Discussing How an Individual Defines Him/Herself - Essay Example

? Consider the way in which two John Irving in A prayer for Owen Meany and Margaret Atwood Cat's Eye, reveal a similar idea about the way in which an individual defines him or herself. Cat’s eye is written by Margaret Atwood in 1988 and is one of her most renowned novels. The novel takes it reader on a thoughtful voyage of Elaine Risley’s life, a middle-aged highly praised artist who finds out that she cannot move ahead in her life as she is yet gripped by her childhood shock which was initiated by Cordelia, Elaine’s oppressor and friend. Elaine has been so intensely scared by the menacing girly “power-games” in her youth that unfortunately she loses herself, her recollections and turns out to be a cat’s eye, indifferent, aloof and unemotional. Similarly the second novel A prayer for Owen Meany is a novel written by John Irving and reveals a similar idea about the way in which an individual defines him or herself. Owen is best friends with Johnny Wheelwright and their companionship was damaged by a terrible accident in which, Owen accidentally kills Johnny’s mother and made him have faith in God. The rest of the book is based on the reminiscences of his past as Johnny tries to explore his identity. Cat’s eye is a novel which investigates some specific themes about growing up and generating a revelation of self actualization. The main characters in both the books are scared by a childhood accident and the authors have used the technique of reminiscence, narration of old memories and the respective effects on the personalities of each character. Both the novels take place in the suburbs of Canada. “The most prominent themes brought forward in Cat’s eye are gender construction, relationships, time/space, age and identity” (Lily Seabrook). The narrative viewpoint and the existence of the narrator in the novel are domineering in determining the opinion of the reader on specific thoughts and principles. The novel is described by a female narrator in a first person opinion with the challenging techniques and formation of a conventional novel. Cat’s eye individual exclusive construction and illustration of characters, themes, subject, morals and stance are at first constructed from an immature standpoint but later on it can be analyzed that the descriptions and the symbolism is present throughout the book which beautifully explains the process of searching ones own identity. The central theme of the novel is identity which is assembled continuously through many paths, explored by the reflection and demonstration of the main characters. With the exemption of the main characters, Cordelia and Elaine every character in the novel has a unique and discrete identity. It is the search and separation of identity and the dissimilarity and resemblance between the two of them that forms the core of the book. The quote “I am not afraid of seeing Cordelia. I am afraid of being Cordelia. Because in some way we changed places, and I have forgotten when” is the most enlightening quote to the continuous comparing of Elaine and Cordelia, and reveals how they have been composed as two different parts of the same person. The paintings are the mainly identifiable symbolism in the novels, providing a comprehensible yet restrained comprehension of the basic ideas. Similarly in A prayer for Owen Meany, Irving has used the technique of first person narration which helps the reader to understand the theme of the story. “Irving’s strategy of offering ambiguously multiple signs and interpretations is encapsulated with the novel title itself” (Harold Bloom) Irving’s characters are strange and unusual, dysfunctional and puzzled but they are still capable of astonishing insight and compassion. The Character, Owen Meany is troubled with agonizing hindrance, yet he deeply influences the lives of the other characters by sincerely behaving according to the fate he considers God has intended. The vital message of friendship, forgiveness, honesty, salvation and self-sacrifice is beautifully illustrated in the novel. Owen is portrayed as a tiny child who has a nasal voice symbolized in the novel by capital letters as according to William Nobles “ the emphatic effect of the capitalization brings the character of Owen to life and provides a flesh and blood image” John serves together as a permanent perspective and as a distinction to Owen Meany’s character, an unreceptive halt for Owens’s Magnetic vitality. Owen believes that he is an instrument of God and his dreams are prediction of his goals in life. In the Cat’s eye Elaine’s paintings are a symbol whereas for Owen it was his dreams. He symbolizes the association between the worldly and the holy life and the avocation of belief. It is evident in the novel that Johnny is not capable to move away from the events that he recounts in the novel as he remains to reside in his past. The same is true for Elaine as her past events had left a mark on her and she seems to be stuck in her past. Atwood’s novel appears to sculpt a voice that states an individual’s distressing search for a free, purified self. “Few works that tackle the enigma of personal identity radiate with such integrity and openness, seeking to unravel the knotted-up lies of a lifetime.” (Thomas Larson). Recognizing Shock as a sign and consequence of authority relations, cat’s eye measures power’s overwhelming effects on individuality.  Significant emblematical cure to death and stasis in the novel are Elaine’s adaptation of a Virgin Mary, intertwining modern women's distress with customs of restoration and exceeding transience. Atwood demonstrates how the splintering, separating, and dissociative essentials of distressing incidents can create problems for the search of identity. Although the paintings of Elaine expose subdued but lasting sentiments, her creative discipline and ethnically inflected images arbitrate shock and assist her in decoding suspicious fantasies that are responsible for her emotional behavior. Similarly in A prayer for Owen Meany symbolism, imagery and irony has been used to the same point. It is a conflict between the faith and the destiny. In order for a person to able to define him or herself one should overcome their past and move ahead in life otherwise the trauma of the past years haunts an individual and becomes a hindrance for a person searching for his identity. * References Lily Seabrook, Lexemes: Anthology, (2008) William Noble, Noble’s book of writing blunders: and how to avoid them, (2006), FW, publications. Harold bloom, John Irving,(2001) by Chelsea House Publishers Thomas Larson, San Diego Tribune, February 17, 1989 Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye, (1989) Read More