Prose Passage #1 Analysis

Angela Carter uses symbols and dramatic irony to show the changes, both physical and emotional, that Fevvers is going through in her transition from innocence to maturity. The fact that Fevvers’ wing is strapped up and broken is symbolic of her feeling of loss in who she is. She’s molting and the roots of her hair are growing out; she’s undergoing a transformation in both a physical and emotional sense. The fact that Lizzie requires her to sit and rest when she wants to be out rescuing Walser also reflects the “bird-in-a-cage” tone that Carter is trying to set.

     Their uncertainty in the time (once again, the symbolic clock sets the pace and mood) that’s passed since they lost Walser also reflects the uncertainty that Fevvers feels, but foreshadows the freedom that she's beginning to find. Lizzie also personifies time, saying that “Father Time’s bastard offspring”-bastard having a very negative connotation- is the one who controls the time in this region. Time is said to be passing swiftly, though Fevvers had perceived it to be moving much more slowly, which shows once again her confusion and uncertainty.

     Through a sort of dramatic irony, we see that Fevvers is troubled greatly by the loss of Walser, though she even denies it to herself. She uses the lack of good food as an excuse for her frustration and misery, and later denies that Walser is the cause of her problems, telling herself he only made matters worse, but didn’t cause her misery. Carter, however, leaves her exact feelings very vague, and once again it’s up to the reader to make assumptions towards Fevvers’ true feelings, which are hard to discern from her excuses and thoughts of denial.

     Fevvers herself isn’t even sure what the cause of her misery is, which is seen when she internally questions herself. Carter provides insight into her thoughts to show that she’s just as uncertain as she’s appeared to Lizzie.

     Once again, the feathers and colors are used as a metaphor for the glamorous, yet fake, life she lived before becoming stuck in Siberia. By becoming lost physically, she’s also internally losing the life that she used to know and instead becoming a more independent woman, no longer held back by her image. This is also seen through the loss of her sword- a symbol of innocence and invulnerability- to the Grand Duke, as well as the loss of her Father Time clock. Once she lost all of these things, she also broke her wing- another symbol- the one thing that truly made her stand out and be special above other people. But, now that she’s lost her ability to fly, she begins to even question her own validity; she’s unsure if she’s even who she believed herself to be all along. Because she’s lost her bright appearance, her sense of security, her ability to fly, and her perception of time, she feels as though she’s hardly the person she used to be. This realization that her former self is gone is the turning point in her buildungsroman, and once she's shed the feathers of her old life she can become the true woman that she wants to be.