Literary Analysis of Stories

The Werewolf, by Angela Carter

Setting in Time: Inquisition Times (XIth century). The evidence for this setting in time is provided
by the belief (present in the story) in the existence of witches. The belief in the existence of
witches is shown in the following lines: “A blue-eyed child born feet first on the night of St. John´s
Eve will have second sight. When they discover a witch- some old woman whose cheeses ripen
when her neighbours´do not, another old woman whose black cat, oh, sinister! Follows her about
all the time, they strip the crone, search for her marks, for the super-numerary nipple her familiar
sucks. They soon find it”.

Another reference in time is related to the Walpurgisnacht, a pagan festival celebrated after the
English missionary St. Walpurga, who was canonized in 870 ca. Such festival is celebrated on the
evening of April 30th and continues to May 1st.

Setting in Place: The story takes place in a northern country. As a matter of fact, the story begins
saying : “It is a northern country”. Later on in the text, the reference to the Walpurgisnacht
confirms the idea that the story is originated either in either the Czec Republic, Estonia, Finland or
Germany, as it is in these european countries that the Walpurgisnacht is celebrated between April
30th/ May 1st.

Genre: The present story is a fairy tale, as it narrates the fortunes and misfortunes of Little Red
Riding Hood. The misfortunes are represented when the girl is attacked by the Wolf, as it goes in
the story: “When she Heard that freezing howl of a Wolf, she dropped her gifts… “ Upto the part in
which says “ … Soon it came on to snow so thickly that the path and any footspets, track or spoor
that might have been upon it were obscured”.

Yet, there is another reference to the misfortunes of Little Red Riding Hood, when, having arrived
at her grandmother´s house, she discovers that the Wolf and the Grandmother are the same. Such
circumstance is shown in the text in the paragraph that starts “So she found her granmother was
so sick… “ Upto … “But it was no longer a wolf´s paw… “… “By the wart, she knew it for her
grandmother´s hand”. Once she discovers such horrible event, she cries out for help,as told in the
text: “The child crossed herself and cried out so loud the neighbours Heard her and came rushing
in”.

As from here on, the text retells the fortune of Little Red Riding Hood, when the neighbours kill the
old woman and she stays in the old woman´s house. The evidence of Little Red Riding Hood´s
fortune is told in the last two paragraphs of the story: “They knew the wart on the hand… “ upto
“Now the child lived in her grandmother´s house; she prospered”. (equivalent to the formula”And
she lived happily everafter”).

This story was designed for entertainment.

The supernatural elements present in the story are dealt with as if they were everyday, normal
elements. Evidence to support this point of view is given in the second paragraph, “To this upland
woodsmen, the Devil is as real as you or I…”The autor even gives more importance to the
supernatural elements than it does to the reader, and this is shown when the story goes… “More
so; they have not seen us nor even know that we exist”.

Other supernatural elements present in the story are: the wolf´s paw that turn into the
grandmother´s hand and the fact that the grandmother (is) a witch.

Audience: Adolescents and adults, due to the language and the violent events told in the story¸ for
example, when Little Red Riding Hood´s mother asks her daughter to take the father´s knife “Here,
take your father´s knife; you know how to use it”.

Also when Little Red Riding Hood defends herself from the Wolf´s attack: “… It was a huge one,
with red eyes… “ upto “… but she made a great swipe at it whith her father´{s knife and slashe off
ist right forepaw”.

Another excerpt which shows this story should be told to adolescents of adults is found in the
following paragraph: “She pulled back the sheet but the old woman woke up, at that, she began to
struggle, squawking and shrieking like a thing possessed. But the child was strong, and armed with
her father´s hunting knife, she managed to hold her grandmother down long enough to see the
cause of her fever. There was a bloody stump where her right hand should have been, festering
already.”

The last example which indicates that this story should be told to either adolescents or adults is at
the end of the story: “… they drove the old woman, in her shift as she was, out into the snow with
sticks, beating her old carcss as far as the edge of the forest, and pelted her with stones until she
fell down dead”.

Narrative Voice: Most of the story is told in the 3rd Person plural … “They have cold weather, they
have cold hearts”.

Then, when speaking about the Mother, Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf and the grandmother, the
autor uses the 3rd person singular, for example: “… When she Heard that freezing howl…”

We can also find the use of the “Inclusive We” as shown in the following excerpt: “More so; they
have not seen us or even know that we exist…”.

Characterization:

Little Red Riding Hood: good child; “The good child…”

Brave: she knows how to defend herself: “Here, take your father´s knife; you know how to use it”.
“… Seized her kniofe and turne don the beast… made a great swipe at it with her father´s knife and
slashed off its right rorepaw”.

Sensible: “She knew the forest too well to fear it but must always be on her guard”.

Prosperous (at the end of the story): “Now the child lived in her grandmother´s house; she
prospered”.

