Analysis Of Margaret Atwood's Short Story 'Lusus Naturae'

“The writers, I do believe, who get the best and most lasting response from readers are the writers who offer a happy ending through moral development. By a happy ending, I do not mean mere fortunate events: a marriage, or a last-minute rescue from death; but some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with the self, even at death.” – Fay Weldon

Brilliance, doesn’t everyone strive to be brilliant in one form or another? I, Edgar Allen Poe, am a misfortunate being, whose more often than not let his brilliance slip away. Perhaps it’s because in my long thirty-three years, death never ceased to stop following me. Living with my mother was a joy I’ve never known, having no recollection of her as she past when I was merely a child, while my father left months prior. I was taken in by John Allan, who I never quite got along with to say the least, and his lovely wife Frances Allan. I have tried many times to move away from places that harbor significant deaths, but death is unforgivable and relentless, happening anywhere without much care. New York is not the exception to this, in fact this is arguably where I had the most success in being a writer, yet somehow still managing to be fortuneless and naturally, death was evermore present.

In the novel The Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer, the author captures the experiences of a marginalised character, Tom Leyton. The use of the silkworm metaphor invites the audience to uncover the dark secrets of Tom Leyton 's mysterious past. The introduction of the character Joseph Davidson provides the author with a catalyst to open the metaphor of the silkworm and take the reader on a journey to understand the life experiences of Tom Leyton. Joseph Davidson, who is portrayed as someone with poor self esteem is also described as an outsider. The running man is used by the author to reveal the experiences of Joseph Davidson and demonstrate his growth of becoming less marginalised throughout the novel. By creating characters in the novel who are excluded and labelled the author demonstrates how cruel society can be to people. The purpose of this essay is to show how the author reveals the experiences of marginalised characters in society.

Gilman also highlights a lack of identity of the narrator through the setting of the novella which reflects the narrator’s societal confinement. The protagonist is surrounded by “hedges and walls and gates that lock”, which create a sense of separation that the narrator feels from others and the outside world. In addition, the room in which she is confined contains a “heavy bedstead, and… barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on”. These physical and ‘prison-like’ restrictions imposed on the protagonist clearly demonstrate her lack of freedom. Additionally, Gilman’s use of syndetic listing to describe the narrator’s physical entrapment is perhaps reflective of her feelings of suffocation and her inability to escape as the list feels never ending. Essentially, it is the physical and subsequent metaphorical entrapment of the female protagonist by her husband in The Yellow Wallpaper that leads to a loss of her identity.

A mysterious disease has swept across the nation and deprived many of their abilities of communication; speeches, literacy, as well as the lives of numerous people were lost. Rye, after the death of her family to the disease, was making a trip to Pasadena out of loneliness and desperation in search of her remaining relatives. While riding on the bus Rye encountered Obsidian, a man dressed in police uniform trying to restore peace in a society where miscommunication led to violence and government was obsolete. Rye felt an extreme jealousy towards Obsidian after finding out that he was capable of reading and writing. As the two returns to Rye’s home, they saw a man chasing after a woman, he proceeds to kill the

In “Perspectives on the Presidency” from The Presidency in a Separated System, Charles O. Jones argues that the United States government is not merely influenced and led by the president. Jones argues in favor of the United States having a separated system, rather than a presidential system. In this separated system, the role of the president varies, depending on resources and strategy. Jones proceeds to discuss two types of perspectives of the president; the Dominant Perspective and the Alternative Perspective. In the Dominant Perspective, political parties are stronger than they normally are in a system of separated elections, the opposing party acts as a critic of the party in power, and the president is, idealistically, aggressive. However,

