. Thorough the journey to the adulthood, she discovers that all she needs is to put herself first in order to be happy and that she needs no one else to do so.

4.5 Symbolism

Now, that the feminist features of the story are defined, let us concentrate on the symbolism in the story. The symbols and metaphors this chapter discusses might not necessarily straightforwardly bear a feminist message but are vital to the story and its development and therefore important to analyze.

It is not surprising that the color red carries great symbolic value. Unlike in the version by brothers Grimm, in this one the protagonist is not wearing a red cap. Nonetheless, the color appears in different contexts and on different items of clothing.

We first encounter the color red when the protagonist is describing the wolf. “Red wine staining his bearded jaw” (Duffy, 1999). Here, the importance of red color is as profound as the importance of wine. The whole description is informing us of the wolf’s maturity. The color red is the color of passion, sex and maturity. The fact, that the wolf is drinking wine supports the assumption that the wolf is a mature man, possibly much older than the protagonist, hence the “bearded jaw”.

The red color makes its next appearance in the description of sexual act. “My stockings ripped to shreds, scraps of red from my blazer …” (Duffy 1999). This line reveals that the protagonist was wearing a red blazer. Here, the symbolism is no different from the one in the version by the Grimm. It symbolizes the protagonist’s transition to adulthood as it is the color of menstrual blood and, in addition to that, it is the color of seduction.

One of the most interesting symbols is to be found in the fourth stanza. Standing in stark contrast to the wolf, there is a white dove. The dove might symbolize many things but when speaking in the context of this particular piece of poetry, it is safe to assume it symbolizes the protagonist herself. Or, at least, a part of her. It is the dove that allows us to make a connection which leads us to the conclusion that when the protagonist is looking for it, she is in fact searching for herself.

In addition to that, the dove might also symbolize pure affectionate feelings the protagonist has for the wolf. The dove appears shortly and is immediately devoured by the wolf. This might mean that the wolf has no interest in the protagonist’s love and is only interested in her physically, not wanting to know the protagonist’s true self. He devouring the dove is also restricting her from finding herself as she intended to.

When the protagonist kills the wolf, she sees “the glistening, virgin white of her grandmother’s bones” (Duffy, 1999). As it was already mentioned in the chapter about sisterhood, it refers to the previous generations of women and shows her empathy for them. It refers to a female connection and solidarity. We first encountered the white color when the protagonist “went in search of a living bird – white dove” (Duffy, 1999). The wolf eats the dove, destroying what she wanted to find. Seeing the white of her grandmother’s bones might mean retrieving something the protagonist lost because of the wolf. In other words, she lost herself during her long life with the wolf and now she had finally found herself again.

After the wolf is dead, his belly is filled with stones and stitched up. As most things in the poem, even the stones hold a symbolic meaning. The stones might represent the realization of the protagonist that the wolf was nothing more than a burden to her. The stones illustrate a heaviness quite explicitly, so there is no need to elaborate further.

5 The analysis of “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter

Included in Angela Carter’s work is both fiction and non-fiction. Born in London, she was influenced by her hometown which most prominently reflects in Nights at the Circus which is one of her nine novels. Apart from being an author of novels, Carter also wrote several collections of short stories, children’s stories and poetry. She was also active as a journalist and worked for radio and television (Stoddart, 2007, pp. 3-4).

In her works, Angela Carter is dealing with portrayal of women and explores their influence on the narrative. She is fascinated with “the sexual politics of looking at images of women and in the role that women themselves might have in directing and shaping the pictures that circulate of them” (Stoddart, 2007, p. 4). This fascination in women and their image in literature is what makes the Carter’s short story “The Company of Wolves” interesting for the purposes of this thesis.

The following subchapters focus on the four defining features of the second-wave feminism concerning female sexuality, independence, sisterhood and self-esteem as was already done with the previous pieces of literature. Further on it focuses on any additional symbolism featured in the story.

5.1 Embracing sexuality

From the story we can gather that, as it is in the case of LRRH by Grimm, the protagonist in “The Company of Wolves” is also on the verge of adulthood. Although she is gifted with a scarlet shawl, there is no reference to the character that would suggest people are calling her accordingly. The protagonist remains nameless and the red shawl serves only as a symbolic item representing the protagonist’s sexual maturity.

The fact that the protagonist is going through her sexual awakening is explicitly stated in the story and not much is left to imagination in this area. The evidence in the text mentions that “her breasts have just begun to swell” and that she “has just started her woman’s bleeding, the clock inside her that will strike henceforward once a month” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). Quite straightforwardly, we are told that the protagonist is going through many changes.

Further on, we learn that the protagonist “stands and moves within the invisible pentacle of her own virginity” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). The protagonist’s virginity is perceived by her as a kind of restraint, as a boundary that she is ready to cross. Following line says that “she has her knife and she is afraid of nothing” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). Those words, especially coming immediately after we learn that she is a virgin, might mean that being “afraid of nothing” is not being afraid of her recent sexual awakening.

In this story, wolves are werewolves who are able to turn into men when they put on an item of clothing. “Before he can become a wolf, the lycanthrope strips stark naked. I you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). This ability makes it hard to notice a wolf when in their human form. For this reason when the protagonist meets the wolf who is dressed as a hunter, she is clueless about his true nature. At first, she reaches her knife but then she realizes that she is foolish to think he would harm her as he is dressed as a hunter. She is enchanted and, perhaps unwittingly, coquettes with him. She thinks he is “very handsome” (Carter, 1979, p. 77) and his charm makes her trust him. Their relationship starts of as friendly and playful, as she bets a kiss that the wolf will not be able to get to her grandmother’s house before her. When they are establishing the reward she would give him if he managed to arrive before she does, she asks what would he like and he responds that he wants a kiss. The protagonist reacts by lowering her eyes and blushing which reveals the character’s innocence and lack of previous similar experience.

