Margaret Atwoods’ short story “The Resplendent Quetzal” Essay

The Resplendent Quetzal, by Marg bet Atwood, is the floor of Sarah and Edward, a disparaging husband and wife, who lost their youngster at nativity and consequently lost their love for one a nonher. This story focuses on the singular route that they dealt with the same tragedy and how it led them to become who they are today. Atwood uses symbolization and descriptive character analysis to show how far the degeneration of their kinship has gone. They both continue with their superficial relationship, unable to face the randy scars of their erstwhile(prenominal) be defecate they are as well afraid of the reparations it will generate for the future.Sarah is self-described as honest (271). She views everything Edward does with disdain and scorn, a view that stems from the blame she places on him for their flubs death. His thrifty spending exasperates her they travel via bus, stay in cheap hotels and preferably of going to a perfectly nice restaurant in the village where they were staying (HASF 275) he insists they go to a operatedy, linoleum-tiled hutch (275). Edward bores her with his so-c aloneed obsessions he never sticks with them (except the birds). She too had once herself been one of his obsessions (271). Sarah views Edward as a total idiot (272), stipulation the fact that he of all time appears to fall for her bird trick, which in flex insults, yet eve more so, confuses Edward. For someone Sarah so devious, she was often implausibly stupid (272). Sarah represses her festering emotions by being curt and contemptuous, creating a starched, nevertheless functional relationship.Sarahs continuous belittlement of Edward drives him to be continuously occupied. Subsequently he appears to be an on the go, eager to learn man, busying himself with his job as a Grade 6 t for each oneer and his ever-changing hobbies. He cannot face the emotional pain of the loss of the kid either, but more so, he does not endure how to deal with Sarahs emotional nast iness. Vulnerable and weak, Edward succumbs to Sarahs contaminating behaviour for he cannot accept or understand what their relationship has become.The mending of the story symbolizes the state of their marriage. The story is set at the site of ancient Mayan ruins somewhere in Mexico, now everywhererun with big-hatted American tourists and gold-toothed Mexican guides. The importantattraction of the site is an ancient Mayan sacrificial well. It is large and mud-brown with a few clumps of reeds growing in the murky water. Sarah had envisioned something more like a wishing well, not this primitive, swamp-like hole in the ground. Sarahs have a bun in the ovenations of what the well would odor like symbolize what she thinks her and Edwards relationship should have turned out to be like. Instead, she is just disappointed. The Mayan ruins symbolize the remains of their marriage. The foundation and its structures have been destroyed passing nothing but a dysfunctional pile of rubble. In an act to escape from the truth of their marriage, the Edward and Sarah go on spend. To be on vacation is to go somewhere out of the ordinary and to take a depart from ones everyday behavior. This is what Sarah and Edward hoped to do by going to Mexico, to get away from the in a bad way(p) reality of their marriage. They tried to escape the real humanness by ingress a superficial one. The westernization of the village they are staying in and the commercialization of the Mayan ruins instance their superficial homo. The authencetic Mexican diner where they ate had a radiocommunication shaped like Fred Flintstone playing American pop songs, a crche with an eclectic collection of holy figurines and a TV playing a dubbed version of The Cisco Kid.The Mayan site was swarming with foreign tourists with their generic guidebooks, angry walk hats and large tasteless (276) handbags. Both places covered up the natural, real world for a supposed more openhearted and beneficial one. The real world is seen in the ancient well, the ruined pyramids, and the fleas whose bites swell-up (271) on Edwards legs. Reality is less appealing but will continue to exist whether it is acknowledged or not.As Sarah sits alone by the well, she remembers the early days of her and Edwards relationship. He had divided with her his love of birds, and she realizes that derriere then that she actually had been touched and interested (271) when he confided this in her. When she had gotten pregnant shed taken meticulous care of herself (279), fearing that her baby would be born with a deformity or worse. Instead, it had been a public child, its death a freak accident. There wasno one to blame, except, obscurely Edward (279). Sarahs reaction to their babys death was nonchalant Well, thats that, she had said in the hospital afterwards (279). Edward had been theone to cry, not her. She but bottled up her pain and sadness, hiding it from Edward and herself. Thus, began the slow disinteg ration of their relationship.To Edward it now seemed Sarah was always waiting or looking for something, maybe her lost (279) child. After the babys death, Edward seemed to lose interest in her. Sarah saw him emotionally retract her, leaving her alone with the corpse (279). Edward had at first tried to be emotionally supportive of Sarah. He pushed for another child, thinking maybe it would eliminate the past and bring back the happiness they had both once shared. Instead, she alone distanced herself from him. Sarah could not understand how Edward could ask her for another baby, it was too much for anyone to expect of her (279) this fuelled her growing distaste for him. Edward now clings to the false hope of another child and another chance at happiness he does not require to admit failure.Neither Sarah nor Edward wishes to be involved with each other, they both know that their relationship is not a relationship anymore it is not even a convenience. The problem is that neither wis hes to take the route of separation because they both know the pain it will trigger. This causes them only to fantasize about life without the other. Sarah wishes Edward dead it is not that she wants him to die, she just cannot imagine any other way for him to disappear (274). Edward fantasizes himself as King Kong, picking Sarah up and hurling her over the edgeinto the sacrificial well (273). His thoughts then turn to changing Sarahs appearance even in his head game, she is not fit for sacrifice.Edwards fantasy parallels Sarah throwing of the stolen, plaster baby Jesus into the well. The sacrificial nature of it is Sarahs sweat to throw away the bane of her existencethe death of her baby. With it, she throws down all hope and happiness, leaving her with nothing but pain and grief. Sarah is forced to momently face reality her baby is gone and is not climax back. It is a poignant moment of self-truth for her. She breaks down and starts repetitive, unable to deal with the represse d emotions that are welling up inside almost breaking through the surface. However, as Edward approachesSarah regains her poise, the emotions displace to retreat into the depths of her being. For reasons unbeknown, she cannot show the man, whom she swore to share a life with, the true accomplishment of her grief.Ironically, Edward wishes for nothing but for Sarah to let down her wall, yet when he sees her crying he does not know how to react. This isnt like you, Edward said pleading, as if that was a final argument that would snap her out of it and bring back the old, calm Sarah (280). He lacks the courage to confront her emotions, which would in turn cause him to confront his own. Sarahs unhappiness stems from the loss of the baby. Edwards unhappiness stems from Sarahs contempt of him.The Resplendent Quetzal addresses the different reactions of people to the same initial crisis and the ensnare it has on their relationship. Edward and Sarah both faced the same trauma, but instead of coming together and jointly overcoming the problem, they use it as a weapon against each other. Their relationship engages only feelings of hate and frustration for one another. The story ends without a conclusion. Sarah recovers from her moment of distress and smoothes her skirt (280), resuming her standard functional relationship with Edward. She then asks Edward if he had found his bird. Sarah had said that the one bird she wanted to see on their trip was the Resplendent Quetzal. It is obvious that neither of them will baring their bird on this trip. Their bird is the happiness of their past that they sacrificed by quash their problems and fears.