Fall of Man Depicted in Atwoods Backdrop Addresses...

Fall of Man Depicted in Atwoodsnbsp; Backdrop Addresses Cowboynbsp;nbsp; The sexual politics of the man-woman relationship, or more specifically the sexual exploitation of women by men, is a clear concern in Margaret Atwoods Backdrop Addresses Cowboy. Although the oppressor-as-male theme is by no means an original source of poetic inspiration, Atwoods distinction is that she views the destructive man-woman relationship as a metaphor for, symptom and symbol of, bigger things. From the vantage-point of feminine consciousness, Margaret Atwood empahsizes the backdrop as being not only the woman, but also the land and the spiritual life of the universe; the cowboy is both a man bent on personal gain (possibly an American based†¦show more content†¦Perhaps the creation of a relatively structureless poem intentionally suggests by Atwood that no adequate structure exists to make the images of pain and death meaningful. The literal meaning of the first stanza is not difficult to grasp as it introduces an actor portraying a cowboy against a western backdrop on a movie set. Starspangled suggests his costume is less than authentic and is worn more for commercial appeal than factual representation. The almost-silly west and paper-mache cactus perpetuate the artifice of the western movie by setting a scene which relies on props and phony imagery. Even the actors porcelain grin is weak and easily broken. The implicit reality of this stanza is that the cowboy is a symbol of Americanism. he represents the triumph og man over nature, the taming of the west. the cowboy embodies imperialistic strength and he is idolized for his heroism by millions of people who are influenced by mass-media propaganda, namely, the western movie. The second stanza, though only two lines in length and undifferentiate by lack of punctuation, carries a powerful message. the cowboys virtue is directly compared to the dangerous, criminal potential of a bullet in a simile