“Lusus Naturae” is a short story by Margaret Atwood that appeared in her 2014 collection Stone Mattress. It’s about a young girl with a rare condition which alienates her from her family and community.
“Lusus Naturae” Summary
The narrator’s family—mother, father, grandmother, and older sister—gathers nightly to discuss what to do with her. They debate whether her condition is a curse or a disease, recalling that she was once a healthy child before getting the measles at age seven. She makes mewing noises, has yellow eyes, pink teeth, red fingernails, and long dark hair on her chest and arms.
The narrator’s father insisted she learn to read. They used to sit together at these sessions but now he has her sit on the other side of the table. Her grandmother once held her head under water to expel the demon that was afflicting her.
A visiting doctor diagnoses her as a lusus naturae (freak of nature) and suggests she be taken to the city for study, but the family refuses, fearing scandal. He says she’ll need bread, potatoes and animal blood, but not too much.
The girl stays inside during the day in her dark room; she doesn’t like the sun anyway. At night she roams the house with the cat for company. The neighbors are told she has a wasting disease. They send food and visit occasionally.
To protect the family’s reputation—particularly the sister’s marriage prospects—they decide to fake the girl’s death. They bribe a priest, who explains that she’s been chosen by God for this special sacrifice.
She’s displayed in a coffin in a dark room for two days, covered in white veils so the neighbors can see. Her family grieves appropriately, and everyone eats what the grandmother bakes. They stage a funeral, and bury a coffin full of wet straw. Three months later, her older sister gets married.
The girl stays in her room and learns about life from reading. The family says they keep her room as a shrine to her. Her mother brings her food (potatoes, bread, and blood) but doesn’t stay. The girl doesn’t look in mirrors anymore.
At night, she roams the house, yard and forest. She has fits, is in pain, and hears the twittering of voices, but feels strangely content knowing she’s not affecting other people.
Her grandmother dies, then her father, and the cat grows old. Her mother worries what will happen when the girl is alone. The girl, now a young woman, knows she’ll have to look after herself. Exploring her power, she scares two children in the woods, and frightens a woman by looking into her window.
When an offer is made on the farm, the narrator urges her mother to take it and move in with her married sister. She stays in a hayrick during the transition. Using her knowledge of the house, she terrifies the new family with sounds and ghostly appearances. They soon abandon it as haunted, leaving her as the sole occupant. She lives on stolen potatoes and eggs, and sometimes a hen. She looks in a mirror but doesn’t recognize what she sees.
The narrator knows things are coming to an end. One evening, she observes a young couple meeting secretly in the woods. She mistakes their passion for something akin to her own condition. She becomes hopeful that an end to her loneliness is near. After observing them several times, the young woman leaves the young man sleeping. The narrator approaches and bites his neck. He awakens, sees her monstrous form and where she’s fleeing and alerts the village.
The villagers exhume her empty coffin, confirming their fears. An angry mob—including her sister and the bitten man—marches toward the house with torches and stakes. She knows that appeals and explanations will be useless. She has a forgiving nature and knows people mean well.
Resigned to her fate, the narrator dons her white burial dress and veil, preparing for death. She plans on jumping from the roof as the house burns. She imagines her bones being sold as relics, and becoming a legend after death. She looks forward to being in heaven. She’ll look like an angel, or maybe the angels will look like her.
I hope this summary of the short story “Lusus Naturae” by Margaret Atwood has been helpful.