Margaret Atwood Research Paper

Goodness Ezeji

Pro. Elaine MacDougall

English 102

17 September 2015

I, Margaret Atwood, was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Margaret Dorothy, a former dietitian and nutritionist from Woodville, Nova Scotia and Carl Edmund Atwood, an entomologist. Due to my father’s ongoing research in forest entomology, I spent much of my childhood in the backwoods of northern Quebec and traveling back and forth between Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, and Toronto. I did not attend full-time school until I was eight years old and I became an avid reader of literature, Dell pocketbook mysteries, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Canadian animal stories, and comic books. Also, I started writing at the age of 6 and decided that it was going to be my profession at the age of 16.

As a Novelist, I’m motivated by myths and fairy tales which has been my love from an early age, and real world environmental, social, and financial issues. For example; The Heart Goes Last, was inspired by me thinking about prisons. Going back to early history, we didn't have prisons until we had permanent settlements, because if you have nomadic communities, you can't build prison systems. So where did this whole prison thing come from and what are

they for? Are they to keep us safe from really bad people? Are they to punish people? Are they to reform them? It kicked off an exploration of prisons as profit-making schemes.
Although I often portray female characters dominated by patriarchy in my novels, especially “The Edible Woman” which is about a woman who cannot eat and feels that she is being eaten, my works are not feminist.

I believe that the feminist label can only be used for writers who deliberately work within the context of the feminist movement. I never say I'm an "ist" of any kind unless I know how the other person is defining it (Am I against mascara, etc.) but overall: I believe women are complete human beings (radical, I realize) and that laws should mirror this. Nevertheless, men and women are not "equal" if "equal" means "precisely the same." In some of my books, the female central character is a depiction of every woman who is victimized and lessened by gender and

politics.
My choices when writing were between distinction and doom on the one hand, and mediocrity and coziness on the other. To me, when writing, it is best not to let fear hinder your success. I think the main thing is: Just do it. Plunge in! Being Canadian, I go swimming in icy cold lakes, and there is always that hesitant moment when you are thinking “am I really going to do this? won’t it hurt?” And at some point you just have to flop in there and scream. Once you’re in, keep going. You may have to crumple and toss, but we all do that. Courage! I think that is what’s most vital.