Master by Angela Carter

I must say I enjoyed this story far more than Carter’s Erl-King. Even from the very first paragraph I was very interested in the story. I had always been a fan of abnormal psychology, and the first paragraph of this short story said it all. It immediately reminded me of the movie, the Cell. In this movie, the serial killer would become sexually aroused when his victims died, but what pushed him over the edge were his victim’s final body spasms, much like the character from Carter’s Master. I like the way Carter began by explaining what he was like as a boy and then worked her way to the what he has become. This is very much like how documentaries on Ted Bundy, Ed Gein, and others were structured. There’s also a similarity. They all began with small signs of violence or odd habits and then they slowly worked their way up to murder. One of the things that I enjoyed, even though it was disturbing, was the way the author didn’t hesitate to describe how he killed. For instance, “young women whose flesh he lacerated with teeth, fingernails and sometimes his leather belt”. I like that she doesn’t hold back. This is another approach to horror. It is more in your face than in H. P. Lovecraft’s What the Moon Brings, and even Carter’s Erl-King. A thing that made this somewhat more frightening was how believable she made the character and the story seem. I think a lot of that came from the amount of description and detail she put into the story. For instance, she mentions the names of some of the motels where the killer would bring his victims. She must have obviously done research to see how the mind of a killer works. I had noticed that one of the characteristics she described of him was that he praises his own work. He isn’t satisfied by harming women, so he moves on to killing animals. I supposed it’s somewhat better than killing humans, but the way he goes killing them so mercilessly is still disturbing. He is made out to be such a greater hunter that he pretty much eliminates most of the big cats in Africa. He slaughtered the animals.
This story mainly reminds me of again, the Poughkeepsie Tapes. It’s all in the name. It pretty has the similar concept of taking a girl as a slave. The waterstreet butcher from the Poughkeepsie tapes also makes the girl refer to him as master and uses her as an object. It was rather interesting watching the hunter fall apart after he leaves his jeep. It is also rather interesting how he uses the killing of animals to help him feel less lonely. Another thing connects this further to the Poughkeepsie tapes, is the fact that the “brown girl” or slave slowly becomes somewhat of an apprentice. The thing that was different in the “Master” however, was the fact that the “brown girl” soon surpasses the hunter’s skill. She also seems to enjoy it. She laughs every time she kills and she populates her side with fresh ghosts. You can see as she herself slowly changes into an animal. It was very odd when we find out that the hunter has grown so desperate that he now kill jaguars and leaves them behind with the pelt still on.
The ending was what threw me off, which I enjoyed. I had a certain expectation as to where this was gonna go. However, when he ran out of alcohol and was left with his malaria, I didn’t think she would become much like the jaguar he had hunted all along. It just suddenly hit me, even though it had been a slow transition. I think my favorite phrase from the story is “But soon she grew bored and bounded away.” The idea that after all that she had been through with him, she simply grew bored after attacking his corpse for a bit, is unexpected.