Margaret Atwood Analysis

A prolific, controversial and innovative writer, Margaret Atwood (born 1939) has emerged as one of the most eminent contemporary figures in Canadian literature. As a feminist, Atwood deals with portrayal of women, women’s perspectives and values, analysis, and myths and versions of what it means to be a woman. Atwood was born in Ottawa, Canada, the second of three children. She spent her early childhood in northern Quebec where her father was a forest entomologist. Her years in the wilderness influenced her writing which makes considerable metaphorical use of the place, its flora and its fauna. Later, Atwood’s childhood experiences of the bush provided material for her focus on rediscovering identity in the wild in Surfacing (1972). She has

Canadian writers, who were not very much noticed beyond their borders, have tried to forge a national consciousness and a distinct identity for their country. As a woman, Atwood is concerned about her universally marginalized gender, reeling under the pressures of a patriarchal power structure. Being an emergent and immigrant literature, Canadian literature has shared the movements of British and American literary history over the past century and has been shaped to a great extent by those influences. In this context, the quest for identity is, of course, not a peculiar Canadian problem. Accordingly, it is a fate Canada shares with all postcolonial or new nations. However, what distinguishes the Canadian predicament from that of the other countries is the continuation of identity crisis over an inordinately long time span. The question of identity in modern English, Canadian fiction has broadly been approached at three levels involving the dimensions of national identity, regional identity and individual or personal identity. Quite often these dimensions convey different meanings to different people, for some it is simply a deep sense of loyalty to, or pride in, one's native land, whereas for other it takes the form of a well articulated political philosophy, encompassing the overriding goals of the policies of the nation state. It seems quite apparent that the regional and individual aspects of

Despite her notable search for an understanding of Canada that is not first mediated by an English or American aesthetic. Atwood’s novels are examined in a cultural context in this study, which explores the victimization of women. Victimization includes anything that affects women’s survival, specifically, victimization through physical, psychological, and economic manipulation. Atwood’s novels show how society sustains victimization by holding power over women. The protagonists of Atwood’s novels are not satisfied with their lives, and as they explore the reasons for their discontent, come to realize that they are victims of social, economic, and political