THE SURROGATE BODIES IN MARGARET ATWOOD’S WORK: A MATERIAL FEMINIST READING

Abstract

This paper explores the ethics of surrogate bodies in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Oryx and Crake (2003) through the lens of material feminisms. The first section of the paper examines the exploitation of the surrogate mother, the Handmaid, by the Gilead administration and the genetically engineered nonhuman entities, the pigoons, and nature by the authoritative scientists in the Compounds. In doing this, the author uncovers the ideologies of patriarchy, reductionism, and mechanization that are embedded within Gilead’s surrogate system and food distribution system, as well as the Compound’s production of the genetically engineered pigoons and ersatz food cultures. The latter part of the article highlights the parallel irony embedded within each novel, whereby the Handmaids, the pigoons, and nature itself resist and offer revenge through adapting and surviving throughout the stories. These reversed power relationships function as a composite material feminist counter-narrative as opposed to the patriarchal, anthropocentric, reductionist consciousnesses imposed by the Gilead administration and the Compounds. This leads to the emphasis that the core element to “survive” in a dystopian environment is through embracing material feminisms.

Keywords: non-anthropocentrism, material feminism, The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, resistance, adaptation, survival, surrogate bodies