Dahl's “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”

The version of Little Red Riding Hood that I would like to focus on (and enjoyed the most) was Roald Dahl’s “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, as well as his “The Three Little Pigs”. The main focus of Shavit’s analysis, when she compares Perrault’s version and the Grimm’s version of Little Red Riding Hood, is the audience. More specifically, whether the audience is focused towards children or adults, and how that is influenced by and representative of the time and culture during which the versions were written. The rhyme scheme that Dahl uses in his “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” suggests that the targeted audience is a child.
Dahl, having lived during the 20th century, would most likely gear his version towards a more modern audience. Even if one was not aware of the time during which Dahl lived, one could gather just from the poem that it was probably written relatively recently. One aspect of Dahl’s version that suggests this is that Little Red Riding Hood is presented as a clever, witty, independent female who is aware of dangerous male figures in her surroundings, and thus carries a pistol in her knickers and knows how to use it. In this respect, I also think that the audience is somewhat geared towards adults, in that it invites the enlightened female to identify with Little Red Riding Hood. The version continues to be geared towards children, however, in that it maintains the original moral of the story: there are dangerous strangers in the world that one must look out for, and also teaches children that women are just as able as, say, a trained huntsman.
The poem suggests that it is representative of a more modern time through its emphasis on material goods and the significance of fashion. For example, Little Red Riding Hood totes around in her “WOLFSKIN COAT” at the end of “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”. One also sees this fearless (and somewhat cold) female in Dahl’s “Three Little Pigs”. She helps the pig out only to kill him and make herself a pigskin traveling case.
Lastly, both poems suggest that they were written recently, since they are clearly remakes of the old fairy tale. Dahl assumes that his audience is familiar with the Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs fairy tales since he includes a “guest appearance” of Little Red Riding Hood in his Three Little Pigs version.