They part and the protagonist is making sure she is taking her time on her way as she wants the wolf to win the bet. The wolf manages to get to the grandmother’s house first, kills and eats her, and waits for the protagonist. The grandmother is a character who represents the old fashioned values of the society. “She has her Bible for company, she is a pious old woman” (Carter, 1979, p. 78). The fact that the author reveals that the character of grandmother is religious is helpful for further analysis of the relationship between her and her granddaughter.

When the protagonist arrives, she soon discovers that her grandmother is dead but her behavior does not show any grief. In fact, she quickly realizes what awaits. “She shivered, in spite of the scarlet shawl she pulled more closely round herself as if it could protect her although it was as red as the blood she must spill” (Carter, 1979, p. 79). This line

foreshadows the protagonist’s intentions to seduce the wolf and to lose her virginity to him which might consequence in bleeding.

The protagonist reacts very quickly to the situation and takes immediate interest in the wolf. She hears howling, asks the wolf who has come to them to sing and opens the window to expresses her pity for the wolves and the fact that the “poor things” have to be cold. After this, she closes the window and starts to take of her clothes. She takes off “her scarlet shawl, the colour of poppies, the colour of sacrifices, the colour of her menses, and, since her fear does her no good, she ceases to be afraid” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). The shawl in this scene represents the protagonist’s virginity which she decides to sacrifice to the wolf. This moment is a moment when the protagonist fully reaches her sexual maturity and is confident to face her sexual awakening without fear.

The protagonist kisses the wolf as she promised and the conversation parallel to the LRRH by Grimm begins. When she wonders what big teeth the wolf has, he says that it is “all the better to eat her with” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). To this, the protagonist laughs because “she knows she is nobody’s meat” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). This particular part of the story is very empowering as it reveals that the protagonist is not at the wolf’s mercy. She is confident in her actions and is in control which causes a shift in roles and differentiates her from the wolf’s victims. She undresses the wolf and burns his clothes and he “lays his fearful head on her lap” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). The description of the wolf as being fearful sends a very strong message about its true nature and reveals that the wolf was tamed by the girl.

When there is a mention of “the old bones under the bed setting up a terrible clattering” (Carter, 1979, p. 80) it is as if the deceased grandmother expressed her disagreement with what is happening between the girl and the wolf. As was already said, the grandmother represents the old-fashioned values. In addition to that, she is likely to be a non-feminist character. We learn that the protagonist “did not pay them (the bones) any heed” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). The reason for this might be that the protagonist realizes that the old values must die so that the new ones could arise. She realizes that previous generations of women must die so that a new generation can be born. This new generation is represented by the protagonist who is a feminist character, able to except herself as a being capable of sexual desires who is not afraid to fulfill them.

5.2 Independence

The protagonist is a young girl who lives with her mother and father. She is a “strong- minded child” (Carter, 1979, p. 76) who is loved by her family and due to this she seems to have developed a healthy self-esteem. She is also a brave character as she takes with her a carving knife before setting off on her journey to the grandmother’s. Even though she is taking an instrument which is to protect her, “she is quite sure he wild beasts cannot harm her” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). There are more ways to interpret this line, but one of them, the most probable one, is that it is foreshadowing of the way the protagonist is able to deal with difficulties. Supporting this is the part of the story, where she says she is “nobody’s meat”. The protagonist simply refuses to be the victim.

From the way she speaks of him, we can see that her father is a bit controlling and protective man. When she is preparing to go to her grandmother’s all alone, she says that “her father might forbid her, if he were home, but he is away in the forest, gathering wood.” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). The protagonist obviously has her own mind.

When the protagonist meets the wolf disguised as a huntsman in the woods, “her practiced springs to the handle of her knife” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). The quick reaction and lack of hesitation show that the protagonist is confident in protecting herself and is not afraid to take action in order to save her own life.

When the protagonist starts talking to the wolf, he shows her his compass and brags about never losing his way in the woods as it always shows him the right way. After this, the protagonist shows her disbelief and contemplates that “she should never leave her path on the way through the wood or else she would be lost instantly” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). This line shows that the protagonist has some principles she follows and she would not risk getting lost on her way through the forest. This sense of responsibility expressed by the character is a sign of self-preservation. The protagonist does not try to impress the wolf by straying away from the path, she stays true to her principles and continues on her journey through the woods as usual. This shows that she is not easy to influence or manipulate and that she has her own mind.

The greatest evidence of the protagonist’s independence is visible when she discovers that her grandmother is dead and the wolf is after her. At this point, she has two options.

She can either accept the role of a victim or she can turn the tables and to use the situation to her advantage. If she choose to become a victim, she would accept all the old fashioned principles of the previous generations represented by her grandmother. This would mean that she would surrender to the wolf and be at his mercy. This would result in the wolf killing her. The protagonist, however, chooses to reverse the roles and refuses to become a victim. She tosses away all she was taught by the previous generations and takes control. This is the reason why she is not paying any attention to the clattering bones of her grandmother. She simply sees what happens when a woman allows a man to make her a victim and she decides to fight this.

By stripping herself of the influence of previous generations of women, women who were not feminists, who were subdued by men and ashamed for having sexual urges, she is reborn into a female who knows her own mind and instead of being subdued, she is subduing. As the metaphorical rebirth takes place, she takes her clothes off and begins her new life naked, same as newborns do.

