“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” or “To grandmother’s house we go!”  These are all sayings we were familiar with as children. As we take the road from childhood to adulthood(college) we begin to realize that most of  the fairy tales we read as toddlers have changed, either by form or by the new things about the poem that jump out at us that we didn’t realize as kids. I never thought growing up that the young maiden’s cap in “Little Red Riding Hood” would be symbolic of  passion, and sex. And by approaching a take of this fairy tale formalistically, through a poem written by feminist lesbian Olga Broumas, that many other “hidden elements,” such as word choice, symbols, allusions, irony, and morality would come into play.

     Broumas’ use of  word choice is critical in conveying her message in this poem.“... as I did once through your pelvic scaffold, stretching it like a wishbone, your tenderest skin strung on its bow and tightened against the pain. I slipped out like an arrow...”(Stories 175). Little Red Riding Hood is reminding her mother of the pain she went through at her birth, and in describing this vividly, Broumas conveys the message of pain to the audience as well.

     Another method Broumas used in writing this poem was the use of symbols and allusions. “ … The white clad doctor and his fancy claims: microscope, stethoscope, scalpel, all the better to see with, to hear, and to eat…”(Stories 175). She uses these words to make an allusion to the big, bad wolf, of who stated those claims to the maiden earlier on in her life. It kind of makes the reader look at the doctor a little differently. As the wolf plucked the girl from the forest, the doctor plucked the girl from her mother’s womb.

     In flashing back, Little Red Riding Hood recalls her mother’s advice and the morality that came along with it. “… Stick to the road and forget the flowers, there’s wolves in those bushes, mind where you got to go, mind you get there…”(Stories 175). With those words, an innocent girl embarked on a journey that would change her life forever. She, like some of us, however did not stick to the road, and she didn’t forget the flowers. The wolf intervened as a symbol of temptation, and how quickly the little girl got off of the straight path. She “took the bite” of temptation, and played in the “flowers.” The flowers represented the many little girls who took the wolf’s advice, and didn’t make it to grandma’s.

     “… I kept to the road, kept to the hood secret, kept what it sheathed more secret still. I opened it only at night, and with other women who might be walking the same road to their own grandmother’s house, each with their basket of gifts, her small hood safe in the same part…”(Stories 176). These lines, I believe apply to everyone, not that everyone in the world has the same temptations as the girl in this poem, but we all have temptations. Things like alcohol, drugs, and sex are a few things that tempt us to go play in the flowers and leave the straight and narrow we know so well. But there is hope that even when we do lose our focus in life, like this poem, our mothers will always be there.

     Not only can we identify with the passage above, but it also has some irony intertwined in the story. As we turn the page we find the real reason the girl got off the path. It was because there were girls just like her who were on their way to grandma's and stepped off the road to pick the flowers, and enjoyed it. This was definitely the most interesting twist of the poem, and most ironic. Had we not read the opening article about the author, we wouldn't have known that she was a lesbian and maybe wouldn't have even thought the little girl's sexuality would be exposed.

     Through the formalistic approach, the author's message is conveyed. In this poem, Olga Broumas' message of sexuality and individuality was presented to an audience expecting a fairy tale, but receiving far more than that. The next time you go to the woods, and the flowers seem enticing, remember Broumas' story of Little Red Riding Hood, and remember, Grandma is waiting…