Sense And Sensibility By Margaret Atwood

The novels The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen are novels written by female authors in different time periods each containing the universal theme of feminism. Feminism is the belief that men and women should be treated equally and allowed the same rights and opportunities. Atwood uses the theme of feminism to a lesser extent whereas Austen does the opposite in conveying the female characters as independent human beings. In her novel The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood purposefully portrays her female characters as ones who need to rely on a male figure, a father or a husband, to keep things going whereas in Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen shows her female characters to be much more independent and
equal to the male figures. In the two novels The Blind Assassin and Sense and Sensibility women are the main protagonists and the plot of the novels revolve around the females as well. But when viewing the novels in terms of feminism The Blind Assassin is lacking and is more focused on masculinity whereas the theme of feminism is evident throughout Sense and Sensibility. The novels Sense and Sensibility and The Blind Assassin both contain the theme of feminism but to different extents and because of this masculinity also becomes an event theme. The Blind Assassin is set in fictional town of Port Ticonderoga, Ontario, Canada in the late 20th century and contains many flashbacks from the protagonist, Iris Chase Griffen’s early life. In this novel the majority of the developed characters are females such as Iris Chase Griffen, Laura Chase, Reenie, and Winifred Griffen Prior and the two main male characters are Richard Griffen and Norval Chase. The flashbacks that Iris has of her early life throughout the novel show her life and the struggles it contains. As a young girl Iris loses her mother and she and her sister, Laura, are raised by Reenie, their nanny and the housekeeper. All her life she and Laura are somewhat neglected by her easily irritable, drunk father, Norval Chase who runs a button factory that is slowly plummeting. When she is eighteen her father has her married off to Richard Griffen a rich bachelor, who happens to be her fathers competitor in the factory business, to save the Chase family’s button factory. Iris is not too happy in her marriage as Richard does tend too neglect her and sees her as useless and Winifred is constantly judging Iris, subtly commenting on everything Iris does or does not do. Basically from knowing Iris’s life it can be said that even though she grows up and lives through the time periods of various feminist movements and the time where women around the globe are fighting for their rights, she is deprived of them and feels that she needs for she does not know how to stand alone. Also as she is young and newly married she does not feel that she has the power or the right to stand up to her husband because she sees herself as inferior to him. Sense and Sensibility is set in the early 19th century in England and is about the lives of three sisters after the death of their father.
Elinor Dashwood, Marianne Dashwood, and Margaret Dashwood, along with their mother move to Barton Cottage to live with relatives as they have been left no property nor money from their late father who gave it to his son from his first wife, John Dashwood, who's wife will not allow him to equally separate the money left by his father, so the Dashwood sisters and their mother live as guests at Norland Estate for days until they find another place to move into, which they do when one of their cousins is invites them to stay at Barton Cottage. As the sisters have nothing left, the only solution now to be wealthy again is to find wealth through marriage; so they have to marry rich. After leaving Norland and arriving at Barton Cottage, Elinor becomes sad as she is separated from Edward Ferrars, John Dashwood’s brother-in-law, whom she has become quite attached to. At Barton Cottage Marianne meets John Willoughby whom she openly courts. From this point on the sisters go through many complications in their relationships; Elinor finds out that Edward Ferrars has been engaged for over a year and John Willoughby suddenly leaves London. After a little more confusion everything begins to fall into place. In the end Elinor and Marianne are with their true loves and live with their younger sister, Margaret, and their mother at Barton
Cottage. Basically from the story of the sisters one can say that the sisters are quite open for women of their time. Openly courting and showing their affection to one another shows that Elinor and Marianne see themselves as being equal to males and that they feel they have the power and the rights to make decisions for their own life rather than anyone else. Feminism or feminine ideal as it is called, in the 19th century was basically the idea that the woman's job, in a household, is to cook, keep the house clean, take care of the children, and take care of their husbands. This differs to the wave of feminism that occurred after WWI which is where the novel The Blind Assassin is set. During the time of many feminist movements women become much more open and demanding for equal rights but the irony here is that in The Blind Assassin Iris nor Laura spoke out against their father and Iris never against her husband. Most women lived their lives following the feminine ideal and struggled throughout their lives. For the novel Sense and Sensibility the feminine ideal being present at the time is ironic because the females in the novel although, may struggle in trying to find love and even survive in the beginning, are able to stand up and do so.