49 pages • 1 hour read
Margaret AtwoodA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“There’s no safe place, there are no instructions. It’s like he’s being blown by a vicious but mindless wind, aimlessly round and round in circles. No way out.”
While this quote refers to how Stan feels in the apocalyptic wasteland before he signs up for Consilience, it succinctly captures how little agency he feels throughout the entire text. He is constantly pushed and pulled by forces outside of his control, has no idea where he is going, and always feels trapped by circumstances. This introduces the theme The Illusion of Free Will.
“‘Those things like losing the house, and, and...those things have happened to a lot of people. To most people.’
‘But not to everyone,’ Stan would say. ‘Not to fucking everyone.’
Not to rich people.”
A central tenet of the novel’s critique of The Pitfalls of Capitalism and wealth inequality is that they lead to a segregated society, where the same rules and consequences do not apply to people with large amounts of money. Stan’s contempt for the rich stems from the fact that he lost everything in a financial crash he had nothing to do with, despite the fact that he worked hard and lived a modest life.
“Oh no, Charmaine said. Oh no, I couldn’t! Though she’d had a tiny flash of excitement, like peering in through a window and seeing another version of herself inside, leading a second life; a more raucous and rewarding second life.”
This passage is the first suggestion that Charmaine is less innocent and prudish than she projects, and that she is less-than-satisfied with the current state of her sex life. She has to reject Sandi and Veronica’s offer to become a sex worker to maintain her image, but the fact she is momentarily excited by the idea of sex work reveals she has a desire to be somebody else and live a different life.
By Margaret Atwood
Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood
Backdrop Addresses Cowboy
Margaret Atwood
Cat's Eye
Margaret Atwood
Death By Landscape
Margaret Atwood
Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold
Margaret Atwood
Happy Endings
Margaret Atwood
Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing
Margaret Atwood
Lady Oracle
Margaret Atwood
Life Before Man
Margaret Atwood
MaddAddam
Margaret Atwood
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
Rape Fantasies
Margaret Atwood
Siren Song
Margaret Atwood
Stone Mattress
Margaret Atwood
Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood
The Circle Game
Margaret Atwood
The Edible Woman
Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
The Landlady
Margaret Atwood
Canadian Literature
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Fate
View Collection
Marriage
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Science Fiction & Dystopian Fiction
View Collection
SuperSummary Staff Picks
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection