A Comparative Study Of Female Protagonists In The Edible Woman And Surfacing From The Feminist Perspective

Margaret Atwood (1939—), acknowledged as one of the most prominent figures incontemporary Canadian literature, is a poet, novelist, remarkable literature critic. Due to hergreat contribution to the development of Canadian literature, she is honored as “CanadianLiterature Empress”.This thesis chooses two novels of Atwood’s early literary works, The Edible Woman andSurfacing, as research objects. The reasons are as follows: firstly, they have similar themes,digging into how newly liberated female intellectuals struggle out of confusion and perplexityto pursue their self-identity and realize their self-reconstruction in patriarchal society;secondly, the two novels exhibit two methods the female protagonists have used respectivelyto pursue their identity, which brings to the full Atwood’s feminist thought—women’ssurvival.In this thesis, the detailed feminist analysis are made on the female protagonists in The EdibleWoman and Surfacing meanwhile the thesis, from three perspectives, gives systematic insightsinto the similarities and differences in how female intellectuals in Atwood’s works struggleout of dilemma to pursue self-identity, including the similarities and differences in the degreeof female victimization in patriarchal society, in the methods women adopt for the questing ofself-identity and self-reconstruction. The thesis aims to arrive at such a conclusion thathowever different their victimized situations are, female protagonists’ goals and ends aresimilar—self-reconstruction, once they begin the journey to pursue self-identity. The thesisalso attempts to offer a new and creative angle for the studies on Margaret Atwood’s novelsand draw, from the public, more attention to the female issues in the society.