The poetic speaker says that Red Riding Hood and the grandmother remember "nothing naked and brutal / from that little death" (Sexton 167-168); in this phrase, the poetic speaker reflects that people have a selective understanding of their world. "Naked" (Sexton 167) connotes rawness, something that has not been refined or censored. And brutal (Sexton 168) connotes extreme violence, gruesome and repulsive in nature. Brutality conjures images of cold and bloody violence, the type of violence that is senseless and appalling. The fact that Red Riding Hood and Grandmother are not shaken by neither the inhumane killing of the wolf nor their own brush with death is a statement that people choose their understanding of their world.

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Alex Leoncio