The Path

Let me just say that I will never play this game during a storm again. Once is enough, thanks.

Despite its apparent flaws, I actually liked this game. The first time I played, I did as I was told and led the character straight to the house. Naturally, I was a little confused to find out I had failed. But the next time around I deliberately ignored the directions and wandered off the path. I found the wolf rather quickly (the wailing cloud of mist was hard to miss), and was again confused to find myself dropped off outside the house. But the house was more sinister this time, and I began to understand that my actions in the woods had an effect on the experience I would have later in the house. I think, for me, the best part about this game was its not-so-subtle requirement to intentionally deviate from the set rules. Sure, it didn't leave a lot of guessing or problem-solving to be done (there really were only so many ways to go about getting to the house), but it was interesting to see how far I could take the characters. I made it a goal to go as far in each direction as I could, though I always ran into the wolf after a while. The character who intrigued me most was the Girl in White - I was excited to finally be able to play as her at the end. I can't really say what her role was, savior or otherwise, but I found her to be the most dynamic in terms of how she interacted with the girls and the woods around her. Though I agree with the comments about the slow movement of the plot and the meandering style with which plot points were achieved, I still enjoyed playing this game. I'm not much of a gamer, so I don't have a lot to compare this to, but I thought it was a unique way of telling a story, faults or not. Sometimes games don't need to be about excitement and speed, but more about developing a story and getting a feel for the world of the game.

My favorite Character was Scarlet. I like the element of her love of music. The wolf seemed more more enticing with the piano as his tool. I only liked her because I could identify most with her. I'm not a big video gamer so this really wasn't up my alley. I liked being able to pick the characters. I think it worked with Carter's style. Personally I think Carter keeps the elements of her characters personalities separate by making them multiple people.

The Path: Response

One thing that really stood out to me was the character whose name I believe was Scarlet.  I'm not quite sure if I remember her name correctly.  She had long black hair and red and black striped stockings on one leg; on the other leg was a leg brace.  I will call her Scarlet however, and hope that I am correct.  My favorite thing about Scarlet is the symbolism of her growing up right before your eyes.  When she goes into the woods, she is viewed as a little girl; however, when she finds the park and there is a handsome blonde man sitting on a bench nearby, all innocence seems to go away.  She sits next to the man and smokes the cigarette that he offers her.  I think that this must be symbolism of the girl losing her innocence or maybe even her virginity.  The entire idea of Little Red Riding Hood is that of a girl coming of age and wandering off the path to make her own mistakes.  Therefore, I believe that this snippit of the game is very well put together and symbollically sufficient.

The Path and Control

The Path draws on the video game’s unique element of control to engage the player and to emphasize moods and points. One of the first things that struck me about the game was the fact that, in order to interact with objects, you must release your controls. In Grandmother’s house, your path is preset—you can barely move your field of vision. The walking gives the player a feeling of control, but the speed becomes so painfully slow that the movement is inhibiting. The running gives you back that sense of free will (though in select areas you can only walk), but snatches it back as the view zooms out and up so that foliage blocks your sight and makes you feel more lost and helpless. The fact that control of the character is so limited highlights the inevitability of helplessness and pain and death in life. Feeling the urge to make the character run faster or interact with something, but knowing that you cannot make it happen—that it’s all up to the game—breeds a feeling of resignation that parallels the girls’ acceptance of their wolves. The fact that they give up control, that they essentially walk to their deaths willingly, speaks either to our ignorance through life or our realization that all paths end in death, perhaps even both (or none…I could certainly be way off the mark—yet only more evidence of my own inevitably-human lack of complete control/omniscience). Maybe this game even motions toward the vice in complacency, as the lacks of players’ ability to control happens nearest to the death scenes and following the controlling instructions to stay on the path make for an incomplete, boring playing experience.

The Path

I agree with Cass in the post below mine. I hated this game; in fact, I got so frustrated with it, I just stopped completely after a few hours. It was difficult to understand at first--there are little to no instructions, and they tell you to stay on the path, but everything that needs to be done is done off the path. And all that includes is running around with no real strategy or pattern, at a crawling, incredibly boring, pace set to dull, dull music. It was monotonous and time-consuming, hardly interactive at all, and so very, very slow. I didn't care if I succeeded at the level or not, there was no emotional investment in the game; I didn't like the characters, and absolutely nothing in the game even remotely held my interest. I detested playing it and it was in no way enjoyable for me.

cass ford & "the path"

I hated this game, and I hated it for a lot of reasons. First, I don't think it should have been a video game. Literally the only "interactive" part of it is the time you spend wandering around the forest at a painfully slow and awkward jog, looking for relatively meaningless things to collect before you encounter your wolf. At least they could have put the points closer together in a more coherent manner, or maybe let you see the map for more than three seconds at a time. The wasted time in between actual plot was annoying.

Second, I hated the music. It wasn't creepy. I didn't think the entire game was very creepy, for that matter. I hated that the story lines were so formulaic, and even though they tried to differentiate the characters, I thought they were essentially all the same. Part of this was intentional, to show that suffering is a universal phenomenon, but I didn't like it. After the second girl woke up mangled in the rain, I was like, okay already, I get it.

