Margaret Atwood's Female Body

Atwood takes a slightly more lighthearted approach to the topic of the female body. Opening the essay with poking fun at herself and her own body, Atwood describes her body as “badly behaved”(211), “outrageous”(211), and “vulgar”(211) was a classic example of Atwood's satirical style. She makes fun of the way it functions and its imperfections. Within this first paragraph, Atwood uses a first person point of view that we do not in any of the other paragraphs in this essay. By giving a clear personal opinion within the introduction, Atwood manages to capture the reader's attention. She continues to hold the reader's attention by flipping from a very objective and critical point of view to a more subjective and empathetic point of view throughout

By getting the doll, Atwood's female character states they avoid having their daughter “...long to turn into one.” (212). In addition, that character points out that “repression breeds sublimation”(212) warning that by keeping the child from the doll that she will long after what she cannot have. And if that were to occur, the child might even force herself to try and become the doll. The husband agrees reluctantly and the child is given her toy, which we found out later was mutilated and discarded in a carefree manner. Other sections of the essay have a blatant disregard for any human emotion. It is mainly during these sections in which Atwood chooses to harshly criticize just how plastic and fake the ideal female body is. She states the accessories of the female body within section three of the essay, in section four she describes the female body like a plastic lamp, section five is used to state the uses of the female body and section six speaks of the biological importance of the female body to the survival of our species. Within these four sections of the essay Atwood spends time making the ideal female image out to be inorganic and