Free to a Good Home - Why You Should Not Give Pets Away

Free to a Good Home - Why You Should Not Give Pets Away Once you have taken an animal into your home and made him or her part of your family, you have an obligation to protect and nurture that animal because you made a commitment. The animal has a right to expect to be treated as a member of the family. And that’s what makes the issue of re-homing pets an animal rights issue. But sometimes life throws a curveball and there are circumstances beyond your control. If you have fallen into a situation where you need to find new homes for your companion animals, you are in a disastrous position indeed. If you care for your animals at all, you will take every precaution to ensure they are going to a forever loving home. If you are truly desperate and dont have the time or ability to vet a stranger offering to take your companion, your best move is to local rescues for assistance. Many are networked nationwide and work incredibly hard to secure safe alternatives for pets. If rescues cant immediately help, take him or her to a shelter, as much as it may pain you to do so. At least, the animal may be given a chance to find a good home. Having to surrender your companion animal to a shelter is not the best outcome, but its a better outcome than having your companion fall into the wrong hands.   Criminals easily prey on people who just want the animals to go to a good home. They know that sometimes you are pressed for time and apparently have no choice but to turn the animal over to you in your hour of need. They rely on that raw emotion you have over having to surrender your friend while time is running out. They try to convince you they will be good guardians, and you very much want to believe them, which works in their favor. First and foremost, always affix an adoption fee. People looking for animals to abuse will usually not pay a fee. You may even hear a sob story from someone who wants your animal but cant afford to pay an adoption fee. But chances are if they cant afford to pay a $50 adoption fee, what will they do when the animal needs to be seen by a veterinarian? How will they afford to keep up with dental cleanings, check-ups, and vaccines? Charging an adoption fee also prevents someone from taking your animals on a whim, and then, having lost interest, turning them in at the shelter or abandoning them on a dark, lonely street far from home. Abuse Torture Sick and amoral people cannot always be spotted on looks alone. Some individuals want your dogs and cats just to  abuse, torture and kill them. By charging an adoption fee, you make it much more difficult for these animal abusers to acquire animals - specifically, your animals. Dogfighting According to the Michigan State University Animal Legal and Historical Center, one of the methods used to train fighting dogs is to dangle a small dog, cat, rabbit or guinea pig on a rope in front of a dog who is forced to run on a treadmill or around a circle. Naturally, these small animals are terrified and the dog is given the animal to kill as a reward at the end of the session. Where do these animals come from? Some people steal animals right off the street or from a backyard. In dogfighting, dogs are trained to be vicious and trained to attack other animals, so-called bait animals. In a Florida shelter, an elderly woman and her clean-cut young son came to adopt a small animal. Ostensibly, the animal was to be â€Å"a companion† for the elderly woman. The pair went home with a small white mixed breed who was immediately thrown into a ring with a fighting dog and killed. Looks can be deceiving and people searching for dogs for this purpose will use any disguise, tell any l ies and use charm to separate you from your loving companion. Again, charging an adoption fee makes it more difficult for someone to acquire animals for dogfighting. B Dealers Although there are breeding facilities to supply the animal-testing industry with dogs and cats, some laboratories attempt to cut corners by hiring dishonest intermediaries who deal in stolen pets. A woman named Barbara Ruggiero was such a dealer, referred to as a Class B dealer, a random source animal dealer regulated by the  USDA  to sell animals to laboratories for experimentation. Class B dealers sometimes acquire animals in unscrupulous ways, and charging a small adoption fee makes your animal unprofitable to them. Finding