Backdrop Addresses Cowboy

The bathtub full of bullets symbolizes the celebration of violence and excess in popular culture, particularly in depictions of the Old West. The bathtub is a symbol of luxury in popular culture, both in terms of time and comfort. Soaking in a bathtub filled with hot water implies one has access to ample space and leisure. In terms of resources, bathtubs are a wasteful way to take a bath since they use up far more water than a shower. Atwood takes this symbol of luxury, comfort, and waste and fuses it with bullets, which are emblematic of violence. She evokes the absurd image of a bathtub brimming with bullets, amplifying the idea of wasteful, gratuitous violence. The metaphor also satirizes Hollywood depictions of gun fights, in which bullets fly around meaninglessly.

The bullet-filled-bathtub is described as “innocent” (Line 7) and identified with the cowboy. This invokes an irony and a contradiction, because bullets are not innocent in the sense that they are capable of violence. The word innocent here implies obliviousness and thoughtlessness; the romanticization of violence is “innocent” because it glosses over the effects of the casualties, both literal and figurative.