Negotiating Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's Bodily Harm

Abstract

Gender roles, in the context of the present study, specifically refers to traditionally accepted roles in patriarchal societies wherein women’s subordination to their male counterparts is amplified. The study incorporates ideas of feminist theorists, and in particular, Simone de Beauvoir’s Second Sex where she explores the paradigm of gender roles provides the theoretical foundation upon which the primary text Bodily Harm will be analysed. Traditionally, women’s roles are often confined within the domestic boundaries in which they are expected to fulfil the needs of their family, bereft of financial as well as bodily independence, subjugating them to passivity and submissiveness. Margaret Atwood’s Bodily Harm presents the nuances of gender roles, detailing how girls are conditioned, since their childhood, to conform to these gender roles. The present paper lays emphasis on the female protagonist’s attempt to subvert these roles and the endless conflicts, both internal and external, that she has to endure to acquire agency.