As Canada has become less wild, many of these obstacles have been recognized by writers to exist internally, as Atwood says: "no longer obstacles to physical survival but obstacles to what we may call spiritual survival, to life as anything more than a minimally human being."
Grim survival is that sort of survival which overcomes a specific threat which destroys everything else about one, such as a hurricane or plane crash. One supposes that survival in a war setting, or even survival of a serious personal tragedy (such as rape) might also qualify. Of this sort of survival, Atwood writes: "The survivor has no triumph or victory but the fact of his survival; he has little after his ordeal that he did not have before, except gratitude for having escaped with his life."

Cultural survival is also a vital issue. French Canadians struggled to retain their language and religion under the…...

mla

Bibliography

Atwood, Margaret. Cat's Eye. New York: Anchor Books 1998.

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballantine Books: 1985.

Atwood, Margaret. Surfacing. New York: Anchor Books 1998.

Atwood, Margaret. Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature. Toronto: Anansi 1972. Ebook edition.

The narrator states that she would like to "give" her protective charms, to help the beloved guard against grief. She wants to help guide the person back to the waking state like a divine, loving and eternal presence of spiritual support. Whether the beloved is a child or a lover, the narrator's love is powerfully transcendent.
The English language refers to "falling" asleep and waking "up." Therefore, images of ascending and descending correspond to states of consciousness in Atwood's poem. When falling asleep, the narrator refers to "the cave where you must descend." After encountering the source of "grief at the center," the narrator notes that she would like to "follow / you up the long stairway." Again, Atwood stresses an attitude of selflessness and surrender by using the word "follow" and emphasizing it by placing it at the end rather than at the beginning of the following line. Leaving…...

Western culture as a whole promotes ideas related to dualism and individuals are provided with the feeling that it is essential for them to see society as an idea promoting two sides. People are thus taught that it would be impossible and harmful for them to concentrate on removing society's tendency to categorize them.

Even with the fact that Ainsley and Duncan manage to step away from the boundaries of their condition, one can feel the frustration that Marian puts across as she struggles to behave as socially acceptable as possible. She is initially a typical woman in a modern society, she has normal needs and she is consumerist. However, as her relationship with Peter advances it becomes obvious that she has trouble accepting the position she is in and that she compensates for her pain by taking on attitudes that mask her suffering. Food is a means for her to…...

And "civilized" also means being corrupted by rampant economic temptations and in the process, ruining the land; and the narrator goes to great lengths to show that she "...wishes to not be human," which is a linking of "guilt and self-knowledge," according to Janice Fiamengo's essay (in The American Review of Canadian Studies). Essayist Fiamengo quotes Atwood from a 1972 interview (Surfacing was published in 1972) in which the author says that if "you define yourself as intrinsically innocent...then you have a lot of problems, because in fact you aren't." The narrator wishes "...to be not human," Atwood said, "because being human inevitably involves being guilty."

She's not likely saying that we're all guilty due to "original sin," but rather because we as the human race bear the responsibility for the misbehavior and inhumanity of those who came before us, such as the Europeans who "conquered" North America and while doing…...

mla

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Surfacing. New York: Anchor Books / Doubleday. 1998.

Barsto, Jane M. "Surfacing." Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series (2006),

Retrieved August 6, 2006, from MagillOnLiterature Plus, Accession Number 9220000314.

Brydon, Diana. "Beyond Violent Dualities: Atwood in Postcolonial Contexts." Approaches to Teaching Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Other Works. Ed. Sharon R. Wilson, Thomas

Conventional literary criticism pertaining to Margaret Atwood and her works of fiction tend to focus on the postmodern genre of literature for which she is generally regarded as a purveyor. This scope of focus certainly applies to a bevy of criticism aimed towards some of her shorter works of fiction, particularly that found in her collection of short stories Bluebeard's Egg. Carolyn Merli (2007) both mentions this propensity and also is disposed to "consider the "post modern" strategies of one of Atwood's, Bluebeard's Egg." Postmodernists will find a variety of pieces of evidence to justify an analysis of Atwood's titular work from this collection via this perspective, such as her temporal displacements (Ridout 856) in which the narration leaps forward and backwards in time despite the chronicling of a single dinner party. In examining the work through such a lens, however, it may be easy to forget one of…...

mla

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. Bluebeard's Egg. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1983. Print.

