Margaret Atwood Wilderness

Margaret Atwood’s short story “Wilderness” is about a girl who constantly avoids facing the truth about her husband having an affair with her sisters. Throughout the story, she questions her relationship with her husband and her family but never finds a solution nor a courage to face the reality in her life. Similar to this story, “ Are These Actual Miles?” by Raymond Carver is about a married couple who is forced in a situation to sell their car because they are conflicted with the court from not paying their debt. Although the couple were in a difficult situation, they seem to overlook the family destruction and distract themselves from materialism.
In our society it is very common for people to be blinded by the idea of perfectionism. It is very easy to distract ourselves from reality and refuse to have the courage to face personal conflicts in our life and often times people are afraid of getting out of their comfort …show more content…
In “Wilderness Tips” Portia and her family acts calm and peaceful when family destruction is occurring throughout the story because their get away trip has always been enjoyable and perfect in a way. In “Are These Actual Miles?” Carver demonstrates the idea of materialism throughout the story. For example, towards the end of the story when Leo comes back home drunk after selling a car to a man, Toni suspects her for cheating but does not react as much and instead he lays next her and Carver narrates “He runs his fingers back in forth, first one, then another, they run everywhere in her flesh, dozens, perhaps hundreds of them. He remembers waking up the morning after they bought the car, seeing it, there in the drive, in the sun, gleaming” This quote emphasizes how Toni could care less about her affair and is more focused on losing a car they bought and that is all he can think