Upland Woodsmen: cold hearted people. Supersticious. This characteristic is shown when the
autor speaks about “Wreaths of garlic on the doors keep out the vampires”… upto “… for the
super-numerary nipple her family sucks. Soon they find it”.

Wolf: huge beast, with red eyes and running, grizzled chops. (when attacking Little Red Riding
Hood).

Later on, when Little Red Riding Hood defends herself, the Wolf turns into: sobbing; less brave than
he seemed. After being attacked back by Little Red Riding Hood,”… it goes lolloping off
disconsolate between the tres as well as it could on three legs, leaving a trail of blood behind it. “

Grandmother: very sick old woman: …” so she found her grandmother was so sick…”

Ending: The Wolf is actually the grandmother.

The Maligned Wolf

Setting in Time: Not fixed. The action takes place on “… one sunny day”. There´s no other clear
reference to time all along the text, but some reference to ecology and taking care of the
environment suggests that the story takes place in present times: “I lived there (in the forest) and
cared about it. I tried to keep it neat and clean. Then, one sunny day, while I was cleaning up some
rubbish a camper had left behind…”.

Setting in Place: a forest near a camping area. “The forest was my home…” the idea that this forest
is near a camping area, is given by the narrator (the Wolf himself) when he says… “… I was cleaning
up some rubbish a camper had left behind”. There are also some references to ecology and taking
care of the environment, provided by the narrator (the Wolf himself): “I tried to keep it neat and
clean. Then one sunny day, while I was cleaning up some rubbish a camper had left behind”…

Genre: Fairy tale. It narrates the fortunes and misfortunes of both the Wolf (who at the beginning
lived happily in the forest, “The forest was my home…I lived there and I cared about it…”) and its
misfortunes at the end of the story: “… that grandmother character never did tell my side of the
story. Before long, the word gota round that I was a mean, nasty guy. Everybody started avoiding
me. I don´t know about the girl with the funny red ourfit, but I didn´t live happily ever after”.

It also tells the fortunes and misfortunes of Little Red Riding Hood, who is going to visit her
grandmother (fortune) and is taught a lesson by both the Wolf and her own grandmother, for
being so self confident and basically hones person (misfortunes).

Supernatural elements: (if any) the fact that the Wolf is humanized. He´s got all the
characteristics of a human being, capable of feeling curiosity, humiliation, of being sensitive about
his physical characteristics, etc. He´s also capable of doing logical thinking and of resenting the fact
that everyone starts avoiding him. At the end of the story, he also shows the capacity of being
happy/ unhappy, when saying “I don´t know about the girl with the funny red outfit, but I didn´t
live happily ever after”.

Audience: Teens and maybe children.

Narrative Voice: 1st person singular. The narrator is omniscient. The Wolf is at the same time, the
narrator of the story and he describes the way he feels all along the story. The idea of the
narration being done in the 1st person singular is evident from the very first sentence in the story:
“The forest was MY home”… and also the idea of describing intimate emotions, when the Wolf
says “”I´ve made it a policiy to turn the other cheek, so I told her… Her next insult really got me. I
got this problema with having big teeth. And that Little girl made a remark about them. I know that
I should have had better control, but I leapt up from the bed and growled that my teeth would help
me toe at her better”.

Characterization:

Little Red Riding Hood: Little girl. Rather plain. Strangely dressed (all terms used by the narrator in
his speech). In the Wolf´s words, a girl that would use “being taught a lesson”. Insulting when
making remarks about other people´s being´s physical appearance.

Wolf: Methodical. Peaceful. Caring about ecology. Determined to teach a lesson to Little Red Riding
Hood. Sensible about his physical appearance: “I´ve got a problema with having big teeth. And
that Little girl made a remark about them. I know that I should have had better control, but I leapt
up from bed and growled that my teeth would help me to eat her better. In the end, the Wolf
shows himself to resent other people´s opinion about himself, when he says “… that grandmother
character never did tell MY side of the story. Before long, the word got round that I was a mean,
nasty guy. Everybody started avoiding me. I don´t know about the girl with the rfunny red outfit,
but I didn´t live happily ever after”.

Grandmother: determined to teach her granddaughter a lesson, in combination with the Wolf: “…
and she agreed that her granddaughter needed to learn a lesson…”.

Hunter: violent. Having an axe, he crashes the door to the grandmother´s house, determined to kill
the Wolf.
Camper: (mentioned only at the beginning of the story). He doesn´t care about ecology; this is
shown when the Wolf says: “… While I was cleaning up some rubbish a camper had left behind…”.

Ending: the hunter crashes the entrance door to the Grandmother´s house, and the Wolf escapes.
There is no happy ending for the Wolf. This is evidenced clearly by the Wolf´s words: “ I´d like to
say that was the end of it….” Upto “.. but I didn´t live happily ever after”.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, by Roald Dahl.

