"The shape of the heron flying above us the first evening we fished, legs and neck stretched, wings outspread, a blue-gray cross, and the other heron or was it the same one, hanging wrecked from the tree. Whether it died willingly, consented, whether Christ died willingly, anything that suffers and dies instead of us is Christ; if they didn't kill birds and fish they would have killed us."
-- Ch 17 PG 141
At this point in the novel the main character is alone and searching the swamp for places her father may have visited. Being alone gives her time to reflect on her surroundings without having to put up a front for the people that she is continuously feeling a larger and larger disconnect with.
This passage is very interesting because not only does it revisit the concept of religion it also further illustrates her disconnect from civilization. She is continuing to see people as violent aggressors and it is apparent here that she is beginning to feel threatened by people invading her space. It seems like the more time she spends at her father's cabin the more distant she feels from other people and the closer she feels towards the land around her.
In this passage she is falling back on religious teachings that she wasn't ever directly taught. Earlier in the book, the main character explains that her family didn't take her to Sunday school, which is why I find it intriguing that she is using very religious language here. So, my first question is why do you think that the character is using religious diction here? What compels her to fall back on religion when her family never preached its importance?
The last line, "if they didn't kill birds and fish they would have killed us," evokes very strong emotion in the narrator. What do you think the narrator means by this? Is she talking about literal killing? Or is she referring to the destruction of nature by the corruptive and invading disease called "civilization"?
I think Atwood chooses to use religious diction in this passage to show how the narrator is turning away from the traditional views of organized religion and begins to rely on nature as her god. She chases after the rock paintings that her dad also searched for, which were spots of religious significance for Native Americans who relied on mother nature as their source of spirituality. The narrator equates the animals around her to Jesus, saying that they are just as important to her new found religious beliefs as Jesus is to Christianity. This passage shows how she regards nature and animals as the higher power who protect her. This is also reflected in her disgust at killing any living thing. She can no longer kill that which she worships as god and which she believes holds the truth.
ReplyDeleteI think that on a fundamental level the narrator doesn't outright reject Christianity; she rejects the violent causes civilization uses Christianity to justify. Jesus was the epitome of peace and non-violence, after all, which is turning out to be the core of her newly held beliefs. I think later on we see the fusion of Christanity with her nature religion with God depicted in native american symbolism (horns and tail). In short I think that she sees Christianity as something that has been overtaken by civilization but which is pure and true underneath, and she uses this passage to link Jesus with nature to stress their fundamental similarity in that they both have doctrines of non-violence.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2:
ReplyDeleteI think the narrator is talking about the destruction of nature by civilization. She shows a lot of distaste towards Americans and blames them for many of the problems she has run into. She wants her father's land to remain the way it is, but she has encounters with civilization that make her distaste even stronger. She sees herself as part of nature and believes civilization will destroy it.
In the beginning of the novel, the narrator's parents didn't want her to attend Sunday school, but she was curious and wanted to attend anyway. She ended up going to Church with a friend, by choice, and learned about Christ that way.
ReplyDeleteWhen she says, "Whether it died willingly, consented, whether Christ died willingly, anything that suffers and dies instead of us is Christ; if they didn't kill birds and fish they would have killed us."I believe that she is referring to the bird as her "Christ". She is turning away from the "human ways" of civilization, and going to the "animal side", which she believes is a better place.
While being out in the nature, she realizes that she can escape the formulated ways of civilization. She sees peace through nature and animals and wants to become one of them.
I too think that the narrator is talking about the destruction of nature by civilization. This village that she grew up in was very much not ruined by civilization, but with Americans and tourists coming to fish and hunt, the village is slowly being "killed" by this civilization and being turned into something it is not meant to be.
ReplyDeleteI also thing the narrator is talking about the destruction of nature by civilization. Both the Americans and the Canadians are both destroying the wonderful nature. When the narrator does not sell her father's house, she is doing as much as she can to stop civilization from completely taking over, but there is only so much she can do. Without people like the narrator, civilization would continue to spread, without stopping for a second to realize the damaging effects of their actions.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, I think we see an emotional change in the narrator. Throughout the beginning of the novel we see only an absence of emotion in the narrator and no evidence that she believes passionately in anything. This passage is now important because we start to see a rising of emotion in the narrator because she starts to see that killing is something she is strongly opposed to. The use of the analogy about Christ is important because it demonstrates the narrator has found morals in herself that are now guiding her actions. Religion is something she has never before found important, but now as her passion for animals and the wild arise, I think the religious diction shows she is becoming more spiritual.
ReplyDeleteI think the narrator's use of religious imagery and language is intended to emphasize the innocence and sanctity of a more primitive state of being. The manner in which the narrator presents the idea of Christ's death shows her ignorance of religious practice and theology beyond a basic understanding. She reduces these religious concepts to their most basic state - anything that suffers and dies in our place is Christ. great passage.
ReplyDelete