'In Little Red Cap,' Duffy has successfully written about childhood and the loss of innocence. Discuss with detailed references to the poem;

'In Little Red Cap,’ Duffy has successfully written about childhood and the loss of innocence. Discuss with detailed references to the poem;

I am going to explore more deeply into Carol Anne Duffy’s poem, ‘little Red Cap.’ And discuss the journey from childhood to adulthood, due to ‘Little Red Cap’s’ loss of innocence.

‘Little Red Cap’ is one of the many poems that have been written by Carol Ann Duffy to portray a feminine side of life. Carol Anne Duffy has managed to do this by enabling each female character to have a voice to speak up against in many cases their husbands or partners.

The poem “Little red cap” is based on the fairytale little red riding hood. However, this poem is a lot more mature and advanced in contrast to the original version of the story, which many people know and love.

In the first stanza we are immediately introduced to the fact that ‘Little Red Cap’ is no longer a young child as Carol Anne Duffy uses a metaphor to clearly point out that she is ‘At childhood’s end,’ Which signifies Little Red Cap is at the beginning of her adult life and that she is no longer an innocent child, but she is now a independent young women. However in the second stanza this image is slightly diminished as it states that she is only ‘Sweet Sixteen.’ this quote warns the reader that she is not as grown up as we were first set out to believe, in fact this makes her seem rather inexperience and naive. Another quote that proves she still is juvenile is the sentence “I lost both shoes, but got there, wolf’s lair, better beware” This illustrates that ‘Little Red Cap’ is still a typical clumsy, love struck teenager, who is totally besotted with her first love. It also injects some normality and vulnerability into the poem, perhaps Little Red Cap was trying her best to impress the wolf by dressing up in her new high heeled shoes and trying to look old and grown up for him, but unfortunately she hadn’t had enough practice or experience walking in her shoes that she had to take them off. The use of rhyme and alliteration draws even more attention to this quote and forces the reader to speak quickly as it roles straight off the tongue. Overall Carol Anne Duffy has made this quote humorous, as it relates to reality and creates imagery, as the reader of this poem I can create an image in my head of a young girl trying hard to look older, I have even been there myself.

The first two words in stanza three, ‘My first,’ are powerful and they could have multiple reasons. My first could mean her first drink of alcohol, her first love, relationship or even the first time she has had sex, All of these deeds are mostly associated with sixteen year olds and the becoming of an adult, Little red cap may have felt that to become and

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adult she must perform at least one of these actions to rob her of her innocence and her crystal clear reputation. The two simple words, ‘My first,’ immediately determine her lack of innocence. This stanza goes on to describe the rest of the night with the wolf informing us that Little Red Caps stockings were ‘ripped to shreds.’ Carol Ann Duffy has again used imagery and as the reader I can imagine that Little Red Cap and the Wolf shared a wild, crazy passionate night together. Little Red Cap may have enjoyed this experience, it could have made her fell rebellious and unruly, which again will undoubtedly make her feel grown up and by this point in the poem her innocence has beyond doubt been taken. Maybe her intimate relationship with an older man made her feel safe and wanted, she may also felt that because she was in this relationship with an older man that she was more mature, because girls who are in relationships with boys that are a lot older themselves are normally perceived as a lot more grown up and advanced. Possibly every teenaged girl has dreamt or fancied someone older then themselves and thought how good their reputation would be if they were to be in a relationship with this person, Little Red Cap questions this statement in the poem, ‘ What little girl doesn’t dearly love a wolf?’

In stanza four Duffy has cleaverly used pure soft colours to reperesent Little Red Caps innocence, for example ‘white dove.’ The colour white is normally associated with purity and innocence and a dove is reknowned for being a gentle bird and the bird of peace, but this clear calm image is quicky disrupted and destroyed by the wolf in stanza five. ‘one bite dead.’ This makes the reader think that Little red Caps innocence was easily taken, due to the words ‘one bite.’ Maybe this was down to Little read Caps vunerability and her age or perhaps this is what she had longed for. Of the wolves maturity may have seemed domineering and may have somewhat bullied her into this deed that cheated her of her innocence. This is also a very short sentence which creates emphasis and makes the sentence prominent and memorable.

Towards the end of the poem, Little Red Cap seems to have got to involved and caught up in her affair with the wolf and is looking for an escape.

Teacher Reviews

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Katie Dixon

5th of Sep 2013

*** 3 STARS Shows understanding of the poem and offers alternative readings of the poet's intentions. Some accurate use of terminology and perceptive comments. Some good language analysis. The writer gives their personal opinion throughout. However this essay needs to use more quotes and some statements need further discussion.

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