The Robber Bride :: essays research papers

Depending on how you look at Margaret Atwoods The Robber Bride, Timsoncalls it an upmarket melodrama whereas Martin refers to it as a novelconfronting politically correct feminism. The truth is it isnteither of these. While some of the situations are greatly exaggerated,this book comments on the way that women interact with each other on aday-to-day basis. Atwood tells the story of three women, and how theyare drawn together because they have all been double-crossed by a mutualfemale friend, Zenia. These characters seem so concrete that in some casesthey are reminiscent of actual acquaintances. The male characters inThe Robber Bride, however, are dull and lifeless. We never get to knowany of them in great detail. On the other hand, Atwood does a wonderfuljob of describing the setting, which really allows the reader becomemore involved in the story.The main message in this novel is that women have drastically differentrelationships with each other than they do with men. Not being a charmyself makes it difficult for me to determine if this message is true, further nonetheless, Atwood does have a lot to say about the way femalesdeal with each other. The character Roz constantly runs into problemsin the business world. Its complicated, being a woman boss. Womendont look at you and think Boss. They look at you and think Woman, asin Just another one, like me, and where does she get off?The female characters do not come across as more emblematic thanreal. as Timson suggests. Charis decides how her day is going to be byswinging a crystal above her head. This sort reminds me of anacquaintance who once tried to lecture me on the power of crystalvibrations. This may be because Atwoods characters are stereotypesand everyone is bound to know someone like them. However, this realismprovides jet ground between the reader and the novel, which makes iteasier to read.As Male characters in The Robber Bride are very poor and have absolutelyno depth. Or as Timson put it &8230a nd male characters who, it can beargued, are uniformly portrayed as so hapless, brutal or pathetic youcould forgive them for forming a stay group, leaping off the page andtearing the author from limb to limb. Their only purpose is to serveas vehicles for the female characters to injure each other. Forinstance, West just now ever speaks and Tony treats him like a baby,sheltering him from everything and everyone. She believes that it isher job to protect him, and this comes from Zenia almost taking him from