The Path, a PC game released by Tale of Tales, has a very clear feminist message and also very evident ties to Jungian Psychology. However, an intriguing and often unexplored concept is the examination of race in The Path.
The White Girl (Or the Girl in White, as she is known in the game) is a ghostly young Black girl who haunts the forest in which the game takes place. In the initial encounter she might seem very creepy, but she actually turns into a protagonist of sorts, and definitely has the potential of befriending the girls. She is the antithesis of the wolf, in that if given a chance she will return your character to the path. Her role in the game is initially mysterious, in terms of why she inhabits the forest, but through Carmen’s encounter with the wolf at the camp site, we are able to gain insight.
It is very possible that The White Girl was the original Little Red Riding Hood, that she was the original victim of the wolf, either in his woodcutter form or in an unknown guise. It is implied that The White Girl may have been a victim of sexual assault - a particular horrifying idea considering her age.
There is strong allegorical significance in The White Girl’s character on many levels. At the most simple level it is a satirical questioning of the qualitative ideas we have about color. In American society, white often equates good and black equates bad, which is a very problematic reminder of the inherit inequality people of color face in this country. A Black girl who is actually brightly glowing white, and at a distance can only be identified by her color and not by her race, challenges reactions and assumptions the player might have about the character. Even on a purely linguistic level it is interesting , as people often categorize people by their race, which often has to do with their perceived skin color. In this case, even though the character is Black, one naturally might refer to her as The White Girl. The subtle humor of this is that The White Girl is actually white, like the snow. For once, labeling someone by their color makes sense, and its ironic that it is the one time that such a label has nothing to do with race.
This is especially interesting when one considered the "coloring" of the concept of victimization. White women are often placed in the role of the victim, while women of color are often not. There is almost at times a media obsession with white women as victims. Consider that when a woman of color and a white woman both go missing, it is almost always the white victim who gets massive media coverage, while the woman of color is not given airtime at all.
The White Girl as the Original Victim
A more interesting interpretation, expanding from the theory about The White Girl initially being the Wolf’s victim, is that the story may not really be about the main characters at all. They may simply be reliving The White Girl’s story. Allegorically, from a feminist point of view, one could see the relationship between The White Girl and the other girls (who look caucasian) is that of the places of Black women and White women historically. Black women were traditionally victimized much more brutally and frequently in this country, while there were some flimsy societal safeguards that helped to protect white women from white men. As the country becomes more subtly (but substantially) dangerous for women of all color, white women as a group are learning from the experiences of their Black counterparts. Though the country is still the most dangerous for a woman of color, gradually white women of all economic classes are becoming less protected from violent oppression.
The White Girl and The Wolf
The White Girl is an important character in the larger scheme of the game. She almost is a goddess-like figure that strives to protect your character from harm, filing the traditionally empty role as the antithesis of the wolf. This is allegorically even more true since the wolf always seems to take the role of a white male - the most privileged demographic, while The White Girl is representational of one of the most oppressed groups in America, leaving them diametrically opposed.
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