The early part of Angela Carter’s Company of Wolves comprises background and several anecdotes which build anticipation and atmosphere. The main story, which doesn’t start until one-third of the way through the text, is an adult-oriented adaption of Charles Perrault’s children’s story, Little Red Riding Hood. Carter expands on Perrault’s original theme (beware of strangers) through eroticism. Rather than ending up in the wolf’s stomach, the girl uses her feminine wiles to “tame” him. Her additional themes include objectification and the innate power of women, virginity and female sexual awakening, violence, seduction, transformation.
