Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)
STUDIES - András Tarnóc: "Who is Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" Reflections of Political Correctness in a Distorted Mirror.
twist in the story as the purported villain, the wolf, ends up on the positive side and the original hero, the lumberjack meets an ignominious end. Both the Grimm version and Garner's "improved" portrayal of LRRH symbolize the position of American women. The first version represents the romantic paternalistic image of women confined to the home and in need of male protection. The Twentieth Amendment awarding women the right to vote, women's participation in the two world wars and the feminist movement's gains in the 1960's led to the demise of the traditional woman's image. The "cult of domesticity" —spawned in the colonial era —gave way to the cult of femininity as more and more women became assertive upon their rights as full participants in American society (Chafe 259). By challenging stereotypical division of labor arrangements, rejecting the notion of the "proper place of women" and gaining the right to decide upon matters involving her own body, such as abortion, the American woman began to threaten the foundations of a patriarchal society. The new LRRH is a feminist who brazenly rejects the wolfs sexist remarks and the lumberjack's help. While Garner celebrates the awakening woman, ironically the cause of her mental, spiritual and political regeneration, feminism, contributed to the reappearance of the little Red Riding Hood Syndrome. As radical feminists, like Andrea Dworkin argue that women are increasingly exposed to male aggression, the victimization of women becomes a sensitive issue. Antioch University's Sexual Offence Policy with guidelines projecting women as potential victims of aggression and the mass of sexual harrassment complaints flooding the courts inspired, Sarah Crichton to declare: "We are not creating a society of Angry Young Women. These are Scared little Girls." Thus Garner's LRRH as an Angry Young Woman is misplaced in a society where Scared Little Girls are in a majority (Crichton 42—44). While in the first story the wolf represented mainstream American culture and the nation at its colonialist worst, in LRRH his character is more complex. The wolf makes sexist remarks and, as the text indicates, his "status is outside of society." On one hand he is a sexist male, but on the other he is "unhampered by rigid traditionalist notions of what was masculine or feminine." 136