Feminism in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing

 

Margaret Eleanor Atwood, (1939- ) is beyond doubt the greatest woman and feminist writer in Canadian Literature. The themes of her poems and novels shift the focus of the reader to the issues which are directly related to the 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 Margaret Atwood used fiction as an instrument to voice against the traditional practice of male hegemony which always undervalued women and suppressed their identity.

Like other feminist writers such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, and Denis Levertov, Atwood is very much concerned to demonstrate the dire sufferings of women in western society. Her early novels namely The Edible Woman (1969),Lady Oracle (1976),Bodily Harm(1981),The Handmaid's Tale (1983) express feminist messages. Besides fighting against male chauvinism, the goal of Atwood’s heroines is to achieve self-definition as a woman. The novel Surfacing is the remonstration against the female sex role and the rapacious and belligerent attitude of men against women.  In the words of Richard Lane, “A distinct female voice, has long been heard in Margaret Atwood’s novel, Surfacing. It is a voice which articulates issues of gender, subjectivity and narrative power” (Lane 71).

Surfacing portrays the total alienation of women in Canadian society. Atwood uses the isolation of the narrator to relate with all Canadian women. She finds men imposing laws of patriarchy on women through religion, marriage, language etc. She also says men only consider women as “war-spoils” (23). Her alienation is very systematic and manifests that children know their gender role in very younger age. The effect of narrator’s alienation is complete withdrawal from vibrant life and landscape. The name of the narrator is unrevealed till the end of the story to represent her as a universal figure. The narrator’s quest for power is an answer to alienation faced by her. The narrator says, “Being socially retarded is like being mentally retarded, it arouses in others disgust and pity and the desire to torment and reform” (221). The famous critic Emily Cho comments on Surfacing that “Finding one’s authentic self is a painful and lonely journey” (Das 23). 

Atwood depicts lack of respect for women in Canadian society through Surfacing. Anna is often dominated by David. The couple is in a cycle of deprecation. David does not give her proper respect which she deserves. He verbally and physically abuses Anna one way or the other as if she is only a slave to him. For David, Anna is:

“…too dumb, she can’t figure out what I’m saying to her.  Jesus, she moves her lips when she watches the T.V. even.  She doesn’t know anything, every time she opens her mouth she makes an ass of herself." (148).

The eroticism in every man for women is reflected in Surfacing. David is only attracted to Anna’s body. David constantly demands Anna to wear make-up. This is in order to see her to be young and fresh always. Anna is terrified that her body might lose its hold over him. Hence, she keeps herself charming and beautiful for David’s ‘needs’. She trusts that a woman can never be alone in a society which expects women to depend on men for everything. Anna says:

      "He’s got this little set of rules.  If I break one of them I get               punished, except he keeps changing them so I’m never sure.             He’s crazy, there’s something missing in him, you know what         I mean?  He likes to make me cry because he can’t do it                   himself" (131).

Atwood describes the perception of men about women as mere exhibit-objects. In Surfacing, David forces Anna to undress on camerain front of another man, Joe.  David exhorts, "Come on, take it off. You’ll go in beside the dead bird. Come on, we need a naked lady with big tits and a big ass. Look sexy now, move it; give us a little dance" (144). David describes Anna as ‘twatface' and her body is associated with something dead and non-human. David forgets the fact that Anna is not just a piece of flesh but an owner of soul deep inside. Anna’s control over her body is very limited and this leads her to be addicted to cigarettes so that she can forget her mental anguish. David even insists Anna to sleep with Joe so that the narrator would be jealous of her. Briefly, David does all brutal acts which should never be done by an ethical husband. The narrator wants to help Anna out of this tyranny. But she knows that would make matters even worse since the “balance of power” (164) that holds Anna and David together is too high. 


