Cat’s Eye is not my first Atwood novel and it certainly won’t be my last. Never have I read an author that can capture the complexities of human nature so succinctly. I absolutely adored Cat’s Eye not only for the beautiful narration but also because of the cultural references (post-war life, feminist movement, modern art) that give the story such a strong backdrop.
Margaret Atwood
The novel follows Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who has returned to her childhood home, Toronto, for a retrospective of her art. On returning she is forced to confront the ghosts of her past, particularly the relationships formed with her first female friends. Thrust into the world of girlhood politics and the brutality that comes with it, the novel explores the lasting effect of bullying on her life. The fractured narrative, seamlessly sliding between Elaine’s past and
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Elaine longs to be with girls; her only play mate is her elder brother Stephen. With this set up Atwood subtly introduces the idea of gender identity.
How can Elaine be a proper girl when all she knows is war games and insects? Her tom-boyish clothes, nomadic life style and lack of experience make her susceptible to bullying. At first it is small things like making her sit on her own to watch a parade, but the abuse progresses to the point of physically burying Elaine in the main antagonist Cordelia’s garden.
Perhaps the most shocking and disturbing incident is when Cordelia throws Elaine’s hat into a ravine. The girls’ parents have stressed that they mustn’t go down there, where the ‘bad men’ are, a point emphasised when a young girl is found murdered and molested. Elaine is abandoned there in the dark and cold, the threat of rape and death hanging over her. Perhaps extreme, the episode does demonstrate the depth of cruelty girls can inflict. No wonder she’s messed up later