Setting in Time: Recent past. This is shown by the reference in the poem to Little Red Riding Hood
whipping a PISTOL from her KNICKERS. The first PISTOLS appeared in the XVIIth Century as auxiliary
weapons for Cavalry.

As for the reference to Little Red Riding Hood´s KNICKERS, they are a sort of feminine underware
which were created in the XIXth century (approximately), and the name of knickers was given to
them, due to the fact that they reached upto the knees.

Setting in Place: Grandma´s house, in a Wood. No other specific reference to place is shown along
the poem.

At the beginning of the said poem, it goes: “… on Grandma´s door” and later on, the reference to
the Wood is given by the verse: “… Till Miss Red Riding Hood Comes home from walking in the
Wood”.

Genre: Poem/ Poetry.

The present poem is written in COUPLETS, that is, pairs of rhyming lines. A good example of this
writing style is shown in the following stansa:

“He dressed himself in coat and hat,

He put on shoes and after that

He even brushed and curled his hair,

Then sat himself in Gramdma´s char”.

Supernatural Elements: None, appart from the fact that the Wolf is humanized and capable of
showing human emotions.

Audience: children, adolescents and adults. The present poem is suitable for children, as they
already know Little Red Riding Hood Story and the rhythm of a nursery rhyme makes it easier to
listen to the poem. Both adolescents and adults will be caught up by the rhythm and will enjoy the
poem, based on such a well known story as Little Red Riding Hood.
Narrative Voice: The poem is written in the 3rd person singular “As soon as Wolf began to fell that
HE would like a decent meal…” and it carries on using the third person singular all along the poem.
Then, almost by the end of the poem , when the narrator comes across Little Red Riding Hood a
few weeks later, the narrative voice changes into the 1st person singular, “A few weeks later, in the
Wood, I came across Miss Riding Hood”. Despite the use of the 1st person singular, the narrator
remains as a witness, not as a protagonist of the story/ poem.

Characterization:

Wolf: The character in this poem is descbribed as

- hungry “As soon as Wolf began to feel that hel would like a decent meal…”

-with big, horrible teeth: “… she saw the Sharp White teeth the horrid grin…”

- well mannered: “… And Wolfie said , “May I come in?”

- glutton: “and Wolfie wailed, “That´s not enough!... “

“He ran around the kitchen yelping, “I´ve got to have another helping!”

And later on, in the poem, when he decides toe at up Little Red Riding Hood…

… “He thought, “I´m going toe at this child.

Compared to her old Grandmamma

She´s going to eat like caviar”.

Grandmother: terrified. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator says:

“Poor Grandmamma was terrified”, refering to the feelings of the poor old lady when she found a
hungry beast at her door.

The narrator also characterizes the grandmother as small and tough, using those exact words,
meaning that eating her up was not enough to sooth the Wolf´s hunger.

Little Red Riding Hood: Little girl dressed in red, as it is said in the poem. “In came the Little girl in
red....”

She is also defined as talkative, though the writer doesn´t use that word, in the dialogue about his
physical characteristics are asked about by the Little girl when she sees the Wolf dressed up as her
Grandma…

“And then she said… “ upto “What big eyes…”.

Without using the word “brave”, the writer is characterizing Little Red Riding Hood as so, when he
says: “The small girl smiles…. And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead”.
The last characterization the writer makes of Little Red Riding Hood is of a fashion fond girl, when,
by the end of the poem, he describes her sayings: “But what a change! No cloak of red,

No silly Hood upon her head.

She said, “Hello, and do please note

My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT!”.

Ending: Little Red Riding Hood kills the Wolf and makes a wolfskin coat for herself. So, there is no
happy ending for the Wolf, but for Little Red Riding Hood instead.

Four Fables of our Time

Genre: modern fable. It has an explicit moral at the end of the narration, the moral being: “It is not
so easy to fool Little girls nowadays as it used to be”.

Setting in time: 1920 approximately. There is a reference to Metro-Goldwyn lion (the Metro-
Goldwyn Mayer was founded in 1924 and also to Calvin Coolidge, President of the USA from 1924
to 1929. The specific reference of time given in the text is “One afternoon”.

Setting in Place: A dark forest . There is no other setting in placee provided all along the text
whatsoever.

Supernatural Elements: None, appart from the Wolf who is capable of speaking like human
being : “ Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?” asked the Wolf…

Also, the Wolf is capable of dressing up like Little Red Riding Hood´s grandmother; this is shown in
the story by saying: “ When the Little girl opened the door of the grandmother´s house she say
that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown on. She had approached no nearer
than 25 feet from the bed when she say that it was not her grandmother but the Wolf, for even in
a nightcap….”

Audience: Adults, because of the moral and that sense that “Old times were better than present
ones”.

