Margaret Atwood- Feminism
Jennifer Yeomelakis
Major Author Rough Draft
2/13/12
Feminism in the Works of Margaret Atwood
Feminism is the belief and advocacy of equal rights for woman. This belief is shown through Margaret Atwood’s works, although she doesn’t believe so “Every time you write from the point of view of a woman, people say it’s feminist.” Critics all of the world disagree with her and say that Atwood’s novels are blatantly feministic. Margaret Atwood uses time, male chauvinism, and jealousy to display her belief that women aren’t treated fairly, yet they deserve to be. Atwood’s mute female roles create the setting for her
In Atwood’s works, time is vital is showing that her feminist beliefs sets the outline in which she displays that belief. Atwood sets them in the past by using other works of actual events to create details and a sense of realism. She not only sets this in the past, but she uses the characters past to make readers understand more about decisions that they make. By using these techniques Atwood lays out the basis for her feministic novels.
Margaret Atwood herself is a modern woman, so to relate to her characters she makes them modern. She set her modern characters in past setting to make us believe that feminism remains a problem in present day society. The way that her characters are seen as modern is the way they think and talk, their language. Because of this modern way of living, Atwood’s characters do not seem to fit in that well in the society that they were thrown into. They seem to believe that it is uncommon for them to be treated so badly. Such in the case as Penelope from The Penelopiad, she is surprised when she arrives at Ithaca and isn’t automatically accepted or treated like a queen. She was very much alone in Ithaca, mainly because Odysseus didn’t even want her there with him.
The mindset of women eventually changed, where they developed ambitions and dreams, but that mindset did not develop until after the time period that Margaret
Major Author Rough Draft
2/13/12
Feminism in the Works of Margaret Atwood
Feminism is the belief and advocacy of equal rights for woman. This belief is shown through Margaret Atwood’s works, although she doesn’t believe so “Every time you write from the point of view of a woman, people say it’s feminist.” Critics all of the world disagree with her and say that Atwood’s novels are blatantly feministic. Margaret Atwood uses time, male chauvinism, and jealousy to display her belief that women aren’t treated fairly, yet they deserve to be. Atwood’s mute female roles create the setting for her
In Atwood’s works, time is vital is showing that her feminist beliefs sets the outline in which she displays that belief. Atwood sets them in the past by using other works of actual events to create details and a sense of realism. She not only sets this in the past, but she uses the characters past to make readers understand more about decisions that they make. By using these techniques Atwood lays out the basis for her feministic novels.
Margaret Atwood herself is a modern woman, so to relate to her characters she makes them modern. She set her modern characters in past setting to make us believe that feminism remains a problem in present day society. The way that her characters are seen as modern is the way they think and talk, their language. Because of this modern way of living, Atwood’s characters do not seem to fit in that well in the society that they were thrown into. They seem to believe that it is uncommon for them to be treated so badly. Such in the case as Penelope from The Penelopiad, she is surprised when she arrives at Ithaca and isn’t automatically accepted or treated like a queen. She was very much alone in Ithaca, mainly because Odysseus didn’t even want her there with him.
The mindset of women eventually changed, where they developed ambitions and dreams, but that mindset did not develop until after the time period that Margaret