The surprise in the stories “Fatso,” “Beast,” and “Mantis” is that no one notices or appears to be shocked in the stories about the changes that take place.
In “Mantis,” it appears that the girl is going through puberty along with her other classmates. They compare their ugliness and flaws with each other. When faced with her sexuality, she becomes her true self, a mantis.
In “Beast,” the woman does not complain about her marriage and even states that she was lucky to have married her husband: “In high school we chose boyfriends blindly, pin the tail on the donkey. I thought he was handsome and that was about all I thought. So I was surprised to find, after we’d been married a few years, that my husband was someone I really love” (pg.50).
The woman changes into a deer after her steamy fling in the nightclub’s bathroom. Ironically, when she tells her husband about her metamorphosis, she discovers he too becomes a deer at night. The woman states about her husband in his deer form, “He curls his spine…and lurches quickly, urging me forward, as if that is where we both belong, as if that is where we’ve both been always” (pg.68).
I see both stories as suppressed sexual frustration, and the metamorphosis symbolizes freedom, a return to natural instincts and women taking charge of their sexuality.
I really love the idea of metamorphosis as women reclaiming sexual agency, and definitely agree in the case of “Mantis”. I don’t necessarily disagree in “Beast”, but I do have questions. Do you view the narrator’s problems in “Beast” as stemming from sexual frustration? Her cheating was definitely a source of conflict for her, but to me it seemed sort of secondary as compared to her brother’s death, like the infidelity was only a symptom. I’d love to hear more of your perspective on this.
I think that the “beast” is not only the affair but the challenges she has had in her life — the big ones at least. This includes the affair, the loss of her brother, her guilt over cheating on her husband, and the fear of telling her husband she becomes a dear. I also did not see as much sexual frustration in “Beast” as was presented in “Mantis,” but I think the argument can be made. I’d love to hear the argument for it.