The Morality of Change

Change happens—it’s a basic fact of life which everyone must come to eventually accept. The lasting effects of change, however, tend to fall into a grey area of morality; it’s incredibly difficult to identify a change as plainly good or bad. Margaret Atwood’s Lusus Naturae offers an interesting perspective on extreme change, as the story is presented from the viewpoint of a girl undergoing extremely unusual physical changes—her eyes turn yellow, her teeth become pink, and she begins to grow long hairs all over her body. Despite these changes, the narrator of the story appears to internally remain the same sane, innocent girl she had always been. The combination of definite external changes with few internal changes eventually leads to the narrator’s assault of a man, and her eventual death at the hands of an angry mob. In Lusus Naturae, Atwood attempts to argue that although people undergo outward change, it is incredibly difficult to change the person inside—she furthers this argument by suggesting that change is not only good or bad, but that it falls in a moral middle ground.

Throughout the short story, it is obvious that the narrator is not only aware of the bizarre changes that she is facing, but she even seems understanding of the reaction that society has concerning her condition. Atwood offers some insight about this as she states, “’Curse or disease, it doesn’t matter,’ said my older sister. ‘Either way, no one will marry me if they find out.’ I nodded my head: true enough… Without me, her coast would be clear.” (Atwood, 225). Clearly, the narrator’s sister is concerned about how her now “freak of nature” sister will potentially damage her future; the narrator agrees with her as well, displaying that she is aware that society would never offer its acceptance to the family of someone with her condition. The change that the narrator is dealing with is obviously having a strong, negative impact on her life—even her sister sees her as a potential threat. The narrator did gain some liberation from her condition later in the story. Atwood makes this clear as she describes, “Now that I was dead, I was freer… I didn’t know what I looked like now. I avoided mirrors.” (Atwood, 225). Evidently the change that the narrator faced didn’t offer only negative results. She gained a sense of freedom and comfort with herself, despite having undergone dramatic physical changes. Her avoidance of mirrors suggests that she either does not care about how she physically appears, or that she is afraid of what she will see in the mirror. As it is plain see, Atwood did not intend to define change as a certain positive or negative aspect of life, but as a difference that can have both benign and malignant aspects.

The behavior and thought processes of the narrator make it clear that she hasn’t changed as a person, regardless of her different and strange appearance. Atwood most simply presents this when she states, “I tried a mirror. They say dead people can’t see their own reflections, and it was true; I could not see myself. I saw something, but that something was not myself: it looked nothing like the innocent, pretty girl I knew myself to be, at heart.” (Atwood, 227). Evidently the narrator is no longer familiar with her own appearance; she thinks of herself as the normal, young girl she had been prior to her acquisition of her peculiar medical condition. Incredibly, the change doesn’t seem to have had any effect on her personality despite her having undergone a series of extreme and unusual circumstances like her family faking her death, and society essentially turning its back on her. This is one of the stronger aspects of Atwood’s argument, as it offers plain, clear-cut evidence that the narrator did not change as a person, thus suggesting that it is very difficult for a person to actually change.

The narrator’s unique position in a neutral zone between changed and unchanged leads to an interesting question: can a person ever really change? Although the obvious answer seems to be yes, Atwood is making an argument for the opposite. The narrator’s retention of her innocent, child-like personality suggests that Atwood believes that even after undergoing intense, life altering changes, a person can still maintain their original personality. An important theme of the story is also that society is quick to pass judgement, and very slow to attain understanding; because of this, the narrator was effectively set to be persecuted by society due to the apparent lack of understanding about her condition. As the narrator supports this argument firmly as she states, “When demons are required, someone will always be found to supply the part, and whether you step forward or are pushed is all the same in the end.” (Atwood, 228). As a result, despite her ability to maintain rational thought, the narrator is finally hunted as an outcast by society. Society’s refusal to change also supports Atwood’s view that people cannot simply change. The stern resistance to understanding the unique situation of the narrator, and the quick jump to judgement makes it clear that society would not simply rely on the facts of the situation when placed in a conflict with the narrator of the story.

Overall, it is clear that Lusus Naturae is a representation of Atwood’s belief about the morality of change, and how that change can affect a person. Her portrayal of the narrator in the story as an internally innocent and harmless young girl, with a terrifying physical appearance supports her argument that people are very difficult to change. It is evident that Atwood does not believe that people can simply change as a result of their circumstances, and that the change isn’t necessarily good or bad, but can fall in a moral middle ground. Atwood also makes it abundantly clear that society is sometimes slow to grasp unprecedented change, resulting in society turning its back on the narrator of the text.

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