Chapter summaries The Margaret Atwood 4-Book Bundle Margaret Atwood

Chapter 156: Roz's Morning of Memory and Motherhood

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Roz wakes from a dream about searching for clothes in a hurry, only to find a coat covered in live snails. She lies in her white, ruffled bedroom—a space she redecorated after Mitch left—and reflects on her nightmares about Zenia reassembling from bomb fragments. She recalls her childhood as a poor immigrant, reading English detective stories in the boarding house run by her mother. Now wealthy, she feels disconnected from her twin teenage daughters, Erin and Paula (together called Erla), who tease her about her age and appearance. Roz attempts to make coffee but struggles with the kitchen’s uncluttered design. She thinks of her son Larry, still asleep, and worries about him. The twins mock her mild cursing and use vulgar language that shocks her. When Roz begins to cry, the twins comfort her with gentle mockery.

Key Events

Roz dreams of searching for clothes while naked; the only garment she finds is a damp coat covered in snails.
The alarm wakes her, and she recalls having had nightmares about Zenia reconstructing her body after a bomb explosion.
She thinks about Mitch, her ex-husband, and her decision to redecorate the bedroom in white after he left.
Roz remembers her childhood: reading detective novels by streetlight in her mother’s boarding house, scrubbing toilets, and being called “sneaky brat.”
She examines her own aging face and hair color in the bathroom mirror, then puts on an orange velour bathrobe.
Going downstairs, she finds her twin daughters making blueberry smoothies. They lift her off the ground in a hug, calling her “the Big Mom.”
The twins tease Roz about her appearance, her mild swearing, and her inability to find the coffee grinder.
Roz thinks about her son Larry, still sleeping, and worries about him as the firstborn son.
Erin mentions that Larry might have a new romance.
The twins make vulgar insults at each other, which puzzles and concerns Roz.
Roz suddenly bursts into tears, thinking of how Zenia never had daughters. The twins comfort her.

Character Development

Roz spends the chapter oscillating between past and present, revealing deep insecurities about her body, her age, and her roles as mother and ex-wife. Her dream of snail-covered clothes suggests she feels exposed and disgusted by her own physicality. The white bedroom—chosen to erase Mitch—now feels like a death altar. Her interactions with the twins show her both adoring and intimidated by them. She craves her own mother’s harshness but also wishes to be a child again. The chapter deepens her vulnerability: she cries at the kitchen counter, mourning the loss of her younger self and the threat represented by Zenia.

The twins (Erin and Paula) are portrayed as a unit, speaking in unison as “Erla.” They are confident, vulgar, and loving, yet they deliberately avoid mentioning Mitch. Their taunting is a form of performance that shields Roz from their own pain. They prove capable of empathy when Roz breaks down, shrinking into anxious comfort.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Aging and the female body: Roz’s discomfort with her “raddled” face and her “big slack raw embarrassing body” reflects a theme of women struggling against society’s standards of youth and beauty. She envies the twins’ effortless beauty.
Mother-daughter relationships: The chapter contrasts Roz’s memories of her own harsh mother (a landlady, a martyr) with her present attempt to be a more permissive mother. She feels she has spoiled the twins, who are both affectionate and mocking.
Trauma and memory: Roz’s nightmares about Zenia reassembling after a bomb refer to a violent event earlier in the novel. The snail-covered coat and the search for clothes symbolize her struggle to regain control after loss.
Migration and class: Roz’s childhood as an immigrant in a boarding house haunts her. She feels like a refugee from middle age, stranded in the country of the young—a metaphor for cultural dislocation.
The white bedroom: Symbolizes Roz’s attempt to create a new start after Mitch, but it feels sterile and deathly. She compares it to a Day of the Dead altar, reinforcing the presence of ghosts (Mitch, Zenia, her mother).
Orange bathrobe and coffee grinder: The orange robe is a failed attempt at rejuvenation; the misplaced coffee grinder suggests domestic chaos beneath the surface.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is crucial for understanding Roz’s emotional state midway through The Robber Bride. It exposes the cracks in her confident exterior and shows how the past—her immigrant childhood, her failed marriage, and the threat of Zenia—continues to shape her present. The domestic scene with the twins provides comic relief but also reveals the deep bond and underlying tension in the family. Roz’s tears and her comparison of the twins to Zenia’s lack of daughters underscore the novel’s central conflict: the desire to protect one’s family from a destructive outsider.

Study Questions and Answers

What does Roz’s dream of the snail-covered coat symbolize?
The dream reflects Roz’s shame about her own body and her fear of being exposed. The snails suggest something slimy, unappealing, and alive—mirroring how she feels about her aging flesh. The coat, a covering, fails to protect her; it is damp and repulsive. This echoes her struggle to find a comfortable identity after divorce.
Why do the twins avoid mentioning Mitch?
The twins “never mention Mitch” because they know Roz has a breaking point. Their silence suggests that Mitch’s departure was traumatic for everyone. They perform cheerful vulgarity to distract Roz and themselves from their own pain. Roz wonders whether they missed him, loved him, or hated him—showing her own confusion about his role in their lives.
How does Roz’s memory of her mother influence her parenting?
Roz recalls her mother as a “harsh, embattled, once-scorned” landlady who made her work and called her a “sneaky brat.” Now Roz longs for that maternal figure and feels tired of being a mother. She has tried to give the twins everything she lacked—frilly dresses, expensive nighties—but this has created kids who mock her and call themselves “spoiled.” She is caught between her mother’s toughness and her own indulgence.