As I am reading The Edible Woman, by Margaret Atwood I am constantly found questioning myself on why Marian keeps returning to Duncan, the lowlife graduate student with no push to ever make anything of himself. I am conflicted with the facts of their contrary personalities and outlooks on life. Marian seems to want to make something of herself. She wants to find a new and prospering job, have a husband, and one day be a mother so it seems. On the contrary, Duncan is a shriveled up, long past graduation, graduate student looking for nothing more in life other than another cigarette.
In addition to their contrasting personalities, Marian is engaged! This is why I am faced with the question of why Marian feels the need to return to Duncan again and again. What is Marian's purpose in seeing Duncan? Of course the first couple times they met it was coincidental. In fact, after their first meeting I am surprised Marian did not refuse to speak to him when they ran into each other a second time. Marian never truly states it, but everytime she thinks of Duncan she feels somewhat content. She talks of hoping to see him out and even purposely goes to places where she has a better chance of seeing him, like the laundromat.
The piece that really confuses me is that Duncan continually tells Marian that she does not mean anything to him. She is what Duncan calls a "subsitute". In this scene on page 156, Marian then contemplates to herself what he is a "subsitute" for then, in her case. This is the scene from where my question resignates. What need is Marian fulfilling with seeing Duncan? Is it so she does not have to face her real friends (if she has any), her real fiance, or just her real life?
I believe that Marian is feeling like she is being taken captive in her own body and relationships. She feels taken control of. When her self-centered roomate Ainsley, is around, Marian is either being negatively judged or just ignored. When she visits with Clara, her friend from college who now seems to just be wasting away in motherhood, all she hears about is Clara's life. In the office, Marian gets caught up in the life of surveys and gossip from the "office virgins" that is completely irrelevant to her own life. In addition to all this, when she is with her controlling fiance, Peter, he practically decides every move that she is going to make and if she does not do what he would prefer, he gets upset and disappointed. To Marian, it seems like no one cares. When Marian meets Duncan, I believe she feels that he is not holding her down or holding her back in life. She is able to talk to someone who does not judge her. Duncan temporarily fills her needs, just as she fills his. No one cares about her: her life, her emotions, or her future. Marian is slowly sinking into a depression and of which type no one is quite certain or aware of. She cannot even determine what is going on with herself. Marian's response to this is that her body and mind start rejecting food. It is not that she is not hungry, she just cannot eat the food because she sees it still as living and remembers where it came from.
I believe this rejection of food is her acting out on the uncertainty of her life. Deep down, she knows her life is not going in the right direction. This mindset is what causes theseactions in many people today. People do not know what to do in their life. They feel the need to be noticed, or to be understood. I believe Marian's actions convey the actions of many in the real world. People are looking to be helped or even to just be understood.
I am taken back again to my question of why Marian needs to keep retreating to see Duncan. What does he fulfill in her? Deep down, I believe that Duncan fulfills all of Marian's needs. Temporarily or not, he is able to do it somehow. At this point in my reading it seems as if he is able to fulfill her biggest need, the need to stay alive and well: her need of mental food.
Libby,
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with what you're talking about. The big question that I keep going back to, just like you, is "what need is Marian fulfilling by being with Duncan?" Their little rendezvous are awkward and almost uncomfortable to read at times. They are two completely different people, yet, something continues to draw Marian back to Duncan again and again. On the other side, Duncan keeps seeking out contact with Marian, but why?? Like you even said, he sees her as a 'substitute' and even says "I don't even really like you." That's where I really get confused. If they are both just using each other, then what are the two being used for? I really hope that Atwood makes that clearer by the end of the book.
I also have to agree that I am troubled by the fact that Duncan seems to have no reservations about Marian being engaged. He says that 'it's your problem,' which is true, but wouldn't you feel the slightest bit guilty in his shoes? The same goes for Marian. She doesn't seem fazed by her actions at all. I mean, at first she seemed to, but now, I'm beginning to think that subconsciously she is being drawn closer and closer to Duncan and I'm interested to see how the end of the story turns out. I still think that Marian will stay with Peter (even though she doesn't appear to really like him), but then again, her and Duncan's 'relationship' is so unpredictable that I think anything can happen with them, too.
Libby, I think another thing that is important to consider is: what is Atwood trying to say about Marian by making her have these weird feelings toward food, eventually making Marian unable to eat meat and turning her into a vegetarian, until she begins to realize she doesn't like carrots anymore, either. I'm wondering if Atwood is trying link these food metaphors to the relationship of Marian/Peter and Marian/Duncan. Personally, I have no idea how they are linked together yet, but I just have a feeling they are somehow.
I think Duncan gives Marian the false sense that she's needed. Duncan lets Marian see him as weak and vulnerable, something Peter would never do. Duncan seems to be an object of pity for Marian and she believes she can change him. I think Marian would like to see this side of Peter. Marian never fully realizes, though, that Duncan's weak and vulnerable nature is an act. She wants someone to be "honest" with her and she feels that after she digs through all of Duncan's surface issues, he really is honest (even if it is just another act.) As for Emma's assertion that Marian does not feel fazed by her actions, I agree. I think that she's been with Peter for so long and foresees herself being with Peter for the rest of her life that she doesn't see her meetings with Duncan as a betrayal. Marian believes that her and Peter will end up together no matter what happens, so whether she cheats on him with Duncan or not is a mute point.
ReplyDeleteI think towards the end of the book, Marian's relationship with Duncan helps her to realize that there is life outside of her relationship with Peter. Marian had already sacrificed her job for Peter, since he could support her financially. I think, though, that eventually Marian comes to the realization that Peter and Duncan are two sides of the same coin. They both are dominating and egotistical and neither one really has Marian's best interests in mind. For them, Marian is like food - something to simply consume to fill their emotional hunger.