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| Robber Bride |
| 作者Author / Margaret Atwood 瑪格莉特．愛特伍德 |
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The Robber Bride
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| Why Zania?
"I was sitting around one day thinking to myself, Where
have all the Lady Macbeths gone? Gone to Ophelias,
every one, leaving the devilish tour-de-force parts to be played by
bass-baritones.
Or, to put it another way: If all women are well behaved by nature--or
if we aren't allowed to say otherwise for fear of being accused of
antifemaleism--then they are deprived of moral choice, and there isn't
much left for them to do in books except run away a lot. Or
to put it another way: Equality means equally bad as well
as equally good"
(Atwood qut in Hengen
276; emphases added)
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 Characters
& Plot Summary |
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Allusion
of the title-- to "The Robber Bridegroom" by
the Brothers
Grimm (remote link), in which an evil man seduces three
maidens into his lair and devours them. (The first
allusion to this fairy-tale is on the first page of the novel, when
Tony imagines where Zania is from.) (Leonora
Yang's explanation)
But in
Atwood's version, the monster is interestly a woman (Zenia), not a man
(see Atwood's explanation above.
Do you see her idea as feminist?) She not only cheats the
three female protagonists, but also robs their man from them.
Zenia performs different roles in front of the three women, as if she
herself is a mirror, reflecting (evoking) the weak parts in
them.
Two
central questions we can ask of the novel are: (See below for questions
about our reading.)
- How
are the three women victimized
by Zania and how do their experiences reflect their
personalities?
- How
do they survive their experience of
victimzation? In hatred? By trying to
seek revenge? Or . . .?
- Since
Zenia is the central fiction in a novel which is a lot to do with
history, it's important to examine the author's view of the
inrerelationships between history/reality and fiction.
- Why
does Atwood use the fairy-tale as an intertext?
Characters:
Tony-- a college military
historian/professor with the habits of collecting souvenirs from
historical war fields and spelling words backwards. [West --
Tony's husband and a musician--is actually called Steward, changed to
"Stew," to "Wets," and then to "West."]
Roz-- a business woman running a
magazine [Roz's runnaway husband Mitch]
Charis-- a hippie from the 60's,
[Billy--Charis's boyfriend]
All the three
of them were friends in their college life. With their
different personalities, they view Zenia differently:
For Tony,
Zenia is 'a lurking enemy commando.'
For Roz, Zenia is 'a cold and treacherous bitch.'
For Charis, Zenia is a kind of zombie, maybe 'soulless.'"
| 1.
Onset |
pp.
1-4 Zenia in history and the "present" of the novel: Oct 23, 1990 |
| 2. The
Toxique |
Tony,
Charis and Roz meeting in Toxique, seeing Zenia by accident. (The story
told respectively from the three characters' perspectives.)
Chap 2. Tony's house and West
Chap 3. the funeral (which happened 5 years ago); Tony and war and West
Chap 4. West and Tony's appearance; her office and department
Chap 5. Toronto
. . . |
| 3.
Black Enamel |
Tony's
childhood and her experience with Zenia |
| 4.
Weasel Nights |
Charis's
childhood and her experience with Zenia |
| 5. The
Robber Bride |
Roz's
childhood and her experience with Zenia
Chap 39: (Oct 23, 1990) Roz in her office and back home after meeting
Zenia. Roz in the cellar.
Chap 40: (May 1983) Roz and
her husband Mitch
Chap 41: Roz
and Mitch's knowing each other and their marriage.
(May 1983) p. 354 -- meeting Zenia
Chap 42: Roz in the cellar. Roz's
childhood with her mother in their rooming house. Her
school's Catholic education. Roz's missing her
father.
Chap 43: Roz's father
back from WWII. Roz getting to know about
anti-Semitism.
Chap 44: the Father's
mistresses and his getting rich. Roz takes on a Jewish
identity. Roz
as a hybrid (388-90).
Chap 45: Roz after
marriage, finds out about her father's money. Roz,
WiseWomanWorld and Mitch. (May 1983) Why she wants to meet Zenia again.
