The Snow Child is the most shocking of the tales in the collection
The Snow Child is the most shocking of the tales in the collection. How far do you agree? The Snow Child is the shortest story in the book however it can be easily argued that it is the most shocking. This is because on the two pages on which it lays, the story takes the reader through a wicked, twisted version of Snow White, as the Count gets the girl he wishes for and by the end of the second page she gets killed after which the Count begins to have intercourse with her. “Weeping, the Count got off his horse, unfastened his breeches and thrust his virile member into the dead girl”. This is shocking to the reader as we don’t expect the Count to be a necrophiliac. The story is shocking as the girl is given human characteristics, and so we see the intercourse as human to human therefore realistic, allowing us to take it more seriously. The fact that the girl is referred to as a “child” and he wishes for a “girl” gives the reader the hint that the Snow Child may be a product of his wish for a child, therefore the Count can also be labelled as guilty of incest, however there is no clear indication that the girl was his child. Part of this argument is the fact that the Countess becomes jealous of the girl, and attempts to humiliate her, ultimately killing her “pricks a finger on the thorn, bleeds; screams; falls,” This indicates that the girl was not his child, as she wouldn’t be jealous of their child, even though it wouldn’t be surprising if Carter intended that.
On the other hand, I believe the tale of Company of Wolves is more shocking as the story is even more disturbing in my opinion. This is because the story is even more repulsive as the werewolf rapes the grandmother of the girl, “naked as stone, approaching her bed”, eats her “he burned the inedible hair in the fireplace”, after which the girl accepts what he has done and falls for him “sweet and sound she sleeps in granny’s bed, between the paws of the tender wolf.” This makes the story very gory,
On the other hand, I believe the tale of Company of Wolves is more shocking as the story is even more disturbing in my opinion. This is because the story is even more repulsive as the werewolf rapes the grandmother of the girl, “naked as stone, approaching her bed”, eats her “he burned the inedible hair in the fireplace”, after which the girl accepts what he has done and falls for him “sweet and sound she sleeps in granny’s bed, between the paws of the tender wolf.” This makes the story very gory,