And what about the Red Riding Hood part? I think that tailoring each story to mimic Red's was contrived. Whatever traumatic event in the girl's life happened to her was the wolf. But what about the grandma? You didn't even see her in the house when you got there, at least for the characters I played.

The character I played whom I hated the most was Ruby, whom incidentally, I played for the longest amount of time. Everything she said was annoying. Even though she was supposed to be naive, she was obsessed with suicide and generally a brat, considering the way she talks about everyone around her being idiots. I didn't like how she romanticized suicide so much. If Ruby was a real person, I bet she would shop at Hot Topic a lot and complain about how stupid her parents and teachers are, while having too big of a superiority complex to even consider others' opinions. Because she is so alternative and non-conformist, and no one understands her.

As for the video game aspect, as I already said I had problems with the way it was interfaced and so time consuming. For as much "freedom" as you are given in the game, you really aren't given any at all, since you are forced to watch what happens with no variation. My boyfriend said, "The characters look like they are from a Tim Burton film," and I said, "I think that might be an insult to Tim Burton." The video game "Flower" was better than this one, and you play as the wind in that game. Seriously. The wind. It says in the user manual, "Let go of the controls and she will do the work for you." Oh yeah? Then why didn't you just make it into a film? The manual also says "If an object is far away, she may be able to find it if you simply leave her alone for a while." Any video game that requires game play to be leaving the avatar "alone for a while" is probably in serious trouble.

The Path- Alex Van Pelt

"The Path" was one of the most interesting games I've ever played, mixing perceptions of reality with the player's sense of "right" and "wrong". When I first clicked on a random girl, I followed the pathway straight to the house, never deterring. I failed that level, and was confused- why did the instructions tell me to stay on the path?

Answer? There is no path. Eventually you make it to the house, but not without various twists and turns. All of the characters had some sort of point about death vs. life- that, with the fact that all of them died after their individual temptations, or 'wolves', encountered them, made me think that his game was a metaphor for life itself. One destination- death- with different paths associated with each girl, which represented a sort of archetype of different types of people.

I was also surprised that the only girl to safely reach the house and pass through all the 'death' rooms was the girl in white. Even more curious was the fact that hanging about the grandmother's bed was a picture of the girl in white- she was the true Red Riding Hood, and she didn't have a wolf. She stands in the original first room, bloodied, while the rest of the other "Reds" come in one by one, but she promptly disappears.

The girl in white is the only character that didn't give in to temptation, and the only girl to reach the end goal of the grandmother successfully- is the game trying to tell us the same thing that the original fairytale is? Be good, and don't give into temptation? Or is it more fun to meet your own personal 'wolf' just to say you experienced it?

The Path

After reading a few of these blog posts, I've come to realize that I don't think I played the game right or the way we were supposed to play it. The three characters I chose were Scarlet, Robin, and Carmen. All of the characters were different but each had to do with red- presumably because of the relation to "Little Red Riding Hood." However, when I played the game, I stayed on the path all three times (whoops) and so there wasn't much interaction with the other elements of the game. What I did notice about the game, though, was the difference in sound and light when the girls each continued on their adventure. It went from light, airy music to a dark, sinister feel once they each reached grandmother's house. Then, once in the house, the mood was dark and scary, which made sense once each character came across the wolf in her grandmother's bed room.

The Path

I really didn’t like playing this game. The creepy voices and the creepy music did not make for a pleasant experience. It was interesting to see how each girl had a different experience in the game. I noticed that each girls names; Robin, Rose, Ruby, Scarlet, Carmen, and Ginger, all relate to the color red. And I related these names to death and blood. Which really went along with the theme of the game. I played the game as Ginger and Ruby. I was especially interested in their relationship because it seemed like after Ginger’s journey she turned into Ruby. Ginger was originally somewhat of a tomboy but after the sexual experience with the girl she seems to morph into Ruby’s character. Ginger starts to be the unsocial one and feels alienated from her peers like Ruby was after her car crash.

The Path

The element of the game that really stood out to me was the sound and the sound effects. The sound really added to the atmosphere of the game and had an effect on the way I played it. At the start of the journey, and while I was on the path, the sound was happy and the atmosphere was inviting. When I strayed from the path and walked into the woods, the music immediately turned very scary and uncomfortable. The music at first made me want to turn around and follow the path as I believed I was suppose to. But being adventurous, and wanting to experience a scary game, I continued walking in the woods. There I met the girl in the white dress and interacted with her. The sound created the scariest atmosphere when you walk up the stairs in the grandma's house. The constant anticipation of something about to happen really created a scary game.

The Path

The element that really affected the mood of the game for me was the lighting. As you start out and everywhere near the front of the path, the lighting of the world is bright and cheerful. Then, as you leave the path and approach Grandmother's house, the lighting gets darker and the shading and the surroundings get more sinister. The lightness and sweetness of the first half of the path can be construed as the girl's naivety, and the darkness of the last half can mean that she has grown up and learned that the world isn't always a beautiful and friendly place to be. It also foreshadows the gruesome events yet to come when the girl enters the house.

