"Hairball"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how, in Margaret Atwood's haunting story "Hairball," a hard-edged magazine editor realizes some important things about her life when her married boyfriend betrays her. The paper discusses how "Hairball" is the story of a woman who is learning to accept past failures, even though they appear crushing, and to move on with her life.

From the Paper:

"Naming the 'tumour' Hairball is important in the accruement of meaning of this object. Hair is an important symbol in Kat's life as her work in the magazine world indicates. As well, she has shaved most of her own hair off since moving back to Toronto, in order to show how counterculture she really was. Ger, the married man whom she seduces, has a wife who Kat sees as being totally different from herself partly due to the fact that the wife's hair is so terribly old-fashioned (19)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Atwood, Margaret. "Hairball." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name (s). Place of Publication: Bantam Doubleday, Year. 13-23.
• Rideout, Alice. "Temporality and Margaret Atwood." University of Toronto Quarterly 69.4 (2000): 849-871.

More papers on "Hairball":

• Analytical Essay # 130313 : "The Many Layers of Hairball"
• Analytical Essay # 134574 : "Epiphany in Margaret Atwood's "Hairball"

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