Introduction
The rebellion of women against the roles, characteristics, and behaviors imposed on them and expected from them by society is quite successful and popular in the modern world. Although it began centuries ago, at those times, few women saw a need for it. Most females saw specific sustainability in their lives in a patriarchal society and did not want to risk it to try to find freedom. Moreover, few women in the past felt that obeying the rules set by men and perceiving the care of husbands and children as the meaning of their lives made them unhappy and not free.
Margaret Atwood, a famous Canadian writer, poet, and literary critic, has dedicated her writing to exploring themes of feminism, imposed gender roles, and the impact of patriarchal society on young girls and women who grow up and enter it. In her short story titled “Death by Landscape,” Atwood depicts an elderly widow who has suffered a severe loss as a child and cannot come to terms with it even until old age. In this story, the author shows how gender roles and stereotypes surround and have an adverse influence on young girls who are about to enter a patriarchal society.
Gendered Camp Rituals
The story’s protagonist, Lois, and her best friend Lucy come to a summer camp that seems to be a great place for young boys and girls to get acquainted with nature, socialize, and find adventures. However, this place is a perfect opportunity for adults to make sure that specific gender roles, behaviors, and attributes are safely but strongly assigned to males and females. For example, in Camp Manitou, all children and adolescents are given particular names depending on their group age, which is something like a totemic clan system (Atwood 103). It may seem attractive until the readers learn that girls are given names like “Chickadees, Bluejays, Ravens, and Kingfishers,” while boys are called bears and wolves (Atwood 103). These names, birds for girls and animals for boys, contain specific features and teach makes to be brave, furious, respectful, responsible, and strong, while girls have to learn to be peace-loving, nice, fragile, gentle, and caring. Certainly, these gender roles and characteristics attributed to childhood are likely to remain with children forever.
Expectations from Women
As mentioned above, when entering adulthood, both boys and girls are expected to stick to particular roles. In a patriarchal society, the destiny of women is mainly to get married, have children, and be loving and caring homemakers. However, a century ago, not all girls who felt the pressure of these stereotypes wanted to make the care for their husbands the meaning of their life. Thus, Lucy does not want that either; she is a rebellious young woman whose spirit of freedom and wilderness makes her challenge the rules (Atwood). Since she does not probably have an opportunity to escape the role of homemaker prepared for her by society and her mother, she sees jumping off the cliff as her only chance to become free. On the contrary, Loic is not as rebellious as her best friend, so she falls into the typical life of women (Atwood).
Challenging Transition to Womanhood
Transition to womanhood is always a complex and sometimes scary and confusing time for young girls. They start noticing specific changes that happen to their bodies, and at the same time, society begins to impose feminine characteristics on them while also dictating what they should and should not want from their lives. In “Death by Landscape,” it seems that Loic is afraid of becoming an adult woman, and this transition scares her. Simultaneously, Lucy appears to be a more serious and unique symbol of femininity, which helps Loic find her femininity as well. However, since becoming an adult means that the relative freedom and carelessness come to an end, and the pressure of patriarchal society becomes more evident, Lucy cannot bear it and decides not to enter adulthood at all.
Symbolism
Atwood uses specific literary devices to portray the emotional states of two girls and the circumstances surrounding them more vividly. One of such devices that is used throughout the story is symbolism. For example, the camp where girls spend their summer is located in a forest that symbolizes a transformation and transition from one point of life to another (Atwood 100). The symbol of girls being sent to the forest means that the patriarchal world expects them to perform a man’s feet to achieve femininity. Another symbol is Lake Ontario that the aged Loic sees from her window (Atwood 116). However, she cannot feel the wind, and this distant observation of that lake without any desire to come closer symbolizes Loic’s lost connection with nature because of losing Lucy.
Conclusion
To conclude, one may say that the topics of feminism and femininity are revealed greatly in “Death by Landscape.” The author makes it clear that the pressure that both boys and girls feel coming from society can make them do terrible things, like Lucy’s jumping off the cliff. Therefore, the world needs to change and stop imposing gender roles and expectations on females and males and allow them to choose what to feel and how to behave.
Work Cited
Atwood, Margaret. “Death by Landscape.” Wilderness Tips, Doubleday, 1991, pp. 99-118.