Setting in Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape”

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Setting in Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape”
This essay will look at how the physical and social settings in Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape” contribute to the story’s overall meaning. The essay will make the contention that the representation of nature is the chief theme in this short story and that the theme of nature allows the important facts in the narrative to be examined. Lois is the protagonist in the story, and the connection between her encounters at home as an adult and those earlier on in her adolescent life in the woods at her summer camp are the foundation for the theme. During the events in the story, Lois starts to understand the forest for what it is, rather than what she has imagined it to be, due to the events...

.....can look at Lucy and her connection with the setting of the wilderness as something different than she did in the past.
This essay shows that the physical setting of the short story is a key element, and in this case, a fundamental theme of Atwood’s piece. The theme of the wilderness, as Atwood describes, is connected with how both Lois and Lucy viewed the forest and the idea of nature. In the end, Lucy returned to nature at her death. It is the symbolism of nature which allows the theme to come forward. This theme allows Atwood’s readers to examine what happens when people are faced with childhood trauma, and how they adapt and move on.Works Cited
Atwood, M. "Death by Landscape." In Wilderness Tips. Toronto:
McClelland & Stewart, 1991.