ART & LITERATURE

When we think of the villains in children’s stories, they are always big and bad or cunning and evil. Sometimes, the portrayal may be such, but the interpretation may differ from what is intended. The tension between the creator’s presentation of the characters and the audience’s understanding and opinion of the characters is always an interesting study of conflating ideas and divergent views.

At Mayflower, the Secondary 1s are exposed to this interesting tension through the study of a well-known children’s story of the Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) and the Big Bad Wolf. In examining the deliberate use of writing techniques, students crafted a detailed impression of her personality and attitude towards the wolf. The students enjoyed the exploration of a different type of LRRH. Many of them liked that she could see through the wolf’s ill-designed disguise and defend herself effectively, instead of having to rely on others to save her.

Many students explored the validity of the original story when LRRH was instructed to take the basket of food to her grandma in the woods alone. The lack of supervision and LRRH’s young age were important factors raised by the students in wondering whether the story was plausible.

The LRRH poem was interesting as the poet changed the last part so well even though the original ending of the wolf dying was still included.

- Leonard, 1F

I think the Little Red Riding Hood poem is interesting as most nursery stories don’t have dark endings. This poem showed LRRH handling the dangerous situation calmly. It is unexpected and interesting because of the plot twist.

- Yi Rou, 1I