Hairball teeth anaylsis

       Margaret Atwood uses a pattern of repeatedly mentioning teeth in "Hairball". When teeth were mentioned in " Hairball" they usually symbolized curiosity or sparked curiosity. When Kat was in the hospital " Kat too gritted her teeth fiercely. She was terrified, but was also curious. Curiosity has got her through  a lot. " ( 1) In "Hairball", teeth were frequently mentioned often accompanied by curiosity afterwards. Even though Kat felt worried about the surgery, once she started gritting her teeth all she felt was curiosity, which is a very unusual occurrence. the mention of teeth in " Hairball" contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole, because the mention of teeth often ignites a person's curiosity and that caused protagonist Kat to keep her ovarian cyst, due to curiosity.  After the surgery, she had received her ovarian cyst and noticed that it had teeth on it, and she asked the doctor, " Is this abnormal? Kat asked the doctor... Abnormal? No has said carefully, as if breaking the news to a mother about a freakish accident to her newborn." ( 2) Kat's curiosity of the ovarian cyst grew when she noticed that teeth were imbedded within the hairball. Even though Gerald would rather avoid looking at the ovarian cyst and did not want to get into a deep discussion over how the ovarian cyst originated, Kat asked the doctor whether the hairball was unique when she noticed the teeth in the hair ball. Kat's curiosity caused by the teeth in the hairball helps  prove that in " Hairball" teeth often sparked curiosity.  Also, Kat was curious to know whether the ovarian cyst was an unborn child, because of the teeth imbedded within the hairball, and was disappointed when she discovered it was not.  The affects of Kat's curiosity  are shown when the ovarian cyst's teeth helped cause Kat to be curious that the hairball might be an her unborn child, as a result she decided to keep the ovarian cyst, thus dramatically affecting the plot of  "Hairball". Kat had a round face and greet teeth when she was younger, but " By time her face had lost its roundness, through the teeth of course remained." ( 3) Even though Kat's lost her roundness after many years, she still has her great teeth. and this symbolizes that although her looks have changed her curiosity remains the same. The fact that Kat still has her teeth looking like it did when she was young contributes to the meaning of Margaret Atwood's short story " Hairball" shows that even though time may pass and people may look different, their level of curiosity can remain the same even after many years.