a New Home It is strongly recommended that you affix an adoption fee. You can always waive the fee if you find someone you truly trust. Whether or not you charge an adoption fee, there are steps you can take to make sure your animals are going to a good home: Home visit: Visit the potential adopters home and speak with the other family members. Are there other pets in the home? Who will care for the animals? Does anyone have allergies? Where will the animals live? If there are children, make sure that the adults know that they should be responsible for the animals; not the children. If the potential adopter doesn’t live near you, ask a rescue in the town where s/he lives to visit the home. Because of Facebook and Petfinder, the perfect guardian may be miles away, even in another state. Rescues often have volunteers to help you facilitate your adoption and put your mind at ease. PilotsNPaws may be able to transport your companion anywhere in the country where you find a suitable home. Consider relatives who live out of state; they may be willing to adopt your precious family member.Ask for references: Call the references and ask if the family has taken good care of their current or past pets. Ask what happened to their past pets - d id they die of natural causes after fifteen years, or did they seem to disappear after a few weeks? Ask for a vet reference: Call their current or past veterinarian and ask about the familys other pets and how well they were cared for. The vet may not give you very detailed information, but confirm that they have a relationship with a vet and ask whether the vet recommends the family as good  guardians.Animal abuser registry:  Animal abuser registries  are growing rapidly in response to public pressure. If you live in an area that has such a registry, be sure to take advantage of it. They list local people who have been convicted of animal cruelty in the past so that shelters and rescue groups can avoid them.Google  them: Whether or not someone has a history of animal abuse, an internet search might turn up past crimes and brushes with the law.Be prepared to take the animal back. You may have taken all of the important steps, but the pet may not be a good match for this family. Maybe your dog doesnt get along with their current dog. Maybe a family member has a previously un known allergy. To keep your animals safe, you have to be prepared to take them back and let the adopter know that you will take the animal back if it doesnt work out. Have the adopter sign a pet adoption contract.  Petrescue.com offers boilerplate adoption contracts that can be downloaded and printed outNever use Craigslist. Because Craigslist offers free or cheap items, those surfing Craigslist are looking for free cats and dogs. Even if you do have a fee, they’re confident they can con you into waiving it. Craigslist is never a good place to advertise an animal. Horror stories abound about animals given away to someone who found him or her on Craigslist. With reputable databases such as Petfinder and all the breed rescue sites, why would someone even be looking on Craigslist? Because they don’t want to deal with the paperwork and systems these sites have put in place to protect their animals.Breed Rescue If your animal is a purebred, reach out to the specific breed rescue and ask them to step in. Frequently they have a waiting list of anxious, but vetted, adopters. German Shepherd Dog Rescue and Siamese Rescue are two examples of a specific breed rescue group. If you still have doubts about the safety of giving your animal away to someone without vetting them first, consider these cases. In 2007, Anthony Appolonia of Aberdeen, NJ, convicted of  torturing and killing 19 cats and kittens, many which came from local free to a good home advertisements in the newspaper. Local rescuers had given him the cats but became suspicious when Appolonia requested additional cats. In 1998,  Class B dealer Barbara Ruggiero  and two accomplices were found guilty of felony grand theft of dogs in Los Angeles, CA, after they answered hundreds of free to a good home ads and then sold the dogs to laboratories,  to be used in experiments. The information on this website is not legal advice and is not a substitute for legal advice. For legal advice, please consult an attorney. Doris Lin, Esq.  is an animal rights attorney and Director of Legal Affairs for the Animal Protection League of NJ.

Exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Exercise - Essay Example He says that what you consume is vital but what it emanates down to is how much you eat. Thus it is good to eat like the French do, they are the healthiest groups of people yet they have a number of the worst diets worldwide. And lastly, an individual is at an advantage consuming whole fresh foods instead of food products that have been processed. He wants his readers be aware that they should not just eat any food and should be aware that even some low-fat foods have been confirmed that they do not work. Therefore: one should be familiar with the ingredients in the food they consume; eat frequently plants; cook for yourself; pay extra for nutritious diets and eat less; and Eat like an omnivore and like the French. He also insists that people should keep off from supermarkets and eat real stuff that do not have health assertions (POLLAN, 2007). In his article, Pollen seems to answer the question on: whether are there more nutrients in foods that have been manufactured and are claiming to be nutritious than in natural foods?; And how sure are we that these studies on diets that claim certain foods to have nutrients have more benefits than harms to our health? His main idea is on nutritionism. He examines the effect nutritionism has on human beings. He does this through his explanation of how a political mix-up has made companies assert that their produce is healthy. This political mix-up is denoting to a situation where George McGovern contradicted himself on the matters concerning particular nutrient. He said publicly how the nutrient was unhealthy, and later he comes with an opposite opinion of his previous statements. Through this pollen paints an image that nutritionism is good for food companies and marketers but it is not good for human beings. He claims that human beings are contented to receive updates that they should consume more of one thing rather than another; we

Economic Crisis in the United States Research Paper

Economic Crisis in the United States - Research Paper Example widespread failure in regulatory oversight) (Barclift, 2011, p. 450). However, deeper analysis of the crisis shows that though the crisis is financial in nature, the culprit is not financial as many have explained but structural; it is caused by the faulty macroeconomic strategies of US – the reliance on bubble economy and dependency on international credits and imports. I. Understanding the Crisis Experts, policymakers and observers (BBC, 2007; Zaman, 2009, p. 64; Katkov, 2011, p. 898) perceive the crisis in contending ways, depending on which spectrum one aligns. But as the events unfold, everyone seems to agree that the crisis has started to manifest itself in the burst of the housing bubble in 2007 followed by the financial market crash. How did this happen? This question must have been asked with the shocking realization that this actually happens in the US – the seat of world power and the home of distinguished economists, financial analysts, and bankers. But afte r understanding the events, one would probably say that this kind of crisis would be most highly probable in the US. Why? The answer to this would come later. Going back to the first question, to answer this requires one to understand the mortgage lending in the US. One good simple explanation on this is to understand the effects of the changes made on the traditional model of mortgage lending to the sub-prime model as illustrated below. The differences between the two models rest on three important factors: First, the reliance on real assets for banks to lend; second, the guarantee on the capacity of borrowers to pay; and third, the transparency in the conditions of loans – i.e. that sub-prime loans are usually adjustable rate mortgages (ARM); toxic instruments, like the collateralized debt obligations (CDO) that the biggest investment banks of the world pump out (BBC, 2007, p. 1). In short, there are solid bases by which banks and borrowers conduct business, giving both par ties clear indicators by which to act. Unfortunately, these three important factors on which banks traditionally operate are disregarded in the new sub-prime model. Though it is true that selling on the mortgages to the bond markets has given banks additional leverage to fund more borrowings, however, it has resulted to fraudulent practices, which banks no longer have the incentive to check (BBC, 2007, p. 1) – i.e., falsifying credit histories or income of borrowers by mortgage brokers to qualify borrowers so that brokers can earn fees and commission (Zaman, 2009, p. 65). Truly, the sub-prime model has succeeded in raising the demand for housing, which caused the housing bubble, but in the end caused the financial crisis. Freeman (2002) explained that the housing bubble created a hyperinflationary spiral, fuelling speculative investments in real estate. Consequently, this sent prices, assessments, real estate and mortgage credit volume also spiraling upwards. Such was actuall y the objective of the City of London-Wall Street financier and Fannie Mae. On the contrary, the productive economy that would have given debtors the capacity to pay and that would have given resilience to the US economy was staggering downward. (pp. 12, 17) Expectantly, as BBC (2007) reported, sub-prime borrowers, which make-up 22% ($1.3 trillion) of the $6 trillion mortgage

Acts of Rebellion Essay Example for Free

Acts of Rebellion Essay In 1984, Orwell presents the act of rebellion through love. Listen. The more men youve had, the most I love you. Do you understand that? this whole quote suggest that they are both rebelling, meaning that Julia has already rebelled in the past by having sex with other men. Also Winston is declaring that the more she rebels the more he would love her, which is also an act of rebellion in itself because love is unauthorized, by Big Brother. The most could suggest that Winston is encouraging everyone to rebel against Big Brother, which could mean that as Julia loves Winston, he is taking advantage of her by telling her that whatever Julia is doing is right that he is totally supporting her. Additionally this could mean that he wanted more people to be corrupt, and everyone to go to the wrong path and disobey Big Brother. Orwell presents the act of rebellion through love because in the Dystopian society there are strict rule that need to be followed, such as no having sex for pleasure, and this is clearly an act of rebellion as Julia had sex with lots of party member. Similarly in Romeo and Juliet where Shakespeare is presenting their love by rebelling, they are both willing to disobey the orders of the wise ones just to be with each other. Therefore stay yet; thou needst not to be gone proposes that Juliet is stubborn, as the Daughter of Capulet; she is used to get what she wants. Additionally Romeo declares to her Let me taen, let me be put to death This could emphasise that he is willing to die for Juliet and stay with her than live his life without her, this clearly shows that he is rebelling against all the rules put upon them, just to stay with Juliet. Not to be gone could suggest that Juliet is being bossy as she is ordering him to stay with her. But alternatively this could highlight that as men in the Elizabethan had power over women, and they were patriarchal meaning that Juliet was a bad influence on Romeo, and that she was almost a threat to his manhood. As he accepts defeat Romeo says let me put to death which could declare that Juli et is Romeos weakness and that if someone breaks Juliet, Romeo will also shatter.

