Creating Her Own World: The Rise from Submission to Independence in Margaret Atwood'sSurfacing: A Feminist Study

Abstract

Margaret Eleanor Atwood (1939-) is regarded the greatest woman and feminist writer in Canadian Literature. The themes of her poems and novels shift the focus of the reader to issues which are directly related to women. In the 1960s, women were not allowed to think about their own requirements, be that monetary, social or bodily needs. Any woman who challenged the social codes was looked down upon. It was in this period that Margaret Atwood used fiction as an instrument to voice against the traditional practice of male hegemony which always undervalued women and suppressed their identity.