Contours of Postmodern Feminism: A Critique of Margaret Atwood's Select Novels

Dr. Asra Sultana Mouda Assistant Professor of English University of Hafar Al Batin, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Feminism which is another aspect of postmodernism in Canadian fiction, is viewed in different perspectives where nationalism predominates and power endures. It is the wrestle for this power and institutional authority which Atwood reiterates in her novels. In the wake of Feminist movement, an awakening has dawned resulting in the reaction of women in many forms: a challenging of male institutional authority, an acknowledgement of power as the basis of sexual politics and a belief in the socio-cultural context in the production and reception of art.

The study attempts to explore some contours of Postmodern Feminism in the select novels of Margaret Atwood — The Edible Woman, Bodily Harm, Surfacing and The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s novels show the gender discrimination of the narrow, dominant, social and aesthetic constructions of identity and gender which atrociously victimize women. Hence, victimization is perceived as the resultant repercussion of social, cultural, religious and geographic variants which exploit the weakness of victim. The novels studied bear testimony to such corrupt power politics ensnaring the victims in its atrocious grip.

Keywords: Postmodernism, Feminism, Atwood, Consumerism, Capitalism, Male chauvinism, Sexual abuse

Introduction

The purpose of this research is to study and analyze certain predominant aspects of Postmodern Feminism in the select novels of Margaret Atwood — The Edible Woman (1969), Bodily Harm (1981), Surfacing (1973) and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). As a postmodern Canadian woman writer of global eminence, poet, novelist, critic and committed activist, Atwood is predominantly a feminist whose writings evolve strong issues of feminism such as female subordination in male dominated society, gender and sex, predicament of women abominably reduced to a state of child bearing machines, the inciteful marriage institution causing loss of female identity, women’s utter helplessness in the male dominated society, mutilation and incarceration of female body and such similar themes.

Method and Design

The author identifies the unique position of postmodern feminism in different novels. The study’s concern is to read Atwood’s novels with a set of preoccupations, to trace their growth as novelists, coinciding transition from modernism to postmodernism.

1. The Edible Woman

In The Edible Woman, Atwood deals with various predominant issues of Postmodernism and Feminism and also the symbolic representation of consumerism and consumer problems prevalent in the modern capitalist society. Atwood always deals emphatically with the twin theme of victimization and survival which is synonymous with Canada and female.

2. Bodily Harm

The study also reads the novel Bodily Harm focusing many feministic issues relating to body, sex and pornography, with a view to interpret themes which are relevant and vital in the contemporary scenario for the amelioration of society. The novel depicts the mutilation of the body of the protagonist in the form of mastectomy, while the removal of one of her breast results consequently in the removal of her lover Jake, who abandons her.

3. Surfacing

The study also analyzes Atwood’s Surfacing which discusses the main theme of woman’s quest for identity, which is also a symbolic, cultural, universal quest for the Self in general and womanhood in particular. Alienation and survival with an indomitable will to fight out in a turbulent, male-dominated society is presented with a technique of projecting a journey through the myth of wilderness.

4. The Handmaid’s Tale

The study also examines the novel The Handmaid’s Tale as a dystopian novel discussing some predominant feminist issues such as suppression of women, a gloomy future vision of repression of women leading down to the reduction of their image to a child-producing machine, in a totalitarian, theocratic state. Atwood presents the most pessimistic view/vision of imperialistic structure of power and dominion in the negation of hope for redemption for Offred.

Conclusion

The objective of research was to analyse the major findings, to revisit the four novels of Atwood, The Edible Woman, Bodily Harm, Surfacing, and The Handmaid’s Tale foraying into myths establishing a lasting ambience. Atwood’s feminist ideology is explicitly stated in an interview with Jo Brans in 1988, where Atwood has said, “I’m defining my feminism as human equality and freedom of choice” (142). All the four novels of Atwood studied here, discuss the problem of survival of women in the patriarchy. The Edible Woman focuses on the survival of the ‘authentic self’ while Bodily Harm delineates the survival of the ‘inauthentic self’ in the grip of fear, and Surfacing deals with the survival of the ‘submerged self’.

Works Cited

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  • ---. Surfacing. New York: Warner Book, 1972.
  • ---. Bodily Harm. London: Virago Press, 1981.
  • ---. The Handmaid’s Tale. London: Virago Press, 1985.
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