Relation Between Law And Morality :: essays research papers

Factors Affecting Life In The Fourteenth Century   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By all accounts, humanity was faring pretty well in the period from the eleventh century to the thirteenth. The population was steadily increasing due to better farming methods that better feed the people in Europe at this time. Significant social and political changes proved to be making life more stable, and there were many advances being made in the intellectual community. This stability, however, was upset by some of the most sever calamities ever to affect modern society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Things began going downhill during the early thirteen hundreds, when Europe encountered what was latter termed to be a, â€Å"little ice-age.† This very subtle shift in economic patterns was enough to cause rampant malnutrition and even starvation in some heavy hit areas. Things were so bad that historians now believe that the famine may be responsible for a nearly ten percent drop in population in during the first half of that century. Although this is a staggering figure in itself, it is widely believed that it also had a hand in further reducing the population via the most terrible epidemic know to man; the Black Death, or the bubonic plague.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Black Death was the most lethal outbreak in recorded history. While different sources have conflicting figures, it is widely believed that the Plague wiped out up to fifty percent of the entire population. The plague itself was probably brought to Europe from Asia through trade ships or caravans, where it was spread through flees that lived on rats that co-existed in the cities and other urban areas. Lacking present day knowledge about bacteria and biology in general, the seemingly arbitrary spread of the Black Death completely baffled the early European, who attributed it to all sorts of things, such as Jews or the wrath of a vengeful God. The unfathomable amount of death had very negative effects on almost every human institution, such as the religious establishment and normal social behavior. It must have a terrifying era to live in, and is a situation that hasn’t been duplicated in nearly 700.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Probably owing partially to the examples already given, war and general social unrest were another evil that beset an already bewildered people. The most brutal and protracted single example would have to be the Hundred Years War between England and France. It was touched of 1337 when Philip VI, the king of France, forcefully seized the province of Gascony from the English.

Isolation in Society Essay

Most people take society for granted, having lived within it their whole lives. They follow rules and social norms almost without thinking or realizing how much these rules affect their lives. It is only when these rules and norms are removed that people realize the significant impact of society on who they are. People assume social roles and when these roles are removed, whether by choice or by accident, they are forced to survive without the benefits or protections of society. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and William Golding are two authors that attempted to show the negative effects of isolation from society. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Gilman Jane is isolated from society and slowly descends into her own world of delusion and insanity; in the Lord of the Flies by Golding, the isolated boys forgo the rules of civilization and revert to a state of savagery and paranoia. In each story, as in real life, isolation from society causes suffering. A large part of staying within society and not being isolated from it is to fulfill an expected social role, whether as a mother, father, doctor, or nurse. Expectations from society are placed on each of these roles, as well as a pressure to conform. Whether people choose to accept them or not, social roles are assigned to everyone who participates in society. According to Gerrig, â€Å"A social role is a socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person when functioning in a given setting or group† (Gerrig and Zimbardo 574). In both â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Lord of the Flies, pressures of fulfilling social role leads to physical and mental isolation and alienation from society and creates suffering. In the article â€Å"The Outsider,† a genius boy named William James Sidis is described as someone whose intelligence made him isolated from society: â€Å"At eighteen months he could read The New York Times, at two he taught himself Latin, at three he learned Greek. By the time he was an adult he could speak more than forty languages and dialects. He gained entrance to Harvard at eleven, and gave a lecture on four-dimensional bodies to the Harvard Mathematical Club his first year† (Towers 6). His IQ was reported between 250 to 300 points, and his intelligence isolated him from his peers and social norms. This hyper-intelligence distanced him from almost everyone else in the world, creating an isolated, lonely youth who suffered in his alienation. Since he was born, he was