In what ways is Angela Carter a political writer? Discuss in relation to 'The Magic Toyshop'.

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In what ways is Angela Cater a political writer? Discuss in relation to The Magic Toyshop.

Angela Carter has often been identified as a feminist writer. Easton observes that, 'Carter identified herself as a feminist and most of her writings explore the subject of gender, usually in difficult and daring ways' . Carter herself stated that, 'all art is political and so is mine' . Given that politics refers to any situation involving power and government, The Magic Toyshop (MT) explores a variety of political issues, sometimes from more than one angle. The shift early on in the novel from 'bourgeois comfort to something much less prosperous' allows femininity to examined in more than one situation.

The novel opens with Melanie - a girl on the brink of adulthood - examining her body in front of a mirror, play acting scenarios in her head of the husband she imagines she will have.

She seemingly views herself solely in terms of how men will see her and of how attractive she will be to them. She feels 'particularly wicked' when she poses for the male artist Lautrec and creates a wedding outfit of white material; she recreates herself as on object on which men will look, defining herself through their imaginary eyes. Even her diet is controlled by their image of her: 'Melanie grew to fear the bread pudding. She was afraid that if she ate too much of it she would grow fat and nobody would ever love her and she would die a virgin.' (MT 3). The theme of marriage is subtly continued when we discover that Mrs Rundle has in fact gained her title by deed pol as a 'birthday present' (MT 3) to herself, the notion being that union with a man lent a...