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What Are The Masculinity In The Company Of Wolves

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"The Company of Wolves" by Angela Carter questions gender expectations, particularly in terms of female emancipation, but it also has something to say about masculinity. The wolf's representation acts as a potent symbol for numerous facets of male performance throughout the narrative. The complex portrayal of the wolf will be explored in this essay, along with how it both exemplifies traditional masculinity and shows weakness while upending social norms. The wolf represents a number of conventional masculine characteristics, including power and aggression. It is made apparent how vicious the wolves are right away in the story: "The wolf is carnivore incarnate and he's as cunning as he is ferocious; once he's had a taste of flesh then nothing …show more content…

When the girl takes off her clothes and throws them into the fire, the wolf believes he is in charge and that she would surrender to him sexually. The wolf becomes the ultimate predator when he believes he is in control of the girl. However, the wolf immediately becomes quieted when the girl takes control of the situation by asserting her sexual authority. This is evident near the end of the story: "he will bid her," and "sweet and sound she sleeps in granny's bed, between the paws of the tender wolf," are unambiguous examples. By giving the girl control of his dominance, the wolf exposes himself to danger. Earlier in the narrative, it was foretold that "Grace could not come to the wolf from its own despair." When you actively contribute to maintaining societal norms, it can be difficult to understand that you are stuck by them. In order to break free of the patriarchy's constraints, it needs someone who has not yet fallen victim to its restrictions and who can see beyond the expected behavior. The girl has subverted the norm by freeing the wolf from the patriarchal expectation that he must be sexually …show more content…

The wolf is an unmistakable symbol of masculinity in all of its forms as the narrator states: "Yet by the eyes (...) you know him in all his shapes." This insightful comment recognizes that everyone is caught up in a system that maintains masculine characteristics as the dominant norm. Only by facing and resolving the positive and negative aspects of masculinity can people work to free themselves from the wolf's seemingly unbreakable hold. Whether through assimilating into its nature or surrendering to its power, it is only by destroying its dominance, as the young girl did, that one can escape and effectively fight the deeply ingrained societal expectations that confine and

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