constantly fueled by the expectations of others pushing him to excel. It led to his drive to succeed beyond most others in the academic fields, but did not allow for him to ever experience â€Å"normal† life, in social terms. Conforming to the ideas of others that wanted his brain used for noble pursuits, he missed out on simple social interactions or other joys of being human, eventually becoming a forty-six-year-old virgin who was unable to find sexual identity because he never incorporated it into his life. Sidis claims that despite all his intelligence and accomplishments, he is a failure, because he never got to be anything but an outsider. His isolation from normal society not only limited the options in his life, but also added unnecessary suffering. This real life isolation and the suffering it causes is seen in the characters of Gilman’s and Golding’s stories. In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Lord of the Flies, people became isolated from society and suffered because of it. Jane is an intelligent and independent woman, and this makes her an outsider in nineteenth century society, who expect women to be happy mothers and wives. Though all of the stranded boys are isolated from society on the island, Ralph becomes an outsider from their community, after his intelligence and sense clash with the savage behavior the other boys adopt. In Jane’s case, she was an outsider for her rejection of â€Å"normal† society, while Ralph was an outsider because of his acceptance of it. Real life is no different than fiction, and people who think above the typical mentality and social norms often become isolated from society, thus becoming outsiders. For Jane in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† it is the refusal to accept these social roles that makes her an outsider in her own world, combined with the dismissive attitude that she receives from others. In the story, Jane makes the claim that she cannot participate in social activities such as working and visiting family because of her mental illness. This is largely because of her dominant doctor husband who keeps telling her that she is and treating her as if she were helpless. Her husband acts just as any husband of the time, treating her as a helpless woman instead of the intelligent and creative woman she is. He also is the one who will not allow her to write, so she begins her journal until she can work again: â€Å"So I take phosphates or phosphates-whichever it is- and tonics, and air and exercise, and journeys, and am absolutely forbidden to â€Å"work† until I am well again† (Golding 88). What her husband dismisses is Jane’s deep depression, which is made worse by her isolation and sense of helplessness. â€Å"You see, he does not believe I am sick! † (88). He robbed her of writing and being productive in the way she wishes, and offers her little alternatives. At the time, women were expected to keep house and raise the children, while Jane preferred writing and independence. She eventually comes to see domestic life as a prison, directly opposing the societal view of domestic life as the height of existence. Even before her descent into insanity, she is an outsider compared to the nanny and John’s sister who are happy filling their social roles as submissive housewives. Jane is left in her isolated world alone in the house, with her husband gone much of the time on emergencies and serious situations. In her isolation, Jane grows increasingly detached not only from her husband and family, but from reality. By making her an outsider, Jane is unable to get over her depression and the isolation from society only makes her mindset worse. Isolation from society can negatively affect the behavior of people, much like it does to Jane. Many people with mental illness are kept out of â€Å"normal† society, instead locked away like Jane is. This behavior robs people of the ability to interact with each other, almost negating the concept of what a society is supposed to be. This brings up the question of whether societies should be inclusive or if it is okay to create outsiders and exclude them. Nineteenth century society simply did not want to accept a strong independent woman. In Lord of the Flies, the entire definition of society is called into question. In Lord of the Flies, isolation from society is the theme of the work. The boys are isolated on a desert island and are forced to create their own rules, and soon Ralph finds himself isolated from this new society. Ralph initially uses his intelligence and morals to maintain order and establish a democratic society with the conch shell. He is a wise choice as leader and the signal fire displays the hope they have to return to civilization, but fear and paranoia begin to take over. The isolation from society leads Jack and his followers to abandon the rules, and this makes Ralph and his followers outsiders to them. The instance where the boys killed the sow shows how far removed from society they are and by chopping off of its head and offering it to the beast seems to suggest that isolation from society leads to the breakdown of civilized behavior. In their blood lust, the boys chant, â€Å"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood† (Golden 168). The boys take pleasure in the