In addition to all that is listed above, the protagonist approaches the wolf with certain tenderness. In fact, in the very end we learn that the wolf himself is a tender creature. “Sweet and sound she sleeps in granny’s bed, between the paws of the tender wolf” (Carter, 1979, p. 81). The way the story by Carter ends reveals a lot about what she was trying to communicate the whole time. It is a common misconception that feminists are women who do not need and perhaps even hate men. Carter managed to illustrate the opposite and to crush this myth about feminism. The protagonist clearly sees herself as being equal to the wolf. “She will lay his fearful head on her lap and she will pick out the lice from his pelt and perhaps she will put die lice into her mouth and eat them, as he will bid her, as she would do in a savage marriage ceremony” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). As we can see there are no signs that would suggest that the protagonist sees the wolf as inferior, she simply sees him as he is and accepts him that way. This shows that the protagonist does not need to make a person inferior in order to feel empowered which adds to the integrity of her character.

5.3 Sisterhood

Although there are no direct mentions of sisterhood, there are some details of the story which are closely connected to the idea of it and are worth mentioning and analyzing. In the story, there are representatives of three generations of women – the grandmother, the mother and the daughter.

The mother appears only at the very beginning of the story. We learn that she is the one who prepared the basket the protagonist is supposed to bring to the grandmother. When the protagonist is leaving, she mentions that her father would try to stop her if he saw her but “her mother can’t deny her” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). This phrase signals that there is certain resemblance between the mother and daughter and their behavior. These two female characters represent the new generation of women, a generation who is self- sufficient, confident and independent.

The grandmother, on the other hand, seems to be the representative of the old generation. She is a religious woman. When the wolf arrives to the grandmother’s house, we learn that “she has her Bible for company, she is a pious old woman” (Carter, 1979, p. 78). We know that the grandmother is very sick and hardly manages to do basic chores or to even get up. Despite this she lives alone, quite far away from her family. “A boy came out from the village to build up her hearth for the night an hour ago and the kitchen crackles with busy firelight” (Carter, 1979, p. 78). Instead of staying with her daughter and granddaughter, the grandmother rather stays in a house where she needs help of people from the village. Not only that, it was a boy who came in to set the fire in the fireplace. This small detail supports the idea that the character of grandmother is a non-feminist character who is dependent on male characters in the story. This character breaks the concept of female unity in the story. While the protagonist and her mother seem to be the symbols for the new feminist generation, the dying grandmother is the symbol of the dying patriarchal system.

Later in the story, the grandmother gets eaten by the wolf. Symbolically, the old generation dies and makes more space for the new younger one. In this symmetry, there is an element of rebirth. It seems that as soon as the grandmother is dead, the protagonist reaches her adolescence and we witness a slight shift in her behavior. At first she is caring and she wants to deliver the basket full of goods to her grandmother bus as soon as she

discovers that the grandmother is dead, it is as if the last thing that was preventing her to become the woman she wants to be was suddenly gone.

As was already mentioned, the grandmother gave a scarlet shawl to the protagonist. Right after the protagonist discovers that the grandmother is dead, she takes it of as if she was stripping herself from the influence of her grandmother and her old-fashioned values. The protagonist knows very well that her grandmother would disapprove as her “bones under the bed set up a terrible clattering” (Carter, 1979, p. 80) while the protagonist starts stripping the wolf.

When the protagonist wonders about the wolf’s big teeth and he says he has them “all the better to eat her with” (Carter, 1979, p. 80), she laughs and thinks to herself that “she knows she is nobody’s meat” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). Here we can see that the protagonist could have easily ended up the same way as her grandmother, but she simply refused. When we put aside the fact, that the grandmother was sick and unable to protect herself, we can see how cunningly the author used the two characters as symbols for women who are being oppressed by patriarchal system of society and for women who refuse it and decide to fight.

The gist is that when women unite and are able to influence and support each other as the protagonist with her mother did, they have a chance at a happy life. Their relationship can interpreted as a parallel to the sisterhoods formed in the second half of the twentieth century. The protagonist and her mother are representing women who are living in unity and the grandmother is representing a woman who is living in dependence.

5.4 Self-esteem

There is many evidence that have already been discussed in the previous subchapters proving that the protagonist is a feminist character. The element of self-love, the final feminist feature this thesis explores, is present as well.

The character was “too much loved ever to feel scared” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). These words refer to her family, mainly to her mother and grandmother, who were “indulging” her and therefore nourishing her healthy self-esteem. There is a visible support among the females in the family which has a positive impact on the protagonist’s personality and self-

perception. This loving care and support resulted in the protagonist growing into a female who is aware of her worth and who has a sense of self-preservation.

Thorough the story, we can see that the protagonist is strong-minded in a good sense of word. To give an example, she is determined to stick to the road as she knows she would get lost if she did otherwise. She does not try to impress the wolf by changing her habits and risking that she would never find the path if she strayed. The wolf represents a temptation. Even though it is not specifically offered to the protagonist that she could go with him off the road, it is subtly implied in the way he is describing how fast he is able to get to her grandmother’s house. “He said, if he plunged off the path into the forest that surrounded them, he could guarantee to arrive at her grandmother’s house a good quarter of an hour before she did … while she trudged the long way …” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). It is apparent that the wolf is putting the two options into a stark contrast, his way being faster and better and her way being the opposite. Despite his efforts to subtly manipulate her, the protagonist sticks to the road she knows and therefore refuses to do something she is not ready for. In other words, she is respecting her own needs.

Towards the end of the story, the protagonist takes the first step at initiating the sexual relationship between her and the wolf. She takes off her clothes and then “stands up on tiptoe and unbuttons the collar of his shirt” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). The fact that the first step was taken by the protagonist proves her readiness and that she has her own mind on how the situation should develop. Supporting this is the line where she thinks to herself that “she knows she is nobody’s meat” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). This line is without a doubt the most empowering line in the entire story and apart from other feminist messages, it also carries the message of a healthy self-esteem. It basically means that a man does not define her. Furthermore, the fact that she does not say “meat” but supplies it with “nobody’s” proves that the she is aware of her value and knows that she belongs solely to herself and not to anyone else.

