The Kat's Meow

            This well crafted story intertwines ones personal struggles with identity and the battle one undergoes while suffering through a significant personal loss. Margaret Atwood's, "Hairball- is based around the main character Kat and her personal struggles with three major conflicts: The conflict within the society in which she lives, the conflict with her romantic interests (specifically Ger), and finally the physical conflict she faces with her own body. .
             The story begins when Kat goes in to the doctor to have an ovarian tumor removed. When the tumor is removed it is was as-Big as a coconut- (21) and contained red hair, "There were little bones in it too, or fragments of bones; bird bones, the bones of a sparrow crushed by a car. There was a scattering of nails, toe or finger. There were five perfectly formed teeth."" Kat names the tumor "hairball- and places it on her mantelpiece for all to see. The "hairball- seems to reflect her vulnerable nature and her need for children but the personal struggles Kat endures in a society embedded in superficiality have intern caused an emotional imbalance in her personal life. 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 we discover that the strong exterior is just a facade devised to protect a weak and fragile interior.
             From the beginning of Kat's life, she was at odds with her environment. When she was a child she was a child, she was Katherine, a doll like representation of what her mother wanted her to be, " romantic Katherine, dressed by her misty eyed, fussy mother that looked like ruffled pillows -As a teenager she was Kathy a representation of what others wanted her to be " a bouncy round faced girl with the gleaming freshly washed hair and enviable teeth, eager to please and no more interesting than a health food ad-(23) By the time she reached university she was the not so eager to please blunt Kath.