Language

Style of language

The language used by Angela Carter in the short story “The Company of Wolves” is formal and complex. When it comes to sentence structure, the author mainly relies on middle-length or longer phrases, like in the following example:

Step between the portals of the great pines where the shaggy branches tangle about you, trapping the unwary traveller in nets as if the vegetation itself were in a plot with the wolves who live there, as though the wicked trees go fishing on behalf of their friends – step between the gateposts of the forest with the greatest trepidation and infinite precautions… (p. 1, ll. 21-25). 

Here, the longer phrase highlights the dangers of the forest and the importance of avoiding it. 

The choice of words helps create a dark and tense atmosphere throughout the story. The wolves are described with nouns such as “wraiths” (p. 1, l. 11), “shadows” (p. 1, l. 10), “nightmare” (p. 1, l. 11), “beasts” (p. 5, l. 37), “assassins” (p. 1, l. 9), and “vermin” (p. 4, l. 35). The nouns suggest that there is more to the wolves than meets the eye, an idea which is reinf...