Little Red Cap by the Grimm Brothers is great piece of traditional literature that takes readers on a journey with the main character Little Red Cap, to deliver items to her grandmother’s house. LRC so closely follows traditional literature standards in that the plot is simple and direct, the language is engaging and keeps with the original, and there’s a outlying theme and message. As with all traditional folktales such as Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, LRC follows the principle of a simple and direct plot. Form the onset, our main characters are known and it’s clearly stated the who the protagonist and antagonists are.
Brothers Grimm state, “there was a sweet little girl. Everyone who saw her liked her” and “Little Red Cap entered the woods a wolf came up to her. She did not know what a wicked animal he was…”(LRC). At the start, LRC is described as likeable and sweet she exudes innocence and a lack of the potential dangers that lie in front of her. While the wolf is described as a “wicked animal,” drawing evil connotations about this character. And this aspect of folktales, that it’s easy to discern the good from the bad, correctly lines up with the other folktales mentioned before. For example, in Cinderella, readers immediately know that the hard working, underappreciated, Cinderella is good, while her monster of an aunt and cousins are bad. In addition, LRC keeps true to the language of the original tale and is engaging with its dialog. Similar to the original Perrault version, LRC goes to the woods where she meets the wolf and they engage in some dialog where the wolf asks LRC about where she’s headed. Towards the end LRC also goes through the same dialog as the Perrault version commenting on the new features of her grandmother like her big ears, and eyes. Having a significant amount of dialog makes the tale more engaging with readers. Finally, Little Red Cap ends with LRC coming to the conclusion that she “will never leave the path and run off into the woods by” herself. And so the obvious theme is that children should listen to their parents and never talk to strangers.