Little Red Riding Hood Reflection

Short Story Reflection Jennifer ENG125:Intro to Literature Instructor McGrath 11/28/2011 All stories come together by a solid idea. The idea behind a story is known as a theme. When looking at a theme, you must go beyond the title and critically think to acknowledge key terms and symbols within the narrative you are reading. The theme in “Little Red Riding Hood” is a prime example of how readers have to critically think and acknowledge the symbolism of the story. When “looking beyond the plot” of Little Red Riding Hood, the story is more adult oriented than child oriented, and it is fascinating that it has remained popular for so many years.

Essay Example on Reflection Short Story

Within the theme there is symbolism such as the red cape for Little Red Riding Hood. Red is also known as “passion or danger. ” This symbol shows that the author was considering Little Red Riding Hood to be in danger within her relationship to the wolf.

The wolf wanted more from her than just her homemade cakes (Clugston 2010). All fictional works have a plot. A plot consists of five outlined situations within a narrative which are: exposition, complication or rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

In “Little Red Riding Hood” the exposition would be explaining the setting and characters, the woods, as well as, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. The complication or “conflict,” is when the Wolf is not getting what he wants out of Little Red Riding Hood. The climax is when the Wolf eats the grandma and pretends to be her as when Little Red Riding Hood gets to her home.

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The falling action would be when Little Red Riding Hood makes statements such as “what big eyes you have. ” The resolution is when the Wolf finally gets what he wants from Little Red Riding Hood (Clugston 2010).

Tone is considered to be the attitude expressed throughout an author’s work. In Little Red Riding Hood on the surface you see a sense of innocence but when you read more you feel the danger within the tone change when the Wolf is present. The tone also expresses verbal irony because the Wolf is disguised as the grandma and Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t feel as she is in danger. A narrative theme is contextually broad, with readers looking into a story at different angles. By providing narrative elements the reader narrows into the author’s perception of the story. The symbols narrow in on where the story is taking the reader.

Symbols can come through colors, animals, nature, etc. The symbol in Little Red Riding Hood was her Red Cape. The plot shows the reader that a narrative is like a pie cut into five pieces. The plot keeps the story flowing and grasps the reader’s attention by allowing an introduction, a predicament, climax, falling action, and a conclusion. The tone catches the authors’ attitude towards the story line. At times the tone is easy to catch, and others you have to dig deep for it, because it can be contradictory. As readers we should respect the author enough to walk into their world of critical thinking.

By reflecting on the theme and literary elements of a narrative the reader can better relate to the authors’ true message. References Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content. ashford. edu/books Lombardi, E. (2010). How to become a critical thinker. Retrieved from http://classiclit. about. com/od/forstudents/ht/aa_criticalread. htm Milhauser, S. (2008, October 3). The ambition of the short story. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/10/05/books/review/Millhauser-t. html? _r=2