Atwood in Surfacing depicts an expression of feminine sensibility with frankness. The narrator articulates her frustrations and disillusionment. She recalls the traditional religion wherein the old priest ordered all women to wear clothes that cover their entire body. Many of them never learnt to swim because they had been ashamed to put on bathing suits. The narrator’s act of going around naked in the bush reinforces her rebellion against anti-female attitudes according to which men give themselves the authority to decide what women can and cannot do. The camera used by David and Joe to make a film about Canada symbolizes a hostile detachment. The symbolic act of narrator throwing it into the lake indicates her rejection of men’s attitude. The narrator“destroys the camera that recorded Anna’s humiliation” (178). Fiona Tolan says, “Surfacing concludes that the individual is complicit in the acts of his or her society, but it also points to the society’s responsibility to create a space for the individual, and the minority cause” (Tolan 58). 

Surfacing also extends narrator’s exploration of womanhood. In her eyes womanhood involved certain collective experiences of motherhood. The narrator regrets for aborting the foetus without a valid reason. The abortion here signifies killing of her humanity and alienating herself. She wants to get pregnant as soon as possible in a view to get her child back. It is pretty sure that it is not the love for Joe that leads her to have sex with him. The narrator says, “I can feel my lost child surfacing within me, forgiving me” (155). She feels that her womanhood will only be complete if she becomes a mother. In her subconscious mind, she longs for her lost child. While diving, she has a vision of a foetus:  "It was blurred but it had eyes, they were open, it was something I knew about, a dead thing” (58). The narrator understands that her lover not only killed her baby, he also destroyed her humanity. Now she is pregnant with her choice to be a perfect human, and this child must be allowed. The narrator also claims that she has ‘surfaced’ as a true human by getting pregnant. 

The novel explores womenfolk as stereotypes and is subordinated by the determinations of dictatorial men. Anna does not say she is in conflict with the status quo. David is an archetype of the masculine hegemony. Readers always hope that Anna will become a strong woman, rising from the cage constructed by David: a womanizer. Though her voice rises in certain circumstances, it never last long. This clearly shows she accepted the gender role of a woman. 

In Surfacing, narrator points out that marriage only inculcate oppression and victimization against women. She was betrayed by her lover who was a ‘second-hand’. The narrator feels shattered when he shows photographs of his wife and children. The narrator mourns, “…for him I could have been anyone but for me he was unique, the first, that‘s where I learned. I worshipped him” (142). Her lover not only betrayed her but also his own wife: another woman. This illustrates the extent to which society or man oppressed and consumed the surface.

Surfacing showcases the inferiority complex in women. The narrator grows up in a masculine world where girls are not allowed to ask questions like boy. If a girl dares to ask question other girls would suddenly comment, “Think you‘re so great” (53). Thus growing up in a male-dominant culture, women remain silent and did not show their frustration. Margaret Atwood draws attention to the fact that “The world is masculine on the whole; those who fashioned it ruled it, and still dominate it today, are men” (Beauvoir 557).

Margaret Atwood's Surfacing invites comparison with Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Atwood’s narrator and Plath’s Esther Greenwood are unwilling to accept the social humiliation on women. The society’s ills disturb both of them and madness descends on them both mentally and physically.

Surfacing is also an eco-feminist novel. The narrator’s association with the people and nature raises her consciousness of victimization of woman. In a nutshell, the novel Surfacing vehemently attacks the ‘self-proclaimed men’ who uses women and discard her. Surfacing focusses on narrator’s transformation from a powerless woman into a powerful woman. 

Bibliography

1. Atwood, Margaret. Surfacing. United Kingdom: Virago, 2012. Print.

2. Beauvoir, Simon de.The Second Sex. Trans. H.M. Parshley. London: Penguin Books, 2009. Print.

3. Das, Bijay Kumar.Critical Essays on Post-colonial Literature. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2007. Print.

4. Lane, Richard.The Postcolonial Novel. United Kingdom: Polity, 2006. Print.

5. Plath, Sylvia.The Bell Jar. Canada: Harpercollins, 2012. Print.

6. Tolan, Fiona. Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction. Netherlands: Rodopi, 2007. Print.