Surfacing: Analysis of Major Characters
"Surfacing" is a novel that delves into the psychological landscape of its unnamed narrator, a commercial artist in her late twenties, as she returns to a remote island on the U.S.-Canadian border in search of her missing father. Struggling with the aftermath of an abortion and a tumultuous affair with a married man, she becomes increasingly introspective and disconnected from her companions: her boyfriend Joe, her friend Anna, and Anna's husband David. The group attempts to create a film titled "Random Samples," but tensions arise, particularly after the narrator's impulsive act of tossing their film equipment into the lake. Each character grapples with their insecurities and personal conflicts, revealing their hidden fears and desires. David, the oldest, masks his anxieties with humor, while Anna's struggles with self-image and fidelity cast shadows on her marriage. Meanwhile, Paul, a neighbor of the narrator's father, communicates with her through the exchange of vegetables, serving as a connection to her past. The interplay of these characters paints a rich tapestry of human experience, exploration, and emotional turmoil, culminating in a poignant conclusion as the narrator faces a critical decision about her future.
Surfacing: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Margaret Atwood
First published: 1972
Genre: Novel
Locale: A small lake in the Canadian wilderness
Plot: Psychological symbolism
Time: The late 1960's
The narrator, the main protagonist, an unnamed commercial artist and illustrator in her late twenties. She is divorced and the mother of one child. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator is returning to an island on the U.S.-Canadian border, where she will look for her father, a “voluntary recluse” who has disappeared. She spent much of her childhood on this island, except for winters. David and Anna are doing the narrator a favor by driving her and her boyfriend, Joe, to the remote island, which is inaccessible by boat or train. The narrator is disoriented, introverted, and fearful, trying to recover from the shock of an abortion and a broken love affair with a married man. After the four have stayed on the island for a week, the narrator hides from the group and remains on the island when the others leave. She engages in a ritual of grieving for her parents and of shedding the garments and other vestiges of civilization.
Joe, her boyfriend, an avant-garde potter who teaches night school. He seldom speaks. Joe and David are doing a makeshift film, including Anna and the narrator in much of the footage. They plan to put the miscellaneous clips together and call it “Random Samples.” After Joe asks the narrator to marry him and she refuses, a series of conflicts unfolds. In the final scene of the novel, Joe returns to the island with Paul to look for her. He calls to her and waits for her response. The novel ends with the narrator on the brink of making this decision.
Anna, the narrator's so-called best friend, though the narrator has known her for only two months. She is somewhat older than the narrator. Insecure in her marriage of nine years to David, Anna dyes her hair, hides behind a coat of makeup, and worries about getting fat and losing David. She suspects him of being unfaithful. To make her week on the island away from the city and civilization tolerable, she reads many detective novels and rations her cigarettes. Although Anna laughs about David's film behind his back and calls it “Random Pimples,” she tells on the narrator to David and Joe for throwing their film and camera into the lake at the end of their weeklong stay on the island.
David, Anna's husband, a former radio announcer and Bible salesman, now a teacher of communications at the same night school at which Joe works. He speaks through impersonations and jokes, never saying what he really means. He was studying for the ministry when he met Anna. The oldest member of the group, David fears aging, worries about becoming unattractive, and arranges his hair to conceal his balding. He is the first to suggest that the group stay a full week rather than just the two days that they originally planned. He is angry and distraught when he learns that the narrator has dropped his camera and the film for “Random Samples” into the lake.
Paul, a truck farmer, a neighbor of the narrator's father. Paul writes to the narrator when her father disappears. Although Paul speaks only broken English and the narrator speaks only academic French, they communicate through the ritual of exchanging vegetables. Early in the week, Paul brings Bill Malmstrom to the island and delivers “a huge wad of vegetables from his garden.” Later, he comes to the island with Claude to bring word that the narrator's father had been found drowned. Finally, it is Paul who brings Joe to the island in a last search for the narrator.
Madame, Paul's wife, a sturdy woman who has never learned English. She remains nameless and in the background.
Bullhead Evans, “a bulky laconic American” who runs the Blue Moon Cabins. He delivers the group to the island and picks up Joe, Anna, and David a week later.
Bill Malmstrom, a graying executive for “Teenie Town: Togs for Toddlers 'n Tots” in Detroit, Michigan. He identifies himself to the narrator as a “member of the Detroit branch of the Wildlife Protection Association of America.” He is looking for a place where the members can meditate, observe, hunt, and fish because their location on Lake Erie is “giving out.”
The narrator's former lover, a teacher of lettering who appears only in the narrator's memories. Married, with children, he insists that the narrator have an abortion when she becomes pregnant. The narrator ultimately says of him that he was “only a normal man, middle-aged, second-rate, selfish and kind in the average proportions.”
The narrator's brother, who explores mineral rights in Australia. The family legend of his near drowning as a toddler is important to the narrator. She remembers his “labora-tories” in the woods where he kept small animals and insects in jars and often allowed them to die. The narrator has sent him a letter but believes that he has not yet received it.