Study guide for Little Red Ridding Hood and Snow White

LRRH

• one of the most popular fairy tales
• appeared most often in the late Middle Ages in France and Italy
• often a tale of warning
• many cultures believed warewolves existed
• largely agricultural society
• had wildernesses and many people were attacked and killed by humans and beasts
• in most versions the girl outsmarts the wolf
• strong female character
• more happy endings in the oral tales; more sad endings in recorded tales
• warn about different types of preadators
• sexual aspect-young girl is coming of age
• learning and gaining self-assertion
• death of grandmother symbolizes the passing of a generation
• eating the grandmother is replacing her through the girl

Snow White

• absent father figure-many tales men are off working
• classic story of conflict between mother figure and daughter
• beauty is a source of power
• mother trying to eat daughter-trying to absorb her beauty
• step-mother has all the power
• Snow White is the "perfect woman"; she is powerless, useless, and weak
• if father is present he is powerless
• clueless
• does nothing to save herself