Exploring (Ab)Normalcy and Neurosis in Atwood’s Cat’s Eye (1988)

Abstract

Social normalcy can be observed as an ambivalent concept since it is understood differently
in different social, spatial, and temporal environments. It is galvanized in the name of social
norms, codes, and customs and functions under the guise of social conformism or social
restrictions. Studying this social phenomenon from a psychological perspective demonstrates
further intricacies and brings to light its detrimental impacts on the individual psyche. In
globalized, multicultural societies, any singular idea of being normal automatically should
become void, which is not the case. Rather, only a set of standardized traits related to beauty,
color, body shape, size, and religion find validation in societies and thus are deemed
‘normal.’ This article aims to scrutinize different facets of social abnormalcy and
maladjustment in relation to neurotic identity formation in Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye
(1988). It intends to establish that there is a correspondent role of social (ab)normalcy in
provoking and sustaining the condition of neurosis in modern societies. To Intervene in this
discussion, the study draws upon the theory of neurosis by Karen Horney and George
Serban’s scholarship on (ab)normalcy. It contributes to both the literary and the theoretical
fields by employing this synergistic framework of inquiry to scrutinize Atwood’s novel.