ABSTRACT
Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man is most definitely not a comedy. It would also seem, at least at first glance, not political. The political pole of engagement in human affairs is, arguably, the one people should be running toward. Running is the apt metaphor, for, several times in the novel, we see Nate jogging the oval around Queens Park. Atwood's picture of the political and economic realms suggests that more should care about the former and more should feel love, not just that there has or has not been a fair exchange, in the latter. The only two resisters in Life Before Man are Nate and Lesje; their personalities impede their ability to resist the force inherent in the books world that seems to be propelling humankind to an emotional extinction. Life Before Man is so bleak that it probably tops most peoples list as their least favorite Atwood novel.
