Surfacing: A Summary

Part I of Essay
Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing tells the story of a young Canadian woman’s search for her missing father and finding a new sense of herself along the way. The author uses imagery to portray the narrator’s feelings of enclosure that she struggles with upon returning to h ....

Part II of Essay
.... retarded” and states that it is comparable to “being mentally retarded, it arouses in others disgust and pity and the desire to torment and reform” (69). The relationships she forges later on will be greatly influenced by these images of youth. The narrator’s first relationship with a man turns out to very detrimental to her well being. The man is married and unavailable yet she describes her feelings for him as “unique, the first, that’s where [she] learned.” (150). She goes on to say that she “worshipped him” and refers to him as ....