Nature as a Monster by Margaret Atwood Canadian literature for BA students

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                     Nature as Monster 
                                       -Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer. She is famous for her work The Survival. In Survival,  Atwood has written a chapter named 'Nature as a Monster'. In this chapter she depicts the hostility of Nature towards mankind.

Atwood decries nature to be deadly and alive. In Canada the most dominating season is Winter. During this season the landscape is veiled with Snow and Ice. William Wilfred Campbell in his poem Winter's Lake describes Canada as a land of death "Out in a world of death for the Northward lying". 

In this chapter Atwood talks about the pre-conceived notion of the migrants. The double-minded notion  is Canada is a land of vastness, richness, fertility, plentiness and filled with scenic beauty. With this idea the  immigrants migrated to Canada with great expectations and dream. But in reality the land is cruel and deadly.  After discovering the reality behind the land people lost their hope.

 Atwood refers to the work, Roughing it in the Bush written by Moodie. In this Moodie brings out the double minded notion of mankind.
                 ∆ Faith in divine mother.
                 ∆ Feeling of hopelessness.

In Canadian literature the writers does not use gun or knife as their weapon to kill a character. Instead death is caused due to drowning, freezing and bushing. Death by bushing means the characters feel isolated and tries to commit suicide.

Atwood concludes this chapter with a optimistic approach. She claims “Nature is a monster, perhaps, only if you come to it with unreal expectations or fight its conditions rather tha accepting them and learning to live with them. Snow isn't necessarily something you die in or hate. You can also make houses in it. (Atwood, 66). 


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