Hermansson, Casie. "Found in Translation: Charles Perrault's 'Bluebeard' in the English Eighteenth Century. University of Toronto Quarterly. 76(2), 796-807. 2007. Print.

Lyons, Bonnie. "Bluebeard's Egg and other Stories." Studies in Short Fiction. 24(3), 313-313. 1987. Print.

Merli, Carolyn. "Hatching the Posthuman: Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg." Journal of the Short Story in English. 48. 2007. Web.  http://jsse.revues.org/780

Therefore, the revolutionary plotline is window dressing, serving merely to distract the reader from the fact that the underlying story - the real story - is devoid of conflict and therefore not compelling.
Atwood's other point in Happy Endings is that the endings themselves are mere window dressing. Readers typically favor a happy ending, but the happy ending should not be the point of the story. The story lies not in the ending at all, but in the how's and why's of the characters and their actions. Her choice of device to illustrate this point is unfortunate, however. She decides that to make her point all endings are "John and Mary die." This is a straw man, since the ultimate end we all face is not the ending constructed in most stories. Atwood's point is that all other endings are contrived, but this ending of hers is equally contrived since…...

Estelle pokes fun at the magazine's obsession, noting that the carefulness urged by the magazine on the part of women makes it seem like avoiding sexual assault is a step-by-step process "like it was ten new hairdos or something," not a serious criminal and personal issue. The story evolves from Estelle's point-of-view. Estelle initially finds the conversation of her female colleagues uncomfortable, as is evidenced by her focus on the beginning pursuit of the women, a bridge game and by concentrating on her bidding. However, even the reserved Estelle becomes involved in the debate when she ironically describes a rape fantasy where the attacker is held back by a squirt of juice from a plastic lemon filled with Easy Off Cleaner.
Estelle's fantasy is funny and empowering all at once. (104) But Estelle always reminds the other women, including the disgusted Darlene that what they're describing are sexual fantasies: "Listen...…...

mla

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. "Rape Fantasies." From Dancing Girls. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1977.

Female Body
eview of Margret Atwood's Short Prose Piece

"The Female Body" was a short piece that appeared in the Michigan eview in the early nineties that had many feminist themes featured within it. Feminism focuses on combating the marginalization and objectification of women and defend equality among the sexes. There are many dimensions in which it is argued that women receive inferior consideration in society such as in employment opportunities or compensation, social arrangements, or just perceptions of norms of behaviors among others. Margaret Atwood illustrates in her work the disconnect between many women and their own bodies. For instance, if the female body is an object, then the individual female may not be in control of that object.

The primary objective of the essay is to make people realize how they view the female body and discover their own disposition and prejudices. To achieve her objective, she uses many examples…...

mla

References

Morran, Q. (2007, November 19). Response to "The Female Body" by Margaret Atwood. Retrieved from Live Journal:  http://qmcmorran.livejournal.com/4066.html 

Serdar, K. (N.d.). Female Body Image and the Mass Media: Perspectives on How Women Internalize the Ideal Beauty Standard. Retrieved from Westminster Journal:  http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=...&detail=4475&content=4795 

Women in Ads. (N.d.). HOW WOMEN ARE PORTRAYED. Retrieved from Women in Ads:  http://womeninads.weebly.com/statistics.html

In this simple, somewhat old-fashioned novel in which happiness is demonstrated by young girls successfully marrying, the ending of the novel is much more preferable to the beginning. The novel ends, of course, with Elizabeth marrying Mr. Darcy in a state of happiness. The beginning of their relationship, however, was characterized by a sense of tension and perhaps even mutual dislike on the part of both parties, as Mr. Darcy refuses to dance with Elizabeth due to his displeasure with his surroundings. However, much as the narrator in "Happen Endings" alludes to, the subsequent events that occur after this initial one are what set up the happy ending. Mr. Darcy is eventually attracted to Elizabeth's intelligence and caring, compassionate nature. In fact, the ending of this novel shows how the pair are able to overcome a number of obstacles, even Elizabeth's initial refusal of Mr. Darcy's proposal -- all of…...

mla

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. "Happy Endings." 1983. http://users.ipfw.edu/ruflethe/endings.htm

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Barnes and Noble. 2004. Print.

Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Online Literature. 1905.  http://www.online-literature.com/wharton/house_mirth/

Oppressed Edible Woman
The Edible Woman -- Margaret Atwood

The Edible Woman offers a look at the conventionalized aspects of society that result in a version of cultural violence which is gender-oppressive. In kaleidoscopic fashion, the protagonist undergoes a series of transformations that are fundamental to her self-identity, her current and future places in society, and her rediscovery of mediating levers to overturn the cultural violence boulder that has come to rest on her shoulders.

The Warping of Marian's Self-Identity

The Marian the reader first meets is a liberated young woman with the clear-headed ability to assess the society in which she lives. She appears to have rejected the role that society has described for women her age. Her relationship with a young lawyer is relaxed by the standards of the day -- a time before hard-line feminism had been articulated -- and her job is meaningful and situated beyond a supporting-position context. If…...

mla

References

Atwood, ME 1969 The Edible Woman. New York, NY: Anchor, 1998.

Beauvoir, SD 1978.The Second Sex, tr. & ed. By HM Parshley. New York, NY: Knopf.

Ferguson, A and Hennessy, R "Feminist Perspectives on Class and Work," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Retrieved  http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/feminism-class/ 

Kelly, D 1995 "Either Way I Stand Condemned': A Woman's Place in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and Margaret Drabble's The Waterfall." English Studies in Canada.21(3): 320-32.

Plot, Character, Foreshadowing, and Setting in Atwoods Lusus NaturaeMargaret Atwood\\\'s short story, \\\"Lusus Naturae,\\\" presents a haunting narrative that explores themes of transformation, fear, norms, and love, framed within the chilling confines of a young woman\\\'s monstrous metamorphosis. Atwood places the reader within the perspective of the unnamed protagonist, blurring the lines between humanity and monstrosity. This essay looks at the plot of this tale, the characters that inhabit its world, the use of foreshadowing that Atwood employs to heighten tension, and the setting that gives it color.The narrative follows a first-person account of a young woman dealing with a mysterious, possibly supernatural ailment that transforms her into something less than human over time. The illness affects not only her, but her entire family\\\'s standing in their rural community. She is initially kept hidden, but her condition and her family\\\'s attempts to protect their reputation lead to a staged death…...

political, social, and civil rights as they are, the notion of possible futures haunts nearly everyone. Potential political realities in the present and not-so-distant future are examined in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time. These novels have become modern classics precisely because of their poignant relevance to real-world social and political affairs. Although both Atwood's and Piercy's novels are at least in part set in future times, both tales are devoid of any significant characteristics that distinguish them from the present day reality. Thus, both The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time eerily depict life in modern-day America even as they bridge gaps in time. In particular, issues related to gender and to political power are salient in both books. Through the core elements of their narratives, The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time reveal that…...

Gender, Sexuality, and Identity -- Question 2 "So, is the category bisexuality less or more threatening to the status quo than is homosexuality?"
The passage suggests that in fact, rather than presenting patriarchic constructs of identity with less threatening formulation of human sexual identity, bisexuality does the exact opposite -- it presents common social norms with the more threatening notion that human sexuality is not an either/or 'Chinese menu' option of stable choices. The practice of homosexuality, even when it is deemed taboo and beyond the pale of the human sexual order is still a 'comfort' to the heterosexual norm. The construct of homosexuality suggests that human sexuality exists in an either/or dichotomy. So long as one is attracted to the opposite gender one is, in essence, safe from the presumably aberrant, even pathological orientation of homosexuality.

