The Three Little Pigs
Traishelle, Paul, Rory and Eric
Kazia Estrada
English 1301-175
19 Feb 2016

#BWBPigs
“Be Wise Little Pig, Your Character Is What Determines Your Life”

New Criticism of The Three Little Pigs by Andrew Lang

In the second version of The Three Little Pigs, Andrew Lang tells his version and provides significant imagery in the storyline. He begins describing the characteristics of the main characters, Browny, Whitey and Blacky. Although throughout the text, there are patterns and symbols that help create this fairytale. The words Lang chooses to use in this text are very detailed and easy to understand. Such as wisdom, which the mother pig bestows upon her pigs to help protect themselves against the fox, who is the villain of the story. The author writes this version in third person and the thesis is to be that the pigs all chose their material based on their level of maturity that would become real life consequences.

The title relates to the protagonists of the story. The word “little” in the title, refers to their youth and related to youth is immaturity. Browny is a “filthy pig that just roams in mud all day”. Portrayed to be the oldest yet ironically, he is mindless. Whitey is “clever but greedy” and puts her food before anyone else. The youngest, Blacky, is described as a nice and good looking pig. The mother pig seems to favor the youngest pig. As she is optimistic for him. As a parting gift, the mother is to give each of her pigs a home, the material they choose says a lot about each pig. Browny disappoints by choosing mud, a material to which he put no thought into at all. It says that there is a very childlike innocence to his character. Whitey chooses cabbage, which just proved that her greed and gluttony stood in the way of her making an important decision for her future. Her decision can relate to that of a young person who does not have their priorities straight but lives in their present wants. Greed and Gluttony are also two of the seven mortal sins; this may or may not have been a symbol in the passage. Blacky chooses bricks to build his house, a conscience decision based on logic. He wanted his house to "be safe all year long". Blacky showed a level of maturity that his eldest siblings clearly lacked.

Soon the mother passes away after they built their houses but not before warning the pigs of a dangerous sly fox. The mother was a symbol of a safe carefree life that has now left the pigs. When the fox does come to Browny's house but he does not let him in. Unfortunately, the fox makes his way in and snatches up Browny taking him to his den. The author writes this part of the text as a stanza for the fox continues and does the same thing to Whitey’s house and Blacky’s house which. However, Blacky out smarts the fox several times before the fox ends up burning to death from the scalding water that Blacky set out for him. When all danger is gone, Blacky goes to the fox’s den and saves his older brothers.

From then on, Browny is no longer messy and Whitey is no longer greedy. Each pig's decision in their building materials showes a different level of maturity that most humans pass through in their lifetime. In addition, we can relate to how experiencing a life-threatening situation can change our attitude about how we live our life.

Work Cited

Image: Dreamstime. Web. Feb. 2016. <http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/three-little-pigs-holding-signs-clip-path-761683.jpg>.