Red Riding Hood Essay – Innocent Or Guilty

Joselyn Riding is innocent in the killing of Harold B. Wolf. Even though her actions might not have not been ethically correct, they were suitable and fitting for the circumstances. Therefore Miss Riding is fully justified for doing harm to the wolf as he was a threat to her, and her grandmother and the wolf had committed the crimes of: stepping foot on the grandmother’s private property and identity theft. Additionally he incriminated the little Red Riding Hood on the way to her grandmother and therefore she only used self-defense to protect herself. In Little Red Riding Hood retold by Mary Ellen Liebheit, Joselyn Riding is a young and caring girl from Heath Meadows that has very advanced archery skills and that shows lots of love towards her ill and bedridden grandmother.

One reason that supports the thesis that the Little Red Riding Hood is innocent is that Joselyn Riding had felt threatened by the wolf, after the altercation on the way to her grandmother’s house. The Red Riding Hood had a very persistent and dependable Saturday morning. She “often walked through the forest on a Saturday morning” to visit her Granny who “was confined to bed” and who was like every Saturday expecting her visit. Therefore the grandmother “asked her physiotherapist to leave the door unlatched when she left early Saturday”. After a long walk through the “great forest”, little Red Riding Hood arrived at her grandmother’s house in “Alderly Edge”. Promptly after entering her granny’s house, she noticed that something was wrong, after hearing the “unusually gruff voice” and the “series of deathly scary coughs”. Seeing the wolf in her granny’s bed, scared her and created the emotion of worry for her grandmother. She therefore acted quickly, by opening “the closet door beside her” and got out her bow and arrow. The wolf had already “staggered out of the bed” and had moved closer and closer to the window, seeking for an escape. Due to him trying to escape the situation by “leaping toward the window” , Joselyn Riding shot him down, through a reflex, with her arrow. The thought of the wolf killing her grandmother and the wolf standing in the same room as her, scared the Little Red Riding Hood and therefore stressed her, which led to this human and natural response in such a difficult situation. Therefore she cannot be found guilty, because the wolf had created a threat and the wolf was lying in the bed instead of the grandmother who normally does when the Little Red Riding Hood comes and visits.

Another point that proves that the Red Riding Hood is innocent for killing Harold B. Wolf, that the wolf had bothered her along the way to visit her grandmother and that the wolf had intended to seek revenge on her the entire time. On her way to her grandmother’s house, the wolf had interfered by asking “Hey, what do you have in that basket, little girl?”. Since she did not allow him to have a peek at what was inside the basket for her granny, due to the fact that she is an intelligent and polite young lady, the wolf aggressively “extended a paw toward[s] the basket”. The little Red Riding Hood felt threatened and was scared of the wolf, as he had used aggression and therefore “slapped[the wolves hand] back sharply”. The wolf responded with: “I see you’re in a hurry, Red Riding Hood, so I’ll be seeing you later!”. This indicated that the wolf knew where she was going to and shows that the wolf had already been following her before, disturbing her privacy. As the wolf was attracted by the “scent of a human” and the “apple pie”, this shows that the wolf was in search for food. As the wolf did not receive any from little Miss Riding, he decided to go to her grandmother house where he would be “seeing her later”. When she arrived at Granny’s house and couldn’t find her, but found the wolf in her bed, everything made sense to her and she had the feeling that the wolf had eaten her grandmother. She panicked and tried to save her loving grandmothers life and therefore she shot him down when he was on the way out, hoping she could save her granny. The wolf had brought himself into this situation by acting aggressive and blood thirsty on the path walk and finally by creating a scene in the house.

Another valid point that convinces the wolfs guilt is: he committed multiple crimes. Joselyn Riding had found the wolf lying in his grandmother’s bed, after he trespassed into her house. By intruding into the house, the wolf went against the law from section 9 of the Theft Act 1968: breaking and entering. The law states: “entering a residence or other enclosed property through the slightest amount of force without authorization”. The wolve’s actions obviously fit to this definition. Additionally, he also committed of identity theft, by impersonating the grandmother when saying “Come in, dear” and by wearing her “nightgown”. These examples show that the obviously had the intent to apply bodily harm the Red Riding Hood, as he had shown that she was considered to be his lunch. This allowed her to use self-defence, as in her opinion, she was protecting herself from this creature wolf, who created a threat by illegally entering her grandmother’s house. It is indisputable that Joselyn Riding is innocent in the killing of the wolf because she just used self-defense, to protect herself from this wild and aggressive creature, after it had committed several crimes by illegally entering and impersonating her grandmother, incriminated her and disturbed her privacy whilst her walk and created a truly dangerous threat.

There is no debate that killing in general is never the right solution, but in this case it was the only way out for this little girl who was scared for her life and who took the right measures to stop Harold B. Wolf from doing further harm.