The Characters In Margaret Atwood's Leaving Gilead
“...such a ridiculous waste of years…” “...for us all…”
Leaving Gilead is a story revolving around the life of a mother, a daughter, and a slave who are make their way down to Texas to escape the Union soldiers. While reading the story, we can see that the slave, Renny, and the daughter, Saranell, have a connection. Renny has a fatherly love towards Saranell and watches over her. Saranell’s mother, Geneva, on the other hand, is not their to support her own daughter. She leaves Saranell in the care of Renny while Geneva’s husband, Ian Birdsong, is away fighting off the Union soldiers. Throughout the story, there is repeating evidence that Geneva is emotionally distant from Saranell and she keeps saying that “‘this whole war is so inconvenient, so ridiculous’” for her. Geneva, throughout the story, cannot admit that she lived the life that she didn't want. Geneva cannot accept reality.
“Ian Birdsong sprang to his feet and she extended a white hand to him.” (Geneva and her husband, Ian, on the porch of their home Pg 92) Geneva shows here that she has no love for Ian Birdsong, her own husband. In fact, she loves another man and has loved that man ever since she was a younger woman but she cannot have him as her own. “‘She could never forgive me for the fact that Haze and I--’” (Geneva …show more content…
Throughout her journey, it gets harder to keep up the lies that she tells herself, the lie that her reality is not what she wanted it to be. She does not want to believe that her life was wasted, that the man she really loved did not choose her. Her daughter, Saranell, is a painful reminder of this but Geneva tries to ignore it, resulting in her emotional abandonment of Saranell. Geneva hides within her own lies, not admitting, not accepting, that her life is not the one she wanted. She cannot accept her own
Leaving Gilead is a story revolving around the life of a mother, a daughter, and a slave who are make their way down to Texas to escape the Union soldiers. While reading the story, we can see that the slave, Renny, and the daughter, Saranell, have a connection. Renny has a fatherly love towards Saranell and watches over her. Saranell’s mother, Geneva, on the other hand, is not their to support her own daughter. She leaves Saranell in the care of Renny while Geneva’s husband, Ian Birdsong, is away fighting off the Union soldiers. Throughout the story, there is repeating evidence that Geneva is emotionally distant from Saranell and she keeps saying that “‘this whole war is so inconvenient, so ridiculous’” for her. Geneva, throughout the story, cannot admit that she lived the life that she didn't want. Geneva cannot accept reality.
“Ian Birdsong sprang to his feet and she extended a white hand to him.” (Geneva and her husband, Ian, on the porch of their home Pg 92) Geneva shows here that she has no love for Ian Birdsong, her own husband. In fact, she loves another man and has loved that man ever since she was a younger woman but she cannot have him as her own. “‘She could never forgive me for the fact that Haze and I--’” (Geneva …show more content…
Throughout her journey, it gets harder to keep up the lies that she tells herself, the lie that her reality is not what she wanted it to be. She does not want to believe that her life was wasted, that the man she really loved did not choose her. Her daughter, Saranell, is a painful reminder of this but Geneva tries to ignore it, resulting in her emotional abandonment of Saranell. Geneva hides within her own lies, not admitting, not accepting, that her life is not the one she wanted. She cannot accept her own