What happens when you feel prey to a society that wants to eat you and eat you day after day? When does your body reject food as a signal to defy society's rules and norms? What is the point of awakening for a woman who has long felt "imprisoned" and hindered? In the novel "The Edible Woman", by Margret Atwood, several topics are discussed, which continue to be relevant even today, although the novel was written in 1969.
This is a feminist work, filled with black humor, which shows the efforts of a woman to escape "consumption" by society. The theme is related to the emancipatory movements of the 60s and 70s of the last century, when women were tired of being someone's "wife" or "daughter" and were demanding their right to identify as free individuals.
Through the relationship between Mariana and Peter, what is called emotional cannibalism appears (a term in psychology that symbolizes a toxic relationship, in which one person feeds, figuratively, on the emotions of the other, creating bad, unhealthy and negative feelings for the partner , some kind of energy vampire).
So, quickly, as you read it, the idea that you can be eaten just like any food will stir, but you will be shocked and smile from unexpected situations.
General information about the book: Marianne McAlpin is a well-bred and educated girl, lives in Toronto and is engaged to a lawyer with a promising future. He works in a company that deals with market research, where the management positions are all men.
Although she is an ambitious girl, she still wants to be "normal", so she decides to meet the demands of her fiance and society and waits to get married in the hope that marriage will give her the place she deserves. The unexpected turn occurs when she meets Danken, who ignores all social rules and, unlike Mariana, is determined to express all her individuality. The girl's rebellion starts unconsciously from her own body, which begins to reject food: first meat, then eggs, vegetables, sweets, pumpkin seeds... everything.
Except she doesn't put anything in her mouth, she feels like she's being eaten. Mariana would like to feel consumed by passion, but all she feels is... wear and tear day after day. Her personality, held in check for too long, erupts into a series of strange and inappropriate behaviors, forever changing her steady, calm routine.
Through food and eating, Atwood shows the woman's rebellion against a modern, male-dominated society. "The Edible Woman" is Margaret Atwood's first novel and contains all the themes that the author would develop in other works. She is presented to us as a keen observer of the absurdities that come from conformity. The Edible Woman is a brilliant and powerful work, full of irony and metaphor, an unforgettable masterpiece, written by a true master of contemporary literature.
Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in over forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of prose, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels.
Her works: "The Blind Killer", "Oryx and Krejku", "Penelope's Song", "The Handmaid's Confession" and "Testaments", have been brought into Albanian by the Pegi publishing house and Albanian readers, just like those around the world , have greatly appreciated the author's creativity.
Suggested articles:
