The Edible Woman

by

Margaret Atwood

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Leonard Slank Character Analysis

Leonard Slank is one of Clara and Marian’s best friends from college. When the novel begins, Len has recently returned to Toronto from London, where he was working in television production. Len is known for being drawn to younger women due to the “supposedly pure” aura of a virginal woman. When Ainsley seduces Len by pretending to be much younger and more sexually naïve than she actually is, Len is furious at the deception, refusing to take any responsibility for the child Ainsley becomes pregnant with. Marian is disturbed by the gap between the carefree, charismatic way Len presents himself and the frightened little boy he becomes when faced with the first sign of hardship (Len’s comparison of Ainsley’s gestating child to an egg is also what causes Marian to swear off eggs). Ultimately, Len embodies the unfair standards women are held to in a patriarchal society.

Leonard Slank Quotes in The Edible Woman

The The Edible Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard Slank or refer to Leonard Slank. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gendered Expectations vs. Personal Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 8 Quotes

“One shot, right through the heart. The rest of them got away. I picked it up and Trigger said, ‘You know how to gut them, you just slit her down the belly and give her a good hard shake and all the guts’ll fall out.’ So I whipped out my knife, good knife, German steel, and slit the belly and took her by the hind legs […] God it was funny. Lucky thing Trigger and me had the old cameras along, we got some good shots of the whole mess.”

After a while I noticed with mild curiosity that a large drop of something wet had materialized on the table near my hand. I poked it with my finger and smudged it around a little before I realized with horror that it was a tear. I must be crying then!

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Peter Wollander (speaker), Leonard Slank, Trigger
Related Symbols: Cameras
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“Ainsley behaved herself properly, why couldn't you? The trouble with you is,” he said savagely, “you're just rejecting your femininity.” […]

He glanced quickly over at me, his eyes narrowed as though he was taking aim. Then he gritted his teeth together and stepped murderously hard on the accelerator. […] At the suddenly increased speed the car skidded, turned two-and-a-quarter times round, slithered backward down over someone’s inclined lawn, and came to a bone-jolting stop. I heard something snap.

“You maniac!” I wailed when I had ricocheted off the glove compartment and realized I wasn't dead. “You'll get us all killed!” I must have been thinking of myself as plural.

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Peter Wollander (speaker), Ainsley Tewce , Leonard Slank
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

In his own warped way [Len] was a kind of inverted moralist. He liked to talk as though everyone was out for nothing but sex and money, but when anyone provided a demonstration of his theories in real life, he reacted with scalding critical invective. His blend of cynicism and idealism had a lot to do with his preference for “corrupting,” as he called it, greenish girls, as opposed to the more vine-ripened variety. The supposedly pure, the unobtainable was attractive to the idealist in him; but as soon as it had been obtained, the cynic viewed it as spoiled and threw it away. “She turned out to be just the same as all the rest of them,” he would remark sourly.

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Ainsley Tewce , Leonard Slank
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“She made me do it,” he muttered. “My own mother. We were having eggs for breakfast and I opened mine and there was, I swear there was a little chicken inside it, it wasn't born yet, I didn't want to touch it but she didn't see, she didn't see what was really there, she said Don't be silly, it looks like an ordinary egg but it wasn't it wasn't and she made me eat it. And I know, I know there was a little beak and little claws and everything…” He shuddered violently. “Horrible. Horrible, I can't stand it.”

[… When Marian] opened her soft-boiled egg and saw the yolk looking up at her with its one significant and accusing yellow eye, she found her mouth closing together like a frightened sea-anemone. It's living; it's alive, the muscles in her throat said, and tightened.

Related Characters: Leonard Slank (speaker), Marian McAlpin, Ainsley Tewce
Related Symbols: Eggs
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis:
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Leonard Slank Quotes in The Edible Woman

The The Edible Woman quotes below are all either spoken by Leonard Slank or refer to Leonard Slank. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Gendered Expectations vs. Personal Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 8 Quotes

“One shot, right through the heart. The rest of them got away. I picked it up and Trigger said, ‘You know how to gut them, you just slit her down the belly and give her a good hard shake and all the guts’ll fall out.’ So I whipped out my knife, good knife, German steel, and slit the belly and took her by the hind legs […] God it was funny. Lucky thing Trigger and me had the old cameras along, we got some good shots of the whole mess.”

After a while I noticed with mild curiosity that a large drop of something wet had materialized on the table near my hand. I poked it with my finger and smudged it around a little before I realized with horror that it was a tear. I must be crying then!

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Peter Wollander (speaker), Leonard Slank, Trigger
Related Symbols: Cameras
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“Ainsley behaved herself properly, why couldn't you? The trouble with you is,” he said savagely, “you're just rejecting your femininity.” […]

He glanced quickly over at me, his eyes narrowed as though he was taking aim. Then he gritted his teeth together and stepped murderously hard on the accelerator. […] At the suddenly increased speed the car skidded, turned two-and-a-quarter times round, slithered backward down over someone’s inclined lawn, and came to a bone-jolting stop. I heard something snap.

“You maniac!” I wailed when I had ricocheted off the glove compartment and realized I wasn't dead. “You'll get us all killed!” I must have been thinking of myself as plural.

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Peter Wollander (speaker), Ainsley Tewce , Leonard Slank
Page Number: 83
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

In his own warped way [Len] was a kind of inverted moralist. He liked to talk as though everyone was out for nothing but sex and money, but when anyone provided a demonstration of his theories in real life, he reacted with scalding critical invective. His blend of cynicism and idealism had a lot to do with his preference for “corrupting,” as he called it, greenish girls, as opposed to the more vine-ripened variety. The supposedly pure, the unobtainable was attractive to the idealist in him; but as soon as it had been obtained, the cynic viewed it as spoiled and threw it away. “She turned out to be just the same as all the rest of them,” he would remark sourly.

Related Characters: Marian McAlpin (speaker), Ainsley Tewce , Leonard Slank
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“She made me do it,” he muttered. “My own mother. We were having eggs for breakfast and I opened mine and there was, I swear there was a little chicken inside it, it wasn't born yet, I didn't want to touch it but she didn't see, she didn't see what was really there, she said Don't be silly, it looks like an ordinary egg but it wasn't it wasn't and she made me eat it. And I know, I know there was a little beak and little claws and everything…” He shuddered violently. “Horrible. Horrible, I can't stand it.”

[… When Marian] opened her soft-boiled egg and saw the yolk looking up at her with its one significant and accusing yellow eye, she found her mouth closing together like a frightened sea-anemone. It's living; it's alive, the muscles in her throat said, and tightened.

Related Characters: Leonard Slank (speaker), Marian McAlpin, Ainsley Tewce
Related Symbols: Eggs
Page Number: 173
Explanation and Analysis: