Summary Of Margaret Atwood's Lusus Naturae

The author’s narrative, ripe with horrifying descriptions, is nonetheless told with compassion appealing to the emotions of the audience

In Seven Monster Theses, Jeffery Cohen develops an idea that “monsters” are essential to society. In fact, they construct what is “normal”, “rational”, and “civilized”. Specifically, “monsters” are foundational to how we view ourselves. “Monsters” contain all the traits deemed unacceptable and odd. It can be concluded that every outlier is a “monster”. In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell tells the story of a pack of wolf girls who are transitioning into young ladies. Russell delves into society’s need for conformity, gender roles, and change. The story is told from the point of view of the middle wolf girl, Claudette, and follows her on her journey from wolf to woman. In relation to Jeffery Cohen’s idea of monster culture, Claudette’s journey applies to Thesis IV “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference” and part of Thesis I “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body”. Claudette is torn between two worlds and she has to learn how to successfully “move between the two cultures”. Through Cohen’s theses, Karen Russell uses character development and dialogue to depict the inner and outer battle of societal femininity and individualized femininity and the consequence of accepting either side. The presence of “monsters” are essential for this acceptance.

In “Possessing Nature: The Female Frankenstein”, Anne K. Mellor argues that Victor Frankenstein, an anti-feminist, competes with nature when he attempts to make females obsolete by creating a creature outside of natural birth, thus dooming him to endure nature’s vengeance. To exemplify that Frankenstein intends to strip women of their “cultural power”, Mellor establishes the social division between sexes, then goes on to analyze Frankenstein's fear of women, which leads her to note his favor for male relationships, and lastly cover nature’s revenge (1).

Lusus Naturae is a story written by Margaret Atwood. It is a story about a girl who had to deal with her appearance because she was different from the other family members. While Frankenstein, is story written by Mary Shirley. It is story about a hideous monster that was created by Victor Frankenstein, and left him to wander all alone in the world. Shelley in Frankenstein and Atwood in Lusus Naturae, wrap their stories around two characters whose physical appearance are similar to one another (Mays 289). Both the stories deal with characters who are struggling to live with the people around them, despite their monstrous appearance. Both the characters were lonely, and needed people who could understand them in their lives.

In “The Birthmark”, a short story by Nathanial Hawthorne, the use of the archetypal conflict Nature vs. Science, the character of Damsel in Distress, and the symbol of the Incurable Wound show how easily beauty is overlooked in the endeavor for perfection.

In a time never given, a young girl suffers from Porphyria, and goes through a journey of self-discovery and acceptance in the short story, Lusus Naturae by Margaret Atwood. The reader never learns the narrator's name, and she is only known as Lusus Naturae, which translates into freak of nature. Diagnosed by a foreign doctor, the young girl seems to be forever cursed and becomes a burden to her family and shame to her village. Throughout the story, Atwood uses different forms of figurative language-such as symbolism and irony- and the first person narrative to portray the theme of how self-discovery can be an independent, and lifelong journey.

During a time never directly stated, a young girl suffers from Porphyria and goes through a journey of self-discovery and acceptance in the short story, “Lusus Naturae” by Margaret Atwood. The reader never learns the narrator's name, and she is only known as Lusus Naturae, or “freak of nature” (Atwood p.263). Diagnosed by a foreign doctor, the young girl seems to be forever cursed and becomes a burden to her family and shame to her village. The narrator guides the reader along her life and adventures after the falsifying of her death, and the peregrination of being alone and acceptance of her fate. Throughout it, Atwood uses different elements of figurative language-including symbolism and irony- and the first-person narrative. A theme of how self-discovery can be an independent, and lifelong journey can be inferred because of these.

The Wild Trees is a book by Richard Preston about a small group of botanists that are curious about what the canopy of the redwood holds. The redwood tree comes from the sequoia family and is the largest single organism in the world. A group of people that include Michael Taylor, Steve Sillett, and Marie Antoine. Michael Taylor came from a wealthy family. His father did not want Michael to grow up spoiled. He tried to raise him as a middle class child who did not get whatever he wanted. Eventually when Michael went to college he did not pass his classes and decided to change his major. Michaels father was not very happy about this and gave him one last chance. Eventually when the time came again, Michael did not complete his classes for the

Sophie’s mother was so frightened that she said to David “Nobody else must know. Nobody at all – not ever”. (p.12) this is similar in a way to our society, but our fear is not death fear but rather acceptance fear. Our fear in today’s society is if we are able to fit in, if we do not fit in we are considered weird and will shunned. The society these days despises uniqueness just like how in the book, their society despises mutants who are unique.

