The aim of this essay is to present you with an analysis of two literary works which represent the genre of urban fantasy.
The first book is ‘Kitty goes to War’ by Carrie Vaughn who has become acknowledged for her novels of supernatural context and character with Kitty Norville holding the main leading role of her books. Kitty Norville is a werewolf who works as the hostess of the radio program ‘The Midnight Hour’. ‘Kitty goes to War’ has been published as part of this series of novels.
The second book presented in this essay is ‘Sharp Teeth’ by Toby Barlow which presents an ancient race of lycanthropes which has survived up to this day and it is gradually growing in number and power. Barlow presents these lycanthropes living in the city of L.A. and raises a number of questions to his readers concerning the ‘if’ question. What would happen if lots and lots and even more werewolves really existed? The book addresses his readers with the question written on the back side of its paperback ‘"if there were werewolves - not just a single werewolf or even sporadic instances of lycanthropy, but lots and lots of werewolves - what would they do?"(Barlow, ‘Sharp Teeth’, paperback)
The essay will present you with the answers to the following questions deriving from the reading of these two above mentioned literary works.
1. Analyze Kitty Goes to War as social commentary. What is the book saying about real world military conflicts and the toll these take on the soldiers who fight in them? If soldiers-turned-werewolves is a metaphor for something real, what is it?
The social role of ‘Kitty goes to War’ is depicted through the thematic core of the plot. The plot of the book goes around the need for Kitty to visit three Army soldiers who have just come back from the war in Afghanistan. According to the summary of the book jacket Kitty ‘is contacted by a friend at the NIH's Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology. Three Army soldiers recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are being held at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs. They're killer werewolves – and post-traumatic stress has left them unable to control their shape-shifting and unable to interact with people. Kitty agrees to see them, hoping to help by bringing them into her pack.’(Vaughn, ‘Kitty goes to War’, Book Jacket). The soldiers who have just returned from the war are presented like werewolves as a result of the author’s wish to depict the terror and damaging effects of wars on people. People’s psychology, their inner balance and harmony are disrupted so they forget their human nature, their real selves and they turn into monsters. Since werewolves are a symbol which causes terror and symbolizes paranormal and unnatural then this metaphor of the soldiers having turned into werewolves is by all means justified as a choice of the writer in order to manage to put across her message on the disaster caused by any war to humans. The author reminds us that conflicts and violence are part of a violent world. These soldiers who have returned from the hell of a war are not themselves anymore.
2. Kitty Goes to War is the only book in the class with the true female lead. What kind of a character is Kitty? How does she work as a protagonist? As a potential role model?
Females have always been considered more powerful in terms of enduring pain much more when compared to males. Kitty is a female powerful woman who goes through numerous deathly adventures but still manages to survive and keep control of her pack, of her team. No one can tell for certain why the writer has chosen a female as her leading role in her adventurous books. It may be the belief lying in a woman’s mind that women are more capable of dealing with crisis, or even the fact that she just felt it was about time to remind modern societies of the role a woman can hold. In a society still made man-tailored, mainly aiming at serving males’ wishes, a powerful woman leader is the antidote so that the conflict between men and women can stop or at least diminish. Notice should be taken of the basic traits of this woman’s personality. She seems like a woman who knows how to wait in order to achieve her goals, she is hard working and she has a very good sense of humor. She is ready to help in any occurring problem and she is about to offer her services whenever needed. Last but not least she has a very high sense of responsibility in terms of feeling responsible in a way due to her knowledgeable background to help those soldiers.
As a result Kitty is a role model. She is the model of any active member of a society who feels ready to offer, help in dealing with crisis, find solutions to any problem, fight for the best.
3. Analyze the role of the packs' women in Sharp Teeth. "Nothing else will hold a pack together" (161), yet they don't seem particularly powerful. Why are they so important?
Packs’ women in Sharp Teeth are presented as important but their importance is not visible at first sight. They are a strong bond of the pack since interactions created between men and women always affect the future of the pack, the harmony and balance existing within its limits. The power that women hold is that kind of power which is found in older kinds and forms of societies in which women held their power of affecting men but never came to the front. Men were the hunters, were the ones going after the set goals but were always aware of their women having stayed behind, able to meet the demands of their community and keep the safety of their homes. The role and traits given to the women of the pack by the writer proves that the writer uses the model of ancient, older ways of organizing life. In these ways women had the power but were not the social role which would bring their power to light. Men held the visible, powerful social roles and women seemed to follow whereas within the limited surroundings of their home, they were always in interaction with their men, expressing their own point of views. The writer seems to want to highlight the importance of feeling safe within the family environment. This is a safety kept and looked after by women so that men can enter the social arena and succeed in all these things which are considered necessary for their families’ happiness.
4. Discuss lycanthropy as a metaphor for masculinity in Sharp Teeth.
Masculinity is emphasized in the ‘Sharp Teeth’ by the fact that women are presented powerful but more emphasis is given on the portrait of men. Barlow says that if there were lots and lots of werewolves ‘they would form packs like wild dogs, except they wouldn't be dogs - they'd be men. Sometimes, they'd be intelligent, powerful men like, for instance, lawyers. Such an individual would become the alpha dog of a werewolf pack, would grow the pack's strength, bind it together, and give it purpose. What sort of purpose? Well, the same as any pack of wild dogs, or men for that matter - power’. (Barlow, ‘Sharp Teeth’, paperback)
So masculinity is drawn as an ideal and synonym of power. Barlow empowers the status - quo of human societies by showing that this status - quo would be the one in power in other societies like the one of werewolves.
Works cited
Barlow, Toby (2009), ‘Sharp Teeth’ Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (January 27, 2009)
Blecourt, Willem (2013), ‘Monstrous Theories: Werewolves and the Abuse of History Preternature’, Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, Volume 2, Number 2, 2013
Phillips Jr., Alan, (2012), ‘Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Assorted Creatures: The Apocryphal Bestiary of Chick Publications’, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 24, Number 2, Summer 2012
Vaughn, Carrie, (2010), ‘Kitty Goes to War’, Tor Books; 1 edition (June 29, 2010)
