Stripping for the wolf: Rethinking representations of gender in children's literature.

The author's aim in this essay is to broaden the cognitive archetypes used in social sciences in order to explore examples of social issues in children's literature. This book examines identity and sexuality in children's literature in particular. In this way, the text manages to dissect various images brought forth in several children's books, which include fairy tales and other short stories. This enables the author to conceptualize the textual representation used in most of the literary pieces aimed at children, for example, the princes and princesses, the evil stepmother, the ogre, and also the big bad wolf. The author has clearly organized the social roles played by the representations of different things depicted in childhood literature, through a lens of theoretical approaches of demystifying characters and their roles. This includes analyzing the roles that are played by the characters and the symbolic features of the true nature of these symbols that have been used in children’s literature to teach them about the society they live in and things they should expect from those around them. The theoretical approaches employed have also gone ahead to cultivate stereotypes of characters and attributes draw from the common knowledge of these characters and their behavior within the society. This article has therefore helped to provide insights on the role played by the representation of the big bad wolf in children’s literature and also contributed to knowledge about the subjectivity of characters used in such literary works. The study analyzes subjects like the Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs to bring out the common characteristic the wolf bogey as utilized in different fairy tales. It also highlights on the cultural and social role that is played by the character in these fairy tales, therefore offering a practical analysis on the role of the Wolf bogey in fairy tales and children’s literature in general. Trousdale, Ann. "Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?" Children's Literature in Education 20.2 (1989): 161-179.In this article, the author conducts studies to identify how chin who read fairy tales responded to the stories in these fairy tales and how they shape the worldview of these children. In this article, stories like the Three Little Pigs and The Sleeping Beauty was analyzed in detail to reveal the lessons that the characters of the individual fairy tales serve to teach children about their societies. The author analyses the depictions of these characters in the oral, written and even visual versions of the fairy tales and looks into how the child responds to the story and the character. This means that the text, therefore, utilizes witnessing from a number of children to analyze how fairy tales affect the lives of the children who fairy tales are made for. The text contributes to the research in identifying how the wolf in the Three Little Pigs is depicted and how it affects children. This identifies that the character of the big bad wolf was indeed created not to scare the child or teach it about the evil that exists in the world, but instead to show to the child that the fear can be overcome somehow. In turn, the children learn that the evils presented by the big bad wolf in the real world can always be overcome. This explains why the author concludes by advising adults not to remove all the violence and evil from fairy tales, as they have a positive lasting impact on the character of the child. Johnson, Roger T. "On the spoor of the “Big Bad Wolf”." The Journal of Environmental Education 6.2 (1974): 37-39.This article presents an analysis of how the wolf has been depicted in a number of fairy tales, fables, and other Western literature types. The cases presented and analyzed in this case include the depiction of the character traits of the big bad wolf in The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as in one of Aesop’s Fables known as The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. The source contributed positively to this study because it highlights the specific traits about the wolf bogey in fairy tales and fables and the impression the use of this character lives on the children who read these stories. Kellert, Stephen R. "Public perceptions of predators, particularly the wolf and coyote." Biological Conservation 31.2 (1985): 167-189.This article presents a presents information about the attributes of the Wolf as an animal, and compare it to other predators from the dog family. This article was insightful for this research because it helped to put into perspective why the wolf is depicted in the manner that it is in these fairy tales. In addition, it made it possible for the character traits of the big bad wolf in the fairy tales to be compared to those of wolves as predators of the dog family, explaining the historical origin of the bogey. Martin, Ann. Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed: modernism's fairy tales. University of Toronto Press, 2006.This text recounts the tale of the Little Red Riding Hood and gives a recount of how the tale has changed over time into the modern times for different reasons. It also gives a literary analysis of the story, through discussing the themes and the stylistic devices that have been employed in the various versions of the fairy tale that have been released over time. This text contributed to the research by being a reference to the role played by the wolf in the tale. Tatar, Maria. The hard facts of the Grimms' fairy tales.Princeton University Press, 2003.This text also contained information about the Little Red Riding Hood, and the Three Little Pigs and served as a reference to the tales that were used in the analysis of the role of the Wolf Bogey in this research. Works CitedJohnson, Roger T. "On the spoor of the “Big Bad Wolf”." The Journal of Environmental Education 6.2 (1974): 37-39.Kellert, Stephen R. "Public perceptions of predators, particularly the wolf and coyote." Biological conservation 31.2 (1985): 167-189.Marshall, Elizabeth. "Stripping for the wolf: Rethinking representations of gender in children's literature."Reading Research Quarterly 39.3 (2004): 256-270.Martin, Ann. Red Riding Hood and the wolf in bed: modernism's fairy tales. University of Toronto Press, 2006.Tatar, Maria. The hard facts of the Grimms' fairy tales.Princeton University Press, 2003.Trousdale, Ann. "Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?." Children's Literature in Education 20.2 (1989): 161-179.