The Company Of Wolves

In Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves, the young girl is portrayed as being both dependant and also as a strong fearless female. However, she is dependent or independent in certain cases only. When it comes to going off into the woods she seems very independent, especially since Carter mentions that "children do not stay young for long in this savage country'. Although she is portrayed as being fearless because she brings a knife along with her when she is going to the woods, there is mention of her sexuality and how being a virgin has protected her as well. "She is an unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel; she has inside her a magic space the entrance to which is shut tight with a plug of membrane; she is a closed system; she does not known how to shiver. She has her knife and she is afraid of nothing." Despite her innocent virginal appearance and not having experience, she is still fearless and strong. Therefore, this passage can be interpreted in two ways; the young girl's virginal status keeps her protected or her virginal status does not hold her back because she's going out into the woods despite the dangers. The role of the girl also shows that she may be dependent is in the forest when she chooses to trust the strange man she encounters even after he takes her basket which has the knife. But, when she arrives at her grandmothers house, although she says she is afraid, she seems calm and even laughs at the mention of him eating her. In "Towards a Feminist Poetics" Showalter mentions that "in some women's literature, feminine values penetrate and undermine the masculine systems which contain them" and Carter does just that when the girl laughs at the man/wolf and removes his clothing for him showing that she (although he is stronger) is, more or less, taking control.