Poetry Analysis: Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me"

The title of Margaret Atwood's "This is a Photograph of Me" is quite suggestive. The title may give rise to several interpretations. The poetess may want our attention drawn to the photograph. The fact that she claims that it is her in the photograph, verges on the fact that she looks very different in reality. However, the most plausible interpretation would be that- the general perception or outlook about her was quite different; this was her real self in the photograph. She first goes on to describe the photo in terms of time, it was not a recent photograph but taken some time ago. It appears to be smeared (out of deconstruction).There appeared to be blurred lines as though she was graphically analyzed. The blurred lines and grey flecks (aspersions) seem to be blended with the paper itself. They have now become intricately linked with her personality. The poetess is therefore depicted in the first stanza by means of logical analysis, and in terms of the material. Woman has always been intellectually disregarded; she rather remains as a material commodity for commercialization. The advertisements of today pose as the best instances.

We stumble upon the truth as the poetess declares in the next line:

The photograph was taken

the day after I drowned.

Note that as the poetess starts talking about herself she encloses those lines within parentheses. Parentheses are used when a text contains material that could be omitted without destroying or altering the meaning of a sentence. Parentheses may be used in formal writing to add supplementary information. They can also indicate shorthand for "either singular or plural" for nouns - e.g., "the claim(s)"- or for "either masculine or feminine" in some languages with grammatical gender. (Wikpedia).

Therefore, when the poetess talks of herself, she implies the stance of Women in general. Her part in this description of the photograph could be conveniently omitted without marring the perfection of the whole. She functions only as a supplement to this picture of society. Nature(the branch) and man-made objects(the slope of the house ) gain predominance over her. Her gender is not specified, as it is taken for granted.

I am in the lake, in the center

of the picture, just under the surface.

The poetess asserts that people have to look below the surface to locate her, they should not limit themselves to a superficial view of things. The poetess goes on to say it very difficult to locate her, or estimate her size. The woman's identity is uncertain, in place and position. She goes on to state that the effect of water on light is a distortion. Here the Light becomes a metaphor for the woman who gives light to others through her service. Water is emblematic of the Patriarchal Society that if it wants can act as a life-giving force.

Light interacts with the water molecules and suspended particles to cause loss of light, colour changes, diffusion, loss of contrast and other effects. A photo taken under water at one metre distance is not unlike a telephoto above water at 800 metres distance, both looking bluish while lacking contrast. (http://www.seafriends.org.nz/phgraph/water.htm)

A man is actually supposed to make a woman complete. Nevertheless, far from completing her, her perfection is marred by his attitude, treatment and outlook

Time to eat the dog- The Digital Cuttlefish -

Both the BBC and the Guardian (UK) report on the provocatively-titled "Time to eat the dog?", which takes an interesting new approach to analyzing our environmental impact.

Instead of measuring emissions of CO2, or CO2 equivalent, they calculate the literal footprint or "global hectare" (gha) - the amount of land it takes to support a given activity.
So they work out that constructing and driving the Land Cruiser for a year takes 0.41 gha.

Growing and manufacturing the 164kg of meat and 95kg of cereals a border collie or cocker spaniel eats every year takes about 0.84 gha.

A bigger dog such as a German shepherd consumes even more - its pawprint is more like 1.1 gha.

By their reckoning, that is more than the environmental footprint of the average Indian person, who uses just 0.8 gha of resources.

If you are a multiple dog owner you are in even more trouble. Two big dogs have a bigger carbon footprint than some British citizens.

According to the book the average resident of Cardiff requires just 1.89 gha.

The average American, by contrast, requires a whopping 9.5 gha.

Taking a closer look at that 0.84 gha figure for a border collie, New Scientist points out (in an editorial titled "Cute, fluffy, and horribly greedy"):

If that's troubling, there is an even more shocking comparison. In 2004, the average citizen of Vietnam had an ecological footprint of 0.76 hectares. For an Ethiopian, it was just 0.67 hectares. In a world where scarce resources are already hogged by the rich, can we really justify keeping pets that take more than some people?

As I have known for some time now, I am clearly part of the problem. We all are, in a global Tragedy of the Commons.

We need to become part of the solution. If using Fido or Fluffy gets people's attention, then the authors' unusual approach has done its job. Judging from the comments on various news articles, though, there is a significant population who won't quite get the point of the book.

Oh... for those who think the "Time to eat the dog?" people go too far, you might not want to click here.

UPDATE: Ah, it seems it was too bad to be true, or at least too bad to be accurate. Take a look here for a nice skeptical look at the analysis. (In a nutshell, the researchers underestimated the impact of SUVs, and overestimated the impact of dogs; the majority of pet food comes from "byproducts" of the production of food for humans, and cannot be meaningfully seen as competing for the same scarce resources. On the other hand, the Guardian article did focus on a trend of gourmet dog food, which does use the same cuts of meat that people eat. It is, admittedly, a small part of the market.)
Source:
http://digitalcuttlefish.blogspot.in/2009/11/time-to-eat-dog.html