The Company of Wolves

A detailed Summary of The Company of Wolves

ANGELA CARTER'S "THE COMPANY OF WOLVES" VS. GRIMM'S "LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD"

Angela Carter's feminist revisions of classic fairy tales often seem to bear no relation to their original counterparts. However, a closer look reveals the often over-looked connections and parallels between the two. Her revisions are not so much feminist revisions as some would suggest, but more of an update on the stories in question, done to accommodate the views and thinking of today's society on matters such as female behaviour and gender-roles. In comparing and contrasting Grimm's "Little Red Riding Hood" and Angela Carter's "The Company of Wolves", we shall see just how her updated version affects gender roles, why it affects gender roles and the effect that the reversal of gender roles has on the story itself. We will also delve into the meanings and significance of the story, as well as the author's intentions in rewriting this classic tale.

In the Grimm's version, Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as a "sweet little maid" (Grimm 149), an innocent young girl oblivious to the dangers of the world around her. The first thing we note in Angela Carter's version is how the gender roles have changed. In this tale, Little Red Riding Hood is portra

"Little Red Riding Hood" is a myth type that warns of childhood disobedience against parental figures. When Little Red Riding Hood disobeys her mother and strays from the path, it results in not only her 'death', but also the death of her grandmother. This is a familiar pattern in stories that have been traced throughout time where the actions of female figures like Eve and Pandora cause not only suffering to themselves, but also to everyone else. In Carter's version however, the message seems to be clear that not everything a person does results in devastation for the entire society, and that women are not to be blamed for everything that goes wrong in the world.

The tale of "Little Red Riding Hood" becomes, in Carter's hands, an update for today's generation, mirroring the thoughts and sentiments of society, one where accepted female behaviour and gender-roles are being dismantled and reconstructed. Undoubtedly, there will be future versions of this simple tale, and Carter's tale will, just like Grimm and Perrault, be just another step in the passing of time. But for today, this is an inspiring tale that suggests that it is okay for men and women to share the same traits, and that it is also okay for women to display masculine traits as it is for men to display feminine ones.

Ultimately, Grimm's version of "Little Red Riding Hood" is a story about maturity, growth and learning. She is given a second chance at life after her first mistake, and learning from that mistake, takes the chance to use the advice of her grandmother in plotting the death of the second wolf. The not too subtle message of this story is one which says that the elders know best, and that if any trouble arose, you could always depend on the elders to come up with a solution. In Carter's version however, the lesson is less clear cut. The message would seem to be that the elders are not always right and this can be witnessed when her grandmother's wisdom and faith in God does not help her escape the young man. Instead, Little Red Riding Hood uses her own smarts to seduce the young man and thus avoid death. The message her from Carter is one which suggests that young people are capable of making good decisions themselves. Carter's version is also a story of maturity, a coming of age tale where Little Red Riding Hood crosses over from a young girl into a woman. Unlike Grimm's version, there does not seem to be a real

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Approximate Word count = 1622
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English