Is there a woman behind the veil? : the use of clothing, textiles, and accessories in Lady Oracle and Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood.

Abstract

Is there a woman behind the veil? This thesis discusses the importance of clothing, textiles, and accessories in Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle and Alias Grace. Atwood focuses on female identity and female experiences in her fiction, and her use of clothing illustrates how women are othered by society. Atwood demonstrates in her novels how her protagonists are forced to perform their gender because of society’s powerful rules. In Lady Oracle and Alias Grace, Atwood illustrates how clothing, textiles, and accessories contribute to construct femininity. Concerned with feminism and how women are objectified within patriarchal culture, Atwood brings women’s voices from the margin and allows them to have a space and will to speak. Atwood suggests that identity is fluid, and in this thesis, I look more closely at how the concept of identity emerges in the two novels. This is significant because identity is often believed to be something stable, along with gender. However, Atwood implies that femininity is merely an act, a performance. Atwood’s female protagonists are unable to escape clothing and its effect on their bodies, and they are not capable to escape society’s restraining demands regarding femininity. Drawing on the theories by for instance Judith Butler, J.C. Flügel, and Joanne Entwistle, I explore the concept of clothing and identity, and how these subjects emerge in Lady Oracle and Alias Grace.