5.5 Symbolism

Despite the abundance of symbols “The Company of Wolves” offers, this chapter will analyze only the ones which are the most important for the purposes of this thesis.

The most prominent symbol of the story is the red shawl that the protagonist is gifted with. The symbolism of it is very clear as it is clearly stated. It is towards the end of the story that we learn it is “the colour of poppies, the colour of sacrifices, the colour of her menses.” It is apparent, that the redness of the shawl, or even the shawl itself, represents the protagonist’s sexual maturity. Furthermore, the shawl was gifted by the grandmother. It might function as a symbol of influence that the grandmother has on the protagonist. This interpretation is supported by the fact that as soon as the grandmother dies, the protagonist takes the shawl off, as if she was stripping herself of the influence her grandmother has on her.

The grandmother is also a symbol that plays an important part in the story. The character of grandmother is a representative of the previous generations of women who lived under the rule of patriarchy. She has to die so that the new generation of women, represented by the protagonist, could arise.

The wolf, as in other versions of the tale, is again a representative of a male predator. Thorough the story, the wolves are treated like dangerous beasts with the intention to kill. They are feared and avoided and nobody wants to ever come to contact with them. “The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing else will do” (Carter, 1979, p. 74). In this case the wolf is, quite literary, a predator. The killing is not a metaphor for sexual violence, it is simply killing. We also learn that “the wolf is worst for he cannot listen to reason” (Carter, 1979, p. 74). This information is gained at the beginning of story and if it were true, it would mean that the wolf attacks without thinking and has no empathy, nor the capacity to think his actions through. But later we learn that this is not true.

The wolf that the protagonist meets in the forest seems to be different from the wolves that the omniscient storyteller speaks of. He speaks to her nicely, is polite and seems to like her. When they meet he makes “a comic yet flattering little bow” and he “offers to bring her basket” (Carter, 1979, p. 77). The wolf cannot possibly know, that the protagonist has a carving knife in her basket. He seems to offer help with no vile intention. The only vile action that we witness him doing is when he kills and eats the grandmother. After that, when the protagonist arrives, she senses a potential danger and decides to emphasize with the wolf rather than to continue the circle of fear. The protagonist is scared but since “her fear does her no good, she ceases to be afraid” (Carter, 1979, p. 80).

She strips her clothes and then she also strips his. This action signifies that she considers him to be equal to her. She no longer perceives him as a creature to be afraid of and she realizes that she, too, can hold the power. The protagonist takes initiation and her transformation from childhood to adulthood is completed. The story ends with the protagonist sleeping in her grandmother’s bed “between the paws of the tender wolf” (Carter, 1979, p. 81). The two contrasting words “tender” and “wolf” joined together signify that there is both a human and a beastly side in everyone. When the protagonist ignored that her grandmother is deceased, she performed an act of beastliness as well. The wolf is, in a way, symbolizing the potential for good and bad that lies in everyone. Supporting this interpretation is the fact that when they first meet, the wolf is dressed like a huntsman. This contrast suggests that the character is both a wolf and a savior which represents the good and bad in a human.

Another symbol which reappears on multiple occasions in the story is the color white. The color connotes peace and innocence. In the story, it mainly represents innocence. We first encounter the color when the protagonist is introduced, we learn that “her cheeks are an emblematic scarlet and white” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). From this depiction, it is apparent that the scarlet also carries symbolic importance. The two colors stand in contrast. As was already analyzed above, the red shawl symbolizes the protagonist’s first period and therefore her sexual readiness. In stark contrast, white symbolizes innocence which is still present in the character of the protagonist.

Before the protagonist and the wolf first encounter sexually, after she takes off all her clothes “naked she combs out her hair with her fingers; her hair looks white as the snow outside. Then goes directly to the man with red eyes …” (Carter, 1979, p. 80) Again, the two colors are in contrast. In this passage, the innocence of the protagonist meets the sexual desire she has for the wolf. The fact, that her hair “looks white” might be implying that even though the protagonist seems innocent, she is not.

6 Analysis of “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas

Olga Broumas is a Greek poet who immigrated into the United States in 1967. Her poetry is considered to be “Sapphic” because of the occurrence of lesbian topics in her work. Her work includes several poetry collections (Soie Sauvage, Pastoral Jazz, Perpetua, Rave: Poems). Her poem “Little Red Riding Hood”, published in 1977, transforms the widespread story of LRRH into a story of a feminist with inner struggles while touching the subject of sexuality, a strong mother-daughter relationship and grief. The following subchapters are devoted to a detailed analysis of the poem “Little Red Riding Hood” with particular regard to feminist issues.

6.1 Embracing sexuality

The poem by Olga Broumas is dealing with the protagonist’s sexuality in a mournful way. From the poem, we sense regret and remorse over the path the protagonist chose. The journey to embrace her sexuality is uneasy and comes with negative contradicting feelings. The following paragraphs deal with those feelings in detail.

The protagonist has a complicated relationship with herself and her sexuality. We learn that when she was young, her mother warned her to avoid men and to mind her own business. “Stick to the road and the flowers, there’s/ wolves in those bushes, mind/ where you got to go, mind/ you get there” (Broumas, 1977). We can notice the connection to the tale of LRRH as the imagery of the poem is very similar to the tale – the road, the tempting flowers, the wolf and, most importantly, the warning in her mother’s voice. In this version of the story, the protagonist obeys her mother and she truly is wary of men. What is more, the mother’s warning has much deeper impact on the protagonist as she refuses to engage with men completely.

