Surfacing (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Atwood
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological symbolism
- Time of Work: The late 1960’s
- Setting: A small lake in the Canadian wilderness
- 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
Characters Discussed
The narrator, the main protagonist, an unnamed commercial artist and illustrator in her late twenties. She is divorced and the mother of one child. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator is returning to an island on the U.S.-Canadian border, where she will look for her father, a “voluntary recluse” who has disappeared. She spent much of her childhood on this island, except for winters. David and Anna are doing the narrator a favor by driving her and her boyfriend, Joe, to the remote island, which is inaccessible by boat or train. The narrator is...
[The entire page is 1350 words long]
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