The Dynamic of Perception

1. At first glance, it does seem a bit odd that the mother only warns Little Red against straying off the path lest the wine bottle is broken, but upon a closer look, I believe the mother is acting on her best discretion. And acting on one's discretion is perhaps one of the things that all societies share in common.

The mother of Little Red knows her personally. She understands what she likes, dislikes, respects, and cares about. In the tale, Little Red is portrayed to have a very close and amiable relationship with her grandmother. She is even named after the present that her grandmother gave her. Knowing that Little Red would always behave in a manner that ensures her grandmother's wellbeing, the mother warns Red against straying off the road lest the loss of grandmother's wine.

The mother does not warn Little Red of the wolf, or other potentially dangerous animals, because she thinks that Little Red would be distracted or frightened as she encounter these villains. The mother takes in account of Little Red's age. A young girl may act very irrationally while in great fear. So the mother makes no mention of the wolf.

The mother's mentality is similarly replicated throughout the world. In America for example, the political system is a Representative Democracy. The people select a group of elites who have the ability and knowledge to act in their best discretion to protect the rights of their people. Oftentimes, truths become hidden from the public, but for a good cause. Truth is not always good; in fact, truth can be counterproductive depending on circumstances of the situations. As can be seen in times of national crises, the leaders always seek to prevent a riot or a cluster of fear, to the extent that these leaders may lie. Fear is a natural human instinct, but it is definitely not a good one in times of emergency.

2. Although scholars have argued that Little Red contain gender and sexual symbolism, I believe it is mostly a coincidence. In literature, analytical and creative thinking is definitely cherished. But at times, there has to be a line drawn between insights and rubbish.


The scholars may argue that in many cultures, young girls are described as flowers. And the color red modifies passion, love, or romance. A red flower is often referred to as a red rose, which implies love, fire, and maybe even desire. On top of that, the tale describes Little Red as a young innocent girl. For people who believe that everything in our world must mean something, they might believe that Little Red is a symbol of a passionate young innocent girl, who is about to stumble into the world of love and romance. And the wolf on the other hand, is seen as a fierce, masculine animal, who preys and hunts on inexperienced targets. In many traditions, a wolf is described with an endless greed for food, analogous to the insatiable sexual hunger that strong young males are perceived to have.

Going along with the scholars' line of logic, the wolf dresses up as the granny and manipulates Little Red's naive mind. It is almost symbolic of a malicious male masking himself behind the internet while pretending to be someone they're not. And Little Red is symbolic of a passionate yet inexperienced teenage girl who is vulnerable to the potentially dangerous world of ours today. It is definitely not far fetched to draw the conclusion that Little Red has symbolic meanings, but I don't believe that is the story writer's intention to include such messages.

Back in the Qing Dynasty of China, writers and poets were under great scrutiny of government monitoring. They must watch exactly what they write in fear that a word, or a phrase in their writing may seem symbolic of things the government opposed. The government arrested and persecuted thousands of innocent people for producing or owning literature that coincidentally appeared to be symbolic evil.

Furthermore, Little Red is a popular story among many cultures. Consequently, the elements of the story may differ in meaning depending on which cultural belief the audience is perceiving the story from. To say that the creator of the original story intentionally included implicit sexual messages is a bit too unreasonable.

3. Aesop's Fables normally use the image of wolf as a stereotypical profile to convey a moral message in the end. In some stories, wolf is described as the malicious villain that attempts to prey upon the innocents, like in the fable where wolf is covered in sheepskin. And in some stories, wolf is a mere representation of a general sense of danger, like in the fable "The Shepherd Boy". And sometimes, the image of wolf is used as a stereotypically accused character, like in the fable "The Dog and The Wolf", and "The Wolf and the Crane". But what all these fables share in common, is the same stereotype that people choose to attribute to wolf.

Why don't they pick lions or tigers? Perhaps these creatures are even more fearsome than wolves. In the cartoon movies Ice Age, and Lion King, for example, wolves are treated with the same general stereotype as do Aesop's fables; animals who are more dangerous are not necessarily the bad guys. In general, the wolf image has been treated as a social cliche that people use and reuse over and over for the sake of convenience. It has become a symbol of greed, hunger and danger.