The Role of Setting in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye

The Role of Setting in Margaret Atwood`s Cat`s Eye
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Abstract
Cat`s Eye takes place in Toronto, and in different timelines. Many primary events happen in the Toronto of the past—including Elaine`s character undergoing two metamorphoses. This helps to shape Elaine`s character, as well as the themes prevalent in the book, like feminism.
Cat`s Eye is a novel written in 1988 by Margaret Atwood. According to Shane C. (2012):
Cat`s Eye is a book about a girl named Elaine who is a painter (as an adult). Throughout this novel she takes the reader from her childhood to the present and back to her childhood. Elaine moved into a house when she was a child in Toronto. This was different for her simply because she had not lived in a home before. Elaine got enrolled in school and met three girls that became her friends. These girls were on the constant grind to try and please Cordelia (one of Elaine`s friends) any way that they could. Elaine is a full grown adult who is always trying to erase the daunting memories that she made in her youth.
The novel takes place in Toronto, in different timelines. Most of the primary events take place in the Toronto of the past.
This version of Toronto influences the plot in various ways it`s especially important as it helps to shape the character of Elaine into the person she would be for many years after. For instance, the weather in Toronto is partly responsible for the events that led to Elaine almost dying (Atwood 2011). When Elaine went to get her hat that Cordelia had thrown into the ravine, she probably wouldn`t have had such a traumatic experience had it been fair weather. In this version of Toronto, Elaine made her first friends: Cordelia, Grace Smeath, and Carol Campbell. It`s here that she gets bullied by these same friends, culminating in their leaving her for dead.
Elaine underwent two metamorphoses. The first: from being happy and alone into being unhappy and trying to mold her into what she thought her alleged friends—specifically Cordelia wanted her to be. The second: from being a naive, socially immature, easily manipulated girl, into an emotionally detached, callous and mean one. In short, she turned into Cordelia. Dude (2011) says:
When Elaine entered high school, her whole identity altered from being introverted and serene to notoriety and callous extroversion. What Elaine ex...