玛格丽特_阿特伍德与_可以吃的女人_中厌食问题_英文_

[作者简介 ] 沙莎 ,女 ,上海市人 ,上海师范大学外国语学院硕士研究生。 　　Margaret Atwood and the Eating Problem 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 in The Edible Wom an ○ Sha Sha ( Foreign L anguages College, Shangha i N orm al U niversity, Shangha i, Ch ina　200234) 　[ Abstract] 　In the western societyMargaret A twood, the famous Canadian writer, and her works have been widely accep ted and highly p raised, attracting numerous critics. She is considered a fem inist, herald and fighter. the emphasis is p laced on the exp loration of her fem inism illustrated by her first novel—The Edible W om an, and the connection be2 tween fem inism and the eating p roblem s in particular. 　[ Key words] 　Margaret A twood; fem inism; The Edible W om an, 　[中图分类号 ] I10614　　[文献标识码 ] A　　[文章编号 ] 167228610 (2006) S1 20130204 　　There are so many reasons to celebrate the mysteri2 ous multifaceted Margaret A twood. She is a novelist, poet and critic of international stature. She is percep tive enough to recognize the important social issues of her time and is not afraid to be the first one to speak up. She is a strong fem inist and a champ ion of the writing community. Margaret A twood was born in 1939 in O ttawa and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from V ictoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s de2 gree from Radcliffe College. Throughout her thirty years of writing, Margaret A twood has received numerous awards and several hon2 orary degrees. She is the author of more than twenty - five volumes of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and is perhap s best known for her novels, which include The Edible W om an (1970) , The Handm aid ’s Tale (1983) , The RobberB ride (1994) , A lias Grace (1996). Her in2 triguing novel, The B lind Assassin, which won the p res2 tigious Booker Prize, was published in the fall of 2000. The latest books include N egotia ting W ith the D ead: A W riter on W riting (2002) , published by Cambridge U2 niversity Press in March 2002 and O ryx and C rake, published in Ap ril 2003. ( http: / /www. randomhouse. com / features/ atwood /author. htm l) Ⅰ. A twood a s a fem in ist The Edible Woman is the first novel by A twood, revealing the radical fem inist stance of the author. In order to have a better understanding of the stance, it is necessary to trace back the influence of fem inism in her early life. From her mother, a very interesting inde2 pendent thinker, A twood gained an intellectual and p ractical resourcefulness that would serve her in later years. A s a strong female role model within her fam ily, A twood’s mother, who set up camp in the bush during many summers while A twood’s father was doing re2 search on insects, is only one examp le of the remarkable strength of the women in A twood’s mother’s fam ily. Afterwards A twood comp leted her undergraduate degree in English at the University of Toronto and met the well - respected critic, Northrop Frye in 1961. There was a strong atmosphere of female empowerment at V ictoria College in the University of Toronto where A twood en2 countered form idable female instructors, including the Canadian poet JayMacpherson and a group of intelligent young women and studied in an atmosphere where ideas rather than gender determ ined the response. She then —031— 语文学刊 (高教 ·外文版 ) 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2006年第 12期 went on to graduate work at Harvard under Professor Je2 rome Buckley. Here she developed a growing sense of resentment about the double standard which she encoun2 tered during her first year of study at the soon - to - be - affiliated - with - Harvard Radcliffe College where women’s access to the W idener L ibrary was restricted and where they were expected to serve tea and cookies in the class breaks. W hen working at the Canadian Facts Marketing Company she established friendship with a group of very strong - m inded and interesting women. A ll these experiences can be traced as the source of A twood’s fem inism which permeates herworks (Cooke 2002: 21). Under the influence of her mother’s strong will and the form idability of those female teachers, A twood holds a great resentment to the restrictions exerted by the society on women. She was raised during a time when girls were taught that they should only speak if and when they were spoken to, or, alternatively, if they had nice things to say. Her rebellion against the fem i2 nine concep t can be easily recognized in her works and A twood’s honest and forthright way of speaking her m ind is striking and thus she is considered a leading fem inist, though she personally denies it. The Edible W om an is her most radical fem inist work. It was published at the same time that fem inism was experiencing a renewed popularity among political movements. It is about women and their relationship s to men, to the social system, and to food and eating. It is through food and eating that A twood discusses a young woman’s suffering and her rebellion against a male - dom inated world. The female p rotagonist, Marian McA lp in, struggles between the female role that society has imposed upon her and her personal definition of self. The struggle results in her ego disintegration. She then finds herself in the dilemma of anorexia. Her life is under threat. The eating p roblem—anorexia thus be2 comes the symbol of that rebellion against fem ininity. Ⅱ. Problem of ea ting and narra tor sh ifting in The Ed ible W oman a s m ean s aga in st fem in in ity The symbolic anorexia is the highlight in the no2 vel. It is