Hairball Essay - 1382 Words

Hairball A solitary woman sits in conversation with a benign tumour that had just recently been removed from her ovary. As the woman speaks, the inanimate tumour, which she has named Hairball, looks on from its glass encased perch atop the fireplace. The scene is macabre and certainly unusual, but such is the life of Kat, the main character in Margaret Atwood’s short story, Hairball. Kat’s life is filled with the unusual and the shocking, a lifestyle that has been self-imposed. Throughout the years, Kat, an avant garde fashion photographer, has altered her image, even her name, to suit the circumstances and the era. Over time Kat has fashioned a seemingly strong and impenetrable exterior, but as Kat’s life begins to disintegrate†¦show more content†¦Finally, when she found her way to England, she became Kat, â€Å"[the name Kat] was economical, street-feline, and pointed as a nail.† The short, hard name was a reflection of her hard demeanor. Kat constantly tried to separate herself from the commonality of her environment. When she was told that her tumor was fairly common her reply was that, â€Å"She would have preferred uniqueness.† Kat wanted to stand out; she did not want to be another â€Å"Clarissa, Meliassa or Penelope,† but she understood that conformity, to the values of her society, would be a requirement if she wanted to succeed in her personal and professional life. With this in mind, Kat chose to integrate those values into her own personal approach. She’d shaved off most of her hair, worked on the drop-dead stare, perfected a certain turn of the neck that conveyed an aloof inner authority. What you had to you had to make them believe was that you knew something they didn’t know yet. (p.17) As the conflict between Kat and her society, she finds herself losing the fight. Despite accolades she received while working on the razor’s edge, Kat’s life is less than successful. Her relationships with competitive men and left her broken and hurt. â€Å"Twice she had abortions, because the men in question were not up for the alternative† (pp.17). Kat’s choice toShow MoreRelatedWhy Cats Are Bad Pets750 Words   |  3 Pagesto let a cat lick you, knowing where their tongue has been? It’s just disgusting, filthy, and sickening. While it’s nice to not have to bath them, during each cleaning they ingest a small amount of hair and it accumulates until it grows into a wet hairball that they need to cough up on your expensive wood flooring, your new carpet, or your bed. Another nasty habit with cats is spraying. When an un-neutered male cat feels threatened, he will spray urine everywhere, as a way of marking his territoryRead MoreOrbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie Essay1990 Words   |  8 PagesOrbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie The book Orbiting the Giant Hairball was written by Gordon MacKenzie in 1996. Originally self-published the book became a business cult classic. Gordon was an employee of Hallmark Cards for 30 years, where heRead MoreThe Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain930 Words   |  4 Pagesuses a hairball to supposedly tell Huck’s future. He told Huck there was â€Å"a spirit inside of it, and it knowed everything.† (p.17). At first glance it seems like Jim is very stupid to believe that a hairball really had magic powers that â€Å"knowed everything†; however, with closer inspection, we realize this is not the case. Before Jim tells Huck the future, Jim says that the hairball â€Å"wouldn’t talk without money.†(p.17). Huck tries to give Jim a counterfeit quarter, and Jim says the hairball acceptsRead MoreDo You Have A Long Haired Cat?1531 Words   |  7 Pagesthe ins and outs of common problems arising from cats shedding their hair. We will d iscuss what is normal, what is not and what you need to do to diagnose a medical condition. I will also provide you some home remedies and tips to keep those nasty hairballs at bay. Nature intended cats to be outdoor animals but we have changed the whole equation now. This creates a imbalance within the cats natural hair loss cycle. As a result indoor cats commonly shed for the entire year while outdoor cats will normallyRead MoreScorning Slavery in Mark Twain ´s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1466 Words   |  6 Pagesconsults Jim’s ox hairball. At first the hairball doesn’t respond. Jims attributes this to that fact that â€Å" sometimes it [wont] talk without money† Jim hesitates to accept counterfeit money, but gives in. Jim proceeds to provide Huck with a vague interpretation of his future. Although it may seem humorous asking a hairball to predict one’s fortune, as its an inanimate object that came from the stomach from a cow. The hairball is not magical, but a rather disgusting object. The hairball has no powersRead MoreSupernatural Beings in Mark Twains Adventures of Huckleberry Fin527 Words   |  2 Pagesask him why old Pap is here. So what Jim does is that he finds a hairball the size of a fist that he stole from an ox’s stomach. Jim at first talks the hairball by asking â€Å"Why is Pap here?† But the hair ball obviously doesn’t speak so then what Jim does is that if he thinks that if he paid the hairball that it would talk to him and answer his questions. Huck then gave Jim a quarter and Jim slid the quarter right under the hairball, then Jim asks the same question he asked early to the hair ball andRead MoreSuperstition : Superstition And Superstition Essay1911 Words   |  8 Pagessupernatural and the world that is unknown. Superstition played an important role that took place several times in the story. A belief that killing a spider is a bad sign, touching snakeskin with bare hands can only bring bad luck, and the belief that a hairball can tell a persons future, are all examples of some of the superstitions found throughout their journey. Throughout this novel, Jim and Huckleberry Finn rely on superstition rather than the use of common sense or logical reasoning because they’dRead MoreHuck and Jim: Breaking Free on the Mississippi 927 Words   |  4 Pagesof Jim’s life, as he often enjoys sharing his folklore with others. A hairball, a practice of African origin, is Jim’s way of telling fortune. Jim put the quarter under the hair-ball, and got down and listened again. This time he said the hair-ball was all right. He said it would tell my whole fortune if I wanted it to. I says, go on. So the hair-ball talked to Jim, and Jim told it to me. (p.25). Jim’s use of his hairball shows both his superstition and tradition being used to help Huck andRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Huckleberry Finn 1319 Words   |  6 Pages† (Tw ain 2, 7) This quote shows Jim s firm belief that the supernatural exists. Several times throughout the book, Jim s belief in the supernatural is brought up again. One of those times is when Jim puts a quarter under the â€Å"magic† hairball. The magic hairball being a ball of hair that can tell the future. The same belief of the supernatural is also shown in Huck. This quote by Huck, â€Å"I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast every time; and then I tied up a littleRead MoreThe Lion King Movie Analysis Essay examples1331 Words   |  6 Pagesto influence Scar. Scar made it clear that he was envious of Simba’s birthright to be future king when he said: â€Å"I was first in line until that little hairball was born†8 (see Exhibit 4). With little concern for Scar’s dissatisfaction, Mufasa responded immediately in a loud, threatening tone: â€Å"That hairball is my son and your future king† 8. Scar then walked away defiantly, and Mufasa leapt in front of him, roared and reacted as though he were challenging Mufasa’s