Little Red Cap

symbolism examples

"At childhood's end..." "Houses petered out" As childhood ends her life loses structure. Also, houses imply security (there is an expression "safe as houses"), and the absence of them may imply uncertainty. "The silent railway line" "kneeling" (a position of submission) and "mistresses"

tone and mood: assertive

"I made quite sure he spotted me": "Till you came at least to the edge of the woods" willingly in charge of her destiny, escaping her past and childlike character to embark on new adventures "You might ask why. Here's why" - use of hypophora suggests she is confident in answering What girl doesnt clearly love a wolf Use of irony to mock the traditional story- where lrc obviously does not love the wolf Suggests women are more mature than the patriarchy suggests Duffy is undermining the image of the wolf as a threat- showing that LRC is strong enough

grandmother's bones

"Saw the glistening, virgin white of my grandmother's bones" In a recasting of the fairy tale Duffy uses the image of her grandmothers bones as a metaphor for past generations of oppressed women, consumed by the greed of a patriarchal society. It should be noted also that the association of virginity with the girl's grandmother is inherently impossible. As such, by killing the oppressive male figure, his female victims reclaim their honour. The description 'glistening, virgin white' emphasises her grandmother's goodness and purity.

juxtaposition

Duffy continues using juxtaposition through symbols of innocence and sexuality in order to emphasize the coming of age of young girls, and the contrast between the tradiitonal story and duffy's reinterpretation

tone and mood

Duffy juxtaposes fairyatale-like language with a confident tone to evoke a disturbing mood in the reader, disturbing as in, at once melodious and innocent while violent - personifies Little Red Cap's character as the border between childhood and adulthood by juxtaposing fairytale-like language and rhythm with a confident assertive tone, Duffy effectively gives LRC an independent and strong voice, challenging the notion that women are the victims of male dominated relationships

symbolism

For the rest, I will be referring to the extensive use of imagery and symbolism in the poem which helps reinforce the theme after the tone and mood and the main innocence/sexuality dichotomy of the persona has been established

wolf

Nameless- allegory for all men "Red wine staining his bearded jaw": red symbolizing sexual maturity, for example we refer to "red light" districts and red is the colour of passion. It emphasises the erotic nature of what the wolf represents. Wine is the drink of sophistication. He is clearly more experienced than Red Cap. The word "stain" suggests soiling, spoiling something otherwise perfect, undermining innocence. It could be a blood stain, suggesting sexual violence, a girl bleeding after first sex or menstrual blood. Here it is his maleness, his "bearded jaw", that is soiled. The implication is of danger and violence. Manliness The onomatopoeic word 'drawl' suggests arrogance, someone who speaks in a confident, slow way, utterly sure of themselves. The reader can draw parallels between the anthropomorphised wolf of Red Riding Hood, and the idea of the 'lone wolf bad boy' women are stereotypically supposed to find attractive. Duffy is re-casting the original fairy tale so that the wolf is an intellectual man, but the patriarchal, dominant and dangerous male predator is still present. "Hairy paw" suggests overt maleness and a sexual predator. Women sometimes refer to unwanted sexual advances and touching as being "pawed" "Bearded jaw" this may show that the "wolf" is also human and, given that he is bearded, of mature age and therefore we can assume sexually experienced. His identity — wolf and man — is therefore ambiguous "Greying wolf" - repeating same old routines, boring

thesis

Nevertheless through tone and mood, imagery/symbolism and juxtaposition she moulds it to convey a different theme to the original story, one which retells a story of first love by challenging girls' traditional roles in relationships which confines them to innocence and weakness

intro

Poem written by Carol Ann Duffy in collection The World's Wife written in 1999 All dramatic monologues Wherein Duffy uses well known characters from myth and history and reimagines and modernizes them in order to provoke thought inverts the gendered power relationships by focusing on the women's points of view and thus emphasizes women's perspectives of the world and society With the poem, 'Little Red Cap', Duffy alludes to the children's fairytale Little Red Riding Hood

