In the short stories in ‘The Bloody Chamber’, Carter is excessively interested in violent instincts’. How far do you agree with this view?

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

We could assume that every wolf was once a man. At the beginning Carter explains how wolves are “carnivore incarnate and he’s cunning and ferocious”, but yet she also explains how “melancholy” a wolf can be because “the beasts would love to be less beastly if only they knew how” (110, 112).

To study the gender issues in The Bloody Chamber we have to first look at the motivations behind the writings. Carter’s feminist agenda creates the feminist tones in this novel which are overtly represented. An excerpt from an English anthology writes on the feminist switch of focus, {A} ‘from attacking male versions of the world to exploring the nature of the female world and outlook, and reconstructing the lost or supressed records of female experience’. This is what Angela Carter explores in her novels. The Courtship of Mr Lyon is a reconstruction of a traditional patriarchal story to highlight female independence.

Women have long been fighting for their right to be seen as equal to men. Even to this day, women continue to fight for their rights, things such as the right to non-gender discriminatory wages. While there may be some arguments over the state of gender equality in the modern world, it is undeniable that there have been great strides made toward recognizing the female 's worth in the workforce and as a human being. Despite these strides, however, things are still not yet ideal for women and many of the issues females face today are the very same issues that have been plaguing them for decades. While it is unfortunate the oppression of women has been so long-lived, the length of that exposure has thankfully enabled many talented writers to both lament over the fact and emphasize the need for gender equality.

Many people have different views on whether or not they are for or against violence in children’s literature. I am for children’s literature due to the fact that if one is not educated, how is one expected to know. In this essay we will look at the pros and cons of including violence in children’s literature.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, a crucial statement is declared about how he views the inner workings of men, as well as how men interact with women in society. The narrative is based around the horrific murder of two defenseless women, which seems to have been committed by a mystery “beast”. Poe demonstrates the primitive violent forces that exist within people, particularly men, which have the ability to escape in shocking ways, often against a woman. Poe uses violence as a negative, inhumane act, in order to reinforce the innate brutal impulses that are just under the surface of all male beings.

Original fairy tales restrict the opportunities of female protagonists, allowing their fate to be controlled by male characters and society’s restrictive expectations of women. Authors such as Perrault of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ were quick to provide advice to their suggestible female readers in moral that girls should not try to drift from the path that society has laid out for them. Thus they became ‘parables of instruction’ (Carter) to indoctrinate the next generation in the values of a patriarchal society. Fairy tales of this time consistently remind us that those of the female sex will not prosper if they choose to ignore and defy the social constructs. Pre 1900s, the roles of women were entirely predetermined. A clear female dichotomy was established portraying them as either ‘the virgin’ or ‘the whore’. Stereotypical perceptions of women reduced them to biological functions and stated that they should acquire the role of wife and mother – objectified to such an extent where they were essentially their male counterpart’s possession. Both authors scorn the importance placed on domesticity and conformity, stressing the vital nature of being able to choose and uncover the consequences of societal ignorance. Carter highlights to her literary audience a passive generation of women who face the inability to vocalise their thoughts and opinions in the context of oppressive patriarchy. Within her work ‘The Company of Wolves’ “The

"Reforming Their World: Women in the Progressive Era, The Status of Women in the Progressive Era." Nwhm.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 October 2016.

Violence in the short story is very interesting because its so apparent and yet so deep. Towards the end of the story, the Misfit says to Grandmother “She would of been a good woman . . . if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.” Flannery O’Connor doesn’t say that being exposed to violence makes them better people, but the message is clear: violence changes us as a people (both in the story and in the real world). Up until the very end, each member of the family, mostly Grandmother, acted egotistically and only focused in herself. None of the characters take a minute to evaluate whats right and wrong for themselves or anyone else. They all react based on their instincts without thinking things through so much. But when Grandmother is put in a life or death situation where she’s forced to carefully pick her words and actions, she is suddenly capable of a being more selfless and spiritually sound. The Grandmother’s everyday considerations probably have nothing to do with her son or the kids, really anyone in her family, but when she is faced with her own mortality she has this moment of “grace”—she calls the Misfit her own son, and reach makes an effort, emotionally and physically, hoping to save herself or comfort him. In the end, however, the Grandmother’s moment of “grace” ends up getting her killed. O’Connor

Despite McEwan and Plath presenting the stereotypical gender roles with males being the dominant figure and women being the inferior weaker sex, on the contrary, Kesey alters traditional gender roles portraying women as emasculators of men and males as feeble ‘victims of matriarchal oppression’ . Each texts portrayal of gender roles can be questionable. Women were becoming more independent and self-ruling, rejecting patriarchal subordination during the time in which they were written. ‘By the end of the Sixties, more than 80 percent of wives of childbearing age were using contraception after the federal government in 1960 approved a birth control pill. This freed many women from unwanted pregnancy and gave them many more choices, and freedom, in their personal lives’ .