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood by all means is a novel with a world of women, but it is run by men. Most of the male dominance is seen through Iris Griffen’s interactions with her father and her husband and they show the reader that although it was a time when women were emerging from their homes and trying to gain some power and say in society, it is lacking in Iris and her sister Laura. When Iris marries Richard it is more of a agreement than an actual marriage and she feels like a fish out of water; out of place but she believes that now he is in charge and she needs him so she will not feel lonely because she did not know how to be an independent human being let alone independent women and this can be seen from her honeymoon, “I didn’t especially want him to be there with me on deck, but none the less I felt alone. Alone and therefore neglected, neglected and therefore unsuccessful.” (Atwood 245) This quote explains how she feels after her marriage to Richard and why. All her life she never has the power to do anything as she is still young at the time of her marriage but after she is married not much about her changes instead she continues to feel neglected, but now by a different person. She also says that the loneliness is linked to her neglect which leads her to being unsuccessful which tells the reader that she does hope to become successful and or independent and stand on her own feet next to her husband but that she lacks the ability to do so. This quote shows that Iris seems like a person who wants to be seen as an equal to her male counterpart but lacks in asserting herself because she is not one to stand up. One of Iris’ observations of Richard is of him opening telegrams, “He had a lot of telegrams already; he would slit the envelops with a silver paper knife, read the contents, then tear them away or tuck them away in his briefcase, which he kept locked.”(Atwood 245) Iris does not know about what her husband has in the briefcase, and even though some of the telegrams are private, not all of them should be kept from her. When Norval Chase passes away while Iris and Richard are on their honeymoon, Richard gets a telegram letting the couple know that Norval Chase has passed but instead of telling Iris that her father is dead he hides it from her. This is something that Iris has the right to know, but because she did not seem like one to care to want the right she did not get to know until weeks later. This shows that they are not equals and that Richard does not see his wife to be equal to him and this shows the more masculine approach to this novel. Laura and especially Iris can be seen to be lacking the ability to stand up as independent female characters and not need the support of a male character to get them through it. Another example where the lack of feminism can be seen in The Blind Assassin is with Richard’s younger sister, Winifred Griffen Prior. Winifred is the sister who basically does everything for her brother and knows all of his private business. Once when talking about the engagement ring Richard gave to Iris she said “I helped Richard pick it out - he likes me to go shopping for him. it does give men such migraines, doesn’t it, shopping?” (Atwood 231) From this quote the reader is told that Winifred does much of Richards work and also says that shopping is a woman’s job rather than a man’s. Although she may seem like the one who holds the power in the family, she really does not have any control because everything she does is to help her brother. In a way she is like a secretary for her brother, a person to take care of all of his needs. By portraying Winifred as a person who does all the things that can be said to be a woman’s job, Atwood is showing that even women who also may think they have the upper hand but they do not. By showing that there are characters who do have much say as ones to work for a male character in the novel just shows that the female characters in The Blind Assassin Although Iris and Winifred may be two characters who lack the roles of feminists in The Blind Assassin, Reenie, the nanny and the housekeeper at Avilion, is a female character who has attributes of an independent woman that does what she wants to do. Reenie is the woman who raises the Chase sisters. Reenie is a woman who does what she wants. Reenie does the house work to keep it clean and she also takes care of the children but along with these things she makes many decisions on her own such as to not wed until later in her life. Reenie does not wed until a few years after Iris is marries Richard. Reenie has the ability to make her decisions especially those that pertain to her life, she does not let others decide what she can and can not do nor will she let others beguile her. She sees herself as an independent woman and does live alone for some time before getting marrying and this probably makes her feel that she is equal to men as she is able to live alone. In The Blind Assassin there are many women but due to the male dominance, the women are not seen to be equals to the men thus having the novel lack in strong, powerful, female roles. This is more true than Reenie being the feminist in the novel because although she may seem to be an equal she is not. Reenie is a female character equal to male characters in her early life, she basically raises two girls and runs the household but she does all of this because it is her job, she is paid to do it. Later as she grows older she gets married and leaves this behind which most women of the time did not wish to do but still happened. Similar to The Blind Assassin, in Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, Austen portrays the female characters as quite manipulative and are given many rights for women of their time.