worth mentioning that A twood articulated ano2 rexia when it was even not recognized in the medical field. The norm is first criticized by the famous forerun2 ner of fem inism, Elaine Showalter. In term s of anorexi2 a, Showalter comments: Another symp tom now understood as an aspect of female adolescent trauma is anorexia nervosa, or willful self - starvation. Helene Deutsch exp lains anorexia as an attemp t“to combat the evil”of menstruation and pu2 berty; recently, physicians have defined the anorexic girl as one who“is trying desperately not to grow up. Her body is becom ing a woman’s, against her will. That’s got to be stopped”(2004: 269). The statement refers to a girl’s anxiety towards growing up which is symbolized by anorexia. However it is justifiable to ex2 tend the meaning of“growing up”to“identifying with a woman”or“conform ing to the role of a traditional fe2 male”. By identifying with fem ininity, a woman ceases being an independent individual, losing her particularity and her own voice. Anorexia is the symp tom of these anxieties. In A twood’s The EdibleW om an, the theme is artistically tackled and made p rofound with the aid of narrator shifting. R ich in metaphor, deliciously com ic, and glitte2 ring with insight, the story chronicles the fantastic and dramatic ego disintegration and loss of voice of Marian McA lp rin, which is symbolized by anorexia. Narrated by the main character herself, the story begins with Marian’s troubles in her routine. A t this stage, she is a young woman with friends who she can not identify with, a successful, attractive but dom ina2 ting man in her life, and a meaningless job working for a market research company. Her refusal to food begins with the slaughter of a rabbit by Peter, her fiancé. Identifying with the weak rabbit, she begins to recognize that she is under the sim ilar situation of being at the mercy of her fiancé. By getting engaged to Peter her identity is erased just as the rabbit is killed. Everything in her life seem s to fly out of control with her engagement, just as Marian seem s ready to identify herself with fem ininity to fulfill every woman’s dream of trading in her troublesome job for marriage and a new life at home with children. She begins to follow her fiancéPeter’s advice, try2 ing hard to conform to his expectations of being a woman. In the novel, she is supposedly assumed to eat a certain way, dress a certain way, be thin, and weak. These ideologies are opp ressingMarian as she finds her2 self wanting to be like an edible woman attracting male’ —131— L iterrature　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sha Sha / Margaret A twood as a Fem inist and the Eating Problem in The Edible Woman s appetite. She desires to be sweet and enticing just like cake in order to p lease her would - be - husband. Mari2 an then finds herself in a relationship which she is un2 sure of and begins asking herself the question: “W ho am I?”Upon her engagement with Peter, Marian then changes into the role of the wife, being more fem inine and becom ing anorexic. Under great dep ression with her engagement she finds herself in a dilemma of not being able to eat. Then arises her refusal to eating steak. A t that time, she vaguely realizes that in her fiancé’s eye she is just like the cooked meat with no individuality and peculiarity, waiting to be devoured. She is under the opp ression of an unjust power of authority to keep her down. Therefore, it seem s that the unconscious ofMari2 an p rotests against the conventional female role that she is expected to enter by marrying Peter. Steak is the first to go then lamb, pork, and the rest. Next comes her in2 capacity to face an egg. W hen the relation with the lawyer becomes more serious and he p roposes to her, Marian’s reaction is p ictured in these words,“I drew back from him. A tre2 mendous electric blue flash, very near, illum inated the inside of the car. A s we stared at each other in that brief light I could see myself, small and oval, m irrored in his eyes. ”(3) By saying, “Small an oval, m irrored in Peter’s eyes!”the p rotagonist refers herself to an egg. A s a matter of fact, Marian voluntarily gives up her position as a free and independent individual. She becomes sym2 bolically an egg inside her shell and totally dependent on her future husband. She is then an egg which is be2 ing eaten and an individual who is being devoured. The following morning at breakfast the egg p roblem s begin and with them the anorexia period! The bride’s refusal to eating means that she looks upon herself as anything that can be devoured and disposed by her fiancé. Her independence and uniqueness have disappeared by a2 dap ting herself to the female role. She would be nothing of herself but a subm issive wife of her husband and a caring mother of her child. The conversation about the wedding day shows how much Marian has lost of her in2 dependence and of her own free will: I’d rather have you decide that. I’d rather leave the big decisions up to you? Iwas astonished at myself. I’d never said anything remotely like that to him be2 fore. The funny thing was that I really meant it (4). ( http: / / hem1. passagen. se /pasteur/WomenEdible. htm) After that, vegetables become the final straw. Her life collap ses with the rise of eating p roblem. Mean2 while, the position of the narrator changes in the second part of the story to be located outside the p rincip le char2 acter. It is still Marian who tells the story, but she looks upon herself at a distance. The“ I”of the first part becomes a“she”in