The questions of infidelity, love and sexuality and the influence of Jon, Josef, and to a certain extent Ben over these.
             Atwood portrays early in the novel the divide between male and female, for example at school she and Steven are separated because of the "Girls and Boys" different entrances. Her upbringing has caused her to enjoy, like Steven (arguably the most important teacher, and his influence over Elaine as a young child moulded her way of thinking for the rest of her life), male company, however because of her physical attributes, she is still bound to be segregated. This upbringing has had disastrous affects on her ability to free herself from Cordelia and the associated bullying, as she has absorbed from a young age, the childish belief in loyalty, and moreover, is concerned she may lose the friendship which she believes is helping her to find her feminine side:
             Something is unfolding, being revealed to me. I see that there is a whole world of girls and their doings that have been unknown to me and that I can be part of it without making any effort at all.
             These characters are introduced through Elaine's artwork in a retrospective phase of her cathartic release. Josef is introduced at the beginning of "Life Drawing", a significant painting as it reflects the nature of how she sees the men shaping her. The painting shows Josef and Jon, both are naked and can only be seen from behind, painting very different images of how a naked woman who has a bluish glass for a head( this glass signifying Elaine's talisman; The cats-eye marble. This marble is vital to the under pinning of the narrative in this section, it is a marble with a twist of dye in the centre. This type of marble is Elaine's favourite as it seems to possess the quality of clarity combined with the insensitivity to pain, similar to the eye of the dead Raven she found on the shore as a child, the cats-eye was needed to f...