Margaret Atwood

At the beginning of the book Elaine is already 50 years old and the setting is that Elaine returns to Toronto, the city of her youth , to attend a retrospective of her art. It nearly costs Elaine her life until a miracle, or merely the imagination of one,finally frees her from “Cordelia´s spell”. So Cordelia an her friend Grace start surround Elaine throughout her day,pointing out her weaknesses,mocking the way she walks,the way she eats or laughs. They ostracize her,in a terrible bit of play-acting, and finally bury her alive. Leaving Cordelia behind, Elaine begins to study drawing,has an affair with her teacher, marries then another art student and is caught up in a feminist movement.

--- “ An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness “ ---

( that means to achieve inner peace you must understand and forgive, although not forget)

The meaning of the title:

Elaine Risley discovers that she cannot move into the future as she is still trapped in the past because of the childhood trauma caused by Cordelia. That´s the reason why Cordelia finds in Elaine a perfect “screen to project “ all her own apprehensions. Cordelia tells me so,but she will help me…It will take hard work and a long time”. aine Risley : a successful painter who returns to Toronto where she grew up, to

attend a retrospective of her work; she was haunted by the

memories of her “friendship” with Cordelia

* Cordelia : When they (Elaine&Cordelia) were young,she was the tormentor and

soul-mate of Elaine; she was cruel & nasty to her enviroment

The plot :

This novel portrays the inner development of the main character Elaine Risley,a successful painter. Elaine realizes soon that her parents keep the whole,complicated,shifting world of “girls and their doings” from her as far as possible. And in Toronto she gets to know Cordelia who lives in one of the larger houses that have sprung up from the mud. Cordelia is scornful,manipulative and wild and Elaine adores her. “I am not normal, I am not like other girls.

While Elaine rests in Toronto, Cordelia and she – both already 50years old- meet each other and it turns out that Elaine is now the one who is needed, stronger and who has learned the power of cruelty.