The Barometer
Paul’s wooden barometer, which features a wooden man and woman inside,
becomes an unfortunately accurate emblem of marriage for the narrator. The
narrator’s shifting assessment of the barometer traces her shifting
attitudes toward marriage. Initially, the narrator views the barometer
couple as representative of a simplistic and even empty marriage, and she
compares them to Paul and Madame. She mentions how Paul and Madame even look
wooden. The narrator later compares the barometer couple to Anna and David
in that the wooden couple, like Anna and David’s happiness, is not real. The
narrator also thinks of the barometer in relation to her parents. She
compares the image of the barometer with the image of her mother and father
sawing a piece of birch. The image of the birch is evocative because the
narrator associates birches with unspoiled nature. The implication is that
the barometer represents an unattainable, unrealistic version of love,
whereas her parents possess true love.
The Hanged Heron
The hanged heron at the portage represents the American destruction of
nature. The narrator obsesses over the senselessness of its slaughter,
especially that it was hanged and not buried. The heron’s death emphasizes
that the narrator defines someone as American based on his or her actions.
She condemns any act of senseless violence or waste as distinctly American.
That the bird is killed with a bullet and hanged using a nylon rope
emphasizes the subversion of nature to technology. Also, the narrator thinks
of the hanged bird as a Christ-like sacrifice, which reflects Christian
ideology. By using Christian ideas to describe nature, the narrator
emphasizes her near-religious reverence for nature. The narrator also
compares herself to the heron during her madness, when she worries that the
search party will hang her by the feet. By associating the narrator with the
hanged heron, Atwood associates the way Americans destroy nature with the
way men control women.
Makeup
Anna’s makeup, which David demands she wear at all times, represents
the large-scale subjugation of women. The narrator compares Anna to a doll
when she sees her putting on makeup, because Anna becomes David’s sexual
plaything. At the same time, makeup represents female deception. Anna uses
makeup as a veneer of beauty, and the behavior is representative of the way
she acts virtuous (but sleeps with other men) and happy (but feels
miserable). Makeup goes completely against the narrator’s ideal of a natural
woman. The narrator calls herself a natural woman directly after her
madness, when she looks in a mirror and sees herself naked and completely
disheveled. The narrator comments that Anna uses makeup to emulate a corrupt
womanly ideal.
The Ring
The narrator’s ring symbolizes marriage and its entrapping effects.
The narrator describes wearing both her boyfriend’s and her fake husband’s
rings around her neck. She compares her rings to a crucifix or a military
decoration. The crucifix suggests that marriage is not only a sacrifice but
a sacrifice toward a false ideal. The image of a military decoration implies
that marriage forces women into becoming the spoils of war. Atwood uses the
narrator’s ring to foreshadow Joe’s demand for marriage, as she mentions in
Chapter 1 that Joe fiddles with the narrator’s ring.