Dystopian stories are usually set in an unfavorable society in which to live, where the antagonist is the society itself, and the protagonist is the person who is looking towards changing this society and fixing its flaws, who believes that they can make a difference by overthrowing the government or escaping from it. The conflict is often not solved, or the hero fails to solve it, and the dystopian society continues as it was before. Harrison Bergeron is an example of a dystopian story where society has intensely controlled the population’s unique qualities to make everyone exactly equal. People’s talent, beauty, intelligence, and any other quality that makes them different is brought down and destroyed by forcing them to wear handicaps, masks, and weights. Harrison Bergeron is the protagonist of the story. He disagrees with the society’s way of living and is arrested for it, but he takes a step forward to change it. The author takes on different varieties of tone throughout the story such as gloominess, despair, and joy, which clarify the idea that he disagrees with this society’s

To This Day is a Poem/short story by Shane Koyczan. It is about bullying and the lifelong effects it has on people. Shane tells the story of many people and how they reacted, and responded to being bullied. Within the text we see the effects of being bullied and this theme was shown as a spoken word poem. It is amazing the way he captures the different emotions and it really makes you reflect on life and how valuable other people are.

This research paper deals with the mental disorders and social setup of bourgeois society and explores the theme of the alienation in H.G.Wells 's The Invisible Man. Alienation is a momentous theme of modern age, which shows the frustration of society and individual 's spiritual and personal interest.

The purpose of realism in the 1800s was to get people’s attention. The authors did that by relating to real life situations or adding in things people wanted or needed. For example, Frederick Douglass wrote My bondage And my freedom and Kate Chopin wrote “ The story of an hour”. Both authors included the point that people wanted to be free. When they both got what they wanted, they were not really free. The authors used methods to draw their points across by using conflict and irony.

Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Lusus Naturae” portrays the story of a woman who has to face the problem of isolationism and discrimination throughout her whole life. In this short story, the protagonist very early in her life has been diagnosed with a decease known as porphyria. Due to the lack of knowledge at the time, she did not receive the help required to help her situation. Thus she was kept in the dark, her appearance frightens the outsiders who could not accept the way she looks, slowly resulting in her isolationism physically and mentally from the outside world. This even caused her to separate herself from the only world she knew her family. Ultimately resulting in her death. In Margaret Atwood’s short story, she asserts that being discriminated and isolated causes the narrator to have deep mental issues that lead to signs of depression through the protagonist’s unorthodox way of accepting her fate without any hesitation to prevent her life being taken away.

The Hunger Games trilogy revolves around universal dystopian themes such as :oppression, rebellion, class tension as well as appearance vs. reality ," Collins creates the world that on one hand seems quite improbable and extreme, but on the other, vividly reflects some specific issues in a real world, like social inequalities, ignorance and passivity of the people" (Macanić 7).

In the critical period of forming her identity, Louise battles with her obesity. Criticism from her family and friends cause her to question her body image and consequently, her self worth. Louise is not the only adolescent to struggle with her appearance; with his depiction of her transformation, Andre Dubus addresses those whose view of themselves is marred by society. After years of her weight and emotions fluctuating, Louise realizes a deeper change. Through Louise’s journey, Dubus communicates that the power to change oneself emanates from one’s self control and ability to surpass societal pressure.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is a semi-autobiographical novel in which Plath relays her own experiences through protagonist Esther Greenwood by highlighting the struggles she faced in navigating societal expectations, depression, and her own desires. Having spent time in college and later in multiple mental health institutions, Plath tells her story through Esther in a way that blends fiction and reality. Through Esther, we see Plath’s own interpretations of her triumphs, failures, values, and the slow but seemingly inevitable diminishment of her mental health.

Adam Strand, a teenager who lives in a small, boring, and dull town has killed himself a total of 39 times. No matter the method that Adam tries, he just can’t seem to stay dead. Adam takes killing himself to an extreme simply because there is nothing to do in his tiny, worthless town. In the novel “The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand”, written by Gregory Galloway proves that boredom leads to depression which is shown through internal conflict of boredom in Adam’s life, the symbolism of Adam’s town, and the conflict between many characters with Adam in the story.