Comparison And Contrast Of Little Red Riding

Hood And The Company Of Wolves Essay, Research Paper

The view point of an author can be determined easily by comparing works of the same basic plots and characters. Also by contrasting the same two works is equally as important. Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault and Angela Carter s The Company of Wolves are perfect examples. The writer s purpose, characterization, and readability shows one of many ways of pinpointing the author s bias.

Clearly Carter and Perrault show a bias with the characters in their stories. Carter s main character being a female whom is clever, strong, and an in-depth thinker who is always thinking ahead. This shows that the author was probably writing during the women s movement, where women began entering the work place and becoming more than mere objects or at home mothers. On the other hand Perrault s view of a young innocent child, shows with the outcome that one should learn their lesson from this story. This was typical prior to the modern age when stories were lessons learned. There were religious implications noted in Carter s work where Perrault did not. For example she is dressed and ready and it is Christmas Eve, (820) and another example you must run as if the Devil is after you. (820) Yet another phrase that relates to the Devil states, They say there s an ointment the Devil gives you that turns you into a wolf the minute that you rub it on. (820) Note that the passages all came from the same page, a clever tactic used by Carter to keep a strong theme in certain parts of the story. This concept of referring to religion is somewhat ironic because most modern day writings that I have read really do not imply religion events. Granted Christmas is wintertime and the author could be referring to it as a description of the setting. Also I found the Grandmother lives in a village in Perrault s story. It was of the times to have small villages everywhere rather than today where there are large metropolises and dying country life. While Carter s rendition has the grandmother living deep in the woods. Probably implying how Carter might fantasize about escaping to country life deep into the deciduous forest. The way a story reads is a big difference in finding out about the writer s purpose.

The style of their writings included literary elements such as metaphors and similes, as well as descriptive writing. The readability of a story can show the approximate time that the stories were written. During Carter s time she described a young gentleman carrying a rifle and the gory details, for example, The hunter jumped down after him, slit his throat, cut off all his paws for a trophy. (819) Perrault described a happy and bountiful youth skipping through the forest. He also blurted out on of the possible lessons that could be learned with, The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to stop and listen to a wolf. (360) Carter used a lot of metaphors and similes in her works. I like to think experiences that she had influenced her writing. She thinks men are beasts, could be from bad dates. Perrault used a very rhythmic and poetic structure. In his days it was much easier to pass down stories and fairy tales if you gave the story a rhythm.

In this essay I showed an author s bias and point of view. From Perrault s antiquated vocabulary and writing style to Carter s beastly descriptions and real life verbiage which shows how two people can write dissimilar works off of the same story line.