36 pages • 1 hour read
Margaret AtwoodA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Wilma lives at the nursing home Ambrosia Manor, where she spends most of her days with her companion, Tobias. “Torching the Dusties” gets its title because Wilma sees dust bunnies almost anywhere—in her room and in the dining room where she eats lunch and dinner. She then personifies them: “The little people twirl about […] the skirt of the women billowing. They’re in a good mood today: they nod at one another, they smile, they open and close their mouths as if they’re speaking” (241). Wilma knows that the dusties are only in her imagination. When she discusses the hallucinations with her doctor, they both agree that the dusties are harmless, as they are never angry or spiteful.
As Wilma loses her sight to macular degeneration, she relies on Tobias not only for companionship but for his descriptions of what is going on around them. There have been protesters gathering outside their nursing home. When Wilma listens to the television news, she finds out that these protesters are part of a movement called “Our Turn.” The people participating in the movement are angry at the elderly for the world they left to the younger generation.
By Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood
Backdrop Addresses Cowboy
Margaret Atwood
Cat's Eye
Margaret Atwood
Death By Landscape
Margaret Atwood
Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold
Margaret Atwood
Happy Endings
Margaret Atwood
Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing
Margaret Atwood
Lady Oracle
Margaret Atwood
Life Before Man
Margaret Atwood
MaddAddam
Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
Rape Fantasies
Margaret Atwood
Siren Song
Margaret Atwood
Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood
The Circle Game
Margaret Atwood
The Edible Woman
Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
The Heart Goes Last
Margaret Atwood
The Landlady
Margaret Atwood
Aging
View Collection
Canadian Literature
View Collection
Fantasy
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Oprah's Book Club Picks
View Collection
Revenge
View Collection
Short Story Collections
View Collection
Victorian Literature
View Collection
Victorian Literature / Period
View Collection