Depiction of Canada as Silent and Victimized Gender in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and Surfacing

ABSTRACT

While threads of various issues and conflicts run through Atwood's writing but the issues concerning women dominate. In her novels, we observe not only the issue of women versus men but it concerns women versus ideology of capitalism (The Edible Woman), women versus mythology of patriarchy (Power Politics), women facing environment and abuse (Surfacing). Almost all the female protagonists of Atwood are university educated, urban and are usually employed. Perhaps Atwood wants to show that her heroines are not dumb dolls, they are educated but even then, they become victims to the circumstances. No doubt, in Atwood's writings, we witness difficulties faced by a woman but there always remains a conflict between male and female interests. It is an attempt to reduce the priority our culture has traditionally granted to male traits made possible by biology (through body size, hormonal specificities, freedom from childbearing). The present paper attempts to represent how women and Canada have been portrayed in Atwood's writings.

Keywords: Victimization, Capitalism, Feminism