Surfacing | Suggested Reading

Surfacing What Do I Read Next?

Margaret Atwood sets The Handmaid's Tale (1986) in the futuristic, totalitarian society of the Republic of Gilead, where women are valued only for their ability to breed. This novel also focuses on a woman's struggle to define herself not as a victim but as an individual.

In Edible Woman (1965), Atwood presents another powerful portrait of a woman who suffers under social limitations.

In the play A Doll House (1879), Henrik Ibsen examines a woman's restricted role in the nineteenth century, and the disastrous effects those limitations have on her marriage.

The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin chronicles the tragic life of Edna Pontiellier as she tries to discover a true sense of self in America at the beginning of the twentieth century.