However, bisexuality presents a potentially fluid rendering of human sexual desire, whereby even the presence…...

Billy Collins' poem is a lyric poem because mainly it expresses highly personal emotions and feelings. Many lyric poems involve musical themes or tones, and in fact in Shakespeare's era the word "lyric" meant that the poem was accompanied by a musical instrument (a lyre). But while Collins' poem doesn't give off a musical idea or theme (unless the sound of a fork scratching across a granite table is music), it does use metaphor and achieves a dramatic impact.
The metaphor has two people, presumably married and in a love partnership who have divorced. (It is known that although un-married couples who have been together for a long time and break up are also involved essentially in a "divorce" of their partnership.) The metaphor of "two spoons" shows two people locked together, snuggling would be a good word, in a warm bed. "Tined" means prongs on a fork -- or it…...

" (Atwood, 4) the seamless convergence of the warm familial title 'aunt' with the image of this corporal mode of enforcement helps to underscore a society that is violently hostile toward independence, particularly contextualized by its treatment of women. There is an element of forcible control over these women that smacks of government imposition, a key element of the society and the primary mode through which the rights of women are disrupted.
Certainly, the aggression which seems to be an increasingly inescapable aspect of the is channeled toward the female gender as a whole in Atwood's novel, even as Offred struggles to recognize this. She herself ponders the meaning of the valued traditionalism in her society; "A return to traditional values. aste not want not. I am not being wasted. hy do I want?" (Atwood, 7) it is clear that, far separated from the notion of femininity as something more than…...

mla

Works Cited:

Atwood, M. (1985). The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart.

1. The symbolism of the caged bird in Maya Angelou's autobiographical work, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
2. The theme of captivity and freedom in Harper Lee's novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird."
3. Analyzing the oppression and confinement of women in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper."
4. The symbolism of the birdcage in Henrik Ibsen's play, "A Doll's House," in relation to gender roles and societal expectations.
5. Comparing the experiences of the caged birds in Richard Wright's novel, "Native Son," and Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel, "The Handmaid's Tale."
6. Exploring the theme of captivity and liberation in Jean Rhys's....

Research-Based Essay Titles:

The Impact of Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health: A Systematic Review
The Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety Disorders: An Empirical Analysis
The Role of Environmental Factors in the Development of Obesity: A Literature Review
The Impact of Climate Change on Coastal Communities: A Case Study of New Orleans
The Effectiveness of Online Learning in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis

Persuasive Essay Titles:

Banning Assault Weapons: A Necessity for Public Safety
The Importance of Climate Action: Why We Must Act Now
The Benefits of Universal Healthcare: A Moral Imperative
The Dangers of Censorship: Protecting Freedom of Expression
....

Selecting Essay Topics that Cover a Book

1. Character Analysis

Topic: The protagonist's struggle with identity and purpose in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Focus: Examine the protagonist's evolving self-awareness, the challenges they face, and how their journey shapes their character.

2. Theme Exploration

Topic: The theme of prejudice and its impact on society in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."
Focus: Analyze how the novel portrays different forms of prejudice, its consequences, and the characters' responses to it.

3. Symbolism and Imagery

Topic: The use of symbolism and imagery to create atmosphere in Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."
Focus: Discuss how specific symbols....

Reimagining Greek Mythology in Modern Storytelling

Throughout history, Greek mythology has captivated imaginations and instilled profound cultural influences. In modern times, it continues to inspire and permeate various storytelling mediums, offering a rich tapestry for contemporary narratives to explore.

Film and Television

Greek mythology has found a vibrant home in film and television, with adaptations ranging from classic tales to contemporary reimaginings. The 1959 epic "Ben-Hur" depicts the trials of a Jewish prince during the Roman occupation of Judea, weaving in elements of Greek tragedy. More recently, the "Percy Jackson" franchise follows a modern-day demigod navigating the dangers of the underworld. Television shows....