The Oxymoron: Not Just For Dummies

The issue of the ends, serving as a justification for any means has been the source of internal and extrenal struggles and conflict, especially when dealing with basic survival. The use of oxymorons in Margaret Atwood's "Red Fox" emphasizes the moral conflict taking place in the poem-Is survival by any means, even thievery, justified because it is a primal instinct shared by both humans and animals?

Basically, the poem deals with the narrator's sighting of an emaciated mother fox in search of nourishment-no matter what. "Red Fox" essentially reflects this common moral issue: Is survival the ultimate justification for any means to achieve it?or Is thievery justified by the struggle to preserve oneself or one's children? The speaker of this poem observes the fox, thin and starving, and reflects upon the way the fox may alleviate this hunger. The moral; conflict of survival by thievery (necessary, primal)vs.poverty and hunger as the result of honesty (not stealing or killing for sustenance) is demonstrated first by the oxymoron, which is a self-conflicting phrase or set of words. In asking "Why encourage the notion/of virtuous poverty?" this is evident. Poverty, on one hand, has negative connotations, while virtue, on the other shows a sharp contrast to this. This emphasives honesty in starving versus surviving through deception as the issue at stake. Phrases such as "elegant scoundrel"also show this same type of contrast, since elegance has connotations of a lavish lifestyle and affluence as well as beauty, compared to a scoundrel-usually perceived as a lower member of society. In addition to emphasizing the moral conflict affecting us, this previously mentioned phrase also serves the purpose of describing the fox-showing how she is able to use her beauty as a tool to survive. In short, we oftensee the issue of the ends versus the means, both in history, as well as daily life. Atwood does a unique job of showing this conflict in morals through oxymorons.