Humans are known for bestowing their judgment irrationally and based on the “book cover” of a person, they may degrade their fellow human into the worst positions of the social ladder. Mary Shelley, in her novel Frankenstein, expands on this perspective by using mood and tone to parallel with the circumstances of an event occurring in her novel with shifts throughout the context of the book, symbolized by the changes in nature and seasons. This shift is made frequently between the agonized, desperate, frightful, maybe even suicidal mood and tone with the occurrence of dreadful acts of murder and execution, to the more calming, soothing, optimistic and life-full during a physical and spiritual recovery.

In “Monster Culture”, Jeffery Cohen develops an idea that “monsters” are essential to society. In fact, they construct what is “normal”, “rational”, and “civilized”. Specifically, “monsters” are foundational to how we view ourselves. “Monsters” contain all the traits deemed unacceptable and odd. It can be concluded that every outlier is a “monster”. In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell tells the story of a pack of wolf girls who are transitioning into young ladies. Russell delves into society’s need for conformity, gender roles, and change. The story is told from the point of view of the middle wolf girl, Claudette, and follows her on her journey from wolf to woman. In relation to Jeffery Cohen’s idea of monster culture, Claudette’s journey applies to Thesis IV “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference” and part of Thesis I “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body”. Claudette is torn between two worlds and she has to learn how to successfully “move between the two cultures”. Through Cohen’s theses, Karen Russell uses character development and dialogue to depict the inner and outer battle of societal femininity and individualized femininity and the decision of accepting either side. The presence of “monsters” are essential for this acceptance.

In “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and in Margaret Atwood’s “Lusus Naturae”, the theme of mortality and the theme of man vs. society are very apparent. Characters in both stories are ostracized by their family members because of their natural appearance. In “The Birth-Mark, Aylmer, views his wife Georgiana’s birthmark as a immense flaw in her beauty. He sees it as human imperfection and he tries to remove it and lower her self-esteem. In “Lusus Naturae”, the protagonist in the story (who is coincidently never named) is part of a family who does not accept her because of how her physical appearance looks like. The family's interpretation of the horrible ugly characters is what creates the struggle for the characters. Both stories suggest that degrading someone because of their physical appearance is unethical because most of the time they

Women in today’s world use many scientific measures to look young, beautiful, and perfect. Some women even undergo surgeries to perfect their bodies. True natural beauty comes from within one’s self and not what is on the outside. While critics argue that Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark,” “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” and “Rappaccinni’s Daughter” stand as an overt commentary on nature vs. science, Hawthorne actually uses these works to explore personal familial connections.

Anguish, pain, torment and suffering are all a part of our day to day lives. These may issue from a variety of causes such as great deprivation, hardships to emotional and physical loss. Many texts, such as that of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly in the early 1800's, depict unalleviated suffering caused by living within societal norms. However very often, these sufferings are inflicted upon people by one individual and in the case of Frankenstein, this source is Victor Frankenstein. This statement becomes evident when examining the intersecting cultural beliefs of gender, class and ethnicity of the time.

Sin, a dark and powerful force, twists the soul and warps the mind to the point where it leaves society with unconquerable difficulties in everyday life. Nathaniel Hawthorne, quite successfully, uses literature to its full potential in order to express sins presence in life. He uses the short story, “The Birthmark” to express this theme. In this story, a man by name Aylmer for the first time sees a small defect in his otherwise beautiful wife, Georgiana. When Aylmer mentions it to her, she feels hurt, but it does not seem to affect her self-image. However, as time went on, the birthmark started to bother her causing her to believe she was flawed and in need of fixing. With the assistance of Aylmer's servant, Aminadab, Aylmer creates a miracle drug that would cure his wife of her imperfection: the birthmark. The possibly deadly drug incites fear in her husband; however, the blemish on her face troubles her, as well as her husband, to the point where she believes her life means nothing unless she could get it removed. After much meticulous preparation, the wife takes the cure. At first, everything seems well as her birthmark faded, however soon everything goes wrong, and Georgina has a terrible reaction. Soon after taking the cure she dies, leaving Aylmer heartbroken and alone without his wife. In, “The Birthmark,” Nathaniel Hawthorne brings to light sin’s presence in society through the use of allusions, symbolism, color, and beauty.