In society, there is a lot of violence, in particular, violence against women. Women are very often murdered, far more than is discussed. We never hear about most of these cases, simply because there are so many of them. 25% of women have experienced some sort of domestic violence, and 20% have faced sexual violence, making having faced violence almost normal. The notion that violence is something normal is very dangerous, as it is not only harmful to survivors of violence, but it also makes it more likely that more people will be victims of violence as perpetrators can get away with it more easily. Though violence against women is not talked about enough, our flaws as a society are reflected in literature. An example of an instance in which violence against women appears in literature is in John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men. Said instance is the death of “Curley’s Wife”. She is blamed for her own death, and she is clearly not valued as a whole person, no one reacts emotionally to her death. Victim blaming leads to the normalization of violence and the devaluing of women.

When imaging the ideal audience of fairytales, children are quick to come to mind, although, our perception of Little Red Riding Hood as an innocent fable is far from the truth. Alternatively, the origins of this story are derived from Italo Calvino’s “The False Grandmother”, a story immersed in symbolism and metaphorical symbols intended strictly for a mature audience. The preceding tale was “Little Red Cap “written by Charles Perrault and then later the “Little Red Riding” written by the Brothers Grimm. Although the details of these tales vary, they all maintain similar storylines. The stories revolve around the young female character Little Red Riding Hood who is sent off on a mission to bring her grandmother a basket of goods. During her adventure she encounters a wolf who engages in a hot pursuit to eat both the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood, only to succeed in the earlier rendition of the story. In this essay I will prove that when the Grimm’s Brothers and Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood stories are critically analyzed, it becomes evident that they are inappropriate tales for children as they exemplify the consequences of a minor transgression by Little Red Riding Hood as being the misleading cause of the violence and seduction that occurs thereafter.

Another way that these tales make women accept violence is by making them as desperate as a person could possibly look. The fairy tale does it in two different ways, secretively and blatantly. They show desperation with Cinderella when show will do anything to go to the ball. It would have been a more effective form of desperation if she did not have all the birds in the world helping her. She would of done it herself it would of made her able to go. Making women look desperate is apparently what this society is going for. When women are desperate, they will do anything, which is what the poem is trying to subliminally work into women's heads. The obvious way that the poem did this was with the stepsisters and the amputations of feet parts to be with a guy, if that does not say desperate, what cruel

Contrary to to traditional Mother roles in gothic literature, the Mother in ‘The Bloody Chamber’ embodies Strength and Courage. Through Carters feminist style of writing, the mother is seen as a knight in shining armour. The ‘indomitable’ (p1) woman is a figure of strength and courage; she has shot ‘a man – eating tiger with her own hand” (p2), and holding all the traits of a masculine hero. Traditionally, these traits symbolise her possession of the power traditionally possessed by men. Moreover, her overwhelming power is influential; she is in the position of true power, in no way passive or innocent. The passing down of her husband’s “antique service revolver” (p2) contradicts societies expectation of women. Traditionally, possessions are handed down to a fathers heir, however the mother receives this symbolic item instead. This item represents both the mothers strength and her physical power. Yet she is equipped with ‘maternal telepathy’(p41), which adds another dimension to her empowerment as it is a feminine strength, suggesting Carter is employing the notion that women may embrace their femininity whilst still retaining an advantage over men. However, her masculine qualities cannot be ignored. The windswept image is one of strength, portrayed towards the end of the novel, when she saves the damsel in distress, a role usually dominated by men. Her ‘white mane’ (p40) and “wild” appearance alludes to the image of a hunting lioness, a symbol of strength. She is the embodiment of “furious justice”. This

In her transformation of the well-known fable "Little Red Riding Hood," Angela Carter plays upon the reader's familiarity. By echoing elements of the allegory intended to scare and thus caution young girls, she evokes preconceptions and stereotypes about gender roles. In the traditional tale, Red sticks to "the path," but needs to be rescued from the threatening wolf by a hunter or "woodsman." Carter retells the story with a modern perspective on women. By using fantasy metaphorically and hyperbolically, she can poignantly convey her unorthodox and underlying messages.