Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2001

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Stanton B. Garner Jr.

Committee Members

Mary Papke, Heather Hirschfeld

Abstract

Margaret Atwood's fiction explores whether or not the female voice can move outside the marginal position it is consistently relegated to by the patriarchy. The first chapter provides a look at the responses of feminist criticism to the potential of the female voice to move from a marginalized position in a patriarchal system to a position of power. An Overview of the criticism of The Handmaid's Tale demonstrates the spilt among critics who believe Oflfred has a powerful female voice that in some ways subverts the patriarchy and those who feel the oppression of her voice and person does not allow her to resist marginalization.The second chapter analyzes The Handmaid's Tale in order to demonstrate the oppression of Oflfred's voice and its effect on her. Oflfred's situation in her narrative as well as the "Historical Notes" clearly shows that her voice is never completely heard and,therefore, has difficulty challenging the patriarchy. Because the roles of women inGilead are so rigidly defined according to the standards set up by the regime, all the women, but most particularly the Handmaids, lose their voices. While in this position inGilead, Offi-ed's voice is continually suppressed by the men in the novel, and even when she is given rein to express herself, the spaces in which her speech takes place are marked as masculine.The third chapter compares and contrasts the suppression of Grace Marks' voice in AliasGrace to Offi^ed's. Atwood's later focus on this theme, however, lends more power to the female voice. Grace exceeds Offired's rhetorical abilities ~ she is able to manipulate her listeners by providing them with the responses they desire. Even though Grace is a skilled rhetorician, she is still a prisoner to the patriarchal society that marginalizes hervoice by co-opting her story and misinterpreting it.The last chapter draws conclusions about Atwood's position within the feminist debate on female voice. By examining the oases and openings that Atwood gives her female characters, it also provides some examples of possibilities women have to subvert the patriarchy.

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