The Werewolf Angela Carter Notes

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The Werewolf, Angela Carter Summary * A girl goes to visit her grandmother, but encounters a werewolf on the way, whose paw she cuts off with a knife. When she reaches her grandmother's house, the paw has turned into a hand with the grandmother's ring on it, and the grandmother is both delirious and missing her hand. This reveals the girl's grandmother as the werewolf, and she is stoned to death. The girl then inherits all of her grandmother's possessions. Key Characters * Child * A young woman, who is worldly because she lives in a harsh, mountainous country where people die young. She cuts off the paw of a werewolf who attacks her, only to discover that the werewolf is her grandmother. With neighbors' help, she stones her grandmother to death, then moves into her house and prospers. * Grandmother * A werewolf who tries to kill her own granddaughter in the forest. Her neighbors and granddaughter stone her to death when they discover her identity. Setting * ‘The Werewolf’ begins with a description of the setting in which the story takes place. The scene that Carter paints is one out of a gothic horror novel – one can begin to guess at a hidden monster lurking within the depths of the narrative, waiting to make its frightful appearance later on. The harsh setting, as indicated by the austere homesteads and cold, tempestuous weather, sets the tone for the narrative, clueing the reader to expect a bleak tale of terror. Carter achieves this by introducing the reader to the unnamed ‘northern country’, which within the fantasy genre is traditionally associated with glacial weather, bitter lives, and hardy folk. This impression is compounded by the description of the ‘harsh, brief, poor lives’ of the people in the region. The bitter quality of the lives of the village folk is further brought out by Carter’s deliberately stark prose. By using
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