Looking Into the Cat's Eye: Email No. 3

Coon,

I finally figured out what I am going to write about. Here it goes:

Cat's Eye is a novel about identity. Elaine, through her retrospective art show and visit to her childhood city of Toronto, embarks on a journey of self-realization. In a sense it is a twisted, circular bildungsroman. Risley does not develop and understand herself in a linear sense. Instead she has to dig through her past and uncover hidden treasures and burried memories in order to piece back the different aspects of herself. She has a complicated past that leaves her troubled and traumatized till the present. During this mid-life crisis, Elaine has to figure out her past while she wanders the streets and galleries of Toronto. What is interesting is that Elaine has no one to confide these dark memories in; she is all alone on her path to self-discovery. In the opening paragraph Atwood describes time as a set of liquid transparencies, in which different things float to the top or vanish behind the layers. Elaine's memories keep resurfacing and she must deal with each one.

I found a term that describes the archetype of this plot: künstlerroman. It is a specific sub-genre of bildungsroman, chronicaling the growth to maturity of an artist. According to Wiki, "such novels often depict the struggles of a sensitive youth against the values of a bourgeois society of his or her time." This struggle is exactly what the young Elaine faces. I have a good JSTOR source called "Constructing the Self through Memory: "Cat's Eye" as a Novel of Female Development." I will be using this as my primary source; however I'm have a lot of trouble finding more sources related to both this topic and to Cat's Eye.

Elaine's overpowering feelings of shame, confinement, paranoia, and fear hold her back from feeling the freedom that a small child should feel. She inflicts self harm and spends years of her life under constant scrutiny of her "friends" and especially under the piercing glare of Cordelia. The only place Elaine finds refuge is hiding at home or when the family goes on vacation; only then is she finally free.

If you have any advice on finding some more articles, that would be extremely helpful, Mr. Coon.
(362)

Looking Into the Cat's Eye: Email No. 2

Continuing to read Cat's Eye, I have delved deeper into the psyche and haunting memories of Risley. Sifting through her childhood memories, she is tormented by her "girl friends" and these dreadful events are the inspiration for her artwork. Each chapter is titled after one of her paintings; just as her artwork, each memory is very chilling. Although Risley is fifty years old, memories from her childhood are still vivid and disturbing. She has not yet broken free from her past.

I'm in awe at Atwood's ability to describe the power struggles between young, seemingly innocent girls. Female society has rules of its own, and it's fascinating to see a feminist writer's depiction of sinister little girls. I am still trying to understand the complex effect Cordelia has on Risley. I have never read a novel where a character is so consumed and disturbed by the mere memory of another person. As the novel progresses, Risley's digust and repulsion towards Cordelia increases. However, although she pretends to move on from her traumatic experiences with her best friend, Risley never forgets these powerful memories. Cordelia's ability to influence the other girls to psychologically and emotionally hurt Risley is fascinating in itself. The power she holds over all her friends is a tad bit scary.

I am having a hard time deciding what to focus on for my paper. The major themes that I am interested in are Risley's psyche and how it is expressed through her art (and how it is the inspiration for her works), the complex realm of female relationships, and the concept of "memories", or Atwood's take on the the definition of "evil".

Sources:

1. Constructing the Self through Memory: "Cat's Eye" as a Novel of Female Development
Carol Osborne
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1994), pp. 95-112
Published by: University of Nebraska Press

2. Science for Feminists: Margaret Atwood's Body of Knowledge
June Deery
Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Winter, 1997), pp. 470-486
Published by: Hofstra University

3. Virgin Mary Motif in Cat's Eye: http://www.answers.com/topic/cat-s-eye-novel-8

Looking Into the Cat's Eye: Email No. 1

Cat's Eye Nebula

Raccoon,

I am in section three of Cat's Eye and here is what I have gathered about the story and characters so far.

Elaine Risley is a woman who is troubled by her past. The novel is told through a first person narrator with many flashbacks, so the reader is able to re witness some crucial and some not-so crucial memories. Elaine's mind is constantly bombarded with moments from the past, especially of her family and her best friend/greatest enemy Cordelia. At first, it appears that Cordelia and Elaine had a nice, childhood friendship. However, once Elaine enters Toronto she has mixed feelings about encountering Cordelia. She wants to talk to her, ignore her, she even pictures her in an iron lung, unconscious. It is apparent in the first chapter that Cordelia has had a lasting and profound effect on Elaine and, from what I've gathered, Elaine's artwork.

The flashbacks so far are about Elaine's childhood. They especially focus on her family life and how nomadic they were. She traveled a lot and never really had any close girl friends. It was always Elaine and her brother playing games that young boys would play. In a paragraph, she reveals how much she desired to have a girl friend and how she wanted to be normal. She gets that wish. Finally, her forest-entomologist father finds a stationary job, and the family settles down in Toronto. However, Elaine reveals, "In my dreams of this city I am always lost." Entering Toronto has dusted off the album of her past and her mind is flooded with memories, both good and bad.

