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Margaret Atwood's Wilderness Tips

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Margaret Atwood in “Wilderness Tips” writes this story with fully omniscient third person point of view from the narrator. In which she structures the story by gives each of the five character their own isolated part of the narrative. She starts with revealing George who is cheating on his wife Portia, with both of her own sisters and multiple other women. She presents George as an hungarian immigrant who is thus an outsider and does not want to conform to order. She uses the idea of savagery vs social norms and the tug and pull between George and his wife throughout the story. In the big lodges bookshelves George finds a book named “Wilderness Tips” which is basically a survival guide for the wild. This alludes to Georges savage life he had before marrying his new innocent more privileged wife Portia. …show more content…

And in doing so he leads Portia to suicide in the lake which was ironically a savage way to kill yourself. George uses Prue to explore savagery and seduces her and makes love to her in pine needles and moss. In George's section the author selects to be very brief and uses platitudes to leave the reader waiting for more and wondering more because of the authors summary. She utilizes foreshadowing through what each character sees and the lapses of time in between each character's point of view. It leaves the reader interested in what led George to become so promiscuous and how he womanizes all three sisters. However, the author does divulge that George believes he is doomed to “stand out” regardless of what happens and that maybe that's why he is cavalier about complying with social norms ie not cheating on your wife. George however to Roland is seen as a symbol of an invader who refuses to follow the rules and break order. In having each character's trials and tribulations being recorded through this narrative George is perceived from each character in multiple different

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