Caperucita en Manhattan de Carmen Martín Gaite. Superar el miedo para alcanzar la libertad

This essay offers an analysis of Carmen Martín Gaite's novel Caperucita en Manhattan (1990), which consists of a wide variety of references to texts and genres that make it complex and evocative, blending the classic and the modern, fantasy and rationality, the unknown and the revealed. The novel, which features narrative techniques characteristic of postmodernism, shows substantial differences from hypertexts belonging to the fairy tale tradition, even though the main characters and plot are recognisable. In addition to describing how the ancient fairy tale has been adapted to the modern world, dominated by spectacle and fiction, this essay aims to highlight some key elements. Firstly, the creative and poetic capacity of daydreaming, fundamental to the anti-conformist formation of Sara Allen (Little Red Riding Hood), who invents words and reads books imagining different endings and sets out on a solitary adventure through the streets of Manhattan towards freedom. Secondly, fear as a basic element to be faced and overcome, which largely depends not on the danger of external threats (the wolf and the forest), but on conventionalism, rigidity and lack of authenticity. Based on the teachings of her grandmother and Miss Lunatic (a messianic and fantastical figure), Sara learns that fear is the opposite of freedom. Finally, the theme of freedom, understood as a kind of rebirth, which includes a love of adventure and an ethic of responsibility in the encounter with the other.