We learn that the protagonist leads a lesbian life and she only engages in sexual acts with women. “I/ minded. I kept/ to the road, kept/ the hood secret, kept what it sheathed more/ secret still, I opened it only at night, and with other women/ who might be walking the same road to their own/ grandma’s house …” (Broumas, 1977). It is not certain whether the protagonist chose to lead a lesbian life because of her mother’s warning or because she truly was capable to love women and was not interested in men. Due to the fact that the author of the poem, Olga Broumas, is a lesbian and it is probable that the poem is

autobiographical this analysis is inclined to interpret the character’s motives as based on true feelings regarding love and sexual attraction towards women.

Due to her interest in women, the protagonist is childless. She misses her chance to have a child, a daughter, and now she regrets that she has decided to obey her mother and to be wary of men who “feed on her flower-gathering sisters” (Broumas, 1977).

An inner struggle is apparent from the poem as the protagonist is unable to have a child as her mother once did. The incapability to follow her mother’s path is painful and therefore transforms the protagonist’s sexual orientation into an obstacle.

6.2 Independence

As was already established in the chapter on second-wave feminism, female independence from men was one of its defining features. Women started to realize that their happiness did not depend on their male or female counterpart and began to search happiness within themselves.

Due to the fact that the protagonist’s happiness does not depend on her male or female love interest, she is, in feminist terms, independent. There is, however, a different kind of dependence inflicted on her.

The poem deals with a dependent mother-daughter relationship. Even though the poem does not explicitly suggest that the protagonist is fostering an unhealthy dependence on her mother, she does seek self-validation in motherhood. The protagonist envies her mother that she had a daughter and regrets obeying her. The relationship towards her mother is a loving one, but full of remorse. “I have no daughter/ to trace that road, back to your lap my laden/ basket of love” (Broumas, 1977). The protagonist feels that her life is incomplete, that by not having children, she failed in completing the circle. The fact that the protagonist is unable to deliver her “laden basket of love” – a child – just as her mother delivered the protagonist to her grandmother, causes her pain. Although it is natural for a woman to want children of her own, in this poem, it is important to consider that the protagonist might simply want to follow the pattern of the previous generations of women and therefore is dependent on them.

In the poem, there is no evidence of the protagonist’s own mind. She simply obeys her mother and does not doubt her advice. This proves that she is attempting, through any means possible, to please her mother and to meet her expectations. This might be connected to the protagonist’s sexual orientation. Her interest in women results in projection of those feelings into the most important female figure of her life – her mother, ending in an approval seeking relationship.

The protagonist dependence is as conflictual as her sexuality. It is, again, centered on a child that she does not have. Her value and the evaluation of it depends on two things – on the desire of her mother’s approval and a child that does not exist. The character is defined by what she is lacking rather than what she possesses. Through this means, the author had created a profoundly sad but relatable character, a character conflicted with her desire to be the mother she had, and the incapability to become one.

6.3 Sisterhood

The sisterhood in this poem is very prominent. Firstly, we should take into account the relationship the protagonist has with her mother. Even though the relationship is stained with some unfulfilled expectations, it is a strong and loving one. The protagonist addresses her mother as the “landscape of her heart” (Broumas, 1977) and speaks of her with upmost respect and tenderness. As consequence, the female bond is palpable in the tone of the poem. To give more examples, it is relevant to include the comparison of her mother’s “pelvic scaffold” to a “wishbone” (Broumas, 1977). This depiction of a part of her mother’s body is very positive in meaning as a wishbone is broken to grant a wish. The protagonist also describes her mother as the “architect of her body” (Broumas, 1977) which signifies the respect she has towards her mother for she brought her to live.

The poem is, apart from other issues, about the importance of female connection and also about the connection with the protagonist’s womanhood. Being a woman means having the ability to give birth to a child. Even though the protagonist is incapable of that, she does not hold a grudge against the women who are. On the contrary, she refers to them as “sisters”. “Across this improbable forest/ peopled with wolves and our lost, flower- gathering/ sisters they feed on” (Broumas, 1977). This line shows a great deal of female solidarity and understanding. Even though the protagonist did not stray away from the

metaphorical path and avoided wolves, she does not judge the women who did and the fact that she is calling them her “sisters” shows that she considers them equal to her. Even though one might expect it, there is no envy in the protagonist’s words.

The last evidence of the concept of sisterhood can be found in the way the protagonist speaks of her female lovers:

…I kept the road, kept the hood secret, kept what it sheathed more secret still I opened it only at night, and with other women who might be walking the same road to their own grandma’s house each with the basket of gifts her small hood safe in the same part. … (Broumas, 1977)

Again, there is a hint of solidarity when the protagonist says that the women she shares her intimate moments with are the ones who also “might be walking the same road” (Broumas, 1977). What she is trying to say is that the pain she is facing is not only pain of her own but a pain of all women who are not able to mother a child. It is a unifying moment in the poem when the protagonist shares the fact that even though she feels lonely because of the lack of child, she is never truly alone in her pain.

6.4 Self-esteem

The theme of self-esteem in this poem is the most complicated one. The whole poem is an attempt at coming to peace with the protagonist’s childless life. The protagonist’s relationship is mostly defined by her mother which builds a wall between the protagonist and her perception of self. For this reason it is very hard to decipher the protagonist’s reflective feelings. There are, however, some parts of the poem which allow us to glimpse at the protagonist complicated psyche.

On one occasion, when her mother gives birth to her, she compares herself to an arrow. “I slipped out like an arrow” (Broumas, 1977). This comparison, though it seems marginal, is vital to the protagonist’s perception of self. An arrow is a weapon which can go very fast in any given direction. The fact that the character compares herself to a weapon carries an extremely empowering message. On the other hand, it also is a

foreshadowing of the protagonist’s relationship to her mother. An arrow must be accompanied by a bow to work properly. This metaphor in which the protagonist is an arrow, makes her mother the bow which determines the protagonist’s direction. From this metaphor it is apparent that the protagonist’s motives are driven by her mother therefore any feelings of self-love and self-esteem she possesses are derived and dependent on the way her mother perceives her.

