Verna is very typical of the characters in Stone Mattress. Book Review: 'Stone Mattress,' By Margaret Atwood | In her latest collection, Margaret Atwood takes on death, dreadfulness and the use of fantasy. Atwood uses a stromatolite as it has layers to describe the character of Verna. “Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales” is a collection of nine short stories by Margaret Atwood. SSR #8 Stone Mattress By Margaret Atwood Clarissa Albrecht Stromatolites (from the Greek 'stroma' = mattress/layer and 'lithos' = stone… She excels in the slow drip of information. Her stories, at least to me, are more about the human psyche and just happen to have science fiction and fantasy elements. Shortcuts: Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress, Eliza Robertson's Wallflowers An icon's return to always-slippery form, and an ambitious debut collection This Study Guide consists of approximately 40 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Stone Mattress. There’s almost always an anti-heroine in Atwood’s novels, usually the character who haunts the … Verna herself had no interest in sex as such, but she knew what was likely to work. But she soon gives up on that. A "stone mattress" in the titular tale of this short story collection serves as a painful reminder of past events. Stone Mattress: “At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone. . Verna has a strong character which is likened with a stromatolite. There are multiple reocurring themes throughout this collection. While… Free Example of Stone Mattress Essay The story is about Verna, a woman in her sixties. Irony is used throughout “Stone Mattress” in order to create suspense and interest. Verna isn’t the only murderess in The Stone Mattress, belonging as she does to an illustrious line of Atwoodian women who break both stereotype and laws. In “Stone Mattress,” what is most obviously drawn from real life is the rough treatment some women receive at the hands of some men, setting the stage upon which Atwood’s characters … The first line of the story, “At the outset, Verna had not intended to kill anyone” (217), guarantees that Verna will in fact kill someone before the end … Who knows who could be lurking among those seemingly innocent elder travelers? SUMMARY In Margaret Atwood's "Stone Mattress," the speaker, Verna, is on a vacation in the Arctic, trying to create a fresh start. At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone. “You only live once,” she’d been in the habit of saying, ... “The stone mattresses.” Story Summary: “Stone Mattress” Verna is a woman who goes on an Arctic cruise to find the man who raped her in high school and take revenge. It is also Margaret Atwood's nickname for fascinating geological formations called stromatolites. She went on the trip to sort of get away from everything, especially men. ISBN-13: 978038553912# Summary A collection of highly imaginative short pieces that speak to our times with deadly accuracy. This story reminds … Stone Mattress: Nine Tales Margaret Atwood, 2014 Knopf Doubleday 288 pp. These include: The fact that no one "goes gently" from the world. This Study Guide consists of approximately 40 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Stone Mattress. Her path to destruction started in high school,… SuperSummary, a modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, offers high-quality study guides for challenging works of literature. . . This Study Guide consists of approximately 40 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Stone Mattress.