The Path

The first thing that I noticed about The Path was that all of the girls were named after a different shade of red. I found this interesting since the game itself is a takeoff on Little Red Riding Hood and each girl has a different story to tell, ergo they are all different forms of the original red. When I first started playing, I followed the given instructions and stayed on The Path- I soon realized that the rules were made to be broken. Every item that the girls run into brings back a memory for them, taking you deeper into their personal story. The crescendo event, or the "wolf" is a horrific event that happens to the girl that changes them, almost like a coming of age thing. It really makes you look deeper into the story to find out what really happened.

The Path

For me, it was really interesting to see how each girl had a different "wolf". I started playing with Robin and she had your average wolf so I was expecting that each of the other girls would have a normal wolf too. But next I played Carmen, and her "wolf" was a lumberjack. I was curious to see what the next "wolf" would be. Lastly, I played Ginger and her "wolf" was the girl in white. I really thought that it was interesting how each girl's wolf relates to their personalities. Robin seemed like your traditional red riding hood and she had the traditional wolf. Carmen was a sophisticated boy crazy teen and her "wolf" of the lumberjack reflected that. Ginger was a really playful tomboy and the girl in white played with her in the field.

The path

I thought the sound effects and the music really added to the creepiness of the game. When I was playing and first strayed from the path, I heard the chains and heavy breathing and immediately went back on the path. The noises are supposed to make me afraid, but then I realized that if I wanted to get farther in the game as one of the girls, I had to face my/her fears. The music also switched throughout the game at different points which was significant to whatever point I appraoched. In the begining of the game, I had noticed a shift in the music so I knew that something was coming. Then out of the blue this girl in white prances infornt of me, and scared the crap out of me! I think it was freakier, because the musical que meant that something was coming, but I didn't precisely what or when it would occur.

The Path

It was interesting to see how the different characters viewed the same items in the game. Rose's view of the dead bird was one of compassion and understanding where as Ginger's view was one of selfishness. When I met the wolf as Rose I did not realize it was the wolf at first. I thought it was a bleeding body that Rose was going to help. Instead it took her outlook on life and completely flipped it. While she showed compassion, she looked to have been raped in return. In this, The Path challenges your outlook on life, forcing you to ask yourself if it is correct. In a way Carter's stories do the same thing. In Wolf-Alice the question for me at the end was if humanity was really necessary for compassion. Both works are much more violent and visceral than the original Red Riding Hood tale but because The Path has access to your sense of sight and hearing, I believe it does a much better job of conveying themes of violence and maturity.

The Path

The Girl in White, for most of the game serving as an NPC, is somewhat of an enigma. She cheerfully runs around the creepy forest, helping the other characters return to the path when they get lost. She doesn't seem to be on her way to anywhere, so in fact she may live in the forest. I was puzzled by her presence until the last chapter, when suddenly I was allowed to play as her. She had no "wolf" and couldn't interact with many of the objects the other girls found interesting, so eventually I took her to the grandmother's house. I recognized all of the death rooms as she ran though them and I wondered what had really become of the other girls. When she reached the frozen grandmother's room, though, I felt like I understood what might have happened. The Girl in White is supposed to be the real Little Red Riding Hood, the one who isn't corrupted and killed like the others. Only the pure girl could survive temptation and accomplish her objective of finding her grandmother. But even then, the story ends in tragedy as the Girl in White sees that her grandmother is unresponsive and she gives control of her quest back to the corrupted girls. It's a vicious cycle.

"The Werewolf"

"They knew the wart on the hand at once for a witch's nipple; they drove the old woman, in her shift as she was, out into the snow with sticks, beating her old carcass as far as far as the edge of the forest, and pelted her with stones until she fell down dead."

I found it interesting that the grandmother was killed not for the fact that she was a werewolf, but because the neighbors took the wart on her hand as the marking of a witch. This entire scenario made me think of the times I was learning about the Salem Witch Trials back in high school, and how woman of all ages were killed over the most minor, ridiculous things you could think of. While I'm not totally sympathetic towards the grandmother in this story (she about ate her granddaughter), I did find it silly that she was killed over a wart on her hand.

"The Company of Wolves"

"Every wolf in the world now howled a prothalamion outside the window as she freely gave the kiss she owed him."

Of the three tales we read, "The Company of Wolves" was my favorite. In the beginning of this particular telling of Little Red Riding Hood, the heroine comes across as very naive and virginal, the opposite of the wolf, who is "carnivore incarnate." Had the heroine retained her purity and defeated the wolf, I would have found this story trite and bland. But the fact that she chooses of her own volition to recognize her blooming sexuality and use it to save her life gives the story a new twist. The heroine of this version succumbs to her inherent instincts, willingly allying herself to the wolf in a "savage marriage ceremony" in order to avoid being devoured, and in the end is as much a predator as the wolf, feeding on his insecurity and owning her new identity as a savage, instinctual creature. To me, this line embodied both the motive of her choice and its inevitable consequences.

