The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

“Puss in Boots” is the only story in the collection with a male protagonist. How did this narrative choice affect your reading of the story? Did a male narrator add anything to the story that a female narrator would not?

Many of the characters in the collection exist in a state of liminality—on the edge of life and death, or human and nonhuman. What do these liminal states show about the human experience?

Consider the ways mother and father figures are presented in the stories. What messages does the collection communicate about parent-child relationships? How does it question or subvert common expectations of such relationships?

Explore the use and symbolism of clothing. What does it mean when characters discard their clothing, or when non-human characters wear human clothing for the first time?

Examine the key settings of the stories: France, Italy, and the wild woods. Why do you think Angela Carter, a British author, chose to present her stories in this way? What impact do the settings have on the stories?

Which traditional Gothic motifs are present in the collection? How does Carter adapt and re-imagine these tropes?

Consider the way the collection uses different types of conflict: interpersonal (one character versus another), internal (a character versus their own nature), and social (a character versus the world around them). Which type of conflict is most prevalent, and how does it take different forms?

How does Carter create opportunities to empathize with the villains in her stories? How might antagonists like the murderous husband of “The Bloody Chamber,” the ghoul of “Wolf-Alice,” and others be considered sympathetic?