destructive power of killing, where they were only recently innocent schoolboys. They savagely murder Simon thinking he is the beast and they, â€Å"Leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit and tore† (000000), like animals and not humans. After the boys kill Simon, the only boy that does not believe in the beast, they in fact become the beast themselves by murdering the person who knows the truth. However barbaric, Jack’s society appeals to most of the boys and even Ralph and Piggy think it is a demented but mostly safe society. For Ralph and his followers, isolation from society did not cause him to revert to a savage state, though tempted by it. Perhaps the author is trying to suggest that all humans possess violent instincts and will revert to them when given the chance, but the truly strong individuals will manage to retain their sense of morality and independence. When the boys are rescued, Ralph realizes that the isolation from society forced all the boys to lose their innocence, though he managed to retain his sense of civilization. Both Jane in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Ralph in Lord of the Flies are outsiders in their own worlds, isolated physically and by their own beliefs and thoughts. This isolation led to suffering for each. In both stories, frustration and paranoia provokes dark thoughts in the minds of the characters, as the boys on the island become savages, Ralph is forced to hide for his life, and Jane becomes insane. Both authors seem to suggest that isolation from society and its rules leads to only suffering and the breakdown of morality. The good become evil, and the intelligent and independent thinkers lose their minds and sometimes lives. Ralph offers hope that this fate is not always true, but he is also forever changed by his experience. Jane’s position offers little hope, as she continues to deteriorate mentally throughout the story. But, the stories each offer questions about social roles and how they affect the mind, and whether isolation can allow a person to better understand the outside world or forget how to interact in it. The only thing that is certain is that few can escape from the reality of society. Works cited: Gerrig, Richard J. and Zimbardo, Philip G. â€Å"Social Norms. † Psychology and Life. 17th ed. 2005. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper. † The Project Gutenberg. November 1999. 31 January 2007. . Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1954. Towers, Grady M. â€Å"The Outsiders. † The Prometheus Society. 22 April 1987. 31 January 2007. .

The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault

Although much lesser known than his literary heirs the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, 17th-century French writer, Charles Perrault, not only solidified the fairy tale as a literary genre but wrote nearly all of the genres most signature stories, including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Tom Thumb, and the larger designation of Mother Goose stories. Perrault published his Stories or Tales from Times Past (subtitled Mother Goose Tales) in 1697 and arrived at the end of a long and not entirely satisfying literary life. Perrault was nearly 70 years old and, while he was well-connected, his contributions had been more intellectual than artistic. But this slim volume comprised of three of his earlier verse stories and eight new prose stories achieved a success that hadnt seemed possible to the man whod long made his main living as a civil servant.   Impact on Literature   Some of Perraults stories were adapted from oral tradition, some were inspired by episodes from earlier works, (including Boccaccios The Decameron and Apuleius The Golden Ass), and some were inventions wholly new to Perrault. What was most significantly new was the idea of turning magical folk tales into sophisticated and subtle forms of written literature. While we now think of fairy tales as primarily childrens literature, there was no such thing as childrens literature in Perraults time. With this in mind, we can see that the morals of these tales take on more worldly purposes, despite their slyly clever packaging within the fantastical universe of fairies, ogres, and talking animals. While Perraults original tales are hardly the versions that were fed to us as children, they also cant be expected to be the feminist and socialist alternate versions that we might wish them to be (see Angela Carters 1979 story collection, The Bloody Chamber, for this kind of modern twist; Carter had translated an edition of Perraults fairy tales in 1977 and was inspired to create her own versions as a response). Perrault was an upper-class intellectual during the reign of the Sun King. Unlike the fable-writer Jean de La Fontaine, whose rich narratives often criticized the powerful and took the side of the underdog (in fact he himself was not in favor with the megalomaniacal Louis XIV), Perrault didnt have much of an interest in rocking the boat. Instead, as a leading figure on the modern side of the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, he brought new forms and sources to literature to create something that even the ancients had never seen. La Fontaine was on the side of the ancients and wrote