An Analysis Of Socialist Feminism In The Magic Toyshop

Angela Carter was a committed socialist feminist. Carter’s second novel TheMagic Toyshop (1967) has a typical structure of female bildungsroman, tracing thedevelopment of fifteen-year-old Melanie’s relationship with her body and subjectivity.Angela Carter shows her socialist feminist ideas in this novel by criticizing patriarchalcapitalist culture. Reading The Magic Toyshop, the readers are informed by Carter thatwomen are oppressed by both patriarchy and capitalism; the double oppression onwomen is often effectively enacted by alienating and objectifying their bodies. Carteralso implies in the novel a socialist feminist liberation strategy for women. That is, toemancipate themselves, women need to overthrow the double oppression frompatriarchy and capitalism. More specifically, to achieve liberation, women need toresist alienation, to develop sisterhood and to ally themselves with the oppressed men.Carter’s socialist feminist ideas implied in the novel are so similar to those of somesocialist feminist theorists, such as Heidi I. Hartmann and Alison Jaggar. Based on thesimilarities, this paper is going to study The Magic Toyshop from a socialist feministperspective.