Chap 46: (May 1983)
meeting Zenia. P. 404 Zenia's stories
Chap 47: Zenia joins
WiseWomanWorld. Mitch's betrayal and Zenia's disappearance p.
418-.
Chap 48
Mitch's return. 1986 March Zenia's death and then
Mitch's. Roz's nervous breakdown.
Chap 49: (Oct 23, 1990) Roz on the cellar floor and
then back up to the living room, comforted by the twins. |
| 6. The
Toxique |
the
three women go to meet Zenia respectively, facing her challenges
(seduction and denial). Zenia's death. |
| 7.
Outcome |
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| Main
Themes in Chapter 39-49 |
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| Roz's
obsession |
with
Zenia: p. 325; want to seek revenge (dead or ugly) 326;
with
Mitch: p. 326; 327; 329;
with
being wronged: p. 332.
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| Roz
vs. Mitch (1) before marriage |
pp. 345
- 54
Roz's
concerns: her age; appearance 345; 348;
Letting her drive her car 350; Mitch for money or not?
352-54;
Mitche's
tactics: flower, planned to have sex on the first
date?351 frustration 351-52
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Roz vs. Mitch (2) after marriage 1 |
pp.
335- 337;
Mitch
as a robber bridegroom (or womanizer) 335;
Roz's
tolerance: he needs it to avoid facing aging. 336
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Roz vs. Mitch (3) after marriage 2 |
pp. 339
- 42 adopt apparent absent-mindedness; love him too much 340
play
games with him 337 - 39;
Roz's
concerns with appearance: "baggy" 333;
what her figure means to M 335; not showing her figure in daylight 335;
her dental floss 339; her perfumes, etc. 340;
motherly
to Mitch -- needs a maid to share her work for her children 341
distrust
him; 340 smells the aftershave;
adore
him p. 340;
Mitch:
directive 339
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Roz vs. Mitch (4) Mitch with Zenia |
Roz:
pretends to be composed 421-22; having flings with men; hiring a
detective; hardens her heart after his second departure but still cries
425; rejects Mitch after his second return but not rejecting his photos
428-30;
Mitch
back 423; Mitch leaves for London 425;
Zenia
wants the pleasure of winning, while Mitch is concerned with helping
her 424
suicide
of Mitch 433; of Roz 435
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| Roz's
identity a mother |
her
motherly, protective love of her children 341
(Roz's
own mother: strong when her husband is away, subdued and speechless
after he comes back. 375; 359)
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| Roz's
ethnic identity |
Roz's
father: 334; 346;
Recieves
Catholic education; gets called DP
365-66;
The
conflicts between Jews and Catholicism 367; (conversion of the Jews.)
Roz
as hybrid: 388-90
feels
inferior to Mitch 329; 344;
finds
out about the money: 393
sucked
into the women's movement in the 70's.
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| Roz
vs. Zenia |
reasons
for Roz's listening to Zenia: her pride pp. 399-40; 408;
Roz's
wings: 411-12
Roz's
feeling inferior to Zenia: appearance 415;
Roz's
and Zenia's different ways with Zenia 419-- Zenia as vacancy.
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Zenia's identity |
p.
3; 421; her resume 414; what the
detective finds out 420-21 |
Roz's problems: jealousy and concern with appearance
-->
insecurity |
jealousy:
pp. 326; 421
concern
with appearance: mirror pp. 326-27; 442;
not blonde;
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| contemporary
feminisms |
1. the
twins' insistence on using "she." pp. 330-31
2. WiseWowanWorld supported by Roz: the need for "a friend" 395; like
sleepover parties she misses 395;
3. from overalls to dress for success 398;
4. promotion and commercialization of the magazine's business 417-18 |
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Roz's survival |
1.
Roz's strengths: putting on a clown face 346; her good will
339;
2. Her criticism of Mitch: sex-stereotyping; concerned with her money
352;
3. self-knowledge and knowledge of contemporary gender relations: "the
Zenias of the world" 442; cannot be extremely good or evil
442-43.
4. influence of her mother as an older woman; "stop
woolgathering" 439;
5. good wil between her and her friends and daughters 435-37; 443-44;
her genuine concern for Tony 441; for the twins 444. |
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