An Analysis of The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
The Le Deuxième Sexe by Simone De Beauvoir was written about twenty-one years before Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman and yet it summarizes the gender inequality encountered by the human female species. In De Beauvoir’s book, she takes apart the basis of the gender inequality and the myths and stereotyping attached to being a woman. Atwood’s novel, on the other hand, symbolically identifies the stereotyping that women have to endure their whole lives as the second sex. This writing’s objective is to analyze Atwood’s novel, The Edible Woman using the theories discussed by De Beauvoir.
Marian McAlpin is the main character in the novel. Other characters try to slot her into a “box” or place her in a label which drives her to almost self destruct. We have the “office virgin” group represented by Lucy, Amy and Millie, the “settled and procreating” stereotype- Clara Bates and “the liberal feminist” stereotype- Ainsley Tewce and the “lonely spinster”. All the stereo types (except Ainsley) wanted the main character Marian to get married to a decent guy because time is “ticking”. Based on de Beauvoir’s analysis that biological differences are not the standards for superiority of male over female, Atwood confronts the issue of the expectations that society have of women. Women are viewed as complete when they settle down and become mothers. Ainsley’s quest for a child of her own without a marriage is also one of those paradoxes, Ainsley still wants to have a child despite her beliefs that women should go against expectations. She is “proto-feminist” and believes that women should have the right to choose and yet she is the one who tells Marian that “she (Marian) has turned her back ...
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...ountered in the novel when finally Marian discovers Peter’s true self. She runs to Duncan and also saw Duncan as manipulative. Marian has been conditioned all her life to follow the proper timeline for a woman. She followed her parents, she followed the landlady’s ideal of a clean home, she followed her boyfriend’s expectations and proposal. Although she strived to rebel, she still followed what was expected in a relationship where she attends to a ”wounded soul” in the character of Duncan.
Lyons, Brooke. , 1992. Using other people’s Dreadful Childhoods. In Ingersoll, EG (ed) Margaret Atwood. Conversation, London: Virago, 221-33
Alleyne, Richard, January 20, 2012.Couple Raise Child as Gender Neutral; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9028479/Couple-raise-child-as-gender-neutral-to-avoid-stereotyping.html
de Beauvoir, Simone.,1949. Le Deuxième Sexe
Throughout history, woman’s self has been Other in discourse, literature, and doctrine. She has been designated this position in the world by those who hold social power. This dichotomy is maintained under a hierarchy that serves to benefit men. I will be attempting to support Beauvoir’s idea of the self as Other under a patriarchal society by looking at statements from philosophers and myths, as well as identifying shortcomings she may have.
The childhood of Frances Piper consists of inadequate love, loss of innocence and lack of concern, ultimately leading to her disastrous life. As a six year old child, she encounters several traumatic events, explicitly the death of her loved ones and the loss of her innocence. Over the course of one week, there have been three deaths, two funerals and two burials in the Piper family. “Frances was crying so hard now that Mercedes got worried. ‘I want my Mumma to come ba-a-a-a-ack.’”( McDonald 174). As a young child, there is nothing more upsetting than losing a mother. A family is meant to comfort each other to fulfill the loss of a loved one; however, this is not the case in the Piper family. Mercedes, only a year older than Frances, tries to console her even though she herself is worried. The loss of motherly love and affection has a tremendous impact on her future since now her sole guardian, James, expresses no responsibility towards her. Instead, he molests Frances on the night of Kathleen’s funeral to lessen the grief of his lost daughter. As a result “These disturbing experiences plague Frances with overwhelming feelings of low self worth and guilt that haunt h...
For centuries women have been perceived as overshadowed figures who remain in a separate sphere from men. The term “separate spheres” refers to the distinct, conventional characteristics associated with gender differences. The public sphere of men is associated with commerce whereas the domestic sphere for women is linked with the household. However, there is more than just one perspective on feminism. The feminist view is influenced by three main voices: the French, American, and British. French feminists focus their attention on language; American feminists analyze the literary aspects; and British feminists examine the historical processes (Murfin 296-299). Using these perspectives, we can see the oppression of women conveyed in many different texts throughout literature and in history. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, for instance, exhibits not only a feminist view in the text, but also in society during Shelley’s time period as displayed by her negotiations with the separate spheres. Voltaire’s Candide also conveys powerful gender differences and reveals the oppression of women throughout the novel. Therefore, a correlation can be seen between the view of women in the two novels and how it reflects the culture and time period in which the novels were written.
