Margaret Atwood and Surfacing
The use of animals in literature as either characters with human qualities or in situations that humans face, has long been a device of authors who hope to creatively convey moral messages in their work. Animals often appear in children's literature such as fables in order to make lessons pleasurable and attractive to young readers. In adult literature, animals and the animal-like are commonly used by authors to demonstrate and instruct readers on lessons in the human experience. Stories of life in the Great White North are perhaps appropriately and most often expressed in terms of the environment and nature because of the vastness and dominance of the land in much of Canada. Interestingly, it seems that many Canadian authors use animal imagery because of the sense of how imminent the animalistic is in the environment the theme of biological and geographical origins occupy such a central place in Canadian literature. Interestingly, it seems that many Canadian authors make a strong connection to the animal world because of the sense of how imminent the animalistic is in the environment. . As Canadian readers, animal imagery can help us to recognize things in our behavior. In Sheila Watson's The Double Hook and in Ma
Watson sets the eerie and ominous tone of the novel by introducing the reader to the mythical figure of Coyote on the very first page. Coyote is a figure from Native American mythology who is defined as a kind of mischievous god or trickster to be treated with wariness and circumspection. Coyote's role in Native American storytelling is often described as a kind of "teacher by counter-example as he employs base human traits including lying, cheating, and sexual misconduct." In many of these tales, Coyote also interacts behind the scenes with the humans in an effort to tempt them into straying from the safe and defined order of the community. The novel's characters are mindful of being "under Coyote's eye"(Watson, p.1), and feel the constant influence of "the meddler Coyote" (p.29) behind so many of the community's evil goings-on. When Kip feels tempted to reach for the glory, he remembers how "Coyote got the old lady" (p.48) and holds back out of fear. When he is later tempted to seduce James' girl Lenchen, he is punished with blindness for his weakness. Greta too, is unable to resist Coyote and when he calls her to death she sets herself aflame in her own home. Watson's use of the figure of Coyote is very effective in expressing the characters' struggle with their inner dark side. The lure of breaking free and away from responsibility and righteousness causes chaos as Coyote waits to punish them when they fall. However, in the end, Coyote is left out as James returns to the community with a renewed sense of purpose and the community is redeemed. Ecofeminism is a movement that "links the oppression of women with the oppression of nature(Salleh 339) While it is somewhat difficult to grasp at times, it seems that this feminist theory claims that there is a strong connection between femininity and the natural world and how they come into conflict with and feel victimized by patriarchal power and its domination of society. The narrator feels strongly compassionate towards and connected to the animals in the story because she feels this common conflict with the aggression of males in her own life, starting with her own brother, her ex married lover and David. Interestingly, the only male character that she feels hopeful about is "Beautiful Joe"(p.8), who she sees as being very animal-like. She describes him as being a shaggy, "teddy
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1603
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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