HILL 1

Rickell Hill
Dr. Burke
ENGL 414
18 March 2015
Low-Stakes Writing Assignment- Fairy Tales

One of the major characteristics that I often look for in Fairy Tales, in particular, is the
happily ever after ending. I expect to see that the conflicts that were in the story originally are
finally being resolved and every character is happy and satisfied. However, in Perraults version,
this is not the case. Everything happens quickly and the story ends abruptly. The grandmother
and the granddaughter (Little Red Riding Hood) both are dead, which surprised me.
In addition, I expect that every work of fiction should have great description and details.
These are components that make the story that much more interesting because it builds on the
plot. But, Perraults version lacks this concept. There are not many descriptions which makes it
less interesting. I think that this is primary reason why the reader is taken aback when reading his
version of the story. Nothing in this story intrigued me, so towards the end of the story when
grandmother and granddaughter both were eaten, I didnt see that coming because the rest of the
story lacked. In my opinion, I think Perraults version lays out this normal modern story and then
he makes an attempt to have some sort of action in his story so he places it at the end and ends
the story. This I believe is ineffective. When I read other fiction, I expect some type of action(s)
or conflict(s) to arise. There is a conflict in this story, but it is almost predictable for me and very
bland. He attempts to make a plot twist by making both characters die and it seems abrupt and
random to me because there is not enough description in the story of the characters before the
story takes a turn for the worse.

HILL 2

The last and final element of Perraults work that I did not believe worked well was the
moral of his story. He makes a point to a child that they should never talk to strangers, which is
great. I agree with that. But then, he states, if they are foolish enough to do so, they should not
be surprised if some greedy wolf consumes them (35). This is not a statement that is good for a
child to hear. With him making that second portion of the statement, it places the blame on the
child and makes the assumption that if you do this, then you will get this result. This is true as
well, but the way that it is worded is not something that I think any parent, teacher, etc. would
ever want to share with their children.