Main Theme in Lady Oracle
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood is a novel that tells the journey a woman takes from her teenage years until the present through her own thoughts and recollections. The protagonist, Joan Foster, is plagued by the memories and results of her mother's mental and emotional abuse. Joan does her best to change her interior and exterior appearance so people don't find out the secrets of her past, of which she is very ashamed. By the end of the novel Joan has gone through so much growth and change that she is finally happy with the person she is, and is done putting up false pretenses to be the person people expect her to be. The main theme of the novel is to love and accept yourself for who you are. This is proved through the protagonist's thoughts, actions and spiritual growth throughout the novel. Most of the novel is told through Joan's own thoughts and memories. Because of the way the author chose to tell the story, we are able to learn a lot about the protagonist's troubled adolescence. Joan harbors a lot of resentment and anger towards her mother because of the serious emotional and mental abuse that she was put through. As a teenager, Joan was morbidly obese which is what encouraged her mother's mistreatment and condes
A lot of times, actions speak louder than words. What Joan says is not necessarily a reflection of the way she feels about herself, although her actions definitely are, as most of them somewhat unintentionally deceptive. When she is a teenager, Joan starves herself until she reaches her ideal weight so as to gain the acceptance she so craves from her mother. Also, her mother is not very supportive of Joan's quest for thinness, which makes Joan strive even harder. (Pg. 167) "I came home from work and having not eaten all day, decided to treat myself to a rice cake...my mother, upon hearing the cupboard open, entered the kitchen and proceeded to tell me what a fat, worthless, lazy girl I was..." This example shows us just how determined Joan was to become thin to please her mother. Also, when Joan and her husband are looking through some photos, she comes across one of herself and her Aunt Lou at the CNE. The picture was taken before Joan's dramatic weight loss, and so Arthur did not recognize Joan as the second person in the photo. When questioned about who the 'unknown' person is, Joan replies...(Pg. 196)"Oh, uh, that's my Aunt Deirdre...you never met her...I didn't like her as much as Lou, she was sort of a bitch." Perhaps besides hiding her true identity from Arthur, by describing her imaginary aunt in this way, Joan shows just how she really felt about her old self. cending attitude. A good example of this can be fo
Some common words found in the essay are:
Joan Foster, Aunt Deirdreyou, Joan Foster's, Lou CNE, Margaret Atwood, Lady Oracle, growth throughout, growth throughout novel, love accept yourself, lady oracle, throughout novel, accept yourself, outward appearance, teenager joan, love accept, main theme,
Approximate Word count = 970
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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