"Wolf-Alice" Blood and Identity

To me, the most interesting of the three short wolf-stories was “Wolf-Alice” because of what I perceived as its exploration of humanity and the self. “Nothing about her is human except that she is not a wolf” (119). This description sets an interesting point about identity in that it can be found by understanding what we are not. We are also often defined by how others see us, rather than how we see ourselves. When Alice first looks in the mirror, she does not understand that she looks at herself, thinking her reflection is a friend. Her discovery of the mirror coincides with her discovery of menstruation, linking blood to (at least the beginnings of) self-understanding, and so in a way, humanity. The fact that Carter uses menstruation blood to symbolize understanding emboldens her point, as menstruation is often seen as a time of maturity and growth. With relation to the Duke, he eats the bodies of the dead to sustain himself. He tries to take in what is human, but he consumes only illusions of humanity. They no longer have life or soul—everything about them is human except that they are not human. Through his appetite, he absorbs the illusion—one that the townspeople believe well enough, the same as they believe Alice is a vengeful ghost from beyond the grave, perhaps to denounce the ease with which people forget themselves (their true, temporal selves) and buy into the fantastic. The Duke only begins to see himself when he bleeds. Once Alice recognizes the Duke’s shortcomings, his weakness, his wound, does the Duke finally see his reflection. He understands himself through that blood which, in its life sustaining and life taking properties, dispels illusions of invulnerability and immortality.

The Werewolf Response

I initially thought that this story was interesting since it is a spin off of "Little Red Riding Hood."  However, the following paragraph on page 109 completely shocked me: "But it was no longer a wolf's paw.It was  a hand, chopped off at the writs, a hand toughened with work and freckled with old age.  There was a wedding ring on the third finger and  a ward onthe index finger.  By the wart,she knew it for her grandmother's hand."  I found this quite shocking since it is a complete twist from the original plotline of "Little Red Riding Hood."  Instead of the wolf devouring the little girl's grandmother, the girl's grandmother is wolf.  I really like the idea of this twist to the story.  I find it very ironic since the original story revolves around the wolf impersonating the grandmother whereas in Angela Carter's version of the story is basically the grandmother being one with the wolf.  While the grandmother is the victim in the original story, she is now both villian and victim all at once.  I just found that amazingly interesting. 

Response to "The Werewolf"

"They knew the wart on the hand at once for a witch's nipple; they drove the old woman, in her shift as she was, out into the snow with sticks, beating her old carcass as far as the edge of the forest, and pelted her with stones until she fell down dead. Now the child lived in her grandmother's house; she prospered."

This story seemed almost like the typical back-country werewolf story until the last paragraph or so. You would expect the little girl to be shocked or surprised or even horrified to find out that her grandmother was the werewolf that tried to kill her, but once she realizes it, its almost like she accepts it. She just holds her grandmother down until she sees the stump that was her arm and then screams- then the villagers take the grandmother out in the woods and pelt her to death. It was the very last sentence that threw me for a loop. The author just described this horrific scene of an old woman being beaten to death in the woods and the last sentence merely says that the child ended up living in the grandmother's home and now prospers. It gives us, as readers, a deep insight into the world that the characters live in. Everything in their world is temporary and there is no sadness in death, its just an accepted part of life. It describes a culture of superstition, in which everyone does what they can to survive. And this story manages to explain this whole culture in just two pages.

Wolf-Alice

"First, she tried to nuzzle her reflection; then, nosing it industriously she soon realized it gave out no smell. She bruised her muzzle on the cold glass and broke her claws trying to tussle with this stranger."

Wolf-Alice lives a very strange life. She was raised by wolves instead of humans because her mother birthed her and left her in the wild. She hardly has any traits that are human; she runs on all fours, doesn't wear clothes, and doesn't talk. She doesn't know how to behave as a human, but she is not a wolf either. The nuns even send her away to the Duke's because she could not adapt. The duke is very lonely and doesn't fit into any category as well. I think that this quote shows how out of place wolf-alice actually is. So out of place that she doesn't even recognize herself. It allows us to see that sense of obliviousness to the human world.

"The Company of Wolves"- Alex Van Pelt

"She will lay his fearful head on her lap and she will pick out the lice from his pelt and perhaps she will put the lice into her mouth and eat them, as he will bid her, as she would do in a savage marriage ceremony."

In "The Company of Wolves," the heroine is depicted as virginal and angelic, with pale skin and near-white hair. The wolf is carnal, extremely visceral and sexual, a 'carnivore incarnate'. However, in this line, the roles are somewhat reversed. The wolf is 'fearful' and submissive, laying across her lap while she sullies her pure persona by eating the insects that crawl on him. The act is willing on her part, showing that she wants to be tainted just as much as he is. In the end, the 'savage marriage ceremony' during the winter solstice allows her to not be made a meal of, but instead to be a consumer of their future feasts as a wolf herself, eternally bound to an 'unholy' creature.

"The Werewolf" response by Brock Bowers

“But it was no longer a wolf’s paw. It was a hand, chopped off at the wrist, a hand toughened with work and freckled with old age. There was a wedding ring on the third finger and a wart on the index finger. By the wart, she knew it for her grandmother’s hand.”

