1. “The Company of Wolves”
Class Discussion

2. Remember critical reading process:
Think about:
Author: Angela Carter- Who is she? Why did she write this story? What other works did she write?
Text: What kind of story is this? When and where was it published? How has the text changed?
Audience: Who is Carter’s target audience? What do Carter’s readers know about her and her work? What do Carter’s readers expect from her work?

3. Critical reading, continued:
Reflect on your information about the author, the text, and the audience:
Are you reading the text (story) in the same format as it was originally published?
Are you reading the story in same time period as when it was originally published?
Are you a member of Carter’s “target audience”?
How do the answers to affect how you interpret the story?

4. After reading “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter
5. Analyze “The Company of Wolves” narrative structure. Make a plot chart as you did for Charles Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood.” Compare and contrast the two stories. How are they similar? In what ways are they different? Which structure is more effective? Explain.
6. Carter’s story is broken into two sections. What is the purpose of this division. How are the two parts different from one another? Would the story be as effective without the first part? What does the first section add to the story? Do you think the first section is integral to the meaning of the story as a whole? Explain.
7. Angela Carter was translating Perrault’s fairy tales when she was writing “The Company of Wolves” and other stories in her collection The Bloody Chamber, published in 1979 in London. Do you think Carter changes the story radically, or is she only making more explicit what is already present in Perrault’s version? Explain.

5. After Reading “The Company of Wolves” by Angela Carter
Reflect on the story.
Feminism is a movement to validate and value women’s experience and lives in societies which subordinate and value women less than men. Do you think Carter’s story is a feminist story? Explain who or why not, providing details from the story.
Examine one literary element in Carter’s story: symbol, imagery, motif, foil character, foreshadowing, setting, or narrative voice and explain how Carter uses this element to better convey her message or engage a specific theme. Be sure to identify the theme, and describe and explain how the literary element connects to this theme.