Cat’s Eye is author Margaret Atwood’s seventh novel and represents the second part ’’of a trilogy that would also include (her fifth novel, The Handmaid’s Tale) and, in 1993, The Robber Bride, ’’ (71) as author Victor-Levy Beaulieu notes in Two Solitudes: Margaret Atwood and Victor-Levy Beaulieu in Conversation. Specifically, Beaulieu goes on to describe how ’’those three novels speak very strongly to me as a male reader’’ (71). And these novels do speak strongly to the male reader, bringing up all sorts of images and ideas regarding the intricate details of our everyday relationships with other people.
Undoubtedly, Cat’s Eye is one of Atwood’s best novels. The prose is deep, detailed and at times unsettling in its ideas, thoughts and descriptions. Cat’s Eye continues an exploration that is common to Atwood’s work: that is, the exploration of a not-too strong female protagonist who is delving deeply into her past, trying to make sense of her place in the world. Specifically, the backdrop of Cat’s Eye focuses on the first-person narrative of Elaine Risley, an artist at mid-life who returns to Toronto for the opening of an art exhibition featuring her own paintings. This return is the catalyst that compels her to reexamine her life and even question whether it was worth living.
In some respects, Cat’s Eye is not all that different from Atwood’s previous novels. The major themes and explorations are very similar - in many respects Atwood is conveying the same messages again and again. However, Cat’s Eye does represent Atwood’s most definitive examination and statement on childhood to date. It intricately examines the relationships children develop with all the internal strife, emotion and politics that accompany growing up. I found myself being able to relate to Elaine as she grew up - especially when she’s tricked into going to the bottom of this ravine, I could feel myself in her shoes.
And yet, the most revealing aspect of the novel centers around not just relationships in general, but the relationships between women. By effortlessly weaving the text between the past and the present, Atwood explores the many different relationships women can have - whether it is between mothers and daughters, between lovers or just friends. Specifically, the novel focuses on one key relationship, that between Elaine and childhood friend Cordelia. Cordelia represents the best and the worst in people. She’s all one would ever look up to as a child and young adult. She’s the ultra strong Atwood character archetype, she’s almost the perfect woman: beautiful, smart, charming, larger than life and powerful. In many ways, Cordelia is the ultimate Atwood antagonist.
And it’s frightening how much power Cordelia wields over Elaine: ’’In the endless time when Cordelia had such power over me, I peeled the skin off my feet. I did it at night, when I was supposed to be sleeping. My feet would be cool and slightly damp, smooth, like the skin of mushrooms. I would begin with the big toes. I would bend my foot up and bite a small opening in the thickest part of the skin, on the bottom, along the outside edge. Then, with my fingernails, which I never bit because why bite something that doesn’t hurt, I would pull the skin off in narrow strips. I would do the same to the other big toe, then to the ball of each foot, the heel of each. I would go down as far as the blood. Nobody but me ever looked at my feet, so nobody knew I was doing it. In the mornings I would pull my socks on, over my peeled feet. It was painful to walk, but not impossible. The pain gave me something definite to think about, something immediate. It was something to hold on to.’’
In many respects, the resolution of the story lies in Elaine’s ability to resolve her relationship with Cordelia. And the road to this resolution includes some incredible insights along the way - ’’...the truth is that I would be terrified to get into bed with a woman. Women collect grievances, hold grudges and change shape. They pass hard, legitimate judgments, unlike the purblind guesses of men fogged with romanticism and ignorance and bias and wish. Women know too much, they can neither be deceived nor trusted. I can understand why men are afraid of them, as they are frequently accused of being.’’
Elaine’s exploration of whether or not a life has been worth living is one common to artists. Every artist has probably examined to a point beyond death and redemption the meaning of life and why we are here, so in that respect, Elaine is not so unique. But what makes Cat’s Eye unique as a piece of literature and art itself is that it doesn’t try to provide an answer or a resolution to Elaine’s dilemma. In true Atwood style, it leaves the door open for a reader’s interpretation. And that’s what gives this novel a touch of brilliance.
Grade: A+