I was very surprised to learn that the little girl’s grandma had been the werewolf that attacked her in the woods. The werewolf paw that turned into her grandma’s hand proves that the grandma turns into a werewolf. I was prepared for the girl to encounter danger on her way to her grandma’s house because of descriptions of her home such as “wreaths of garlic on the doors keep out the vampires” and “the Devil they glimpse often in the graveyards,” but I was surprised that it was her grandma that attacked her. The bloody encounter in the woods could also be the reason for her grandma’s sickness but I do not believe that Carter tells us this either way. Books normally do not frighten me but this is as scared as I ever have been while reading a book.

"Wolf-Alice"

"They found that, if she was treated with a little kindness, she was not intractable."

Despite the fact that the child was clearly far more at home and adapted to the wilderness, the people who find her in the wolves's den attempt to conform her into their perception of a "normal" person, taking her to nuns who force her into clothing and "civilized" table manners. The tale "Wolf-Alice" is a display of the enforcement of majority values on a minority. They aren't even kind about their treatment of the wild girl, they have to find what the effects are of kindness, as opposed to simply treating her nicely in the first place, before they can get her to do their will. The story is an accurate show of the human desire for normalcy, and how desperately people will fight for the normalcy they so crave.

Wolf-Alice

"We secluded her in animal privacy out of fear of her imperfection because it showed us what we might have been" - Pg. 122

As neither woman or wolf, Wolf-Alice poses a potential threat to the civilization of mankind. She was raised by wolves, the most primal of animals, and as such has become as animistic as her humanity will allow. She is capable of thought beyond instinct but only slightly and only if it is taught to her. She is what people might have been if it had not been for society and the rules that govern it. Society is a means to control human behavior under the maxim that we are all imperfect. Carter uses this concept to contrast the "civilized" world of the nuns and the "primal" world of Wolf-Alice. Carter says, three paragraphs earlier, that if Wolf-Alice had been around during the time of Adam and Eve, she would have been the wise child to lead them; suggesting that the forbidden fruit would never have been eaten. Based on this assumption Carter poses the question: is it better or more perfect to live as a "primal" and "feral" animal than a "civilized" human?

"Wolf-Alice"

"She rubbed her head against her reflected face, the show that she felt friendly towards it, and felt a cool, solid, immovable surface between herself and she - some kind, possibly, of invisible cage? In spite of this barrier, she was lonely enough to ask this creature to try to play with her, baring her teeth and grinning; at once she received a reciprocal invitation."

Throughout this story, I pitied Wolf-Alice because she never really fits in anywhere; she is not a wolf but does not really know how to be a human. This particular quote drove her absolute aloneness home for me. She is so desperate for any type of friendship that she even befriends her reflection, though she doesn't really understand what it is. This scene really highlights that she does not really have anyone but herself as a companion.

Wolf-Alice

"She grew up with wild beasts. If you could transport her, in her filth, rags and feral disorder, to the Eden of our first beginnings where Eve and grunting Adam squat on a daisy bank, picking the lice from one another's pelts, then she might prove to be the wise child who leads them all and her silence and her howling a language as authentic as any language of nature. In a world of talking beasts and flowers, she would be the bud of flesh in the kind lion's mouth: * but how can the bitten apple flesh out its scar again?" *

I felt a deep sense of pity for this girl who tried to raise herself without a mother or anyone to teach her. I love this quote because it brings Carter back to a sense of normalcy. Her stories are strange, different, and beautiful. Although her sense of beauty is not the kind I would describe it as. There is a lot in her stories. I love how in this quote she chases a "what-if". She sympathizes with wolf-alice. She sticks up for her deficiencies and claims that if she could turn back the clock wolf-alice would be the best of their kind.

"The Werewolf" Sarah Brennan

"It was a huge one, with red eyes and running, grizzled chops; any but a mountaineer's child would have died of fright at the sight of it. It went for her throat, as wolves do, but she made a great swipe at it with her father's knife and slashed off its right forepaw."

This story reminded me of a creepier version of Little Red Riding Hood. However, the little girl in this version was not an innocent and helpless child. She seemed to understand the creatures that haunted the forest. This passage was interesting to me because when the mother sends the child to visit the grandmother who is 5 miles away, I get a sense that this is a very dangerous mission and not meant for a young lady. Unlike Little Red Riding Hood, this girl was ready to defeat the beast. I kind of get the sense that this girl is the werewolf in the story, I feel like she is actually the evil one. Earlier in the story it mentions that "the Devil is as real as you or I", and I think Carter is portraying the little girl as the Devil in this section. She has no pity nor any sense of fear when she cuts off the paw of the wolf. In the passage above Carter suggests that anyone else would have died at the sight of such a frightening creature.

cass ford & "the company of wolves"

"She stands and moves within the invisible pentacle of her own virginity. She is an unbroken egg; she is a sealed vessel; she has inside her a magic space the entrance to which is shut tight with a plug of membrane; she is a closed system; she does not know how to shiver." -- "The Company of Wolves," page 147

