LE3 .A278 2004

2004

Wyile, Herb

Acadia University

Master of Arts

Masters

English

English & Theatre Studies

In 'The Blind Assassin, Fall on Your Knees', and ' A Recipe for Bees', Margaret Atwood, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and Gail Anderson-Dargatz provide a contemporary Canadian contrast to the Fallen Woman trope by daring to let their fallen heroines live. Although their protagonists commit adultery, prostitute themselves, or have illegitimate children, the three authors allow their protagonists to live and to pass down their stories to future generations. While the authors end their novels with different degrees of hope and integration for their fallen protagonists, they all subvert patriarchy in three ways: first, they reveal the flaws in and the complexity of patriarchy; second, they create protagonists who undermine patriarchy by deliberately becoming fallen women; and third, they broaden the scope of feminist action beyond individual acts of resistance to the larger theme of female communication and community.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2988