Margaret Atwood's Illustration of Elaine Risley

Cat’s Eye, by Margaret Atwood, is a novel that depicts the journey of its protagonist, Elaine Risley. Her physical and spiritual journey are reflected in a Cat’s Eye marble which eventually enables her to see and understand her journey, as we as readers already have. It is only when Elaine completes her journey does she “see [her] life entire” (Atwood, 1988, p. 3).

Margaret Atwood's Depiction of Elaine Risley

In Chapter 1 of Cat’s Eye, it is stated that “[Elaine] began then to think of time as having a shape… You don’t look back along time but down through it, like water. Sometimes this comes to the surface, sometimes that, sometimes nothing” (Atwood, 1988, p. 5). This introduces the reader to the way Atwood depicts Elaine’s journey and how Elaine perceives her own life. Elaine embarks on a physical journey to her childhood town, Toronto. This physical journey mirrors Elaine’s spiritual journey to self-realization and enlightenment. As Elaine reaches new destinations, she experiences retrospectives or flashbacks to significant incidents in her life that have contributed to her current spiritual state.

We first meet Elaine and Cordelia (the ‘best friend’ and tormentor) in the first section of the novel, ‘Iron Lung’. They are traveling in a streetcar in Toronto, immediately setting up the idea of a journey/traveling for the reader. “Stephen says time is not a line” are the first words written in the novel, summarizing the structure of Cat’s Eye and Elaine’s life (Atwood, 1988, p. 1). This section is written in the present tense, making readers feel as though they are with the 13-year-old Elaine. However, it quickly transitions to Elaine at age 43, revealing that she is having a retrospective of her childhood. It is then revealed that she is physically in Toronto now, walking through the streets, reflecting on childhood events (“I’ve reached the place where we used to get off the streetcar”). Simply being in Toronto brings back her repressed feelings and emotions from her childhood: “[she] can feel [her] throat tightening, a pain along the jaw line. [She has] started to chew [her] fingers again. There’s blood, a taste [she] remembers…” (Atwood, 1988, p. 22). Such events occur throughout the novel to illustrate Elaine’s journey. This particular event sets off Elaine’s spiritual journey back to her childhood and the torment she suffered at the hands of Cordelia.

Elaine's Art as a Reflection of Her Journey

Another way in which the novel depicts Elaine’s journey is through her art. Elaine Risley is a painter and has developed enough of a reputation to be included in the “retrospective” art exhibition. Eventually, these paintings help her to see “[her] life entire”; however, for a long period of time, she doesn’t actually understand what the paintings mean and the reasons why she created them. Her memory repression is revealed when her paintings are described by Charna, and Elaine realizes that she doesn’t actually know what they are about. The paintings document Elaine’s journey, highlighting important events along the way. They are an expression of her memories through her subconscious. In Elaine’s “Empire Bloomers” series, two images of authority, Mrs. Smeath and Miss Lumley’s bloomers converge, showing Elaine’s hatred of two characters that terrorized her as a child. This reveals her subconscious hatred towards them; however, she is unable to understand that this is the reason for the painting. Another predominant painting that creates a ‘visual’ aid to her journey is the “Three Muses”. Elaine (until she completes her journey) fails to recognize that the three people in the painting (Mrs. Feinstein, Miss Steward, and Mr. Banerji) are displaced people, such as herself. She subconsciously relates to these people, but again, only when her journey is complete does she recognize this.

The Reversal of Power

In the section titled "Leprosy," Elaine realizes that at some point (she is unsure when), the power dynamic between Cordelia and herself is reversed, making her the stronger of the pair. She describes the only painting she ever completed of Cordelia; however, the description is indirect, and she states “[she] had trouble with this picture” (Atwood, 1988, p. 278). She couldn’t fix Cordelia at “one time, at one age,” or at a singular point in Elaine’s journey. Cordelia has been there all along. This is another point in the journey where Elaine begins to understand their strange relationship. “I’m not afraid of seeing Cordelia. I’m afraid of being Cordelia, because in some way we changed places, and I’ve forgotten when” (Atwood, 1988, p. 285). In this power change, Elaine develops her “mean mouth.” Cordelia was her “target practice,” and the other girls at her school thought “Elaine [was] a riot” (Atwood, 1988, p. 290). This is a major point in her journey as it contrasts sharply with the younger Elaine and Cordelia and how they behaved.

Conclusion

The ‘Listener’ remarked, “Not since… has a novelist captured so forcefully the relationship between school bully and victim” about Atwood and Cat’s Eye. In my opinion, never has a novelist depicted the journey of a single character in such an intriguing and captivating manner. Elaine’s many physical journeys led to spiritual enlightenment and, finally, the understanding and acceptance of her childhood trauma. It was only when this occurred that Elaine could continue her journey, without Cordelia, once “her best friend and tormentor” haunting her.

References:

Atwood, M. (1988). Cat's Eye. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.