Family of Liars

Carrie uses fairy tales as a motif to illustrate aspects of her past that she feels she cannot express without allusion. Carrie identifies with the fact that fairy tales reveal what is both “ugly and true” (54) about human nature, as Carrie herself identifies with both heroes and villains at various points in her story. This duality shows that Carrie is capable of both light and dark, good and evil.

The most prominent example of this duality is in Carrie’s retelling of the fairy tale “Mr. Fox.” She first uses the story as a way to explain her relationship with Pfeff: “I am Lady Mary, longing for love, enraptured by a new romance, protected by her siblings. And Pfeff, he is Mr. Fox” (164). When she first tells the story, Carrie is the heroine Lady Mary who uncovers the evil of Mr. Fox, who views women as objects to use and discard, much like Pfeff’s actions show.

Later on, Carrie realizes that she has more in common with Mr. Fox than she thought: “It was Pfeff I killed. But I could just as easily have killed Penny. I am Cinderella’s terrible, jealous stepsister. I am the ghost whose crime went unpunished.