The relationship of the protagonist to her mother is a relationship worth exploring in more depth as the character of mother is the one which forged the character of the protagonist. “I grow old, old/ without you mother, landscape/ of my heart…” (Broumas, 1977). The protagonist compares her mother to a landscape of her heart which expresses great love and respect towards her. The protagonist realizes the bond between them and wishes she could have a similar relationship with her own daughter. Even the fact that the protagonist sees herself as an arrow which needs to be accompanied by a bow expresses how much she values her mother’s guidance. Even though the protagonist is, to a degree, dependent on her mother, their relationship is a loving one, despite being stained with regret.

As was already mentioned, the protagonist’s evaluation of self, apart on her mother, depends on what she lacks. She is unhappy because she is not a mother. It is apparent that the protagonist suffers due to her childless life. She is trying to come to terms with it by addressing her mother and trying to explain what happened and why. This form of justification is to help her to find peace with her situation and to go on with her life despite not having children.

The protagonist, even though it may not seem that way, is a fighter. She is trying her best to live the life she does not find complete without a child, to live the life of loneliness. Despite the remorse and sadness she is feeling, the protagonist tries to confront her inner issues and to go on. This behavior illustrates the character’s respect to herself and allows us to interpret her as a character who has self-esteem.

6.5 Symbolism

The first symbol worth mentioning is a child. It carries a great emotional value on a wide spectrum – grief, regret, pain, but also hope and self-realization. In the context of the poem, the child is representing a dream. The protagonist wishes to have a child and it is

something she cannot achieve. For this reason, the child in this poem is a contradicting symbol, standing for both hope and a bitter reminder of the protagonist’s childless life.

Apart from defining the protagonist, the symbol of a child is also connected to the circle of life which the protagonist failed to complete. By having a child, she would continue what generations of women before her had started.

The red hood is another important symbol. The protagonist comes to the world “dressed in her red hood” (Broumas, 1977). The meaning of this is straightforward, the red color in the description is the color of blood the newborn was covered in and additionally it is an allusion to the tale of LRRH.

The hood also appears later in the poem. “I kept/ to the road, kept/ the hood secret, kept what it sheathed more/ secret still” (Broumas, 1977). The hood in this sense is a play of words on womanhood. The protagonist protected her womanhood from men as her mother advised her.

Howling is also one of the important symbols featured in the poem. The protagonist recalls that on the day she was born she came “dressed in her red hood, howling …” (Broumas, 1977). The sound associated with wolves, is surprisingly bestowed to the newborn protagonist. When she is growing up, her mother warns her about the danger wolves might bring, which makes us automatically associate the wolves with danger. When the protagonist comes to this world howling, it might be a foreshadowing of the fact that she is going to be dangerous to herself. In the poem, it is mostly the protagonist who is the source of her own misery, not wolves. By adding this small detail to the poem, Broumas has combined the character of the wolf and the LRRH into one, making her responsible for her own misfortune.

The character of a doctor is the only male character the protagonist comes to contact with. He is the only male representative of the metaphorical wolves that the protagonist encounters face to face and he symbolizes fear and isolation. Despite the fact that the doctor helped to bring the protagonist to the world, he is depicted as a negative character. The description “the white clad doctor and his fancy claims: microscope/ stethoscope/ scalpel…” (Broumas, 1977) has a hint of condescendence in it. Especially the way the protagonist describes his instruments gives away her negative feeling towards the character. The word “fancy” is used with a hint of mocking in it. It suggests that the doctor

might think much of himself but the protagonist certainly thinks little of him. Overall, the depiction of the doctor is very sterile and distant and reveals that the protagonist is very radical in her perception of men and refuses to make any exceptions. She is afraid of them and refuses to include them in her life.

Another symbol, a basket, recurs in the poem several times. The first mention of the basket is to be found when the protagonist is being born from her mother’s “hollowed basket” (Broumas, 1977). This line allows us to interpret the basket as woman’s womb.

Later in the poem, when the protagonist expresses her regret of not being a mother, she says “I have no daughter/ to trace that road, back to your lap with my laden/ basket of love” (Broumas, 1977). In this context, the symbolism of the basket goes back to the circle of life and its incompletion. The protagonist is sorry that she has no daughter who would continue the circle the generations before her had begun. The meaning of this symbol is not only the woman’s womb but also womanhood and the ability to have children which comes hand in hand with it.

7 The versions compared

Despite the fact that the three contemporary versions are very different in their concepts, they contain some recurring features. Those features might not occur with such prominence as the already analyzed features of embracing sexuality, independence, sisterhood and self-esteem, yet they are interesting for they allow us to see the reflection of second-wave feminism in the works. This chapter deals with the remaining shared characteristics of the stories and also compares them to “The Little Red Cap” by the Brothers Grimm.

Before particular common features will be dealt with, let us first look at the overall comparison of the four versions. As it is apparent from the individual chapters dealing with the contemporary versions of the tale, all of them include features that allow them to be labelled “feminist”. All of the contemporary versions lay in stark contrast to the well-known version by the Grimm which, despite including a small amount of features that might be interpreted as feminist, is a non-feminist tale.

The difference, of course, lies in the presence of the feminist features and also in the way the protagonists of the individual versions are depicted. In the contemporary versions, the protagonists are depicted in depth and we learn about their background, inner struggles and desires. The three feminist versions show motives for the protagonist’s behavior and therefore make them intriguing relatable characters while the version by Grimm depicts the protagonist as a two dimensional character about which we know only that she is easily manipulated and her disobedience ends misfortunately.

