Three Little Pigs

Laura Metzger

English 1301

25 March 2015

Browny, Whitey, Blacky

            So I happen to take the story of the three little pigs and interrupt it through the lens of a New Criticism. Ok so let start off with the title of the story Three Little Pigs. I was thinking that the pigs must not be too little because they are living on their own.  But only because their mother was getting too old to take care of them.  She let them know this and tell them that they need to have their own houses built to protect them from the wolf that wishes to eat them. There was a major difference in this story compared to the others. In the other versions of The Three Little Pigs the pigs themselves took it upon themselves to go out and find the materials, and then they would be responsible for the building of their own homes. In this version, the mother left the decision-making up what each pigs house would be made out of to the individual pig. This is where the immaturity came about as each of the pigs chose the materials based off of their likes.  My first interpretation is that the title has nothing to do with the story this because the mother is trying to teach the pigs to do things on their own because she’s not going to be around, so maybe the title should say something that has to do with them being responsible. The main patterns in the story are that of the wolf always trying to deceive them, in the story the wolf goes knocking on each of the pigs homes and says to them “I am a friend to come to call on you.” The wolf does this so that he can catch them and cook them altogether because he wants to have a big feast for his friends.  I feel the symbol in the story is the homes that the pigs need to have built, they need to find the right material and build it to the best of their ability so that the wolf doesn’t get to them. Instead, they try and take the fast and easy, which in turn lets the wolf gain access to the pigs with ease.  The point of view of the story defiantly came from the mother, maybe she is writing this in a letter to the pigs to give them warning that she may be passing and that the pigs need to be on the look out for the wolf.  The irony mostly related to the way the wolf is always trying to deceive that pigs, and the last pig being able to save everything and killing the wolf by its self.  The way in which the last pig Blacky killed the pig is in my opinion ironic. Blacky knows that the wolf is after him and has already captured his brother and sister. Even with that knowledge Blacky does not alter his lifestyle and continues to carry out his day to day tasks. One day on his way home from the market with a kettle, the pig is chased home by the wolf. The wolf has made up his mind that he will get Blacky. The pig then begins to boil some water, in the meantime the wolf then climbs on the roof and then tries going down the chimney. This is in the end the demise of the wolf, it would almost appear as if it was premeditated. Blacky then ventures out to the wolf’s house whereas he approaches the house he could hear his brother and sister grunting and squealing “weeeeee.” The pigs are all then reunited and live in Blacky’s house happily ever after.