The short story “Hairball” by Margaret Atwood is about a middle-aged woman named Kat. Overtime Kat has created a seemingly strong and impenetrable exterior‚ but as her life begins to disintegrate readers start to realize that the strong exterior is just a façade created to protect her weak and fragile interior. Kat’s façade starts to unravel at the point she undergoes significant personal losses; in fact‚ the losses go so far as to include her own identity or lack thereof. “Hairball” opens on the
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Book Overview The book Orbiting the Giant Hairball was written by Gordon MacKenzie in 1996. Originally self-published the book became a business "cult classic". Gordon was an employee of Hallmark Cards for 30 years‚ where he inspired his colleagues to slip the bonds of Corporate Normalcy and rise to “orbit” - to a mode of dreaming‚ daring‚ and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. As a testament to his career and the level of creativity he maintained
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“Margaret Atwood” An honored Canadian writer who is globally recognized as a feminist and a role model for developing writers‚ you may ask who this person is; she is no other Margaret Eleanor Atwood herself. Margaret Eleanor Atwood was born in Ottawa‚ Ontario Canada on the day of November 18‚ 1939. Atwood was the middle child of her mother and father: Margaret Eleanor Atwood was born in Ottawa‚ Ontario Canada on the day of November 18‚ 1939. Atwood was the middle child of
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“Atwood presents us with heroines who suffer victimization but who are not finally defeated” How far do you agree with this view of Atwood’s presentation of Elaine thus far in the novel? Margaret Atwood’s novel Cat’s Eye explores the life of the female protagonist Elaine‚ and her struggle to move on from her difficult and disturbing past. As a heroine who suffers victimization‚ to say Elaine was not effected harshly by these circumstances would be untrue. The victimisation and bullying Elaine received
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Atwood’s “Bread” carefully crafts several scenarios in which most people easily relate. All the while however‚ Atwood sets up the reader to be overcome with emotion and empathy. Through bread‚ Atwood stealthy argues that we have an abundance of comfort and life while others are suffering throughout the world. That American’s turn a blind eye to what is happening in the world today. Eventually‚ Atwood leads the reader to a place of guilt and self blame. The reader is shamed‚ feeling at fault for their part
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Summary and Analysis PrintPDFCite. “This Is a Photograph of Me‚” by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood‚ presents a speaker who begins by promising to show us a photograph of herself. Later‚ however‚ we learn that the speaker has died from having drowned in the lake the photograph depicts. The poem begins with a title that is a crucial part of the text. Unlike many poems‚ where the title has little effect on the work’s meaning‚ here the title is essential to a total understanding of the whole
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In the book The Penelopiad‚ Margret Atwood gives the 12 hanged maids a voice throughout the novel. She tells the story of the odyssey and Penelope’s voice is powerful while also truthful and honest throughout the story. There is a reason and a purpose of why Margret Attwood chooses to give the maids a voice and let them be heard. In the story‚ Margret Atwood talks and discusses the maids for a specific reason. I believe that she thinks that the maids had no voice‚ they are all females‚ and there
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story “Happy Endings”‚ Margaret Atwood uses different literary techniques that can alter the interpretation of the story’s theme. The story starts off with a generic “fairy tale” ending in which a husband and a wife live a happy life together and eventually die. However‚ as the story progresses‚ Atwood’s style and tone makes the alternate scenarios of John and Mary give off a sense of uncertainty of what main ideas she is trying to convey. Good opening and thesis. Atwood displays her feelings about
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where we can be free and be ourselves‚ in The Landlady we see how home is turned into a place where a sentence must suffered through. The danger is concentrated in the image of the landlady‚ the one who is in control. The speaker‚ who we assume is Atwood when she was a poor university student‚ never does escape her confinement‚ either physically or mentally. The poem is structured into nine stanzas of varying lengths‚ with the shorter ones coming at the beginning and end. The variety of stanza
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Margaret Atwood – ‘Spotty-Handed Villainesses’ ________________________________________ 1. Atwood uses a personal anecdote of herself as a child‚ and then her daughter‚ which becomes an intriguing motif throughout her speech 2. Atwood frequently adopts an ironic tone in order to appeal to both Logos and Pathos. She uses logic (Logos) to undermine logic (appealing to Pathos) and this can be shown in the paradoxical line ‘We con-artists do tell the truth’. Overall this paradoxical voice and polyvocal
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