“The Company of Wolves”, a series of stories in small segments, is presented in one space. Travellers who visit wolf-infested forests are at risk. They do so because the wolves have a smart way of making it easy for the foolish to get lost. For their safety, the cold-blooded villager taught their children to use machetes. A wolf lived in a nearby village and he killed many until he was captured by a hunter. The hunter immediately killed the Wolf and made the wolf’s corpse into a man’s carcass. Witches were famous for making people wolf-like when they were annoyed by them.
Angela Carter examines violence, power and sex in her book The Company of Wolves. The story uses werewolves to show how they can satisfy their hunger. Carter portrays a young girl in love with her sexuality and is like a werewolf. The story shows Carter’s ability to manipulate others, as well as her discovery that she has the power over men. The man was transformed into a wolf and fled. Poor bride found another man with whom to start a new life. The werewolf returned to his wife on the winter solstice. One of the kids was killed instantly by the wolf, and the husband who had been with him for a while was also killed. However, werewolves are a natural choice for most people and they should not be treated as if they did.
Another case in the “Company of Wolves,” concerns a young woman who follows the path of least resistance to reach her grandmother. Although she is aware of all the dangers out there, the love and support from her family helps her stay grounded. She took her machete and wore her red scarf, and walked to her grandmother. Carter describes clearly that the young lady has entered her adolescence, and that her purity made it fearful of nothing. She heard a howl in the woods and grabbed her machete to fight, only to find a kind seeker from the forest. He was so friendly that she offered to take her container. According to the explorers the young woman would have to kiss the hunter if he were to take a different path to reach the house faster. While the seeker found the way to the house first, the author notes that he did something different: he ate raw pray while on the way. The grandma allowed him to enter by imitating the voice of the young lady. He transformed into a werewolf and ate the grandma. The young lady saw the monster’s eyes and asked why he was looking that way. The young lady was greeted by a pack wolfwolves outside, who began howling. The young woman was asked to leave her clothes on fire and to sleep in the wolf’s bed. The story’s end is hazy. The author concludes with the following quote: Sweet and sound she rests between granny’s paws, in granny’s bed.
Many themes can be seen in “The company of Wolves”, which allows us to see how they relate to each other. It was interesting to see that women depend on men for their survival. We see the woman’s struggle to find a man to care for her in the segment with the werewolf and the bride. The fairytale’s final segment was the largest and most important. A young girl is the protagonist. She is about to enter her adolescence. The love that she received from her family and her virginity make this character bold and assured.
We start to question the standard for what a child should look like and how they act sexually. More frightening is her behavior, which she seems to ignore the horrendous events happening around. The final scene shows her giving in to the werewolf and obeying his commands. He even called her his pet. Two things can be attributed to this, if we look at what has occurred. The first is that she doesn’t realize she is at risk. She was not exposed to this danger and can’t distinguish it. This could be true because the author writes about how much love and life experience she had as a child. Her gender identity as a woman could be the second reason for her subjugation. Before, we saw that the norm in that time was for women to not take care of their own woman. We can also conclude that women are just property. Their only function is to be taken care of by men.
We can also conclude that the behavior of the werewolf was due to the girl’s purity and gender. Her grandmother is not much to be mentioned, as she was too old to defend herself against the werewolf. This story is about the werewolf, who is trying to enforce the rule that males are superior to their female counterparts. He makes the girl throw her clothes in the flames. The clothing was attached to her character.
