Setting in the Works of Margaret Atwood
Many of Margaret Atwood’s works take place in Canada which she uses to reveal complexity in her characters. Canada has two main environments: the bush, a hardcore survivalist environment, and the city, a simpler lifestyle comparatively but more formal. Atwood uses this to her advantage in her writing to show a change in a character or to reveal how a character has two differing character traits.
The use of Canada as a setting in Margaret Atwood’s story “True Trash” in her book of short stories Wilderness Tips enables her to show a change in maturity level in the characters. The boys in the beginning of this story are watching the girls sunbathe and skinny dip at night “which makes” the “itchy crouching in the mosquito-infested bushed across from their small private dock a great deal more worthwhile” (Atwood, 1991, p. 3). The immaturity in this is revealed through the Canada bush setting which enables them to hide from the sight of the girls to immaturely soak up the sight of the girls’ bodies. Later, Atwood reveal a change in maturity level as the boys become men in which one boy “has a job in his father’s law office” in which he must wear “a suit” (Atwood, 1991, p. 24) This change in maturity take place simultaneously with the change in setting to Toronto, a city setting. Atwood’s use of the bush setting of Canada enables her to reveal the boys’ immaturity level because it enables their immaturity; meanwhile, her choice to change the setting to Toronto enables her to reveal that they have become more mature because the city has forced them to. Ultimately, the change in the characters reveals a complexity which is the result of the setting.
Atwood uses the setting of Canada in Cat’s Eye slightly differently while maintaining the fact that it reveals a complexity in a character. Atwood describes Elaine’s experience in returning to the Canadian bush at the end of the school year with her family as providing her with “relief” because her “throat is no longer tight,” and she “stopped clenching her teeth” (Atwood, 1989, p. 152). There is significance in the ease and relief that Elaine experiences when she returns to the Canadian bush because it is such a harsh climate to endure. A different character would experience stress going into this climate. Meanwhile, where a different character would find ease in relationships with their peers, Elaine finds challenges. Many of Elaine’s childhood challenges are the result of the bullying she heavily experienced from her peers Cordelia, Grace, and Carol. The bullying went to extremes when they pushed Elaine into an icy ravine where she nearly died, and when they locked her in a bunker. This took an emotional toll on Elaine which Atwood revealed by writing of Elaine’s “silences,” “bitten fingers,” and “dark scabs where” she “pulled off patches of skin” (Atwood, 1989, p. 160). This is significant because it reflects Elaine’s emotional distress caused by her peers in a city-like environment. Atwood attaches Elaine’s happy place to a place normally seen as challenging, the Canadian bush, and Elaine’s place of suffering to a place normally classified as a simple life. Atwood's intent to use the setting to illuminate Elaine’s differing characteristics is revealed because of the setting's abnormal effect on Elaine. This reveals a complexity in Elaine because she has two differing characteristics based on the setting she is in.
Margaret Atwood is able to establish the change in maturity level of the boys in "True Trash" and Elaine's differing characteristics through the use of the setting, Canada.