On Marian's Self-Salvation In The Edible Woman

The Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has been the focus of attention since the onset of her literary career. Being second to none in the Canadian literary circle, Atwood devotes herself to writing with great enthusiasm, achieving accomplishments in many literature-concerning aspects such as poetry, fiction and literary criticism and meanwhile, reaps numerous rewards at home and abroad. As a prolific writer, Atwood has such characteristics as varied creative forms and novel writing techniques. What is worth noting is that her concerns always possess the feature of predicating. Therefore, once published, almost every her new work would gain immediate attention and receive good comments from both critics and readers. For her dazzling achievements, Atwood deserves the title"Queen of Canadian Literature".As a female writer, Atwood pays a continuing concern about the women condition in modern society. Ever since her first novel The Edible Woman, she has pondered the living condition of female and that of human being, which rings true in her ensuing works. The theme of survival indeed runs through her literary journey. For a long time, female has been disparaged to the victimization position in the male-dominated society. Faced with threatens from the male-dominated society, female is deprived of the power to be themselves. The female self seems to be incapable of evading from the fate of being devoured. In responding to this tough reality, Atwood expresses her own interpretation of feminism in The Edible Woman and points out the direction for modern women. Atwood contends that only through recognizing their victimization position, breaking through their victimization psychology and being guided by clear mind, can women dismantle the female identity defined by the patriarchal culture, accomplish their spiritual pilgrimage, harvest their true selves and further fulfill the goal of equality between men and women, thus building a harmonious society.This dissertation is composed of three parts, namely, introduction, main body and conclusion.In introduction, the growing and writing experiences of Margaret Atwood and the development of Canadian literature are covered. Atwood has been heavily influenced by feminism during her growing-up, therefore most of her works are tainted with feminism. Atwood's feminist viewpoints are of salient features and of great realistic meaning. Atwood defines her feminism as human equality and freedom of choice. In addition, current research and scholarly discourses about Atwood's works are also introduced. In the meantime, the realistic significance of writing this dissertation is presented. Although feminist movement has already made some accomplishments, women in modern society are still confronted with discriminations and unfair treatment in many aspects. In fact, post-feminism has not arrived yet. Female are still struggling for the ultimate purpose of feminism, which represents true equality shared by men and women. Culturally re-defining female identity, as Atwood proposes, is the right direction not only for Canadian women but also for women all over the world.The main body consists of three chapters.ChapterⅠdiscusses the protagonist Marian's self-lost condition exists both in her life and work. Under the influence of the patriarchal ideology and that of the consumer materialized society, men put themselves in the central position, neglect true feelings of women and doubt women's ability, thus excluding women from the core position at work. Yet women themselves, as a result, gradually lose themselves, allowing them to be eroded and devoured by the patriarchal society.ChapterⅡis divided into four parts to analyze Marian's journey of discovering herself. The first part discusses the fact that Marian and her department have no chance to participate in core work. Besides, the monotonous working atmosphere together with the simple repeat at work makes Marian realize that there are no prospects in her career. The second part discloses women's traditional tragedy, which is being devoured by marriage. Marian watches with her own eyes, the tragedy of her intimate friend Clara who has been eaten by marriage, trapped in chores, lost her self and then fallen into the state of being a hollow woman, which means she has no core in herself. The third part mainly discusses the cultural embodiment of anorexia. Marian's body's awareness of this women tragedy precedes that of her mind. Accordingly, her body resists to having food, which raises the curtain of her struggle with food. In addition, anorexia presents some cultural meaning which represents the waking of Marian. The fourth part discusses one person Duncan, who is indispensable in Marian's journey of searching her self. As a weaker in the male group, Duncan bears certain similarity with Marian. Similar status brings Duncan and Marian together. Duncan can be understood as a mentor of Marian. To a certain extent, he functions to accelerate Marian's waking. In fact, Atwood gives the hope of the harmony between men and women by depicting the relation between Duncan and Marian.ChapterⅢcompares Ainsley's failure to save herself with Marian's success in rescuing herself. Ainsley carries out her rebellion fiercely through employing her body. She tends to win with one single strike but only to end with defeat, thus failing to escape the fame of being devoured. Marian, on the contrary, chooses to evade constantly from the female identity culturally defined by the male-dominated society. After experiencing constant escapes and repeatedly descending into the underground to absorb the power needed to fight, Marian finally obtains a clear mind. Guided by this clear mind, Marian resolutely cuts off her relation with the past, discards her old self, thus leaving with wholeness and re-controlling her fate with a true and complete self.Conclusion summarizes the above analysis and emphasizes the importance of a clear mind, one of the two weapons that women employ to fight by combining Atwood's summary of the four stages women occupy as victim. Post-feminism still remains afar, women still situate in the social culture which is dominated by men. Only through dismantling the femininity molded by the patriarchal culture and re-embodying the female identity with a clear mind, can women weaken even remove the gender difference, thus enabling all individuals to enjoy fair treatment, realizing equality between the two genders and further constructing a harmonious society.