Margaret Atwood Spotty Handed Villainesses 1994 Flashcards
Thesis 1 : speechs ability to inspire a reevaluation of traditional views of gender roles comes through promotion of ideals such as equality as speakers projection of future that embodies open mindedness forces audiences over time and place to realise the great injustices that face women in contemporary society.
Such as equality as speakers projection of future that embodies open mindedness forces audiences over time and place to realise the great injustices that face women in contemporary society.
Use of children rhyme
“When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was horrid!”
Forde audience to re-evaluate traditional perceptions of the dichotomy between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ women is made apparent in her exorcism
Illustrating in a humorous way that such symbolic representations affect our thinking of gender stereotypes from an early age
Use of rhetorical questions in body
“Were women to be homogenised… as in ‘the patriarchy made her do it?”
Fleshing out argument that we need gender equality in literature and crystallised in a reality where women have careers and unique aspirations, literature must be authentic and reflect the rich complexity of women as “more than a pretty face”
Allusion in her ending lines to Dame Rebecca West
“We have not evil in us”
Returning to immediacy of this issue of limited women representation in the conclusion.
Speaks volume over time and place to resolve such injustices as the rise of “meninists” ( anti feminist “ in contemporary society illuminate the need for women empowerment is still as vital as ever
Thesis 2 : the power of a speech to evoke impassioned responses to resolve injustices lie within its representation of ideals such as the
truthful depiction of reality in literature as such ideals illuminate that change for an open minded and socially progressive society is possible
Motif of spits “create a flawless character and you create an insufferable one”
Success of Atwood in eliciting passion to resolve the literatures’s poor reflection of reality is made apparent through the exorcism
Accentuates that literature must be realistic and depict flaws and insecurities to demonstrate that imperfections are normal and acceptable
Extended metaphor of “external breakfast”
The importance of conflict in literature is reinforced
Conflict is a fundamental aspect of the human experience and is necessary to fulfilling the needs of the audience to be entertained as “human nature is endlessly fascinating”
Rhetorical questions in the conclusion “why shouldn’t women’s many dimensions lift be oven literary expression?”
Returning to the immediacy of the issue of literature to reflect reality, the vision of an open-minded and socially progressive society is amplified
Forced audiences across time and place to think about the effects of stereotyped representations on readers
Construction - written after the birth of a contemporary movement of third world feminism, the informal narrative arrangement of Spotty Handed villainess engages audiences over time and place as the use i wit, humour and intellect allows Atwood to establish a rapport with audiences and thus effectively communicate her quest to bring truth to the representation of female characters
Construction: through the poignant motif of the spotty handed villainess and the meandering style of Atwoods intellectual narrative speech, she communicates her goal to enrich an understanding of what literature comprises - to show us aspects of the human experience
