"As we proceed, the farms become fewer, rockier, more desperate-looking, the trees change their ratios, coniferous moving in on deciduous." (True North, pp. 14) As the north is closer, the land becomes harder for people to reside and trees occupy more lands than humans. The ideas that Atwood proposes not only provide attributes of what the "true north" is, but also differentiate the "true north" from other opinions about north. .
Atwood builds much of her arguments with examples that explain the aggression of the north to support her definition on the "True North." Here, Atwood demonstrates that the north shields itself to prevent people from approaching. "Off the road is other. Try walking in it, and you"ll find out why all the early traffic here was by water. "Impenetrable wilderness" is not just verbal." (True North, pp. 34) The nature forms an intensive pressure ravage upon any people who enter it. Yet, other than the disturbing pressure, Atwood also suggests more reason that why people should not get near to the north by portraying a dark atmosphere within the nature. " but getting lost in the forest is worse. It's tangly in there, and dim, and one tree does begin to look remarkably like another and you begin to feel watched- (True North, pp. 36) When someone intrudes the nature, a pressure of being watched is created, and it feels like something will attack the intruder anytime. By creating a haunted and unsociable mood that expands throughout the story, Atwood explains north's hostility and isolation; furthermore, she reveals that it's nature's animosity toward humans which makes the north a hostile environment.
Atwood extends her analysis further by showing the denouement that north has for those careless people who enter its domain. Atwood implies that the north possesses a mystery that causes enormous mental effects on people who have interacted with it; or more so, nature's pressure has driven them insane.
