How does Atwood use language to convey the narrator(TM)s change in emotional state Essays

How does Atwood use language to convey the narrator(TM)s change in emotional state Essays How does Atwood use language to convey the narrator(TM)s change in emotional state Essay How does Atwood use language to convey the narrator(TM)s change in emotional state Essay After reading Surfacing it is clear to see that as the story progresses, the Surfacer has undergone a transformation that has seen her become a more complex character and therefore it has become more difficult for the reader to interpret her thoughts and actions. Her emotional state has some what deteriorated since the start and the sense of madness that the reader is now beginning to become wary of, seems to stem from her inability to cope with the standard roles of women which have been constructed in society and she becomes increasingly secluded from all the features of life as she attempts to serve as a human, a wife, a mother and a sexual being. Ultimately its the complexity of the language that helps to convey the Surfacers change in emotional state and as she is the only narrative voice that the reader can listen to it means that we too, become submerged in her psychological transformation and become able to sense a change in emotion and thought.One of the main ways that the reader can see a change in the Surfacers emotional state is through the use of semiotics. The reader knows that the narrator is constantly interpreting both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication but as she starts to feel more alien in society her reading into situations start to become more inaccurate and flawed. American flag on the front, another at the back as she recognises them she then begins to reveal strong signs of negativity towards the Americans through the use of oxymoronic comments such as friendly as a shark.As she reinforces this ill-feeling throughout, we as the reader have no option but to take her word for it but as her unreliability begins the shine through, we see that her prior judgements were incorrect. The flag turned out to be a blue and white oblong with red painting, go mets and the reader can explicitly see her change in emotional state when she begins to use quite violent and animated adjectives such as furious when she real ises she had misinterpreted the two Canadians as Americans. It is clear to see that the Surfacer is now becoming trapped in her own paranoid state of mind and the fact that she is beginning to get signs wrong shows her now constant unreliability and it reflects the narrators change both physically and mentally.Another way the audience can sense the change in the narrators emotional state is through the increasing complexity of her stream of consciousness. The complexity of this feature stems from her constant flickering between ideas, flashbacks and situations. As a result of this it is very difficult to establish what is happening as we also become lost in her mind. The themes and ideas she becomes lost in are increasingly becoming weakly linked and so the overall cohesion of the story is severely dented and leaves the reader looking for answers into why we are witnessing this decline in emotional state. If you take into consideration the chronology of her thoughts and childhood ex periences it is clear to see that the images have intensified quite significantly. In the opening chapters the reader learns that she used to play war games with her brother and pretend they were wounded. But if we contrast this to the themes of abortion and murder that she later mentions it shows that she falling is deeper into her own mental state and it is becoming inescapable.Yet again its the use of violent imagery that brings this idea of a contrast in emotional state to the forefront of the readers mind. A key example of this can be seen when she has another encounter with the Americans and she says his eyes would blossom outwards, his skull shatter like an egg. The violent streak here is highlighted through the use of the modal verb would as she is becoming more and more definitive in her mind how she would in detail, kill someone. The actual syntax of this particular quote also makes the emotional transition more explicit to the audience. The skull shatter like an egg is no t only a simile used by Atwood but she also uses alliteration to create a much harsher s sound to create an overpowering tone, and by also using the onomatopoeic word shatter, it gives the sentence overall more intensity and it more importantly it issues out a more powerful impact on the reader. The violent nature of the Surfacer is made very explicit here and it is because of Atwoods linguistic skill that the reader is able to pick up on this particular point.As the story progresses it becomes more evident to the reader that the feeling of entrapment is one of the important focal points of the story and it is ultimately contributing the Surfacers demise. Her increasing alienation from society eventually leads to her making more frequent references to animals which suggests that in order to survive she has to be an animal as they are more at peace with nature. Atwood uses personification to show how she is comparable to animals as they had no spokesman. This particular quote shows h er detachment from the surroundings she once called home, her detachment from the people around her and her detachment from the real motive behind her journey. The animal references she makes is also a hint towards her hatred for artifice and highlights this desire for her to a natural person. The Americans and artifice are closely linked through the constantly referring to this mixture as a disease. This noun obviously carries negative connotations and by creating this imagery, it highlights her struggle to deal with people interfering with nature.In conclusion, the Surfacer slowly reveals to the reader that it is ultimately her struggle to fit into society that has lead to her detrimental change in emotional state. In order to make this explicit for the reader, Atwood maintains a heavy focus on language choice and syntax which allows the different branches of negativity to dominate the story and therefore the Surfacers mind. The now evident unreliability that the Surfacer is showi ng consequently conveys that her emotional state has significantly worsened to a point where she has become a completely different person to the one we knew about in the opening chapters of Surfacing.