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Does Atwood Dehumanize The Oppression Of Women In The Penelopiad

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While Homer’s Odyssey does not mention much of the background of the twelve murdered maids, The Penelopiad by Margeret Atwood reveals all the dark realities for women through the choruses of the maids. As Atwood provides their perspectives, the maids tell their stories of their dehumanization through the choruses throughout the Penelopiad. From being ignored to being dehumanized, the twelve girls tell their stories of their life living as a slave. The maids in The Penelopiad symbolize the oppression of lower class women in society as shown by having one face and collectively narrating the choruses as one voice.
While Penelope’s life is tragic according to her narratives, the stories of the maids’ struggles shows how women are not oppressed …show more content…

Even though all women were inferior and oppressed in society, the maids, who are low class girls, provide a different side to the story of patriarchy as they speak through one voice in each chorus. In The Penelopiad, Atwood uses the book to amplify women’s voices against oppression and patriarchy. Penelope retells the dark reality of women in society in The Penelopiad while The Odyssey merely devalues women. However, while the oppression of women may seem just to be one-sided a topic that applies to all women, there are in fact many views and experiences of the same story of each woman of different class. The twelve maids reveal the hidden struggle of women that requires a closer investigation to understand the obstacles in their life. Class status was a major factor in the treatment women received and influenced how society perceived them, especially lower class women, completely changing the way they lived, including the maids in this story. Atwood uses the choruses throughout The Penelopiad to tell the real story the maids longed to tell to the readers, letting them know how women’s voices should be heard in society in order to fully understand and treat situations and involved people fairly. It is important to not look only on the surface and assume, but to rather dive deeper into what’s underneath to understand the different sides and interpretations of the story. Without knowing both sides of a story, it is not fair to judge or make a fair comment on the story just as it was unreasonable for the maids to live with unfair judgment without society knowing how difficult their lives as slave women

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