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Lusus Naturae Sparknotes

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Adrianna Reimer Professor Sullivan Literature 1015 18 April 2023 Lusus Naturae: Views on Mental and Physical Illness Throughout History Lusus Naturae, a short story by Martin Atwood, is the fictional story of a family and their troubling daughter. When and where the story takes place is never stated, though it can be inferred to have been a small town in Europe during the mid to late 1800s. The story is told from the first-person perspective of a young girl who is undergoing a grim and distressing change, allegedly after having contracted measles at a young age. The title Lusis Naturae, or “freak of nature,” is the label given to her by a doctor her family summoned for her (Atwood 2). Lusus Naturae is a fictional demonstration of the various …show more content…

This young girl has likely heard stories of werewolves, vampires, and other such things. She also observes that her cat seems to make for great companionship compared to her family, despite the change she has undergone. This is because cats are cats and—though they can be vicious—they are perhaps not as vicious as humans are when confronted with someone they view as different. The girl seems to know that her grandmother has garnished her door with garlic, and would also be aware that she is being fed blood. Put together with her appearance (thick dark hair on her body, blistered skin), her inability to be out during the night, and a case of Schizophrenia, all of this could lead her to believe she was turning into a cat. This is supported by what we know of a very similar and more common disorder, Clinical Lycanthropy. Children with Clinical Lycanthropy undergoing the bodily changes associated with puberty often see said changes as a sign that they are turning into a …show more content…

Her family merely isolates her in her room. The prescription given to her by her doctor would have ended up hurting her more, similar to improper treatments like bloodletting throughout history (Hajar). Lusus Naturae is a testament to the views people have historically held regarding people who are different or those whose ailments were misunderstood. It documents the way those unfortunate enough to be different were broken down into nothing more than “freaks of

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Claudette tried her best to adapt to the humans culture and all the feral children had spent months learning to assimilate into human culture. However, despite her perseverance through all these challenges, some of the wolf in them still remained. This would later cause Claudette to stand out in both societies due to the wolf characteristics that still remained (thus not fitting in with the human societies) and the human characteristics that she learned (thus not fitting in the the werewolf societies). Feral diction also appeared in the story when Claudette attempted to dance to sausalito with Kyle. When she stepped onto the dance floor, the panicked and the feral part of her returned; Russell writes, “I threw back my head, a howl clawing its way up my throat” (250).

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Genetic Disorders In Margaret Atwood's Lusus Naturae

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In Margaret Atwood’s story “Lusus Naturae”, she talks about a young girl who was born with an incurable genetic disorder which made her seem like a freak to everyone else. “In the daytime I stayed shut up in my darkened room: I was getting beyond a joke.” (Norton 226). She could not be in the sunlight because of the disorder, so she stayed inside her family’s house during the daytime. The house is the main setting of the story, although there are a couple other places mentioned.

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Comparing Lusus Naturae And Star Wars

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The connection that I can make to Lusus Naturae a connection with the book/ film franchise Star Wars. The comparison that I can make between these two stories is in the similarities between the townspeople/ the protagonists family and the xenophobic Galactic Empire that is present in the Star Wars series. The first comparison I can make is in the similarities of the “reasonable” actions that both factions commit in order to protect themselves. In Lusus Naturae, to avoid the shame of having a diseased daughter, and all the nuisances that came with it, the protagonist’s family decided it would be easier to “kill her off” in order to avoid the ongoing shame that she apparently caused them.

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An Analysis Of Carmilla Also Undergoes Tightful Sleep

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Due to this dream, Laura begins to experience a decline in her physical and mental health. The dream describes a “sooty-black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. It appeared…about four or five feet long for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug…”

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I understood that this meant that she wanted me to read the book with the kittens on it, and seeing as it was the only book she actually asked me to read, rather than just letting me pick from the pile, I feel confident in thinking she is interested in cats. I read a few more books until the little boy took another one and tried to sit between us. Once he sat down she got up and ran across the room and after she left he turned and climbed up the blocks to the slide. This was the only time she acknowledged anyone else in the room other than me right up until about fifteen minutes before

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The Monster In Margaret Atwood's 'Lusus Naturae'

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Monsters have always been perceived as creatures with petrifying characteristics. They are often described as dire, dreadful, and horrendous. An individual deemed as a monster by an entire community must have committed atrocious acts; however, the unnamed protagonist in Margaret Atwood’s short story “Lusus Naturae” was considered monstrous by the entire faction despite neither committing such acts. The protagonist, who’s suffering from an illness called porphyria, was disdained and classified as a monster merely because of her looks—her yellow eyes, pink teeth, red fingernails, and long dark sprouting hair around her chest and arms. Even though her outward appearance is comparably peculiar with respect to the appearance of typical humans, one cannot basically imply that she is a monster.

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Theme For Lusus Naturae

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Theme for “Lusus Naturae” Rejection can make one feel alone, helpless, and out of place, and it’s a feeling that can make someone feel like they are no good, or that they aren’t worthy of a good life. All throughout the story, we are given examples of how the young girl is shamed and rejected. She was never accepted for who she was and this made her do things, sometimes extreme to help out her family. She knew she would never fit in, and her actions proved just that.

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Discrimination and isolation are major problems, and “Lusus Naturae” shows that. These are key factors in Margaret Atwood's short story “Lusus Naturae. ” There is no denying that it is evident in the story. This can be seen throughout the whole story, which makes that her theme.

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The Theme Of Isolationism In Margaret Atwood's Lusus Naturae

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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.

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Puberty is the most fitting term to compare with how her physical attributes changed. At first the signs were disregarded by her mother as something all young ladies, even she, experiences. Obviously, the audience knows that it is Ginger turning into a werewolf. What is unusual, and alarming is that as Ginger becomes more of a werewolf, the uncanny similarities to puberty become more evident.

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The narrator got another cat after this and became even more insane in the way he felt about this black cat.

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The protagonist of both genres is characterized in a way that causes them to become an outcast from the society; however, in "Lusus Naturae" the protagonist is portrayed as a freak while in "Richard Corey" the protagonist is portrayed as a king. By the perspective on how the townspeople viewed the characters in the story, it leads both of the protagonists to become an outcast that affected their mental health. Thus, causing them to commit suicide. Therefore, both of the themes in the different genres show how isolation occurs by characterization and external

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