fables in the vein of Aesop, and while La Fontaine was much more lyrically sophisticated and intellectually clever, it was Perraults modernity that lay the foundation for a new kind of literature thats created a culture all its own. Perrault may have been writing for adults, but the fairy tales that he first put on paper spawned a revolution in what kinds of stories could be made into literature. Soon, writing for children spread throughout Europe and eventually across the rest of the world. The results and even his own works may have gone far out of Perraults intent or control, but thats what often happens when you introduce something new into the world. It seems that theres a moral somewhere in that. References in Other Works   Perraults tales entered culture in ways that far transcend his own personal artistic reach. They permeated virtually every level of modern art and entertainment—from rock songs to popular films to the most sophisticated stories by literary fabulists such as Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. With all these tales forming a common cultural currency, the clarity and intent of the originals have often been either obscured or contorted to serve sometimes questionable meanings. And while a film like 1996s Freeway creates a brilliant and necessary twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story, many more popular versions of Perraults works (from the saccharine Disney films to the grotesquely insulting Pretty Woman) manipulate their audiences by promoting reactionary gender and class stereotypes. Much of this is in the originals, though, and its often surprising to see just what is and what isnt in the original versions of these seminal fairy tales. Tales by Perrault In Puss in Boots, the youngest of three sons inherits only a cat when his father dies, but through the cats wily scheming the young man ends up wealthy and married to a princess. Perrault, who was in favor with Louis XIV, provides two interconnected but  competing  morals to the  tale, and he clearly had the machinations of the court in mind with this witty satire. On the one hand, the tale promotes the idea of using hard work and ingenuity to get ahead, rather than just relying on your parents money. But on the other hand, the story warns against being taken in by pretenders who may have achieved their wealth in unscrupulous ways. Thus, a tale that seems like a didactic childrens fable actually serves as a double-edged send-up of class mobility as it existed in the seventeenth century. Perraults Little Red Riding Hood reads much like the popularized versions that we all grew up with, but with one big difference: the wolf eats the girl and her grandmother, and nobody comes along to save them. Without the happy ending that the Brothers Grimm supply in their version, the story serves as a warning to young women against talking to strangers, especially against charming wolves who seem civilized but are perhaps even more dangerous. Theres no heroic male to slay the wolf and save Little Red Riding Hood from her own gullible innocence. Theres only danger, and its up to young women to learn how to recognize it. Like Puss in Boots, Perraults Cinderella also has two competing and contradictory morals, and they likewise discuss questions of marriageability and class connection. One moral claims that charm is more important than looks when it comes to winning a mans heart, an idea that suggests that anyone can achieve happiness, regardless of their conventional assets. But the second moral declares that no matter what natural gifts you have, you need a godfather or godmother in order to put them to good use. This message acknowledges, and perhaps supports, societys profoundly uneven playing field. The most strange and amazing of Perraults tales, Donkey Skin, is also one of his least known, probably because its shocking grotesqueries have no way of being watered down and made easily palatable. In the story, a dying queen asks her husband to remarry after her death, but only to a princess even more beautiful than her. Eventually, the kings own daughter grows to surpass her dead mothers beauty, and the king falls deeply in love with her. At the suggestion of her fairy godmother, the princess makes seemingly impossible demands of the king in exchange for her hand, and the king somehow fulfills her demands each time to both shimmering and terrifying effect. Then she demands the skin of the kings magic donkey, which defecates gold coins and is the source of the kingdoms wealth. Even this the king does, and so the princess flees, wearing the donkey skin as a permanent disguise. In Cinderella-like fashion, a young prince rescues her from her squalor and marries her, and events transpire so that her father also ends up happily paired with a neighboring widow-queen. Despite the tidiness of all its ends, this is the story that contains the messiest and wildest of Perraults invented worlds. Perhaps that is why posterity has been unable to tame it into a version that feels comfortable presenting to children. There is no Disney version, but for the adventurous, Jacques Demys 1970 film starring Catherine Deneuve manages to capture all of the storys perversity while casting the loveliest and most magical spell on its viewers.