The Heart Goes Last discussion

I got this book because I wanted to read something I'd love. I've been reading some disheartening non-fiction lately. I've been reading the news... :-( I thought: I need a dose of fiction!

But, of course, no matter how much I love MA's story telling, her character development, her mind bending alternate reality... this is hitting way too close to home right now. The idea of a world driven by corporate greed as social networks fail (never existed?)... It's sobering.

I'm struck in this moment by the knitting groups. You can feel Charmaine longing for the comfort and security of sharing her ideas with her little community, but you realize she never really has and now when she needs them, the organization has changed her group anyway, so she's surrounded by distrustful strangers. What a powerful symbol for the consequence of letting our relationships atrophy! What a sobering thought that even when one is surrounded by people who surfacely share your values, you can ultimately be vulnerable and alone.

Poor Charmaine!

I don't really feel like Charmaine had a capacity for true loyalty. The one person she was most bonded to was her husband, and she betrayed him in multiple ways throughout the book. She made many decisions that showed she was focused on getting the upper hand on others. You could make a case that she had unwittingly found herself competing in the power struggle at the top of her closed society, but once she was there, she did willingly play the game.

I do think she felt the loss of status during the time she was kept in prison and worked in the laundry, but remember, she was lamenting losing her job of (view spoiler)[ coldly executing undesireables (hide spoiler)]. My sympathies for her position at that time were pretty small. I thought the time when she was being handled by a faction that was bent on toppling the top man was more sympathetic, because she was clearly being used at that point.

Now that I've finished the book, I COMPLETELY AGREE w you about Charmaine. Well said. MA didn't give us any characters to really love and/or admire, here.

At the end, though, when she realizes she's duped herself into "loving" (whatever that means) her husband, I think MA raises the question of is Charmaine capable of truly loving anyone? Does she know herself well enough mebbe to even love herself?

Me, I don't find her very loveable. ;-)

I like Charmaine as a character. I find her fascinating because she is so cold and shallow. I definitely would want nothing to do with her in real life, though. I think there's a case for diagnosing her as a sociopath. Atwood does a great job of taking us into her thoughts and showing us the absence of any type of true regard for anyone else. Perhaps the way she was raised with the early abuse and the later sheltering by her grandmother from the social unrest led Charmaine to this coping mechanism, because she does have some expert skills at surviving her own (and other people's) messes. I was so surprised when (view spoiler)[the story ended with her living happily ever after with Stan, the only possible problem being her own self-destructive tendency towards affairs, which is foreshadowed when she learns that she still has that choice and the idea immediately seems attractive to her. (hide spoiler)]

How can I see the spoilers removed part of your posts?

What about C's regard for the two co-eds? Remember how she wanted to help Sandi (I can't remember her name now) but Sandi had to urge C to leave her to her fate? That wasn't sociopathic...

I agree that her upbringing definitely contributes to her character. She suppresses a LOT. Perhaps that's how she is able to ACT sociopathic even though she is a decent human being. She's has to truncate herself in order to survive. She's MADE HERSELF be shallow. She wasn't inherently that way. At the end, it's like she's given permission to grow again and in cliff hanger like style, we're left wondering if at this point she has it in her. But I'd say MA let's us believe that as a child, she was no different from any of us. Her early environment definfitelt shaped her.

If you click on the view spoilers area, it will open up and you will be able to view it.

We aren't given any indication whether Charmaine's problems were the result of faulty wiring or bad upbringing. I tend to believe that it makes little difference in any area but in blaming (which is itself sort of worthless). I don't see much indication of growth in her. Society or family is not a cure-all for what is missing in a person. (view spoiler)[Her reconciliation to Stan and the arrival of her daughter does not stop her from becoming excited by the choice of finding another man. (hide spoiler)] I think perhaps Atwood is making a point about free will and our continued attraction to the idea of using it to destroy ourselves and those around us.