Zenia as a Canadian Monster in Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride

This paper examines the character of Zenia in The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood, focusing on the elements of the novel that are characteristic of Canadian literature.These motifs, which include the split attitude towards nature, the double position of the colonizer and the colonized, victimhood and the treatment of otherness, as well as a sense of inferiority in relation to both Europe and the United States, are examined in an attempt to shed light on the way Atwood uses them to construct Zenia as a fantastically powerful adversary to her three protagonists.Bearing in mind that Atwood has argued that the perceived dullness of Canada might be only a disguise, this paper aims to demonstrate how The Robber Bride's monstrous Zenia brings those hidden hauntings to the forefront.