The story “The Company of Wolves” written by Angela Carter taunts the reader’s imagination by elaborating on their idea and point of view of gender roles. Angela Carter’s characters portray these roles very similar to the way modern day Americans view gender roles. Males and females are both continually looking for a partner to fill their need for a sexual encounter. Women however take joy in playing mind games with males. Females manipulate the males to get material possessions or to get a promise they may desire before they will engage in the sexually activity. Males do not try to manipulate the females. Instead the males unsuspectingly take part in the exploitation the females use to get their wishes granted and subsequently the males are controlled.
Societies have stereotyped people based on their gender throughout history. Men are portrayed as beasts that crave sexual encounters and as creatures that only think about sex. Women are seen as innocent and virtuous individuals that are only spoiled by men. In this story, the two main characters are both very similar to the characters found in the story Little Red Riding Hood, written by Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm. The girl whose character is comparable to that of the well
-known Little Red Riding Hood is portrayed as inexperienced and delicate. The handsome young man, that is similar to the character of the wolf in the legendary story, takes the female character’s virginity like the wolf takes the life of Little Red Riding Hood.
Throw it on the fire, dear one. You won’t need it again.
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