The problem with the Grimm version is that it does not allow the female characters to express themselves in any way. Thorough the story, they are dependent on other male characters and even when they move forward it is due to the influence of a male character. The example of this is the additional short episode in which the protagonist and her grandmother outsmart the wolf. The reason they manage to do so is because they are now more cautious around wolves as they have nearly died during their last encounter with one. In the contemporary versions, the protagonists are not defined by the male characters as they exist independently.

In the contemporary versions, not only we can see the reflection of feminism as such but also the reflection of different feminisms that emerged during the second-wave. In the

poem by Broumas, a lesbian feminism is portrayed which makes the piece very different from the two other contemporary versions. It allows us to see that the division of feminism into several different kinds made it easier for women who wished to be included in the fight for equality but were not able to identify themselves with the limited view feminism offered before its different kinds emerged.

Taking into consideration the features that were initially searched for, all were present in the contemporary versions. The embracement of female sexuality was portrayed prominently in all of the three analyzed literary pieces. Similarly, the element of sisterhood was also clearly illustrated in all of the versions. The issue of self-esteem and independence was prominent especially in the “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy and in “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter. In the poem “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas, these issues were addressed and dealt with but the protagonist’s struggle had an obvious impact on the character’s relationship to her mother and also to herself. In consequence, the message of the poem was not as empowering as the rest of the analyzed contemporary pieces but it was, nonetheless, a powerful insight into the life and the inner struggles of a feminist woman. The contribution of the poem by Broumas is as valuable as the remaining two pieces of literature, or perhaps even more, as it portrays a feminist woman from a completely different perspective.

Now that the general comparisons of the four versions were dealt with, let us compare some of the versions in terms of common features that were found during their thorough analyses. The following subchapters provide an insight into a selection of recurring features that were usually present in two of the analyzed versions or more.

7.1 The refusal to be a victim

One of the recurring features found in two of the three versions was the unwillingness of the female protagonists to be the victim. In the version by Grimm, LRRH is a victimized character. She is easily manipulated and does not have her own mind. Although the implications are not explicit, some evidence suggests “The Little Red Cap” by Grimm is a story of rape. This victimization of the female character is dealt with in a completely different manner in two of the contemporary versions – “Little Red-Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy and “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter.

Carol Ann Duffy had created a protagonist who is confident in her budding sexuality and when she meets a man she is attracted to, she lets him seduce her. At first, she has many good reasons to stay with the man but after several years, she discovers that her life is a stereotype. In this poem, the protagonist is not a victim as such. There are no signs of abuse from the man she lives with, not physical, neither emotional. She simply does not feel fulfilled by the life that she lives and she decides to kill the wolf in order to set herself free from him. The death of the wolf is metaphorical and probably represents a break-up or a divorce. What is important is that the protagonist decides that she no longer wants to be the victim of an unsatisfying relationship and takes the situation into her own hands.

The protagonist from “The Company of Wolves” is a “strong-minded child” (Carter, 1979, p. 76). When the wolf suggest that he could eat her, she laughs and explicitly thinks to herself that she “knows she is nobody’s meat” (Carter, 1979, p. 80). The protagonist is aware of the fact that she could easily become the victim but she refuses. Instead, she shows the wolf that they are equal which saves her life.

7.2 Rebirth

The symbolism connected to rebirth or birth is a feature which recurs in three of the versions that were analyzed. This symbol is treated differently in all of them and this chapter elaborates on its meaning in detail.

In the story by Grimm, the LRRH and the grandmother are eaten by the wolf. When the huntsman tries to save them, he “cuts open the wolf’s belly” (Zipes, 1983-1984, p. 87). Consequently, LRRH and the grandmother jump out of the wolf’s belly which symbolizes rebirth. As soon as the protagonist and the grandmother are “reborn” they are reformed. They have learned their lesson and are now more cautious when encountering a wolf. As is apparent, the element of rebirth is used as an element of reformation of the two female characters.

In the story by Angela Carter, the rebirth of the protagonist is more metaphorical than in the story by the Grimm. When the protagonist finds that the wolf has killed her grandmother and that she is in danger of death as well, she does not hesitate. Instead of becoming the victim she acts quickly and decides to express her sexual interest in the wolf. During this process, she strips herself naked and throws her clothes into the fire to

begin her new mature life in the same way she came to the world – naked. The rebirth of the protagonist is simultaneously her transformation into an adult which is not true in the case of the protagonist in the story by Grimm where the protagonist is still a child after her rebirth.

Furthermore, in the story by Carter, the rebirth of the protagonist also symbolizes the birth of a new generation of women. After the protagonist’s grandmother representing the old generation of women dies, the new generation is ready to take over and to make changes. This aspect of rebirth might refer to the birth of the second-wave feminists in the second half of the twentieth century as it made many changes regarding female rights, sexuality and self-perception.

The poem by Olga Broumas is not using rebirth or birth as a symbol but there is an image of birth that recurs. The poem begins with the protagonist feeling sorry that she did not give birth to any child as her mother once did to her. Following is a passage in which the protagonist describes that she came to the world “dressed in her red hood, howling …” (1977). The symbol of rebirth does not occur although we might interpret the protagonist’s wish to have a daughter as her wish to be reborn. Mothers often reflect in the behavior of their daughters and as her mother had a great influence on the protagonist, the protagonist perhaps wishes to have the same influence on her own daughter. This could be connected to the idea of rebirth but is rather a way of self-realization.

It is also relevant to mention that giving birth is reserved only to women. It is an act of giving life which, in a way, is very empowering. The desire of the protagonist in the poem by Broumas to give birth to a child signals her desire for the control over her body to function as it should by the laws of nature.

As we can see, rebirth or birth are reassuringly incorporated into several versions of the tale. The contemporary authors, however, tend to treat this element of the story as an empowering moment such us giving birth to a child or being transformed into a strong- minded woman. In the version by Grimm the rebirth of the protagonist serves as a second chance for her to learn her lesson even though she essentially was not at fault for what had happened to her.

