Surfacing (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Atwood
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1969 or 1970
- Setting: A wilderness area in Quebec, Canada
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Joe, David, Anna, Paul
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1960’s, 1970’s, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Memory, Parents and children, Nature, Marriage, Guilt, Pregnancy, Fathers, Islands, Death or dying, Missing persons, Abortion, Canada or Canadians, Modernization, Pollution, Lakes
- Locales: Islands, Quebec, Canada
The Novel
Surfacing is divided into three parts of eight, eleven, and eight chapters, respectively. The time span of the novel is about two weeks, during which the protagonist is in the remote wilderness where she had spent her childhood. Her mother is dead of cancer, and her father is missing.
The protagonist tells her story in the present tense, as the action unfolds. Joe, David, and Anna plan to vacation while she checks on her father. From the moment they approach the small town on the other side of the lake, she begins to recall events and people from her...
[The entire page is 2340 words long]
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