Atwood Commentary "Red Fox"

In "Red Fox" by Margaret Atwood, Atwood compares the life of a fox to that of a poor mother in society. Imagery focuses on stereotypical views of poverty, and the contradictions within those stereotypes.

In the fourth stanza the speaker asks the question "Why encourage the notion of virtuous poverty?". This describes the notion of poverty as virtuous, which can be one of the stereotypical views on poverty, due to a lack of money and greed to corrupt them. The fifth stanza then contradicts this idea with the statement "Hunger corrupts, and absolute hunger corrupts absolutely".

The imagery of the fox also focuses on poverty, but also on motherhood. The fox itself is said to be a female, and the speaker describes it as " lean vixen: I can see the ribs...tricksters eyes... longing and desperation... adept at lies".

In this poem it seems that there are strong notions that class structure puts unneeded stress on people which causes them to do things that don't live up to their own moral standards. This theme is best summed up in the last sentence of the fifth stanza, "To survive we'd all turn thief.". In this image of a struggle amongst classes, it can be seen that there is a somewhat socialist/Marxist lean, promoting equality of opportunities for all, being characterized by a "Red Fox".