How does Carter portray power throughout the novel Wise Children?

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The novel Wise Children, written by Angela Carter, is the memoirs of two song and dance girls, Nora and Dora Chance, following both their trials and tribulations, but also parts of their families. Carter wrote Wise Children once she had discovered she was dying of cancer and suddenly the power to control her life had been taken out of her hands.

Throughout the novel, Carter displays the use of power to change the readers perspective on certain things in life, such as when Nora loses her virginity. It is in a back alley with a married man and so could appear seedy and inappropriate, however, Nora chooses this situation, having made clear decisions about how and who with she wants to lose her virginity to, ‘she would have him.’ Nora has the power in this situation, and it is exactly what she wants. This makes it more acceptable, ‘He was the one she wanted, warts and all.’ Nora is not taken advantage of or made to do anything she doesn’t want to, and because she has the power and control at the time, what she is doing does not seem as unacceptable as it would if Nora did not seem to entirely understand what she was doing.

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Dora wants to be in charge of her own identity and her own opinions, and in control of her own life. Irish, who Dora meets in Hollywood, wants to change Dora to what he thinks is right, ‘he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive.’ Dora, in her eyes, was doing nothing wrong, but simply being herself. This was not enough for Irish, he wanted her to be educated to his standards. Irish however controls what Dora learns so he is in charge or what she says and does as much as possible, ‘What he ...

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