What I love most about this novel is Atwood's use of language and how accurately and beautifully she describes things that I would have a hard time putting into words. One of my favorite lines is, " It's evening, one of those gray watercolor washes, like liquid dust, the city comes up with in fall." Not to mention, I love all of the art terminology! Atwood's style is detailed, flowing, tangential, and entertaining. I enjoy reading this story. However, I feel as if I haven't reached the meat of the plot just yet. I realize that Atwood is foreshadowing Elaine's relationships through her flashbacks. But for now, I don't know what's going to happen.

In my research prior to getting this novel, I found that the story revolves around female relationships, the forming of one's self-identity, and the concept of time and the past. Elaine in the opening chapter says, "But I began to think of time as having a shape, something you could see, like a series of liquid transparencies, one laid on top of another. You don't look back along time but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, something that, something nothing. Nothing goes away." From reading the first 50-60 pages, I see this idea illustrated through Atwood's language. She is exploring multiple layers of Elaine's life. Certain memories and emotions remain on the surface, while others sink but are not quite lost to the abyss. This is a complicated novel, and I am only beginning to explore it.

Finding Freedom

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when a sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.


So often, structure denotes function. This handy saying is especially relevant when analyzing Robert Frost’s poem “A Silken Tent.” This one-sentence Shakespearean sonnet appears quite relaxed, but is really strict in nature. Frost explores the emotional ties a woman has to her relationships and the effect they have on her. At the same time, Frost exercises his artist license by toying with the sonnet and elevating it to new heights. The structure of this poem enhances the poem’s function and meaning.

Frost begins the poem with a simile that morphs into an extended metaphor. Frost departs from convention by comparing a woman to a silken tent, not merely to a silk cloth. Silk is beautiful but deceptively strong, like the woman he is describing. She is supported by a central cedar pole, which is connected to the earth by multiple silken ties. Cedar is a fragrant wood that is known for its durability. Cedar also has spiritual and religious undertones since it is famous for being used in the construction of King Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, Frost describes it as pointing heavenward. This sturdy, heavenly-bound pole represents the strength of the woman’s soul. Although the cedar pole stretches towards heaven, the tent is grounded by a circumference of silken ties of love and thought that gently keep it stationary. These ties are delicate and the woman seems almost detached and free from their pull. In the ending couplet, Frost changes his tone. He describes the silken ties of love and thought as bondage. We, the readers, are thrown off course. Were not the ties of love and thought a good thing? Bondage is a much stronger force than a gentle tug of the fabric. Now the silk seems more like spider silk, as strong as steel. And when it tugs at her soul, it forcefully pulls her. Remarkably, the woman in this poem still seems free of any bondage whatsoever. She, the tent, softly sways in an Arcadian summer breeze.

This extended metaphor describes the nature of women and their relationships and responsibilities. The sureness of her soul is supplied by a deep investment in the world around her. She is “loosely bound / By countless silken ties of love and thought / To everything on earth the compass round.” This particular woman sees her relationships as uplifting yet grounding, but never binding or restrictive. The silken ties keep her (the tent) in place when the wind tries to sway her. The woman’s “sureness of the soul” is a product of her ties of love and thought. And yet, the ties seem like emotional bondage when circumstances cause them to tug on her. She lives happily, comfortably, and freely within these barely noticeable boundaries. Frost too seems to defy limitations in this poem.

Frost flaunts his technical mastery of language and form. The sonnet form is the backbone of the poem, like the cedar pole is the center of strength for the woman. From this point, both the woman the poem exert their freedom, while never losing sight of what supports them. He transforms a strict, Shakespearean sonnet into a loose, conversational description of a woman. Frost conceals the rhyme scheme by using a technique called enjambment. He does not place most of the natural pauses at the end of a line, thereby diminishing the effect of the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme. However, once read with alert ears, the rhyme is clearly noticeable. By de-emphasizing the rhyme, this piece seems less formal and more personal. This conversational undertone is further enhanced by the fact that the entire sonnet is a single sentence and is in iambic pentameter, the natural meter of speech. For writing one of the strictest and most difficult poem forms, Frost achieves a great deal of freedom within the confines of a traditional sonnet.

The structure of this poem echoes the condition of the woman it describes: it exercises a great deal of freedom within strict boundaries. The tent is bound to the earth by countless silken ties but still seems free. We all exercise our freedom within the confines of life. As Robert Frost himself said, “You have freedom when you're easy in your harness."
(707)


1. Do you believe the woman in this poem is free?
2. What do you think Frost means by "bondage"? What is holding the woman down?
3. Why does Frost turn the tone of the poem in the last line?
4. What is the implied meaning of this poem?