Two and a half reasons why Thurber appears more humerous than the Brothers Grimm

The picture of James Thurber on Wikipedia shows that he had awesome hair. And everyone knows the saying, “Those who have awesome hair tell awesome stories.” His contemporary retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, which he titled, The little Girl and the Wolf, is certainly an example of his story-telling ability.

The moral of Thurber’s fairy tale is that “It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be.” This point is made after Red pulls an automatic out of her basket and shoots the wolf dead. There are a lot of major differences between Thurber’s version and the Grimm’s version. I am not a psychoanalyst (remember, I’m Irish) so I am not willing to make any sweeping claims about Red’s sexual exploration or her urge to kill her father, but I am willing to consider how Thurber’s audience and how the culture surrounding the time-period might be incorporated into his version of the story.

I think there is a pretty good chance that this fairy tale is addressed exclusively for adults. Thurber spent most of his career writing and drawing for the New Yorker, a magazine geared towards adults. Also, while one could argue that his collection of fairy tales was a contemporary update for children, one major flaw stands out from this point of view. The moral does not make any sense if the reader does not know the original ending to the story; or at least know how naïve Red acts. Since Thurber spent much of his life writing humor and satire for a very sophisticated magazine; there would be little surprise if this was also geared for the same audience who read the New Yorker in the mid-20th century.

Two other major cultural themes are also probably at work. The first is Feminism. Thurber lived through the First Wave of Feminism. The First Wave is characterized by a push for political, economic, sexual, and reproductive rights for women. Red is not as naïve as she was previously in Thurber’s version. For once, Red is able to notice that it is a wolf and not her grandmother in the bed, even at some distance. The Second Wave of Feminism is typically estimated to start in the 1960s, and Thurber’s death was in 1961. So, while he probably wrote this piece before the second wave was in full swing there is a chance he was a forerunner for the ‘women’s liberation” movement. Whatever his personal views, Feminism probably had a role in Red’s behavior.

The second major factor is more of a guess than a fact, but I think a rise in violent crime might also be involved. Red: 1) Is carrying a concealed weapon. 2) Pulls it out and shoots a wolf. 3) Is unfazed by such action. Thurber lived in a big city, New York City, through prohibition and the rise of organized crime, World War II, and well into the “modern era.” Guns were a part of these changes, and their new-found prevalence could also surface in having Red shoot the wolf on-sight.

Song of the blog: “All about Us,” by t.A.T.u.