The Werewolf

The Werewolf

Characters
1. The Child
  1. 'The child was strong and armed with her father's hunting knife.'
    1. Idea of this anonymous child as an independent woman- feminist independence.
      1. Knife later becomes 'her' knife
  2. 'The good child.'
2. The Grandmother
  1. 'Witch'
  2. 'Old woman'
  3. 'A hand toughened with hard work and freckled with old age.'
    1. This woman was already conditioned by assuming her role in a patriarchal society
      1. Thus, females must be wary of and remove themselves from even the women who assume this role
        Carter: 'I'm all for the pouring of new wine into old bottles especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the old bottles explode'
        Living in the grandma's house yet has completely undermined the subjugation that that would usually entail
        Supported by previous, critical references to superstition.
        'When they discovered a witch... another old woman whose black cat, oh, sinister! follows her about all the time.'
        The parallel between criticising old ideas on the role of a female, likening it to the ridiculousness of superstition.
    2. Preceding generation of mothers who expect the same from their daughters.
      1. Revenance- how we cannot let past thoughts control the present
        Linking to idea that Wolf-alice 'inhabits only the present tense'
    3. Anwell: 'We recognise the author's turning of the tables and simultaneously, the damage done by the old inscriptions of femininity as passive.'
Setting
1. 'In a northern country; they have cold weather, they have cold hearts... Cold; tempest; wild beasts in the forest.'
  1. Pathetic fallacy etc
  2. Consonance & punctuation- it's a hard life
    1. The effects of their old fashioned thoughts.
      1. Women are damaged by encouraging other females to fulfil the male gaze idea.
        Much like countess in The Snow Child
  3. Fear of wolves more dangerous in winter when they are hungry.
    1. Sexual appetite
Symbolism
1. The father's hunting knife
  1. 'Here's your father's hunting knife, you know how to use it.'
  2. Phallic symbolism?
  3. 'The child wiped the blade of her knife...'
    1. Goes from being her father's knife to her own one- she has gained strength through her father's protection and taken agency?
      1. BC, father's gun shows the usurping of the masculine role, in this story the knife highlights taking ownership of her own position?
  4. Yet it is the neighbours who eventually stone the wolf, helping the reader retain sympathy for the protagonist
2. The forest
  1. 'She knew the forest too well to fear it, but must always keep her guard.'
    1. Now a perspective that knowledge can guide you through the forest.
      1. Women do not have to be object if they take agency of their own sexuality
        This brings equality
        Merja Makinen: 'Read the beasts as the projections of a feminine libido, and they become exactly that autonomous desire which the female characters need to recognise and reappropriate as a part of themselves...'
  2. Symbolism for the liminal space of puberty.
    1. Journey from childhood to womanhood.
      1. Thus wild landscapes= inner turmoil etc
    2. Thus it is suggested that the outcome of this transition should be to a grandmother-type figure, yet Carter subverts this.
Form and structure
1. Generally a 3rd person narrative perspective
  1. Typical of fairy tale genre
  2. Generally colloquial tone with condescending views towards the towns people (e.g. see quote about witches)
  3. Switches to the mother as narrator momentarily without speech marks
    1. 'Go and visit grandmother who has been sick.'
      1. The orders/ beliefs from older generations to younger ones
        Thus just as the mother aims her words at the daughter, this is aimed at the reader so that they question their own position.
  4. Eg: 'Their houses'...'There will be'
    1. Carter distances self from common townsfolk
      1. She does not assume her position from mass belief.

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	Created by Robyn Horne about 9 years ago