how are the gender roles in the story interchangeable based on need and circumstance?
"The Company of Wolves" is the second of Carter's stories based on Red Riding Hood. Like the child in "The Werewolf," the heroine here lives in a bitterly cold region where people grow up fast and live short, hard lives. However this child is not hardened like her counterparts because "she has been too much loved ever to feel scared." Because she is the youngest and most beautiful child, her family has coddled her and protected her from life's harsh realities. In doing so, they have 'civilized' her, made her into the gender ideal of a sheltered, sweet and trusting girl. The girl's innocence both endangers her and saves her; she is trusting enough to believe in the hunter's good intentions, but empathetic enough to understand his torment and 'marry' him.
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-bloody-chamber/study-guide/section9/
There is also an excellent article at the link provided below;
http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/carnivore-incarnate-angela-carters-the-company-of-wolves/
