Margaret Atwood- Feminism - 1227 Words

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 â€Å"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.†¦show more content†¦They were always destined to be in the situations that they end up in and they spent their whole lives preparing for that situation. Men were meant to become the leaders and women were to be kept in the shadows, but Atwood purposefully changes those destinies for her characters. In the societies built around Atwood’s novels, women are destined from birth to become a certain attribute in the world. Such as in the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, women are destined to become only six things, wives, daughters, handmaids, aunts, marthas, or econowives, they never had the choice of being anything else. In Margaret Atwood’s novels, the characters try to change each other’s destiny, but will find out that no one can change one’s destiny. â€Å"He who could master the hearts of men and their secrets is well on their way to mastering the fates and controlling the thread of his own destiny, not that any man could really do that, not even the Gods† (43) the characters of The Penelopiad believe heavily that the fates control what happens in their life, especially the bad things, and are well aware that they cannot change each other’s destiny. Margaret Atwood’s societies are chauvinistic to show that there was no universal law on how to behave towards other people. Her male dominated, male chauvinistic societies add emphasis to her belief of feminism. Through male chauvinism, the sanctity of marriage or of other relationships is dissolved. Men seem to be allowed to commitShow MoreRelatedFeminism And Gender Roles By Margaret Atwood1518 Words   |  7 PagesIn Surfacing by Margaret Atwood, there are numerous portrayals of feminism and gender roles. There are underlying hints of distaste towards the female sex role and the predatory, aggressive behaviour of men towards women. The suppression of women is portrayed and analyzed, and Surfacing manages to tackle the theme of gender roles by exploring through the perspective of the female narrator how women are marginalized in many aspects of their lives. . Surfacing makes a case for strong women that defyRead MoreEssay on Feminist Ideas in Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale1199 Words   |  5 PagesFeminist Ideas in Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale For this essay, we focused strictly on critics reactions to Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale. For the most part, we found two separate opinions about The Handmaids Tale, concerning feminism. One opinion is that it is a feminist novel, and the opposing opinion that it is not. Feminism: A doctrine advocating social, political, and economic rights for women equal to those of men as recorded in Websters Dictionary. This topic is prevalentRead MoreThe Life and Achievements of Margaret Eleanor Atwood Essay1687 Words   |  7 PagesMargaret Eleanor Atwood, one of the most acclaimed and idolized writers’ to date. Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on November 18th, 1939 in the Ottawa General Hospital. Two and a half months after the beginning of the Second World War (Atwood). She is a renowned novelist and poet; furthermore writer of short stories, critical studies, screenplays, radio scripts and books for children (Gale). Margaret Atwood is a living inspiration to many writers today. Atwood is a fiction, and non-fiction writerRead MoreShort Story By Margaret Atwood1031 Words   |  5 PagesMargaret Atwood once said, â€Å"I spent much of my childhood in northern Quebec, and often there was no radio, no television - there wasn’t a lot to entertain us. When it rained, I stayed inside reading, writing, drawing.† Born on November 18, 1939, she spent half her childhood moving to different places for her father’s study of entomology (insects). She obtained her love of writing through the different experiences that traveling provided as well as the encouragement of her parents. Though she didRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1357 Words   |  6 PagesHow does one define feminism? It means many things to many people. For some it’s more personal, for others it’s the Oxford definition: â€Å"the advocacy of women s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes† (Oxford dictionary). In the novel The Handma id’s Tale, Margaret Atwood explores feminism through the themes of women’s bodies as political tools, the dynamics of rape culture and the society of complacency. Margaret Atwood was born in 1939, at the beginning of WWII, growing up in a timeRead More Feminist Issues in The Handmaids Tale Essay1316 Words   |  6 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood, can be classified as a distopic novel. The Republic of Gilead in The Handmaids Tale is characteristic of a distopia in that it is not intended as a prediction of the future of our society, but rather as a commentary on current social trends. Atwood has created this nation by isolating what she might consider the disturbing aspects of two diametrically opposed factions of our society (namely the religious right and radical feminism) as a theory as to what wouldRead More Feminism In The Handmaids Tale Essay1588 Words   |  7 PagesFeminism In The Handmaids Tale      Ã‚  Ã‚   Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960s as the Womens Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of womens empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminismRead MoreFeminism Lost in Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale Essay1527 Words   |  7 PagesIn Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, the human spirit has evolved to such a point that it cannot be subdued by complacency. Atwood shows Gilead as an extremist state with strong religious connotations. We see the outcome of the reversal of women’s rights and a totalitarian government which is based on reproduction. Not only is the government oppressive, but we see the female roles support an d enable the oppression of other female characters. â€Å"This is an open ended text,†¦conscious of the possibilitiesRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1249 Words   |  5 PagesDystopian Research Essay: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood In the words of Erika Gottlieb With control of the past comes domination of the future. A dystopia reflects and discusses major tendencies in contemporary society. The Handmaid s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel follows its protagonist Offred as she lives in a society focused on physical and spiritual oppression of the female identity. Within The Handmaid s Tale it is evident that through theRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale Of Women1858 Words   |  8 Pageskeepers, the Commander’s wife, and other red handmaids One major reason for banning The Handmaid s Tale is sexism. Offred, the main character, explains in her journal; We are for breeding purposes: we aren t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans (Atwood 136). Clearly the handmaids are only used to make babies because the wives of the commanders cannot reproduce. These women are forced into this sexist act solely because of their social class and gender. They are treated unfairly not by just males