Gender Roles in Angela Carters The Company of Wolves Essay -- Carter

Gender Roles in Angela Carters The Company of WolvesIn her transformation of the well-known fable Little Red Riding Hood, Angela Carter plays upon the readers familiarity. By echoing ele ments of the allegory intended to scare and thus caution late girls, she evokes preconceptions and stereotypes about sex roles. In the traditional tale, Red sticks to the path, but require to be rescued from the threatening wildcat well by a huntsman or woodsman. Carter retells the story with a modern perspective on women. By using fantasy metaphorically and hyperbolically, she can poignantly convey her maverick and underlying messages. Before telling the story of Red Riding Hood, Carter establishes the record of wolves in a folk-lore or legend style, which appears to be at to the lowest degree partially factual. The narrator describes wolves as malicious hunters in an ominous tad The wolf is carnivore incarnate and hes as cunning as he is rough once hes had a taste of flesh, then nothing e lse will do (Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, 2232). She tells of their desperation for food, one possible explanation for their extravagance to devour humans, but warns that the danger of falling prey to a wolf is ever-present. Beneath her descriptive background information of wolves lies Carters real message men are sexual predators, and hunt for flesh like wolves do. This subtle and foreshadowed subdivision becomes slightly more overt as the focus changes from wolves of the forest, to the mythical creatures of werewolves. The narrator alludes to three plausible legends involving the hunter, the witch, and the bride, who all encountered men who transformed into wolves. She references possible explanations for this phenomenon, citing the get at tra... ...al roles and become the sexual aggressor to be the victor instead of the victim. Carters thingamabob on a well-known tale likely surprises many readers. therefrom she is likely suggesting we should rethink our expecta tions of sex roles. Another way of presenting alternate gender roles would be making Red a boy, and having him saved by a girl at the end, but this scenario would not be as hitting and therefore effective. Furthermore, Reds sexual awakening and consequent taming of the wolf serves as encouragement for women not to be passive, but to assert themselves in all situations, in particular sex, which is one area that has long been characterized by rigid/traditional expectations of gender roles.Works CitedCarter, Angela. The Company of Wolves. Folk and Fairy Tales. Eds. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. 3rd Edition. Toronto Broadview Press, 2002.