What a powerful letter.  With all its metaphors it points to the degradation
of the American way of life and possible outcomes if people in power and
people in general are not held accountable for their actions.
 
Atwood¹s letter makes many references to good vs evil.  She was born in
1939, a year which also saw the start of WWII. United States and Canada were
neutral until after the attack of Pearl Harbour in 1941. Together, these
neighboring countries fought as allies to defend citizens against the evils
of Hitler and his form of government. In the eyes of a child it was a war of
good vs. evil and good won out.  Margaret would have been six at the
conclusion of the war and at an age where she would believe that when evil
is destroyed, only the good remains ­ so when Hitler¹s regime was destroyed,
United States was her Œhero¹ ­ they were the good country.
 
To further support her theme of good vs evil Atwood references popular
movies of the late 1940¹s early 1950¹s.  For example; Marlon Brando in On
the Waterfront is a story of an x-fighter turned longshoreman who has to
stand up to corrupt union bosses;  Humphrey Bogart  in Key Largo is about an
ex-major who manages to kill  a group of gangsters and their leader  and
finally Lillian Gish in Night of the Hunter Lillian protects children from a
man who thinks they know the whereabouts of stolen money and eventually has
him arrested, all of which have a central theme of someone good winning over
evil.  All these movies were produced when Atwood was in her teens. These
movies reflect her naive understanding of the world at this age.  She still
believes there is a simple division between good and evil and good will
prevail.  
 
 
 
However, A Letter to America, written when she was in her sixties suggests
that age has brought with it a greater understanding of things good and evil
and that good does not necessarily remain good. Corruption, greed, power can
change it.  She draws the American public¹s attention to these changes in
her letter, calling it a slide ³down the slippery slopeŠ².  She finds these
changes distasteful and says  ³Špeople around the world will stop admiring
the good things about you.² It¹s uncontrolled spending to fight wars while
neglecting its own people, it¹s destroying its own country while taking from
others; it has ³fouled [its] own nest.²
 
 
 
Although Atwood is concerned about the American shift to evil ways she
offers an optimistic outlook by suggesting that they turn away from this new
path and return to a path previously followed.