Kristeva and Showalter

According to Elaine Showalter, there are two ways a feminist critic can read a piece of literature. One way is when the text is written by a man. In this case, one must look at the stereotypes of woman that the book deals with. Also, the manipulation of the female audience also must be considered. The other way a book can be critically viewed in terms of feminism is if the author is a woman. In this case, one must look at the female language, their creativity, and the works of female writers as a whole. One example of the use of “female creativity” (Showalter 147) in Angela Carter’s Company of Wolves may be the reference to the little girl as “this strong-minded child”(Carter). This is because unlike the usual perception of a young girl as being weak and helpless, this girl carries around a knife and is said to be mentally strong, despite her smaller stature. This characteristic of the girl may be something of interest to a feminist critic in Showalter’s eyes. For Julia Kristeva, the role of a feminist literary critic is more closely related to Christianity and to “be able to break free of its belief in Woman” (Kristeva 223). The critic has to see how the piece of feminist literature worked to deviate from the oppressive and close-minded ideals brought on by religion. This process can actually be applied to the same Carter quote above. This is because in Christianity, woman are somewhat expected to be protected by men. For example, there are biblical stories where woman who have been held captive are expected to be saved by their brothers, husbands, or just any countrymen. With the Carter story, this little girl totally breaks this notion of the weak woman by going into the woods by herself. To add to this, she equips herself with a knife meaning that if necessary, she would use it to protect herself. This level of violence and strength is usually not associated with the female gender, especially in the Christianity.