Identity In Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop

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Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop also displays how the society that Melanie finds herself in shapes her femininity and her sexual desire. Melanie’s wealthy background means that she has access to different models that influence her identity. She first “ discovered she was made of flesh and blood. O, my America, my new found land. She embarked on a tranced voyage, exploring the whole of herself…a physiological Cortez. da Gama.”(P.1) Melanie is “both explorer and the New World…this division is joyful as she explores the changes in her body.” (Schanoes, 2014:131) She has the freedom to explore the new body that she has acquired. “For hours she started at herself, naked, in the mirror…Pre-Raphaelite, she combed out her long, black hair…A la Toulouse

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