the second. More or less, Mar2 ian stop s eating. The foods accep ted by her stomach be2 come more and more lim ited and at the end one can de2 tect a p roper examp le of“self - starvation”, or“anorex2 ia”. By changing the first person narrator to the third person narrator, A twood illustrates vividly that with the intensification of the eating p roblem comes the blurring of subjectivity, and the subject ends up absent (Reichenbacher 2002: 267). The effect is shocking. W hile Marian refuses to eat, she finds herself in the di2 lemma of being unable to have her own identity. The phenomenon successfully dep ictsMarian’s loss of voice in the male - dom inated world. Then comes the food imagery in which this motif is exp lored. The p rotagonist looses her voice, just as her body looses appetite. The final part of the novel describes how the appe2 tite returns and simultaneously the narrator shifts to the first person again to symbolize Marian’s com ing back to herself. In this part Marian seem s to grow into a stronger person and starts to realize who she is and what she wants. She realizes she does notwant Peter and disp lays this by taking off her ring and p lacing it into her change purse next to her nickels and dimes. The novel culm i2 nated in the making of a cake in the shape of a woman. Marian makes it as a substitute of herself to be devoured by Peter. The symbolic meaning is exp licit then and the relation between anoxia and Marian’s wedding p roblem shapes sharp. After Peter takes flight at the sight of the cake, she then symbolically conquers society’s opp res2 sion which is disp layed when she devours the cake that she has made. In conclusion, she seem s to have over2 come this opp ression by finding her true self and begin2 ning to understand herself as a unique individual apart —231— 语文学刊 (高教 ·外文版 ) 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2006年第 12期 from society’s norm s. However, Marian is still dom ina2 ted by p rom inent ideologies of this p resent society ( ht2 tp: / /webhome. idirect. com /～marco1 / textversion /Es2 sayDbase / edible. htm). In this early work, A twood creates situations in which women, tormented by the male - dom inated soci2 ety and burdened by the rules and inequalities of the system discover that they must reconstruct braver, self - reliant personae in order to survive. A t the end of The Edible W om an, Marian tentatively reconstructs that new persona, or concep t of self, through a renewed relation2 ship to food. But m iserably enough, at the end of the story, though solution has been suggested, it is not ef2 fective. Marian is still facing her survival crisis as the result of lim ited choices under the social system. Just as Darlene Kelley has pointed out, the novel’s final chap2 ter does not p rovide comfortable closure, for it raises more questions than it answers. W hen readers comp lete the novel, when the edible woman is finally digested by Duncan and Marian, the question that seep s beyond the text is,“what now?, ”and the answer does seem to be one of two op tions—thatMarian continues her career by returning to her position at Seymour Surveys or finding a sim ilarly dead - ended job or that she gets married and becomes a mother. These are her choiceswithin the sys2 tem (1995: 320). Forwoman at that time there is hard2 ly any way out. The survival crisis remains. Ⅲ. Conclusion In this paper, a brief introduction to the famous Canadian writer, Margaret A twood is p resented and her fem inism is traced. The exp loration of the writer’s fem2 inist stance is deepened in the course of analyzing her first radical novel—The Edib le W om an, especially the connection between eating p roblem and fem inism reflec2 ted in this work. During the analysis, the p roblem of eating and the shifting position of the narrator are dealt with respectively. A ll these illustrate A twood’s resent2 ment about the restrictions exerted by the society to women and her rebellion against the male - dom inated world. 【 References】 [ 1 ] A twood, Margaret. The Edible Woman [M ]. New York: Anchor, 1998. [ 2 ] Cook, N. ‘L ions, Tigers, and Pussycats: MargaretA twood (Auto - ) B iographically’ in R. M. N ischik. ( ed. ) : Margaret A twood[M ]. Works and Impact. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2002. [ 3 ] Kelly, Darlene. “‘Either W ay I Stand Condemned’: A Woman’s Place in Margaret A twood’s The Edible Woman and Margaret D rabble’s The W aterfall. ”[M ]. English Studies 21 March. 1995. [ 4 ] Reichenbacher, Helmut. ‘Challenging the Reader: An A2 nalysis of Margaret A twood’s Creative Technique in Her First Published Novel’in R. M. N ischik. ( ed. ) [M ]. Margaret A twood: Works and Impact. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2002. [ 5 ] Showalter, Elaine. A L iterature of Their Own: B ritish Women Novelists from B ronte to Lessing [ M ]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 　. [ 6 ] http: / /www. randomhouse. com / features/atwood /author. htm l[ EB /OL ]. [ 7 ] http: / /hem1. passagen. se /pasteur/WomenEdible. htm [ EB /OL ]. [ 8 ] http: / /webhome. idirect. com /～marco1 / textversion /Es2 sayDbase /edible. htm [ EB /OL ]. 玛格丽特·阿特伍德与《可以吃的女人》中厌食问题 沙 　莎 (上海师范大学 外国语学院 ,上海 　200234) [摘 　要 ]　玛格丽特 ·阿特伍德是一位蜚声西方社会的加拿大作家 ,她的作品深受大众喜爱并赢得很高的 评价 ,也引起很多评论家的关注。她被认为是一位女性主义者、预言家和斗士。本文重点研究她的女性主义及其 和进食问题的关联在她的第一部小说 ———《可以吃的女人 》中的体现。 [关键词 ]　玛格丽特 ·阿特伍德 ; 　女性主义 ; 　《可以吃的女人 【英文校对 】　武 　成 —331— L iterrature　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sha Sha / Margaret A twood as a Fem inist and the Eating Problem in The Edible Woman