Sedating the ***** and other abuses of Women: the character of Becka in “Uglypuss”

The character of Becka in Margaret Atwood’s “Uglypuss” from Points of View is devoted to a man who, through years of emotional neglect and mistreatment, is made a vulnerable and, ultimately, vindictive character by him. She demonstrates time and time again that, although she strong, there is a place in her heart that only Joel occupies. When he spurns her one time too many her underlying vindictive nature bubbles to the surface. This bubbling over is the central plot of “Uglypuss”.

Becka’s devotion to Joel is seen at many points in the story, some more subtly than others. Many are taken from points in the story where Joel is the focus of the narrator, these simple signs of caring going unnoticed and therefore all the more sad. There are several signs that his day-to-day life was almost managed completely by her, even though he had been living on his own prior to her moving in and should have been fairly self-sufficient.  She makes sure he takes his vitamins and medication (488), cooks wonderful meals for him (488), and even coaxes their landlord to turn up the heat when he is cold on frosty November nights (484). Despite her apparent devotion to her, he is unfaithful often even by his own record, and is blatantly unapologetic about it. Even after this, she still retains a measure of devotion to him. When, near the end of the story, it crosses her mind that she could date other men (504-5), she dismisses the idea almost immediately.

It is this flagrant disregard for her feelings and welfare that contributes to her vulnerability during and after their relationship. Though she is seen to be a staunch feminist (493) and appears to be well educated, he still undermines her by attempting to control her finances (485) and making her feel inadequate because she mispronounced a French word (487). By the time his cheating is exposed, she has been reduced to weeping openly and cannot fathom why he cannot be monogamous (497). Even once she gets away from him, she still continues to try and mend the fences between them. She calls him on more than one occasion (489-90), and often requests that they talk about their relationship. Joel makes a point of saying that often if he is distant or shows disinterest about talking on the subject of their relationship she will offer her body to him as a last resort: “[h]e pictures Becka’s body, which she always holds back as the clincher; which is what he calls lush and she calls fat.” (490) This level of vulnerability is dangerous and unhealthy, and can only go on for so long.

It is only after he leaves to have a one-night stand after promising her that he would be there if she came over that Becka finally snaps out of her sad, vulnerable state and finds the vindictive side of her nature. It is implied strongly that she had been capable of this in the past, as Joel has no problem in believing that an egg that has been thrown at his house was done by her, “Throwing an egg at his door, then phoning him to make up because she feels guilty about something she’ll never confess to him she’s done, that’s her style.” (491) She has also threatened such property damage on him before, such as the burning of his Bluejays jacket (489) and mocking him for being sensitive about his bald spot as vengeance for his chided her spending money on a hair appointment (484-5). This time, though, she has been pushed much farther. After showing him nothing but devotion and understanding for years, this last spurning results in the rampant destruction of his apartment. She destroys his Ping-Pong table and smashes all the balls beneath her feet, as well as uses a hatchet to destroy his favourite chair and rip out all the stuffing (500). The most vindictive assault of all, though, comes in the form of Joel’s titular cat Uglypuss. Though she has shown concern for its well-being before (492) she catches the cat in one of Joel’s shirts and sprays it with boot water-proofer to sedate it, then ties it up in a garbage bag and leaves it in a refuse can out on the street for him to find.

Through the character of Becka and her slow boil to bubbling over with rage, we see the take of a woman scorned by an inattentive and unapologetic lover. Through her, we see her deterioration from devoted feminist, to broken and jilted lover, and finally a vindictive ex-lover; and we see the target of that rage, the only other living being living in Joel’s house that did not deserve it: Uglypuss.