Women in the early 19th century were seen as people who were solely present for taking care of the children and their husbands while tending to the household chores. One such manipulative female character would be Fanny Dashwood, John Dashwood’s wife. When time comes for John to give some of his late father’s wealth to his half sisters, Fanny disapprovs because she thinks “To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy would be impoverishing him to the most dreadful degree. She begged him to think again on the subject” and “what possible claim could the Miss Dashwoods, who were related to him only by half blood, which she considered no relationship at all, have on his generosity to so large an amount?” (Austen 8-9) The manipulation then leads to John Dashwood saying “I clearly understand it now, and I will strictly fulfill my engagement by such acts of assistance and kindness to them as you have described.” (Austen 12) Through the thoughts of characters like this Austen is able to convey that Fanny does not care for the Dashwood sisters and that Fanny is quite manipulative. She emotionally blackmails her husband with the use of their child and making their little boy seem helpless. Fanny being so manipulative and having her husband doing what she wants
him to makes her seem much more powerful and much like an independent woman. Also, Fanny is able to make her husband listen to her and take her opinion into consideration which is not common in the 19th century, so this couple is shown to be equal halves as seen from the last quote. In the last quote John agrees with Fanny and does as she asks him and him doing this shows that he takes his wife’s opinion into consideration and actually thinks about it and ends up agreeing. Her being equal to her husband shows two things. One being that the novel contains strong female roles and the other being that Austen uses her characters inner thoughts to convey how women of the era really want to be treated. Fanny can be viewed as a feminist or strong female of her time as she did assert herself. Another example of a manipulative female would be Lucy Steele. Lucy Steele very manipulatively is able to become engaged to one of the Frerras brothers. Originally Lucy says she and Edward are engaged and that to for about a year but as the is the female who seeks money in men she was able to become engaged to Edward’s brother. In Sense and Sensibility Austen’s manipulative female characters are able to do more than what women would normally do. A third manipulative female character who is able to gain power and control a being would be Miss Sophia Grey. Miss Sophia Grey is a wealthy young women whom John Wiloughby plans to use to fulfill his financial needs. When John Wiloughby’s funds are cut off because he refuses to agree to something he leaves London and attempts to charm Miss Grey or her money and so her marries her. Once they are married there is a role reversal after she promises to help him live a luxurious life, and because of this she takes control. Austen portrays Wilouhby as a male character who sees women as objects that can be used at free will but the role reversal and Miss Grey having the control shows that the women had a lot more power than expected. Fanny Dashwood, Lucy Steel, and Sofia Grey are clearly manipulative women who do end up getting it their way especially in terms of money. One thing they all had in common was the money and where it was to go; Mrs. Dashwood did not want to give up the money her husband had acquired to her hers bands half sisters, Miss. Steele was looking for money which is why she went between the two Frerrars brothers and Miss Grey has the money that others want. Money may symbolizes wealth or power and in this case the women were longing for both and they got both. With their assertive, manipulative ways they were able to either be treated equally or take control and be treated equally and instead being treated with much respect. This truly shows the theme of feminism in this novel. Women standing up for what they want and getting it and that to with respect. Although there are manipulative women in Sense and Sensibility who as one portray the theme of feminism, women like the Dashwood sisters and their mother would not count to be one of those women. Austen writes “To him therefore the succession to the Norland estate was not so really important as to his sisters; for their fortune, independent of what might arise to them from their father’s inheriting property, could be but small. Their mother had nothing, and their father only seven thousand pounds in his own disposal.” (Austen 4) From this quote Austen clearly does not mean to give the Dashwood women (Dashwood by blood) money which was required to live. In the novel the sisters lose their any wealth they had because they were females. Their late father left them with very little but then John their brother who was in charge of the distribution of the money did not give them much they were poor. This incident shows the struggle of the women who had nothing of what they should have been entitled to and all of this is controlled by a male figure thus showing that males and females were unequal and also granted rights the females were not. Between the two types of females in Sense and Sensibility, the manipulative such as Fanny, Lucy, and Sofia and the less important such as Elinor and Marianne, the manipulative role of women is much more strong because of what it is able to do. Elinor and Marianne along with their mother and little sister may seem to be at a disadvantage and male figures do continue to help them, but Elinor and Marianne still are able to live, love, and be treated as equals by their male counter parts. Elinor and Marianne only had the money problem in the beginning she they were new at Barton Cottage but as time progressed they had some more power as well.This is what makes the theme of feminism much more evident throughout the entire novel; the fact that the majority of the female roles are placed next to those of the male roles in some way. Also the females are assertive and are able to show that they can take charge just like male characters can. Despite the fact that the majority of the characters in the novels are females, Jane Austen’s, Sense and Sensibility and Margaret Atwood's, The Blind Assassin are two novels that are very different when it comes to viewing the novels in terms of feminism. Sense and Sensibility contains a great amount of feminist like role and actions of those women whereas in The Blind Assassin there is a lack of it. In The Blind Assassin there are not many male figures, only two, but it is so that nothing runs without them being present or alive. In Sense and Sensibility it is similar that there are not that many male characters but the females roles here keep it together without the male figure unlike the females in The Blind Assassin. These are the things that make the females in Sense and Sensibility feminist. Also to some extent they have power and are placed to be equal to their husbands in Sense and Sensibility but this does not happen in The Blind Assassin because males have complete control. Overall, the two novels do not share many similarities but instead have many differences in the way the authors portray the female characters.