The protagonist in "The Company of Wolves" is clearly a Red Riding Hood, but rather than being consumed by the wolf at the end of the story, she embraces his animalistic nature and decides to join him. Her virginity is what keeps her safe, but at the same time, it keeps her naive. She does not know how to shiver because she has been so coddled that she does not know fear. This purity is what helps her understand the werewolf; had she been taught to fear him, she would have alienated herself from him. Additionally, if she had been taught to fear werewolves (a symbol for lustful men), she would not have become as sexually liberated through choosing him as a mate. While Riding Hoods have traditionally been consumed (read: dominated and oppressed) by the werewolves, she survives because she asserted herself as an individual, and not, as the story says, somebody's meat. Carter's provocative language and word choice, especially in this quote, help to make sexual readings of the stories obvious. Although the stories are fairytales, the exploration of bestial desire in Carter's work is often very human.

The Werewolf page 138

"It went for her throat, as wolves do, but she made a great swipe at it with her father's knife and slashed off its right forepaw. The wolf let out a gulp, almost a sob, when it saw what had happened to it; wolves are less brave than they seem..."

I thought this quote was very interesting because of the role reversal among the two characters. Most times within these three stories, the werewolves are portrayed as the stronger, more powerful, and more violent beings, whereas the normal people are the vulnerable and helpless ones. However, instead of the werewolf hurting the child (which seems the most realistic), the child uses violence to overcome a large monster, who then "lollops" off sobbing like the child. This reversal is unique and ironic at the same time. It is one of few times that a wolf is beaten by a mortal, however it ended up backfiring on her anyways because the wolf was actually her grandmother.

The Company of Wolves pg 111

"And then no wolf at all lay in front of the hunter but the bloody trunk of a man, headless, footless, dying, dead."

The syntax of this sentence has a specific effect with the uses of induction and deduction. First the general term of a man, then deducting to the specifics that he is headless and footless, and even further, dying to dead. I think its interesting that we have no idea how the hunter reacted to the realization that he killed a man. I also like how it never specified "handless" because we know that the hunter cut off all the paws. By saying that the man is footless instead of foot and handless, Angela demoted this man to an animalistic state, even in human form. Also the comas in the last part of the sentence give a rushed feel, as if all of this informantion is unbelieveable and quickly trying to make sense to the hunter.This sentence is the turning point in the story, a sort of betrayl, to know that the beasts that harm the village could be a neighbor or felllow friend looking for it's next prey.

"The Werewolf"

"It was a hand, chopped off at the wrist, a hand toughened with work and wrinkled with old age. There was a wedding ring on the third finger and a wart on the index finger." - page 109

Ignoring the fact that the grandmother's wedding ring is on her right hand for some reason, this quote demonstrates the running theme of cruel deception and madness in all three wolf stories. Carter seems to have decided that werewolves can shapeshift (and not have reflections, so she's combining their mythos with vampires) or at least play with their victim's perception of who is attacking whom. When the proxy Little Red Riding Hood attacks the wolf, she really attacks her grandmother, sparing the real werewolf the trouble and traumatizing the poor girl to boot. It's a distinctly evil trick that casts blame on the intended victim themselves and contributes to Carter's image of the heartless werewolf who plays games with his prey instead of killing them quickly. A werewolf who is also a rapist. Clearly, Carter likes corrupting classic folk tales to make them even more R-rated than they were originally.

Company of Wolves Quote

"See! sweet and sound she sleeps in granny's bed, between the paws of the tender wolf."

Uh...this story really confused me, especially the end. But there's something about this line that really stood out to me; I thought it was really significant that the author made this her last line in the story. And here the wolf is described as tender, whereas before he was a monster, something to be feared. I just thought this was really interesting and worth bringing up; however, since I don't fully understand the story and was told to refrain from interpreting it here, I won't think dissect in further on here...but I think it would be a cool thing to bring up in class. Why are we reading these stories? Why Angela Carter, why these pieces? Every time I read something new from her I ask myself these questions. I feel like she's going over my hand a lot of times with her writings, but then I think there must be a reason we're reading these particular stories and not something else. Something to think about.

The Snow Child

I really admired Angela Carter's ability to incorporate rather grotesque subjects into her writing as subtly as she does. The rape scene in The Snow Child caught my attention the most. When I first read over it, I had to back track. In my mind I was thinking: "He didn't just seriously rape a dead body did he???..." Reading over it a second time, I was pretty positive that's what had happened. However, I immensely admire writer's who can put disturbing subjects in their writing, yet can execute it so subtly that the reader's may not even catch it at first. I feel I become more immersed in the work itself this way because I'm not busy cringing at gruesome details. Angela Carter writes with such elegance, even when it involves the raping of a dead body.

[from Tom]

The language in The Bloody Chamber struck me as a bit contrived. I
would constantly become more interested in the wording of the story
than the actual plot. The story itself is creative and thoughtful but
the way in which Carter delivers it feels a little pompous. She is
artful with her language but to the point where I feel as though it
overshadows the story.

