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Angela Carter's Puss-In-Boots

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In Angela Carter’s short story “Puss-in-Boots,” an arrogant cat, Puss, becomes a valet for his master and they work together for survival until Master falls in love with Signora Panteleone. After this, Puss teams up with Tabby and they plot together so that Master and the Signora can be together sexually and then more permanently. In the story, Carter’s employment of Puss as narrator accentuates the violence related to sexual acts and, through this, encourages the audience to read like women, as specified by feminist critic Jonathan Culler.
In the section “Reading as a Woman” in Culler’s novel On Deconstruction, he confronts the traditional methods of analyzing literature through his pronouncement of women being conditioned to view written …show more content…

If they read as women, they will more easily notice the conflicts female characters face rather than neglecting the treatment of these individuals. Culler argues that reading like a woman is “to bring about a new experience of reading and to make readers—men and women—question the literary and political assumptions in which their reading has been based” (51). This statement introduces the idea that, in order to read like a woman, readers must challenge the conventional expectations of literature to construct a novel perception of the text.
In “Puss-in-Boots,” a male feline, Puss, narrates the events of the story through his chauvinistic perspective. Puss fails to accept that most characters dislike him and assumes that individuals throwing water, shoes, and rotting fruit at him as he caterwauls in the moonlight is in appreciation of his supposedly fine singing. He views the women that have been with his master sexually as “transports” for his master’s carnal desires as opposed to individuals with their own personalities and aspirations (Carter 72). As Master tells …show more content…

Though the presence of death occurs during both of the times that Signora Panteleone and Master have sex and this hints at sinister intentions, Puss’ candor about her enjoyment enables readers to comprehend that Signora Panteleone desperately desires to strain against the rigid standards set by her husband. In lieu of focusing merely on Master, as many are apt to do after years of reading like men, the excessive confinement that Signora Panteleone faces allows the audience to more easily notice the conflicts she encounters rather than neglecting the treatment she receives. Puss, being a blatantly stereotypical character, forces readers to examine the literary assumptions that they base reading on and analyze the content of the story in a novel

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