Narrative Voice: 3rd person singular. “One afternoon a big Wolf waited in the forest…”

“When the Little girl opened the door of her grandmother´s house…”

“So the Little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the Wolf dead”.

Characterization:
 - Wolf: big, hungry, mischevious.

“One afternoon, a big Wolf waited in a dark forest for a Little girl…” the fact
that the Wolf wants to fool Little Red Riding Hood is implicit when he asks her
where her grandmother lives, and as soon as she tells him, he disappears, and
then, it is explicit in the moral, at the end of the story: “It is not so easy to FOOL
Little girls nowadays as it used to be”.

- Little Red Riding Hood: Little “… A Little girl did come along…”
- Willing to help: “Are you carrying that basket to your grandmother?,asked the
Wolf. The Little girl said yes, she was”.

- Not easy to fool/ Cunning: “… for even in a nightcap a Wolf does not look any
more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn lion looks like Calvin
Coolidge”.

- Violent: “So the Little girl took an automatic out of her basket and shot the
Wolf dead”.

Ending: Little Red Riding Hood realices that it is the Wolf, and not her Grandmother, who is in the
bed. She takes out an automatic, and kills the Wolf. There is no happy ending for the Wolf. The
happy ending is for Little Red Riding Hood, who kills the Wolf, and spares herself from being eaten
up/ fooled.

Little Red Riding Hood

(A New Version)

Genre: realistic story. There is reference to concrete, actual dangers, under the figure of the Wolf.

Setting in place: the actions take place in a modern city, though there is no concrete reference to
any city in particular. The setting in place is given by the reference to traffic, using the phone, the
fact of driving from one place to another.

Setting in Time: though there is no concrete date reference, the allusion to using the phone,
driving, the mother´s warning on not speeding, the fact that Grandma likes rock music, etc, gives
us the idea that this story takes place in recent times.

The most concrete reference for time setting, is the fact that Grandma listens to music on her
Walkman, and such devices appeared on the market in 1979, as well as spray aerosol for self
defense.
So, taking all these facts into account, the setting in time would be in the decade of the ´80 approx.

Supernatural Elements: the Wolf behaving as a human being, capable of attacking Little Red Riding
Hood.

Audience: Late children, juniors, adolescents, adults. All of them due to the vocabulary and
problems which are spoken about all along the story.

Narrative Voice: 3rd Person singular: “Little Red Riding Hood´s mother says…”

“”Come in”, says Grandmother.

“Later, she finds her grandmother hiding in the garaje”.

Characterization:

- Mother: willing to help “Grandma is on the phone. She says she´s ill. Why don´t you
get yuour motorbike and take her some magazines?”

- She is also concerned for her daughter´s safety: “Be careful with the traffic. Don
´t go too fast”, warns her mother.

- Little Red Riding Hood: obedient to her mother´s request: “Ok,” says LRRH. “I
will”.

- Respectfull: When she gets (to her grandmother´s house) she knocks on the
door”.

- Surprised: “Grandma!” Says LRRH. “This is a surprise! You like rock music!”

- Self confident: “ I know how to deal with burglars”, says LRRH, putting the
spray back into her pocket. Let´s call the police”.

- Grandmother: old. Ill.

- Wolf: mischevious.

Ending: Happy ending both for Grandma and for LRRH, who are not stolen by the “burglar/ Wolf”.

There is no happy ending for the “burglar/Wolf”, who is sprayd with aerosol till he faints. Later on,
we may asume that he is charged for burglary and imprisoned by the police.

Politically Correct

Little Red Riding Hood, adapted by K. Hopkins?

Setting in Time: Present times due to the reference to Maaloz (an antiacid which came into the
market in 1949), and all the psychological terms used all along the story.

Setting in Place: No specific reference to place, other than to “the edge of a large forest full of
endangered owls and rare plants…”

Genre: Fairy tale. We may find the traditional beginning of all fairy tales, though it has been
changed a Little bit: “ “There was once a Young person…” instead of “Once upon a time…”.

Narrative Voice: 3rd Person singular. “And Red Riding Hood´s mother explained…”

Omniscient: “I feel your pain, “ said the Wolf… upto the end of the story.

Audience: Adults due to the psychological resources used all along the story.

Characterization:

- Mother: willing to help (the grandmother). “One day her mother asked her to take a
basket of organically grown fruit and mineral water to her grandmother´s house”.

- Grandmother: old.

- LRRH: she´s a Little “Miss I Know it All”. She´s always argumenting

everything her mother says, whatsoever, all along the story.

- Wolf: endangered species.

- Woodchopper: FBI secret agent. In the end, he presents himself as a victim,

instead of a victimizer.

Ending: Happy ending for the Wolf, who is saved by the agent/ woodchopper from being kikked by
LRRH.

There is no happy ending for LRRH, who is beheaded by the agent/ woodchopper.