Atwood compares Canadians to Romanized Gauls who imitate American culture without fully understanding it. She analyzes Canada's relationship with the US, noting that Canadians are always aware of American news but do not fully comprehend it. The document then discusses how Atwood's letter is directed at the US government but meant to be read by baby boomers, as cultural references she uses like Elvis Presley and novels indicate she is targeting that demographic. Atwood seems nostalgic for values represented in mid-20th century American icons like justice and freedom that she feels have been lost.

1. T. E.A.

2. T: Thesis, or Topic

3. Example(s)

4. Analysis

5. TE.A. [Atwood] goes on to analyze Canada’s relationship with America. As their closest neighbor, we share a very similar culture, and Canadians always seem to know what is going on in America but do not quite understand it. Here she says “We’re like Romanized Gauls – Look like Romans, dress like Romans, but aren’t Romans - peering over the wall at the real Romans.” Atwood bluntly compares Canadians to civilized barbarians and comments on how Canadian culture is based on our voyeurism of American culture.

6. TE.A. Her letter is directed toward the U.S. government, and although intended to be read by a general adult audience, the focus is on the "baby boomer" demographic. This target audience became apparent to me as I read some of the cultural references, like Elvis Presley, Huckleberry Finn, Marlon Brando, and Humphrey Bogart. While these are American classics in their prospective genres, they, like Atwood herself, were born of the mid twentieth century and she uses those references as cultural metaphors reminiscent of "her America's" former glory. Presley's fun, Huck Finn's boyish mischief, Brando's and Bogart's "standing up for freedom, honesty and justice" represented the American values that Atwood clearly believed in and now yearns for, as they have passed.