Margaret Atwood's Perspective Of Women As Reflected In The Edible Woman And Lady Oracle

Margaret Atwood (1939- ), a poet, novelist, remarkable literary critic, is acknowledged as one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Canadian literature. As the author of about 40 literary works, she got many literary honors including the Booker Prize, Giller Prize and Governor General's Award. Because of her great contribution to the development of Canadian literature, Atwood is regarded as"Queen of Canadian Literature".Margaret Atwood has been noted as a feminist writer, as most of her novels are stories of intelligent young ladies with incomparable flexibility confronting the dangerous and challenging situations in life. Atwood claims that she is writing about women in society, their real experiences as what they do and what they are on their way to self-improvement and establishment.Atwood has seldom written a novel with a male protagonist. Consequently, some critics have labeled her a feminist writer and some have even labeled her novels autobiographical fictions. The Edible Woman (1969) and Lady Oracle (1976) are two early works of her fictions, and brought her the reputation of"the leading female novelist of our age".This thesis is focused on the two novels, with the aim of examining Atwood's perspective of women. The thesis consists of five parts, with three chapters coming between the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter One provides a theoretical framework based on which the thesis develops, that is, feminism. Also the influential factors of Margaret Atwood's feminist tendency are analyzed in this chapter.In Chapter Two, women's consciousness as shown in the two novels is discussed. Atwood cares about women's issues. The protagonists Atwood portrayed are well-educated women. And in Atwood's novel, there is a certain mode for the conflicts. The protagonists in the two novels suffer from a certain kind of stress, and try to run away from the reality. The first two parts of this chapter are set to analyze the two processes (eating problem as the result of the stress and then their passive rebellion) respectively. And women's self-redemption is studied in part of the chapter. Atwood always believes that women could not just escape from the trouble and that only women themselves could fight for their independence.Chapter Three explores the prospects of harmonious coexistence in the world. Not only inter-female relationship but also men and women relationship is surveyed in this chapter. Different from feminists of the 1970s, Atwood believes that, besides sisterhood, there is also another kind of inter-female complex, that is, hatred. Furthermore, three kinds of love and marriage are portrayed in the second part of this chapter.The thesis is expected to shed fresh light on the research of Margaret Atwood's novels and evoke deeper thoughts on women's awareness. From the feminist approach, it can be concluded that Atwood appeals to the self-awakening of women, and the harmonious inter-female relationship and that of men and women. Only by accomplishing those above could women's self-redemption be realized.