A Multidisciplinary Research Journal - Devanga Arts College

comforting” (BH 273). It is the disease or malignancy of the human mind which results in one’s
indifferent attitude to the fellows. The inability of Rennie’s grandmother to touch and to perceive
things due to senility becomes symbolically significant in this context. Elva, a native of St.
Antoine has “magic hands” (194) which bring solace and Dr. Daniel luoma who heals Rennie is
said to have ‘his soul’ ( BH 198) in his hand. Rennie’s promise that she will forever remember
the feel of Lora’s arm within her own, points to her decision to fight against bodily harm
through her writings.
The textual voice is recorded through both third person and first person narrators who
occasionally interrupt each other. The memory fragments of Rennie, Lora, Jocasta are in first
person, to emphasize the authenticity of their experiences. Just as the female bodies are
dismembered into face, hands, legs, breast, pelvis, the body of the text is structured through a
fragmented narrative. The conventional linear mode of narration is disrupted by stages of dreams
and awakening which intersperse the text and reflect Rennie’s suspended state of existence
between life and death. Thus, the text is like a puzzle which Rennie imagines: “she switches to a
jig-saw puzzle, in her head, the top border, the ones with the flat edges, it’s always the sky, and
one piece fits into another, interlocking, pure blue” (BH 280). In Bodily Harm, the female body
itself becomes the narrative. It is significant that Rennie imagines herself to be a blank sheet of
paper for Jake “to doodle on”. (BH 105)
In Bodily Harm, Atwood depicts how female body has been treated as raw material for
the purpose of male sexuality. In different patriarchal institutions, both in freedom and in
captivity, the female body is tortured, and abused. Using powerful images of mutilation, Atwood
exposes the desecration of female body through rape and pornography. Rennie’s fear of male
invasion is related to Canada’s fear of foreign aggression. The text becomes the mutilated female
body, articulating the story through fragmented narration which reflects the physical and
psychological state of the female characters. Atwood demands compassion for suffering and
envisions a world free from patriarchal, colonial and exploitative values where human beings are
in harmonious relationship with each other.
Primary Sources:
WORKS CITED
Atwood, Margaret, Bodily Harm Toronto: Mc Clelland and Stewart 1981
Second Words: Selected Criticalprose – Toronto – Anansi 1982