Ones appearance may change..

Throughout the pieces read this semester, there have been many instances of character change. Instances in which a dynamic character also known as a character who changes over time usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis, is noticed. In Atwood’s piece, “Lusus Naturae” the young girl we are introduced to is going through a tragic and awful change. Due to an unknown cause, the girl’s appearance was changing to a monster like figure. However, although this was a hardship, she dealt with it the best way she could. By having herself to always lean on, preserving her innocence and morals as well as taking time to herself alone. By doing so she showed her true colors and followed those standards of behavior or beliefs when it comes to what is acceptable for one to do and what is not.The physical changes she was facing were affecting her, but her soul seemed to have remained the same. Although Atwood’s protagonist changes physically, her humanity, her morals and memories, remain the same. This demonstrates that not being perceived for who you are inside, is a hardship.

Previous to the cruel and life changing phenomenon we know the young girl had gone through, she was a perfect baby as her mom describes. The mother states that there was nothing wrong with her. As she was growing up, she seemed to have built into a perfect little girl with good morals, good manners, and a good person overall. She knew exactly what it was like to be happy ,and even after the transformation she recalls the happy times before the awful disease struck her. She is happy to recall those times, perhaps even happy that she is Realizing there is not going back, she is sad knowing she could never be the same little girl she always had been. She says: “As for me, I had no future. I only had a present, a present that changed.. it seemed to me.. along with the moon” She is slowly coming to terms with her physical change, and realizing that things might never go back to the way they were, in the future, but she was changing everyday and there was not anything anyone can do about it. We also notice a figurative language tool we have been using through out the semester, a similes. She compared the physical changes that were going on, to the moon, as the moon often changes into different shapes and different sizes.

The mother’s character and action is also up for discussion in this text. She is a mother who loved her child, and due to the physical changes that the daughter was going through, she was distancing herself. She seemed embarrassed, and ashamed of her own daughter. She agreed to faking her daughters funeral, which raises the question: Is she so ashamed of her daughters physical appearance that she is forgetting who her daughter really is on the inside? Aside from her scary features, there lies a heart of a young innocent girl. You begin to wonder why the mother suddenly didn’t love her baby, why suddenly she was a ashamed of her child although she could not do anything to stop or prevent her condition. Her mother is forgetting that not being perceived for who you are inside, can be a hardship, and is a hardship for the young girl’s heart or soul that remains inside of her scary figure.

Post to the changes that the girl faced, she began to engage in activities that would take her mind off of the negative changes in her life. She began to do things that would accommodate her new life, and body. Since she could not be seen in public anymore, as she was a freak of nature, she had to hide. She could not go to the farmers market anymore, come home and cook dinner with her family. She had to isolate herself from people, her family and the town basically as she was seen as dangerous and nor normal. The girl read stories and poems, knew about love and protecting her family, both before and after the changes. She knew that this entire burden was affecting not only her life, but the life of her family and loved ones as well. Always looked out for not only herself, but her entire family’s well being. The author presents us with this idea of her, by describing how she handled situations and how understanding she was about the circumstances. For example, the girl had to be locked away from her family, given only potatoes and blood, had guard but she never attacked. She stayed in there, and accepted her situation for the sake of protecting herself and her family. “A stranger made an offer to buy our farm. My mother wanted to sell and move in with my sister….but how could she leave me?.... ““Do it””, I told her” (Norton, Page 227) The girl felt a sense of abandonment and sadness, because she was still her old self at heart. She felt the sadness of her mom leaving her, wondered how she could do something like that, but ignored that feeling and told her to move, because it was probably the safest thing for her mother.

Although the beautiful baby girl she once was, now has transformed into a creature with yellow eyes, red fingernails, and hair everywhere, inside still lived that beautiful baby girl. We can notice that when the girl takes into consideration other’s opinions, how her family’s lives will change. When she says: “If it weren’t for the fits, and the hours of pain, and the twittering of voices I couldn’t understand, I might have said I was happy” (Norton, Page 226) She recalls the times she had previous to the change, and perhaps how easy it was to not go through the pain she is now experiencing. She recalls who she once was, what she felt like. Although to other’s she changed from a beautiful girl into a monster physically and on the outside, she still is the innocent little girl she had always been. “Inside our house I tried a mirror. They say dead people cant 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” (Norton, Pahe 227) She knows who she is, and wishes people perceived her as more than her appearance.

A character changing can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes the characters change for the worst internally, and it is something a reader can notice. Sometimes they change physically, as the girl in Atwood’s piece did. Atwood characterizes her this way because he wants us to see that although she is changing physically which is causing her to turn into a monster figure, she is still the same character we are introduces to when she was a baby. In this story, her change in appearance was a bad thing, considering she has turned into a monster. Internally, she has not changed at all. Internally she is a young girl, terrified of what is It going on, and living in fear knowing she is unable to stop it from happening. She is so innocent and young. She saw the couple in the woods, and sexual activity did not even cross her mind. She thought that they were grunting because they were “like her”, slowly morphing into the creature she was on the outside. When approaching the man in the woods, her intention was to just show a bit of affection and have interaction. She accidentally bit him, without meaning to, it turned into a nightmare. That goes to show that she is innocent, and did not mean for such awful things to happen, and a action with good intention, suddenly turned into a nightmare when the man saw her.

This text argues that change can happen, and it could happen at any time, for it does not mean that due to physically changes, that person is not the same person they were previous to that change. It argues that one’s humanity can still be intact, although the person is battling an unfair change in their physical appearance and behavior. The way the young girl was behaving was not something that could have been stopped. There were no remedies and no cure for such freak of nature occurrence that no one has encountered before. She was behaving differently but her kindness, innocence and young girl like traits were still able to be noticed by us as readers and interpreters of this text. This changes a reader’s interpretation of the story because he or she can notice in the way that the girl behaves, that she is innocent and just scared. Her actions tell us that she is still intact with her humanity by the activities she does, such a read and think about her family before herself in general. People may perceive her as dangerous and scary at first glace, but deep down inside, lies a innocent little girl whom is trying to cause no harm to anyone. That to me as a reader, stand for humanity. It goes to show that she feels, thinks, has emotions, makes decisions, cares and loves. being perceived for who you are inside, can be a hardship, and it is best to never judge a book by its cover.

Atwood, Margaret. "Lusus Naturae." The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J Mays. Shorter 11th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 422-433. Print.

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