poetry symbol

Poetry as a metaphor for her curiosity, passion for knowledge crimson, gold, aglow with books Words, words were truly alive on the tongue, in the head Gold aglow- alliteration The sensual language suggests poetry as a metaphor for sexual maturity Tongue- eroticism Or it could suggest sex is not a big deal for her, as gender norms would want us to think, and is rather more interested in poetry and knowledge Perhaps knowledge, which she is so passionate about, as in "crimson, gold, aglow with books" (colour imagery of crimson and gold suggests a passion surrounding knowledge and a high value placed on education), is something that her society censors and keeps from its people. Sexual enlightenment treated as taboo, thus invigorating Little Red's attention when she sees the wolf reading poetry

tone and mood: fairytale examples

Setting: woods, used in fairytales and fiction as symbolic, signifying danger, an external expression of inner confusion, fear and sexual threat. It may also suggest magic and evil. Filled with internal rhyme: 'lair, beware', 'reason, season' - mimicking nursery rhymes "I took an axe" → turning red cap into the violent character Childlike rhythm to juxtapose the loss of innocence in the text The mood throughout suggests humour and mischief rather than serious danger. The use of rhyme is ironic, because the story of sexual awakening is anything but childlike "I knew, would lead me deep into the woods Away from home, to a dark tangled thorny place" → escaping childhood and heading towards unknown setting, darkness, sexual experiences.

white dove

Symbol of purity The "heavy matted paws" of the wolf suggest that he is uncouth and heavy-handed, "Which flew, straight, from my hands to his open mouth. One bite, dead." animal greed, predator killing the girls' virginity with one swift bite Here duffy is mocking the traditional idea of sex as stealing a woman's purity or virginity. This is clear through the abrupt syntax 'one bit dead' with a nonchalant, unemotive tone- LRC rejects gender stereotypes and is not phased by her first sexual experience

juxtaposition examples

What big ears He had! What big eyes he had! What teeth! The implication is that Red Cap is sexually attracted to the wolf. This is undoubtedly a phallic reference; the large eyes and teeth being a proxy for the human obsession with penis size. However, at the same time the reversion back to the fairy tale language suggests the element of childhood still present in Red Cap. "Sweet sixteen" "Bought me a drink" → The language here is ironic. All the expressions imply innocence; "sweet sixteen", "babe" and "waif". Being bought a drink is often something a girl or woman might hope for or hint at, as a precursor to a sexual liaison. my first "Waif" → old French word for something "strayed" or homeless. In this context, it is used ironically. Red Cap is effectively doing the flirting; she is neither lost or strayed Reasserting LRC's independence and rejection of traditional gender norms which reduce women to weak victims of men "I crawled in his wake My stockings ripped to shreds, scraps of red from my blazer Snagged on twig and branch, murder clues. I lost both shoes But got there, wolf's lair, better beware." The 's' and 'sh' sounds in 'stockings', 'shreds' and 'scraps' are sibilant, a word cluster of harsh sounds to suggest passion. ambiguous, as crawling through undergrowth and tearing clothes are also reminiscent of children's play. But it also may indicate that her innocence is being torn away. The idea of scraps being shed is reminiscent of the Hansel and Gretal fairy tale where the clothes may define her route back home, or into new territory. "Scraps of red from my blazer" → blazer- childhood, red- prostitution and sex. Scrapping the blazer→ scrapping childhood "I lost both shoes" → This is yet another ambiguous symbol. Either she lost her shoes as a child might when playing in the woods, or it symbolises her loss of virginity. "Murder clues"- murdering her childhood innocence "Lesson one that night. breath of the wolf in my ear, was the love poem" Lessons- allusions to childhood, school life 'Breath of the wolf in my ear' - sexual connotations This juxtaposition between sex and lessons, almost like lessons of sex, clearly juxtaposes innocence and sexuality "Clung till dawn" could suggest passionate clinging, or childlike clinging It could suggest that she is still innocent and the act of sex doesn't necessarily change that. This challenges the patriarchal view that taking a girl's virginity actively transforms them Erotema- what little girl doesn't clearly love a wolf? Alludes back to the fairytale, however twisting it with irony I took an axe To a willow to see how it wept. I took an axe to a salmon To see how it leapt. Juxtaposition between childlike curiosity and violence