Most of Carter’s stories are not new tales, but retellings of old ones, and underline the fact that stories are a part of the human civilization and have always been there. However, in the general acceptance of stories as part of culture what has been overlooked is the fact that the stories shape culture and human behaviour. Stories encode moral norms and gender stereotypes and propagate them in society. Fairy-tales, in particular, portray stereotypical modes of behaviour for men and women, boys and girls and subtly urge them to internalize and thus perform this kind of stereotypical behaviour. Through her stories Carter draws attention to the passive acceptance of the social and moral codes by the readers and the need for all individuals to think anew and re-examine those blind spots in the tales and uncover what has been covered up. …show more content…
Carter’s blending of traditional folk narratives with distinctive characters and situations impart them multiple connotations. While the plot and the situation remains the same as in the original tale, the climax and the ending contrasts with the latter, primarily due to the female characters who are perceptive and intelligent and are conscious of their goals and desires. Characters like are delineated with a fresh perspective by Carter in her stories to foreground gender conflicts. Stories like that of Bluebeard and Red Riding Hood either are narrated by female characters or are focalized through a female consciousness to present the heroine’s perspective of the sequence of events, her stake in the conflict with the male characters, and the climax which inevitably promises a better life for