Term Paper on "Edible Woman"

Term Paper 3 pages (1005 words) Sources: 0 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Margaret Atwood's novel "The Edible Woman" was written in the 1960s, a time period when society favored patriarchal attitudes and when it was perfectly normal for men to be the dominant members of the social order. It is very likely that she designed this novel in an attempt to raise public awareness concerning the wrongness associated with sticking to traditional gender roles. Atwood practically wrote this text with the purpose to have her readers understand that society had reached a level where it was much more complex than it had been in the past and where people needed to change their attitudes in order to be able to be an active part of the social order.

Most characters in "The Edible Woman" have the tendency to take on traditional gender roles when they interact with other characters. Even with this, the fact that these characters lived in a society that had experienced much change enabled them to look at their roles from a different perspective. Atwood actually tries to emphasize how some of her characters experience a more or less graduate change and how they tend to go from being inclined to assume traditional roles to having the tendency to break away from conventional behaviors with the purpose of changing a lot about who they are.

In contrast to her friend Ainsley, Marian (the protagonist) has trouble finding her personal identity. The central character appears to believe that there is no realistic possibility for her to change the person society wants her to be and concentrates on adopting a series of controversial attitudes in order to compensate for the suffering she experiences as she acknowledges that she needs to take on the stereotypical role of a female. While her roommate transcends society's boundaries concerning gender, it is more difficult for Marian to do so and she comes to believe that it would be in her best interest to provide Peter with the authority he needs in order for their relationship to be in agreement with socially acceptable behaviors.

Simone de Beauvoir's "Logic of Domination" emphasizes how individuals are taught to regard gender roles as perfectly normal. As a consequence, one can easily understand why Marian takes on the attitudes she does, taking into account that she has been taught that this is the role she needs to play as an active member of the social order. It is likely that Atwood designed Marian with the purpose of emphasizing how people accept particular attitudes because they believe that it is important for them to support societal legislations in order for people, in general, to make sense of the world.

To a certain degree, one might be inclined to believe that Atwood's portrayal of Marian's refusal to eat stands as a protest to how women are discriminated. "I always thought eating was a ridiculous activity anyway. I'd get out of it myself if I could, though you've got to do it to stay alive, they tell me." This idea can be considered to be… READ MORE

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