The Company of Wolves

Annotations:

• epitome of hunter; spirit rather than animal. REPEATED later; when young man approaches grandma

1. 'he' x 3 in second sentence

   Annotations:

   • focus on masculine nature of wolves; predatory masculinity 
2. 'eyes... candle flames, yellowish, reddish'

   Annotations:

   • Fire; burns - reflection of lamplight. Reflection of one's light & one's humanity also? Appear kindred, only to have cold green eyes in reality?
   1. 'red for danger'

      Annotations:

      • Explicit warning
      1. 'as red as a wound'

         Annotations:

         • Reflects damage they inflict
   2. 'cold and unnatural green'

      Annotations:

      • Green is usually natural; as are wolves. Subversion of nature
   3. 'phosphorescent eyes'

      Annotations:

      • transfixing
      1. 'eyes like cinders'

         Annotations:

         • Burning, always alight, set aflame easily. Heat; snow (purity/her) extinguishes it
   4. 'you can tell them by their eyes'

      Annotations:

      • eyes = windows to the soul
   5. 'what big eyes you have'

      Annotations:

      • Red riding hood; almost comical
3. 'the pupils of their eyes fatten on darkness'

   Annotations:

   • reiteration of carnivore incarnate; even their eyes literally feed off light. Consuming - advantage in darkness
4. 'forest assassins'

   Annotations:

   • reiteration of cunning & intelligence; personification

1. 'aria of fear'

   Annotations:

   • Importance of their call
2. 'in itself a murdering'

   Annotations:

   • Strikes fear
3. 'serenading her with their misery'

   Annotations:

   • Witch turned a wedding party into wolves
4. 'inherent sadness in it'

   Annotations:

   • danger & sadness; desire to be human
   1. 'the beast will look as if he half welcomes the knife'

      Annotations:

      • Pitiful; they do not desire to be monsters (use example of witch who curses wedding party). Innocence tames them; cures them - need for humanity to not be afraid? The girl is not afraid, she tames her fear and him; are werewolves a projection of our fear?
5. 'vast melancholy in the canticles'

   Annotations:

   • canticles are hymns
6. 'howling in concert'
   1. 'howled a prothalamion'

      Annotations:

      • A song celebrating a forthcoming wedding
      1. 'liebestod'

         Annotations:

         • Love-death/erotic death; two lovers consummating love during or after death

Annotations:

• The Werewolf reference; intertextuality

Annotations:

• Conditional; adds drama to a fairytale telling

Annotations:

• comes after list of other creatures that hunt humans; stresses that wolves are the most fearsome

Annotations:

• like a story told to children

Annotations:

• nature and the unnatural conspire against humanity; in such a society nature is constantly a danger, and is therefore attributed purposefully malicious traits

Annotations:

• different world; not fit for humans

1. 'if you stray from the path for one instant, the wolves will eat you'

   Annotations:

   • Red Riding Hood
2. 'the hinge of the year when things do not fit together as well as they should'

   Annotations:

   • more unnatural; portals; slipping under the radar
   1. 'the malign door of the solstice still swings upon its hinges'

      Annotations:

      • temporal importance stressed again; foreshadowing now we know what this season brings
      1. 'the door of the solstice stands wide open'

         Annotations:

         • Temporal shifts; portal to another world
         1. 'sleeps... between the paws of the tender wolf'

            Annotations:

            • Tamed him; he protects her. Paws, not claws - soft and vulnerable. Sleep; innocence? Perhaps a euphimism for death - makes sense if we recall the Liebestod

Annotations:

• sinister; human intelligence. Cunning - that they will work their way into your heart, your home - reference to abusive males? Hindsight 

1. 'Fear and flee the wolf'

   Annotations:

   • repetition of 'f' sound makes it into a mantra; something to tell children, to instil through fairystories
   1. 'the wolf may be more than he seems'

      Annotations:

      • 'he' again; implies the inherent and deep rooted cunning and intelligence upon first reading. But perhaps what it means is that they are not that utterly monstrous underneath

Annotations:

• Foreshadows her ability to tame the wolf

1. 'invisible pentacle of her own virginity'

   Annotations:

   • Pentacle; protective - witchcraft and magic. She has her own magic; her innocence/purity
2. shawl, red-riding hood: 'has the ominous if brilliant look of blood on snow'

   Annotations:

   • Blood on snow; she is snow. Menses/blood of the innocent satiates werewolves. Blood through death or loss of virginity; the blood lost in sex stains her purity
   1. 'colour of poppies/sacrifices/menses'

      Annotations:

      • sacrifices her innocence for her life; poppies are beautiful but a drug - dangerous.
3. 'she is afraid of nothing'

   Annotations:

   • Implied that perhaps she should be; later it is evidenced that her lack of fear saves her. Fear = weakness

Annotations:

• allure

1. 'laden with the carcasses of game birds'

   Annotations:

   • ominous, carrying corpses.
2. 'flattering little bow'

   Annotations:

   • almost comically flirtatious; teasing
3. 'a flash of white teeth'

   Annotations:

   • focus on teeth; danger. Flash; speed
4. 'such a fine fellow'

   Annotations:

   • 'the wolf may be more than he seems'
   1. 'disguise'

      Annotations:

      • all a persona created by his attire and presentation
5. 'laughing and joking like old friends'

   Annotations:

   • 'wolves have ways of arriving at your own hearthside'
6. Hands over her knife to him; trusts in his protection & rifle
7. 'the day darkened, it began to snow'

   Annotations:

   • Ominous; foreshadows danger. Snow; hides tracks - coverup. Cold, night, winter
8. 'he laughed at her again; gleaming trails of spittle clung to his teeth'

   Annotations:

   • white teeth again; now tinged with unease - to focus on teeth is to focus on danger; carnivore
9. 'make a game of it'

   Annotations:

   • Hunting; toying with prey
10. 'commonplace of rustic seduction'

    Annotations:

    • he is cunning; knows the way to a girl's heart
11. 'the moon was rising'

    Annotations:

    • Moon; innocence and chastity but also werewolf connotations
12. 'a faint trace of blood on his chin'

    Annotations:

    • similar to the disquiet caused by teeth. 'snacking' implies he is awaiting a bigger meal
13. 'night and the forest has come into the kitchen with darkness tangled in its hair'

    Annotations:

    • He is night and the forest; two massively intimidating and dangerous forces combined
    1. 'approaching her bed'

       Annotations:

       • sexual predator
       1. 'the worst wolves are hairy on the inside'

          Annotations:

          • Hairy; evil/dangerous; true nature disguised; hidden inside - personality
          1. 'breasts... snow had invaded the room'

             Annotations:

             • sexu/innocence - snow vs fire
             1. 'freely gave the kiss she owed him'

                Annotations:

                • that she gives demonstrates her power in this possession; immediately gives her sexual dominance
                1. 'the girl burst out laughing... she was nobody's meat'

                   Annotations:

                   • as he first laughed at her; demonstrates confidence and power play. Cocky almost; refusal to be objectified - multiple meanings of meat
                   1. 'the blizzard will die down.' 'the blizzard died down'

                      Annotations:

                      • danger and death
                      1. 'confusion of paw prints'

                         Annotations:

                         • not a threatening image; paw prints does not suggest savagery; sounds soft. Confusion suggests tables turned - a fight, but no linguistic violence
                2. 'savage marriage ceremony'

                   Annotations:

                   • prothalamion
             2. 'carnivore incarnate, only immaculate flesh appeases him'

                Annotations:

                • repetition again. Snow = immaculate flesh. Appeased through sex/affection rather than eating. Starved not of food, but of humanity and affection?