Coastal Carolina University CCU Digital Commons Honors College and Center for Interdisciplinary Honors Theses Studies Fall 12-15-2012 Who Is Still Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Laura DeCrane Coastal Carolina University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation DeCrane, Laura, "Who Is Still Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" (2012). Honors Theses. 56. https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-theses/56 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College and Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at CCU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of CCU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Introduction One of the most well known villains of all time is the Big Bad Wolf. Usually a male entity, he has been present in child and adult literature for centuries and continues to unsettle readers in the twenty-first century. The Big Bad Wolf is consistently portrayed in a negative light because he originated in a time when wolves were feared, making him the perfect example to terrify village children. Over time, as a result of social and cultural changes, writers have transformed the wolf so that he is no longer the terror that plagued the nineteenth century. Instead, the Big Bad Wolf has become either a domesticated house pet or an audience-friendly, romantic, even sexual entity. In the process, the Big Bad Wolf is not simply a figure in children’s literature; he now attracts adult readers.