Patricia Goldblatt in "Reconstructing Margaret Atwood's Protagonists" begins her essay by describing the historical and cultural context within which Margaret Atwood lives and works:
Margaret Atwood weaves stories from her own life
in the bush and cities of Canada. Intensely conscious
of her political and social context, Atwood dispels
the notion that caribou-clad Canadians remain perpetually
locked in blizzards while simultaneously
seeming to be a polite mass of gray faces, often indistinguishable
from their American neighbors. Atwood
has continually pondered the lack of an identifiable
Canadian culture. . . . In an attempt to focus
on Canadian experiences, Atwood has populated her
stories with Canadian cities, conflicts, and contemporary
people.
Atwood and a handful of other women writers in Canada are considered to have marked a turning point in Canadian literature......
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