Again I speak on the incredible work of Ms. Margaret Atwood as she rights, again, about 'In the Secular Night'

I LOVE In the Secular Night by Margaret Atwood, and no amount of TPCASTTing or blogging could stop that.

HAMARTIA: The character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his/her downfall.

Hamartia in In the Secular Night seems to be rampant. Ms. Atwood seethes with it in this poem as she nearly screams her message at the reader.

..............."You say, The sensed absence
of God and the sensed presence
amount to much the same thing,"

Obviously Ms.Atwood speaks of the reader here by saying 'you', and obviously by the reader she means society as a whole, because not just one person would end up reading the work. No this tragic flaw is not of a singular hero or heroine, but instead it is of us, and although I am no hero I am still tragically flawed in much the same way she explains in this poem.

I too blow cigarette smoke up chimneys and eat with my hands. No not literally, except the eating thing. But I do rebel against my relationships even when I want them, and although I know what I am doing through recognition of my flaws, I still cannot help but to need the 'breathing' room. I know others to be the same, and most likely all of society. In no ones life do you constantly want to be around people... Though she is saying that a lack of relationship with God and/or others is a flaw and that we will gain suffering through it. Although I cannot disagree completely I also cannot agree completely. Maybe with a better explanation she could have articulated her point to the point where I could choose her side or another, but at tis point I only know one thing for sure.

Its Harmatia.