"The Bloody Chamber"

This story was engaging and fascinating, but it had so much going on at once. One line that strikes me in particular is, when the narrator says, "I only did what he new I would" (37), Jean-Yves answers, "Like Eve" (38). This brings to mind a theme of overcoming fate, which is especially interesting as, even when her husband is dead, the narrator feels shame and retains her husband's red mark on her forehead. I can't quite tell if she's won or lost, exactly (if you can call it winning or losing). I find the biblical reference curious, though, because it likens the marquis to god. I'm not entirely sure whether this was done to emphasize the husband's power and potential to frighten, to say something about religion, or perhaps both. Other elements of the story don't quite fit into a perversion of the Adam and Eve story, but thinking of the whole story in that light is interesting nonetheless.

cass ford & "the snow child"

A lot of the responses regarding “The Snow Child” are negative, citing its graphic nature as being one of the reasons they found it strange, disturbing, etc. However, I think this is an important story to look at as metaphor. Yes, it sounds a lot like Snow White, but by drawing only this comparison, other interpretations become lost. I read “The Snow Child” as a metaphor for aging, jealousy, and the fleeting and fickle nature of desire. Carter may also be alluding to the role purity and virginity play in a society; “So the girl picks a rose; pricks her finger on the thorn; bleeds; screams; falls.” The imagery is obvious when thought of as a sexual metaphor; the girl’s death after she is pricked is equally important. The story is full of imagery and metaphor; because it is so short, every detail becomes more important to interpret. Nothing was left in this story that shouldn’t be there. This complex story needs more thought and interpretation rather than being dismissed as too grotesque, or too graphic.

Response to "Bloody Chamber"

I thought this story was very interesting. I was confused at some parts and didn't quite understand the "moral" of the story, but it kept me intrigued throughout. What I thought was interesting about this story was the transistion from such an innocent little girl to a hardened woman in the end. I was also drawn in by the underlying "evilness" of the count. At first he seems like a worldly guy, but right away you get weird vibes from his character. Throughout the story you begin to realize that there is something really dark about him, starting from the girl's description of his appearance and building up to where she finally finds the tortured bodies of his ex wives. This story really makes me think about how I can give readers underlying emotions about the charcters in my own stories.

[from Mideya]

When i read Angela Carter's story The Snow Child from her book The Bloody Chamber, it really creeped me out. It was a very short story that really had no substance except for a man stating his dream child and then her appearing. What is the story trying to tell the audience? Why was the countess so jealous of a child? I mean, its not like her husband was wishing for the perfect woman he was merely stating what he wished his child to look like. So, why did the wife feel so threatened?? She was even threatened enough to try and kill the poor girl. And when she finally succeeds in killing the girl was their really a point for the man to rape her?? No, their wasn't it was just weird. By far one of the srangest stories i think i have ever read.

Response to "The Snow Child"

Upon beginning to read "The Snow Child" by Angela Carter, I recognized the allusions to Snow White instantly.  Having always been obsessed with Snow White when I was a little kid, I remember her skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood adn her hair as black as coal.  However, the story twists into quite the opposite of Snow White.  I was abolutely shocked by what occured at the end of this story. 

Upon reading this, I think that the girl in the snow that the count and his wife found naked in the snow is a result of the masculine sexual fantasy, and I find it interesting that once she's gone, all that is left behind is a rose, a feather and a bloodstain.  I think that this shows that in reality, the snow child was never real to begin with.  I believe that the entire story shows that a man would be more willing to fulfill his deepest fantasies instead of "settle" for the woman that he is with.  What this means is in the story, instead of being happy with his countess, the count would more willingly pursue a fantasy that does not exist.

The Snow Child

I read this through a few times. I'm not sure how i feel about it. Many times in life and in literature I shy away from things that are too graphic and too obscene. In some of the work that we have workshopped there were some lines that I would have changed around to sound more acceptable. But then i realized how much they grabbed my attention and I'm learning to appreciate blunt description. I feel like stories that are short and to the point with something that is awful to listen to have a deeper meaning. I'm not sure what Carter was trying to convey here...i have a few theories... but I think it's important to realize that it could be coming from a deep dark conviction she holds.

The Bloody Chamber

The Bloody Chamber was like no other story I've ever read. I couldn't really see any deep meaning, nor could I see any purpose to the story. I realize that saying this is not the purpose of the blog postings, but I am also under the impression that it's ok not to have an interpretation of the story. The only thing I could think of was it encourages paint attention to maternal instinct.

"The Bloody Chamber" Reflection

The beginning of the story actually made me think of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca for some reason. Maybe it was just the mention of a boating accident and the similarity in situations: a girl marries a man she knows little about and discovers his gruesome past. I thought I was going to enjoy this story, but I found myself a little disappointed. It definitely kept me guessing, but I didn't really get any satisfaction in reading it. The story just morphed into this not-so-subtle feminist fairy tale about a woman discovering her own self worth by escaping the man who objectified her in favor of someone who couldn't use her looks to control her. It was a really well-written story, and it's awesome that she was able to escape her terrible fate and find a husband who gave her a chance at love and equality, but it just didn't do it for me.

