IGNOU MEG-12 Block 3 Summary | Surfacing
- Last Updated On October 15, 2025
Table of Contents
Here you will get the detailed summary of IGNOU MEG 12 Block 3 – Surfacing.
We have provided the summary of all units starting from unit 1 to unit 4.
Introduction
IGNOU MEG-12 Block 3 focuses on Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing, one of the most important works in Canadian literature. This block situates the novel within the larger development of the Canadian novel and explores Atwood’s life and thematic concerns. It then provides an in-depth analysis of Surfacing in terms of structure, characterisation, technique, language, and symbolism. Through this text, the block examines the tensions between colonial identity, feminism, nationalism, and environmental consciousness, making Surfacing a landmark novel in Canadian writing.
Unit 1: Development of the Canadian Novel
This unit traces the evolution of the Canadian novel from its early roots to contemporary times. Initially influenced by British literary traditions, Canadian fiction gradually developed its own voice, shaped by the country’s unique historical, cultural, and geographical contexts.
Key developments include:
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Early Canadian novels often centred on exploration, survival, and the wilderness.
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As Canada matured politically, themes shifted toward identity, alienation, multiculturalism, and postcolonialism.
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The rise of women novelists, including Margaret Atwood, marked a turn toward feminist themes, environmental concerns, and psychological realism.
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Canadian fiction increasingly grappled with questions of nationalism, language, and belonging, seeking to distinguish itself from American and British literature.
This unit situates Surfacing within a tradition of self-exploration and cultural redefinition, reflective of a postcolonial and feminist Canadian sensibility.
Unit 2: Margaret Atwood – Life and Works
This unit explores the life, career, and literary concerns of Margaret Atwood, one of Canada’s most internationally renowned authors. Atwood is a poet, novelist, critic, and essayist, and her works are known for their engagement with feminism, ecology, politics, and mythology.
Highlights include:
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Atwood’s background in literature and environmental studies influences her writing, particularly in her portrayal of female consciousness and the natural world.
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Her major works include The Handmaid’s Tale, The Edible Woman, Alias Grace, and Surfacing, each reflecting a distinct phase of her feminist thought.
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Surfacing (1972) is considered a pivotal novel in her career, dealing with themes of psychological trauma, gender identity, and national dislocation.
This unit establishes the authorial and ideological framework necessary to understand Surfacing as both a personal and political novel.
Unit 3: Surfacing – Theme, Structure, Technique and Characterisation
This unit delves into the core analytical elements of Surfacing, discussing its narrative structure, themes, techniques, and characters in detail.
Key themes include:
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Feminism and identity: The unnamed narrator’s journey is symbolic of a woman’s search for selfhood in a patriarchal society.
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Colonialism and nationalism: The novel critiques both American cultural imperialism and Canadian complicity.
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Nature and spirituality: Nature is not just a backdrop but a site of rebirth, healing, and confrontation with the unconscious.
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Memory and trauma: The narrator’s psychological breakdown mirrors suppressed personal and national histories.
Structural and technical features:
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The novel uses a first-person, fragmented narrative, reflecting the narrator’s inner turmoil and unreliability.
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The technique of mythic patterning, including the descent-ascent motif, enhances its symbolic depth.
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Characters are intentionally flat or symbolic, representing broader social and psychological forces rather than individual complexity.
This unit shows how Atwood weaves personal, political, and ecological elements into a cohesive yet disturbing narrative.
Unit 4: Surfacing – Language
This unit examines how language functions thematically and symbolically in Surfacing. Atwood presents language not as a neutral medium but as a site of power, alienation, and resistance.
Highlights:
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The narrator gradually withdraws from language, reflecting her disillusionment with rational, Western, patriarchal modes of understanding.
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The novel critiques how language can distort reality, particularly through political propaganda and interpersonal manipulation.
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Silence becomes a form of resistance, and non-verbal communication with nature and the self gains greater significance by the end of the novel.
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The language of madness, dreams, and memory blurs the lines between reality and hallucination, forcing the reader to question the nature of truth and narrative.
This unit positions Surfacing as a novel where the deconstruction of language mirrors the decolonisation of the mind, making it a deeply philosophical and postmodern work.