Achieving Personal Identity in Atwoods The Edible Woman In the novel, The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood, the principal character Marian McAlpine establishes a well-integrated and balanced personality by rejecting the domination of social conventions, and conquering her own passivity. Through this process to self-awareness, Atwood uses imagery and symbolism to effectively parallel Marians journey and caricatures to portray the roles of the consuming society. As Marian stands at a pivotal point in her life, she examines and rejects the roles presented to her by society in order to achieve self-knowledge. She is 26 years old with her education behind her. She has her first job as well as, her boyfriend Peter Wollander, who is the last bachelor of his friends. Thus, Marian begins to contemplate her future and the type of woman she will become. Working at Seymour Surveys for four months, she is eligible and obliged to contribute a Pension Plan. Marian is forced to inspect her future at the company. Atwood uses the image of an ice cream sandwich to represent the structure of the company and its exploitation of women. Only men get the upper crust positions on the top floor of the office building; machines and their operators form a kind of modern slave labour on the bottom floor. The gooey layer in the middle(p.12) is almost entirely made up of women who are housewives working for low pay in their spare time. Marian can only hope to become the head or assistant of her department like Mrs. Bogue, leading to a future as a retired spinster. This role is the first she rejects. Another option is presented in the three office virgins, a trio of dyed blondes who represent societys stereotype of a young woman. They intend to stay virgins till marriage and travel before settling down. They dress femininely and wear artful make-up which Atwood compares to a baited lure for ravenous as pike businessmen. Marian is uncomfortable with the look of these ...