7.3 The wolf as a love interest

In two of the three contemporary versions, the wolf represents a love interest to the protagonist. This approach to the character of the wolf is very different from the version by Grimm as in that particular version the wolf is a violent predator.

The protagonist from “Little Red-Cap” by Duffy spends ten years with the man she loves for she thinks he would somehow enrich her existence. This thinking suggests that the protagonist hopes the wolf would improve her life. This does not happen and she can no longer bear the stereotypical life she has with him. For this reason, she “kills” him and goes on with her life alone.

In “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter, the protagonist demonstrates that she and the wolf are equal. She expresses her desire for him and sees him as a tender creature. This dynamism between the two characters is very different from the one portrayed in the poem by Carol Ann Duffy. In “The Company of Wolves”, the protagonist realizes that she and the wolf have much in common and decides to make both hers and his needs a priority.

As we can see, the protagonist in the poem by Duffy decides for the life without a man and the protagonist in the story by Carter decides to share her life with one. The relationship in the story by Carter seems to be built on more solid ground as the protagonist believes that she and her male counterpart are equal. The way their beginning relationship is portrayed breaks the misconception that can often be encountered even nowadays – that feminists despise men and think that men are lesser than women.) (Hooks, 2000, p. 10.) This, of course, is not true as feminism fights for the equality of the sexes, not for the superiority of women.

In the poem by Duffy, the relationship is constantly filled with expectation. When the expectations are not fulfilled, the protagonist decides to leave. Both versions of the tale are feminist but each takes a very different approach.

7.4 The absence of savior archetype

Another common feature that was found is the absence of savior archetype which is closely connected to the element of independence. This feature was found in all three of the contemporary versions.

As is dealt with in the chapter on “The Little Red Cap” by Grimm, in this version, the savior archetype is present and is represented by the huntsman. The huntsman saves both the grandmother and LRRH and this action makes the female characters dependent. There is a later episode in which the grandmother and LRRH outsmart another wolf together and do not need the help of the huntsman. This, however, only suggests that they have learned their lesson. It is not the character of the wolf who is reformed but the protagonist who, essentially, did nothing wrong in the first place.

In the contemporary versions, there is no such thing as the savior archetype. In the version by Duffy, the situation is handled in the most radical way as it is the protagonist who kills the wolf and therefore saves herself. This way of dealing with the situation suggest that a woman does not need saving and is capable of doing so herself. This approach to the killing also combines the character of LRRH and the character of huntsman together, conjoining both the feminine and masculine values into one which implies harmony and equality.

In the story “The Company of Wolves” Angela Carter takes a similar approach. The protagonist, again, saves herself but this time in a slightly different manner. The protagonist is saved when she embraces her sexual awakening and starts to see the predatory wolf as a mate. The acceptance of her own sexuality might be interpreted as the acceptance of feminist ideas of the second-wave. When she realizes and admits her sexual attraction to the wolf, she sees how similar they are. Consequently, she takes action in order to demonstrate their equality – she takes off both her and his clothes to show their likeness.

The poem by Broumas does not introduce any character that might be classified solely as the savior. In fact, the author combines three characters into one. The protagonist represents the characters of LRRH, the wolf, and the huntsman. We already know from the analysis that the protagonist came to the world “howling”. This signifies that the wolf is within the protagonist and so is the savior archetype. The protagonist has no one to help

her with her struggle and she is attempting to do so herself. This gives her the potential to save herself, without any assistance of a different character.

As is apparent, each of the contemporary writers have decided not to include the savior archetype in the story or to join this persona to the persona of the protagonist. The way the savior archetype is treated in all three versions is much closer to the reality of life and also the reality of second-wave feminism as the women were alone in the struggle for equality and did not wait until somebody fought for them. They simply had to fight for themselves.

Conclusion

This thesis aimed to analyze three contemporary versions inspired by the tale best known as the “Little Red Riding Hood” (LRRH) with the regard to the most prominent issues of the second-wave feminism. The contemporary versions included the poem “Little Red- Cap” by Carol Ann Duffy, the short story “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter and the poem “Little Red Riding Hood” by Olga Broumas. To ensure the relevance of the comparison it also analyzed a well-known version by the Brothers Grimm – the first version which carries the title “The Little Red Cap”.

The feminist features that were searched for (embracing sexuality, independence, sisterhood and self-esteem) were successfully found in the three contemporary versions in varying degrees. Additionally, new common features such as the absence of savior archetype, the refusal of the protagonist to be the victim or the portrayal of wolf as a love interest have emerged and were consequently analyzed in greater detail in the last chapter of the thesis. The recurrence of common features in some of the versions prove that the second-wave feminism reflected in a unifying way and its ideas had great impact on the way women began to perceive themselves.

From the individual analyses it is apparent that the second-wave feminism allowed many female writers to express themselves freely and allowed them to choose among variety of feminisms the one that suited them the best. As a consequence, this choice reflected not only in their lives but also in their writings.

Thanks to the influence of the second-wave feminism, the three authors successfully challenged the patriarchal ideas portrayed in the tale of LRRH and managed to create three intriguing feminist characters. The importance of the contemporary versions is vast as they implicitly portray how corrupt the well-known tale is, especially in the terms of gender stereotyping.

The three contemporary versions of the tale of the LRRH defy the sexist ideas spread by the well-known version by the Grimm. They improve the reputation of the female protagonist by recreating her into a strong woman and enable her story to develop differently.

The answer to the question what had made the various versions of the character of LRRH feminist is fairly simple. It is the influence and experience of the women who recreated

her and enabled her victimized character to transform into an independent woman who realizes her self-worth, is content with her sexuality and recognizes the value of sisterhood.

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