Analysis of a Revoltingly Descriptive Cat Poem

"February" by Margaret Atwood is supposedly a poem that we (as teenagers...) are supposed to identify with. I personally do not connect with it much; however, I was able to realize the central purpose of the poem more fully once we talked it over in class. Atwood is telling her readers (and/or herself) to stop whining and move on with life. At the poem's start, Atwood wants to simply be lazy: "eat fat" and "watch hockey." As the audience reads on, we find that Atwood believes February to be "the month of despair." Yet, Atwood does a quick 180 degrees a few lines later when she writes "so get going on a little optimism around here." It is clear she has had a moment of recognition-probably an epiphany for some reason- and now has changed her mind. I think the purpose of beginning in such a negative tone was to connect with her readers who are feeling slothlike because of the winter. She wants to show to them all the negativities in order to encourage us to combat those feelings and celebrate life.