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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. 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. In this story, the narrator has been lead to believe that she has no part in her community. Throughout her life, she has been isolated by her entire town even by those who she called family. As seen in the text when the narrator says “ It saddened my mother to have given birth to an item such as myself”(). …show more content…

She was an isolated soul that was made to believe she should be kept hiding from the outside world. Being discriminated against her looks not only brought her will to live down but caused her to see the world a place that she did not belong in. This caused her to have depression. A person should not be treated for how they look or how they are. Doing things such as discriminating or isolating a person could very well lead them to believe that they have no part or say in the world they live in. Ultimately taking their will to live away from them as seen in this short story by Margaret

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