Sense And Sensibility By Margaret Atwood

The novels The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen are novels written by female authors in different time periods each containing the universal theme of feminism. Feminism is the belief that men and women should be treated equally and allowed the same rights and opportunities. Atwood uses the theme of feminism to a lesser extent whereas Austen does the opposite in conveying the female characters as independent human beings. In her novel The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood purposefully portrays her female characters as ones who need to rely on a male figure, a father or a husband, to keep things going whereas in Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen shows her female characters to be much more independent and
Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood, along with their mother move to Barton Cottage to live with relatives as they have been left no property nor money from their late father who gave it to his son from his first wife, John Dashwood, who's wife will not allow him to equally separate the money left by his father, so the Dashwood sisters and their mother live as guests at Norland Estate for days until they find another place to move into, which they do when one of their cousins is invites them to stay at Barton Cottage. As the sisters have nothing left, the only solution now to be wealthy again is to find wealth through marriage; so they have to marry rich. After leaving Norland and arriving at Barton Cottage, Elinor becomes sad as she is separated from Edward Ferrars, John Dashwood’s brother-in-law, whom she has become quite attached to. At Barton Cottage Marianne meets John Willoughby whom she openly courts. From this point on the sisters go through many complications in their relationships; Elinor finds out that Edward Ferrars has been engaged for over a year and John Willoughby suddenly leaves London. After a little more confusion everything begins to fall into place. In the end Elinor and Marianne are with their true loves and live with their younger sister, Margaret, and their mother at Barton
Women in the early 19th century were seen as people who were solely present for taking care of the children and their husbands while tending to the household chores. One such manipulative female character would be Fanny Dashwood, John Dashwood’s wife. When time comes for John to give some of his late father’s wealth to his half sisters, Fanny disapprovs because she thinks “To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy would be impoverishing him to the most dreadful degree. She begged him to think again on the subject” and “what possible claim could the Miss Dashwoods, who were related to him only by half blood, which she considered no relationship at all, have on his generosity to so large an amount?” (Austen 8-9) The manipulation then leads to John Dashwood saying “I clearly understand it now, and I will strictly fulfill my engagement by such acts of assistance and kindness to them as you have described.” (Austen 12) Through the thoughts of characters like this Austen is able to convey that Fanny does not care for the Dashwood sisters and that Fanny is quite manipulative. She emotionally blackmails her husband with the use of their child and making their little boy seem helpless. Fanny being so manipulative and having her husband doing what she wants