The Same Fairy Tales--Different Views

Two of the students who did their presentations on Thursday were Felix and Megan. (I hope I am spelling her name right.) They both spoke on the same fairy tales; the versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" by Perrault and by the Brothers Grimm. However, on the question of, "which fairy tale is better for children" they took completely opposite views. It was very interesting to watch how they each did this and what they used to prove their points. Felix argued on the side of the Perrault tale and did this convincingly by doing a good close analysis of the stories. He brought out details from the literature such as length of lines, story content, and development of characters. His view was that some of Grimm's tale was lengthy and boring, as compared to Perrault's. He said that the characters were better developed in Perrault's tale and that made them more interesting. He thought that the moral was more clear in the Perrault tale and that, overall, it seemed more realistic. He had some very good and convincing points and his close analysis was thoughtful. Megan, on the other hand, said that the moral in the Grimm's version was much better and that cildren would get two good moral lessons out of the tale. The first is the obvious one, which is to obey your parents. The second moral lesson Megan brought out was very thought provoking and it is displayed in the fact that the Grimm version introduces a good guy---a hunter that comes at the end and rescues them from the wolf, who is seen as the bad guy. Her moral lesson was that little girls should know that there are bad men in society that will hurt or trick you but that there are also good men that you can trust. You know, I think every girl does have to learn this at some point in her life while growing up around males. For women, this subject deals with rape and molestation and how women have to be warned against "wolves" or bad guys who will do these things. Men do not really have to worry about being raped or being tricked by a woman to get him into bed with her. Yet women have to be warned against bad men and taught to look for good men that they can trust. Perhaps the reason that Felix did not get a clear moral lesson from the Grimm's tale and Megan did, is just a matter of gender! But despite gender differences, they both did a great job of discussing their opposite views of the "Little Red Riding Hood" tales.