マーガレット・アトウッドの『キャッツ・アイ』における主人公の想定 : 本質を見抜く切っ掛けとなる「直視」

概要

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There is some difference between Cat's Eye (1988) and Atwood's earlier novels. Whereas the main characters in them remain a victim, the protagonist in Cat's Eye shifts from a victim to an assailant. The question now arises: what is the thing which Atwood wants to describe by using this kind of shifting? Whereas an attribute of Elaine, the protagonist in Cat's Eye, shifts in this way, Elaine's relationship with her friend Cordelia also shifts from the victim-assailant to the assailant-victim one. If the relationship of the two did not change, Elaine would accept a kind of power relationship with Cordelia. But because of their relationship changing, Elaine comes to judge what Cordelia said and did, not emotionally but rationally. (Elaine used to judge Cordelia emotionally in facing her so that Elaine often got angry at what Cordelia said.) Furthermore, not looking Cordelia in the eye allows Elaine to be able to think about various things rationally. Then finally she is able to grasp the essence of things. Thus we see that by using this kind of shifting, Atwood makes Elaine grasp the inner meaning of the phenomenon.
2013-03-31