The Snow Child Blog by Brock Bowers

The Snow Child was a very unique story. I picture the main character, the Count, as a very important man who has been very successful in life. As he sees things that he likes, such as the pale whiteness of snow, he begins to desire more of it. His desire for a girl as white as snow tells me that he is very desirous and is most likely used to getting what he wants. When he openly proclaims his unfaithful desires in front of his wife, she becomes envious. She does anything she can to destroy his desires and he goes as far as something equivalent to “raping a dead woman” that represented all of his sinful desires. These actions and events lead me to believe that it is a story about sin and jealousy. Because of the graphic nature of the story, I pictured dark scenery in an unpleasant place.

The Snow Child

This story shocked me. At the beginning, I was convinced that it was the story of Snow White and would continue according to the basis of that story. Then it suddenly went a completely different direction than the well-known story. The plot is very much like a fairy tale until the Count rapes the girl's corpse, and then it returns to its fanciful language and symbols. The story is full of symbols like the girl representing a man's idea of the perfect female. Its deviation from the story it is similar to is strange and makes you try to figure out why Carter wrote it that way.

Thoughts on The Bloody Chamber

After reading 'The Bloody Chamber,' what stood out to me the most were the parts detailing the girl's relationship with her mother. As a college freshman hours away from home and transitioning into a new period of my life, I can relate to the main character in some ways. Although I am not headed into marriage like she is, we both find ourselves away from familiarity and the comfort of having a solid relationship with someone close to us. The girl and I are both nostalgic about our pasts, but in some ways still excited about what the future brings (that is, until the girl finds out her husband is a murderer).

The Bloody Chamber Pg. 36

"...I saw the heart-shaped stain had transferred itself to my forehead, to the space between my eyebrows, like the caste mark of a brahmin woman. Or the mark of Cain."

I find it interesting that this story has all of these biblical allusions, but it's so dirty! I like how the story made a reference to Cain with the stain because it ties into the husbands brutality and murderous nature.However, I don't like that she is viewed as a sinner, when all she did was look in the chamber. I felt terrible for the poor girl! Even just imagining myself in her situation is terrifying enough! It's odd that her husband is condeming her as Cain as if he were God, when he is the one corrupt with sin and murder. Overall this story was unsettling, but I will say that Angela Carter wrote the story well enough to keep me on my toes.

The Snow Child Reflection

When first starting the reading of "The Snow Child", I hadn't realized its connection to the famous fairytale, "Snow White". After getting through the story and realizing what had happened, I realized that the child really closely resembled Snow White, with her black hair, white skin, and red lips. But instead of being poisoned and being awoken by her true love, she was killed by the prick of a rose thorn, and then raped. It is interesting how the little connection makes it easy to compare and contrast the two stories, even though they are completely different. The Countess seems to be like the evil queen in snow white, jealous that her husband thinks that the child is so beautiful. She also plots for the child to be left behind and forgotten, but nothing seems to work because of the Count's love for the child's beauty.

Comments on The Bloody Chamber

"His wedding gift, clasped round my throat. A choker of rubies, two inches wide, like an extraordinarily precious slit throat." - page 11

This necklace is used to great symbolic effect in The Bloody Chamber, and this particular line foreshadows its use as a representation of the vampire husband's perverse fascination with murdering ingenuous little girls. When I read this line, I wasn't sure if the reference to slit throats was stylistically emo or if it actually meant something. However, the title of the story and the increasingly creepy happenings later on brought me back to the figure of the ruby choker. Why was the vampire husband so intent on the girl wearing it all the time? Why did the text keep mentioning that it hurt her when she wore it? And why was it only mentioned when he was exercising his iron grip of control over her? The juxtaposition of slightly gaudy beauty and extravagance with sadism and impending death mirrored the style of the story perfectly.

Musings based on Quote

"Tale also tells the story of the minstrel whose only listeners were animals who simply wished to eat him but were stayed by the minstrel's music; eventually, of course, when the minstrel ran out of fresh tunes, they did eat him, but meanwhile..." -Coover

Why do writers write? I think it's a good thing to examine, especially in a class of people who are writers, and thus should know. Why do we write? Certainly it's not always easy to write. You have a great idea, something wonderful you want to express, and the words never come out right! You can't get the proper words in the proper order; rubbish on the page what was magficent in your head. And then, what's more, the trial I've yet to face: trying to get published. That can't be easy; fighting for your work, while it constantly gets rejected again and again and again. Lots of mental strain for barely any reward. Why on earth would anyone to be a writer?

But we do. We are. And if you ask me, I don't think it's a decision one makes. I think it's something that has to be done. If you're a writer, you write because you have to. No one is physically making you, but you are forced to write. Something compels you--like the minstrel playing for the animals so they'll leave him be, so a writer writes to keep at bay whatever dark force is after him, just for a little while more. It's a losing fight; always, the minstrel and the writer, at some point, will lose and will be devoured. But before that, they will make music. They will write, and write, and write, as if they're very lives depended on it.

And in many ways, maybe it actually does.