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Literary Analysis Paper: Tone

This poem Cell by Margaret Atwood is a very intriguing and striking

poem as it describes the naturalness o the cancer cell!how the cell lives the

way it is "programmed# to be!and compares it to us$ This poem triggered many%uestions in my mind$ The comparison between cancer cells and humans

%uestions the "goodness# o humans as what we are doing is similar to the

cancer cell which we deem "evil$# &urthermore' it also %uestions whether good

or evil actually e(ists or is )ust a social construct to di*erentiate what we +nd

avorable or unavorable$

The poem starts with the sentence ",ow look ob)ectively# which indicates

that rom the beginning o this poem we should look at the cancer cell without

the knowledge that these cells kill people to interere with how you view it$ $ -t

allows us to see these monstrous cells through the eye o a scientist$ These cells

are not as something "evil# but rather a creature that coe(ists with us$ This

sentence actually sets the mood and tone o the poem as it somehow removes

the monster.%uality o the cell' and breaks it down to something natural$

The ollowing lines o the poem described the cancer cell by comparing it

to /owers' to tentacles' spines' gills!to nature in general$ This kind o

description seems to emphasi0e that the cancer cell is )ust another natural

occurrence with its own beauty' )ust like every other part o nature$ 1owever'

)ust because it is beautiul does not imply that it is not dangerous$ 2eauty' ater

all' can be deceptive$ Although' the cell is something natural it is unnatural to

us because the cancer cell being a creature that coe(ists with us is inside our

body )ust like an alien$ -n the third stan0a' however' there seems to be a turning

point$ &rom describing what a cancer cell looks and is like it )umps to

describing how a cancer cell behaves like$ The third stan0a is especially

insightul' rom describing the cancer cell as a /ower in the +rst stan0a' a

Martian in the second' it is now being described as money: "its spores scatter

elsewhere' take root' like money$# This comparison o the cancer cell to money

seems to imply that money is something that take root in us$ -t becomes the

priority o some people and somehow acts like a "cancer# because instead o

prioriti0ing the things that are important like amily' riends' love' people

become much more interested in their survival and money$ -n the ourth stan0a'

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it urther describes the cancer cell as a creature with a voracious appetite: "To

take more$ To eat more$ To replicate itsel3orever$# Aside rom describing the

cancer cell as such it also compares it to us$ This seems to imply that the cell is

not the enemy here it )ust does what it is programmed to do$ -t is )ust like us'something that wants to live and grow$ Aside' rom that the last stan0a

especially the last like also implies that we are also mindless' compassionless

organism oblivious to the harm we in/ict to a larger body' whether the society

or the planet$ -t also implies that humans are similar to cancer cells in a sense

that we are very greedy and sel+sh creatures who put ourselves and our

survival +rst$ 4e are as presented as creatures mindlessly moving through lie'

consuming whatever we encounter' spreading and seeking everywhere

material enrichment that we need to sustain our physical e(istence$