Women and men are not equal. Never have been, and it is hard to believe that they ever will be. Sexism permeates the lives of women from the day they are born. Women are either trying to fit into the “Act Like a Lady” box, they are actively resisting the same box, or sometimes both. The experience of fitting in the box and resisting the box can be observed in two plays: Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll House”. In Hansberry’s play, initially, Beneatha seems uncontrolled and independent, but by the end she is controlled and dependent; whereas, in Ibsen’s play Nora seems controlled and dependent at the beginning of the play, but by the end she is independent and free.
...ng it through Grace’s mother and Mrs. Humphrey. The novel depicts this construct of gender identity through society by molding Grace to believe women are subordinate and need to get married and be good housewives to be successful. This construct is seen through emotion as women who are emotional are seen as “abnormal” and sent to asylums, while men had to power to do so. The societal construct of gender identity was seen as men were to bask in their sexuality and be assertive, while women were to be passive and suppress their sexuality. Mrs. Humphrey challenged this construct as she was assertive and the instigator. Lastly, the societal construct of gender identity was challenged through Grace’s mother as she took over the males position of being the provider. Overall, women were looked at as subordinate to men in the Victorian age and Atwood challenged this belief.
(6) Simone deBeauvoir, The Second Sex, translated by H.M. Parshley (New York: Random House, 1972) p. xxx
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
...e, women are the weaker of the two sexes. Women are slaves and spoils of war, if they are valued for sex they are used for sex. The universal portrayal of women causes a reevaluation of modern day gender balances by the reader.
After reading “The Doll House” and “Trifles”, the idea of females being inferior to men is portrayed. Both plays, are in a much older time period. But from a feminist view, females are still sometimes given the doubtful role in today’s society. Both plays, are very different, but much alike in the ways the females are treated, never taken seriously, nor are they appreciated.
When Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986, the wreath of obituaries almost universally spoke of her as the 'mother' of contemporary feminism and its major twentieth century theoretician. De Beauvoir, it was implied as much as stated, was the mother-figure to generations of women, a symbol of all that they could be, and a powerful demonstration of a life of freedom and autonomy (Evans 1).
The study of gender and its historical analysis has, itself, evolved. Linda Kerber in her essay Seperate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman’s Place: The Rhetoric of Women’s History argues that the metaphor of a separate women’s sphere which she traces back to the Victorian era and to de Tocqueville’s analysis of America—and which may, indeed, have been useful at one point, i...
Throughout the texts we have read in English thus far have been feminist issues. Such issues range from how the author published the book to direct, open statements concerning feminist matters. The different ways to present feminist issues is even directly spoken of in one of the essays we read and discussed. The less obvious of these feminist critiques is found buried within the texts, however, and must be read carefully to understand their full meaning- or to even see them.
There has been a long and on going discourse on the battle of the sexes, and Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex reconfigures the social relation that defines man and women, and how far women has evolved from the second position given to them. In order for us to define what a woman is, we first need to clarify what a man is, for this is said to be the point of derivation (De Beauvoir). And this notion presents to us the concept of duality, which states that women will always be treated as the second sex, the dominated and lacking one. Woman as the sexed being that differs from men, in which they are simply placed in the others category. As men treat their bodies as a concrete connection to the world that they inhabit; women are simply treated as bodies to be objectified and used for pleasure, pleasure that arise from the beauty that the bodies behold. This draws us to form the statement that beauty is a powerful means of objectification that every woman aims to attain in order to consequently attain acceptance and approval from the patriarchal society. The society that set up the vague standard of beauty based on satisfaction of sexual drives. Here, women constantly seek to be the center of attention and inevitably the medium of erection.
Traditionally, women have been subservient to men; they are still often subjugated, treated as objects, and are valued for their ability to reproduce. Since the beginning of society dating back to the Paleolithic age, in the hunter-gatherer societal system, men generally hunted and provided for the family, while the women gathered fruit and raised children at home. This brand of society has in a way persisted even until today; often women will stay at home and raise children while the man would be the one to “hunt,” or in today’s context, work and provide for the family. This puts the woman in a subordinate position as they are dependent on the man, often leading to women being treated as objects. These stereotypes contribute to the development of Lispector’s works.
children will marry him. In fact, "the business of her life was to get her