“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder

Margaret Atwood’s novels are usually celebrated for their blunt feminism. However, in Moral Disorder—a series of interconnected stories that forms a novel—feminist concerns are replaced with worries about territory and survival. The protagonist is an insider whose sole concern is to survive and to p...

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Autores principales:	Nahid Fakhrshafaie, Alireza Bahremand
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Lodz University Press 2021
Materias:	caregiving outsider insider garrison mentality gaze survival Literature (General) PN1-6790
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b5a60c8a9c754ce695e9832adb8dfa98
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b5a60c8a9c754ce695e9832adb8dfa982021-12-01T06:51:57Z“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder2083-29312084-574X10.18778/2083-2931.11.17https://doaj.org/article/b5a60c8a9c754ce695e9832adb8dfa982021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/11271https://doaj.org/toc/2083-2931https://doaj.org/toc/2084-574XMargaret Atwood’s novels are usually celebrated for their blunt feminism. However, in Moral Disorder—a series of interconnected stories that forms a novel—feminist concerns are replaced with worries about territory and survival. The protagonist is an insider whose sole concern is to survive and to protect her territory. The confrontation between the narrator as the insider and the outsiders does not occur directly but could be inferred by her cruelty toward other characters and her violence against the animals under her care. The present study argues that this cruelty, which abounds in the novel, could be viewed as a substitute for violence against the outsiders. The narrator’s gaze at the Indian boy who entered the protagonist’s territory manifests a garrison mentality. The frequent references to axes in the novel are compared to the use of axes in “Wilderness Tips,” a short story by Atwood in which axes also have a metaphoric significance. The beheading and dismemberment of domestic animals could be the punishment awaiting the intruder. The novel establishes a division between the insider/outsider, here/there, self/other and civilized/barbaric to call for action and awareness about the importance of protecting one’s territory.Nahid FakhrshafaieAlireza BahremandLodz University Pressarticlecaregivingoutsiderinsidergarrison mentalitygazesurvivalLiterature (General)PN1-6790ENText Matters, Iss 11, Pp 263-278 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	caregiving outsider insider garrison mentality gaze survival Literature (General) PN1-6790
spellingShingle	caregiving outsider insider garrison mentality gaze survival Literature (General) PN1-6790 Nahid Fakhrshafaie Alireza Bahremand “My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
description	Margaret Atwood’s novels are usually celebrated for their blunt feminism. However, in Moral Disorder—a series of interconnected stories that forms a novel—feminist concerns are replaced with worries about territory and survival. The protagonist is an insider whose sole concern is to survive and to protect her territory. The confrontation between the narrator as the insider and the outsiders does not occur directly but could be inferred by her cruelty toward other characters and her violence against the animals under her care. The present study argues that this cruelty, which abounds in the novel, could be viewed as a substitute for violence against the outsiders. The narrator’s gaze at the Indian boy who entered the protagonist’s territory manifests a garrison mentality. The frequent references to axes in the novel are compared to the use of axes in “Wilderness Tips,” a short story by Atwood in which axes also have a metaphoric significance. The beheading and dismemberment of domestic animals could be the punishment awaiting the intruder. The novel establishes a division between the insider/outsider, here/there, self/other and civilized/barbaric to call for action and awareness about the importance of protecting one’s territory.
format	article
author	Nahid Fakhrshafaie Alireza Bahremand
author_facet	Nahid Fakhrshafaie Alireza Bahremand
author_sort	Nahid Fakhrshafaie
title	“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
title_short	“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
title_full	“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
title_fullStr	“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
title_full_unstemmed	“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder
title_sort	“my monster self”: violence and survival in margaret atwood’s moral disorder
publisher	Lodz University Press
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b5a60c8a9c754ce695e9832adb8dfa98
work_keys_str_mv	AT nahidfakhrshafaie mymonsterselfviolenceandsurvivalinmargaretatwoodsmoraldisorder AT alirezabahremand mymonsterselfviolenceandsurvivalinmargaretatwoodsmoraldisorder
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“My Monster Self”: Violence and Survival in Margaret Atwood’s Moral Disorder

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