Science fiction and second wave feminism: Women’s writing, individuality, and (in)action in Joanna Russ’s The Female Man and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale
Date
2022-05
Authors
Jackson, Meghan
Major Professor
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Withers, Jeremy
Dubisar, Abby
Remes, Justin
Committee Member
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Abstract
Joanna Russ’s The Female Man (1975) and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) stand as two highly influential science fiction texts published during the height of second wave feminism. Despite differences in their connections with feminism, radical feminist Russ and label-wary sympathetic to the cause Atwood both come to similar conclusions regarding the treatment and depiction of women in society and literature. In looking at these novels, I assess how their works avoid the label of biological essentialism and approach similar conclusions regarding the importance of individuality, sexuality, and choice when it comes to feminist politics. In my thesis, I discuss the ways in which Russ and Atwood approach these themes through their differing plots and structures. In The Female Man Russ utilizes a specific style of women’s writing to deconstruct essentialist and patriarchal depictions of women. In contrast, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale challenges the idea of dystopia and utopia to critique essentialist aspects of second wave feminism. Although both authors approach their examination of feminism and society in differing ways, both Atwood and Russ depict diverse casts of female characters that avoid essentialism and offer multiple possible points of connection for female readers to recognize their own hopes and fears.
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