Sounds like Abandonment

Staying with Little Red Riding Hood a little longer, notice something else? There is no mention of the father in the story. So, is the mother possibly a solo mum, who herself was abandoned to raise the child (for one reason or another). The ‘hood’ for which she is known, was made (allegedly) by the grandmother, not the mother. At least as the mother dresses Little Red Riding Hood in the hood, she claims it ‘came’ from grandmother. The child is provided with clothing by someone else? Could this represent the concept of a form of welfare assistance? The mother then sends Little Red Riding Hood off to visit her grandmother, ‘through the forest’. She knows the forest is dangerous, she even warns Little Red Riding Hood, ‘not to stray from the path.’ Does she walk ‘Red’ through the dangerous forest? No, she leaves her to make her way there alone. It would be hard to deny that this also looks like a form of abandonment? Is the mother so disinterested in her child she ‘packs’ the child off to the grandmother through a dangerous forest? Is she avoiding her responsibilities for caring for the child, or, is she possibly just a career mum? Relying on others to raise the child she wanted, but was too busy to care for?

Admittedly we couldn’t wait to get off out of the house by ourselves and take off on some adventure or game in the local park of forest. Mind you most of the games involved trying to lose the other members of the family who wanted to go as well. Some of us got exceptionally good at getting to the top of the ‘umbrella tree’ as we called it. It was a wonderful high dome of branches that, if you were at the top you could sit down and look out on all the paths and hill of the local park. But, apart from the odd falling stilt (See blog April 1st/2^nd, 2012), broken glass in the creek (more in a later blog), and the odd thrown rock (also more in a later blog), the woods and forest we played in were not so dangerous.

And why does the grandmother live in the forest? What does that specifically represent? Why is she in a place where any assistance (particularly medical) to her, is not easily forthcoming? Does the separation from daily life, suggest the grandmother is ‘hidden’ away from society, for one reason or another? Is she kept away from people to prevent contact being possible? Could she have issues (possibly mental health?) and given that, the transformation of the grandmother, is represented by the wolf becoming the grandmother, is there really another reason for the isolation. Let’s not go all ‘werewolf’ fantasy mythology on me. I am referring to real symbolic meaning and interpretation. The grandmother is not visited by the mother, but by the naive daughter, who is sent to her with supplies of food.

(Continued tomorrow)