www.futurelearn.com/courses/fairy-tales

I am too lazy to summarize the whole story of the 1st week, so just save some comments I wrote down while I was going through the course when I was asked some questions by our guide team))

А concept of the forest includes ideas about a place not for common people, a place where you can easily become a victim if you are not careful. It is linked both with people (like outlaws who could robb and kill travelers) and dangers that the forest itself provides: wild animals, being lost or perished by a fallen tree, 'eaten' by swamp. Not only fairytales but the most of folk myths and beliefs are made to warn us about places unknown and full of threats. Nowadays we are more aware of what the forest is, we understand its nature better, see its beauty, enjoy its power. But I think we still should remember how powerless a man can be in the forest. The more we find out (scientifically) the clearer we see that tales and stories provide us with all necessary rules to stay alive if/when you cross the border which you are not supposed to.


Btw another question is what Peerrault meant by "and the wolf ate her up" then.

I agree that the moment is really disturbing as we actually haven't considered this sexual connotations before (what's obvious as we were children and couldn't see such hints) and even now for many people such ideas seem outrageous and they deny even to consider them as possible (as if these thoughts could spoil their innocent childhood). And here I can see the very example of the story in the context: if we think about it as a tale for children it works better like a lesson "don't talk to strangers" and it's up to us if to choose the happy end or focus on inevitable death of the Red Riding Hood. If we focus on social context of environment: like parents and children sharing beds - we see nothing wrong about that invitation. And if we start analysing what Freud would say we may find even more disturbing things. Probably to come to the truth we need to find the earliest version of the tale but firstly, I doubt that it's possible, secondly, I doubt that we are able to decode its message as we belong to our cultures and are unable to be completely independent from them.


I like to use fairytales when I teach English because of these repetitions: they help students to stick to structure better and learn better some words and expression as they are repeated through the story. So, I think repetitions in fairytales had similar purpose in the past.

It occured to me (just while I was reading this passage) - may be because I started to think how these repetitions make me feel - what if she knew that it was a wolf the moment she saw it. Perhaps not to reveal this fact she started talking (it's the other question whether it wise or not to discuss the wolf's appearence, but to me it's like "don't think about a yellow monkey" and since that moment you can't think about anything else). Or perhaps this topic was choosen with a purpose to show she knows and she isn't afraid. And these repetitions were like "stones-facts" she threw. Like what will you do then? What's your move? Yes, she could do nothing more ( a few could) but she could die showing that she wasn't misled by the wolf.