It is most difficult to separate social concerns from themes and motifs in Margaret Atwood's work because she is, ultimately, a woman concerned with both social and cultural issues. This is adamantly clear in her poetry, prose, fiction, and critical writings. A Canadian social icon, Margaret Atwood has been called a "committed disabuser" by critics who note her extensive exposition of social and cultural illusions with unusual zeal. Her aggressive skepticism and bitter use of satire is often tempered with escapism and mysticism, all of which work together to form a doubleedged sword between truth and fiction.

Atwood is a devoted feminist and her work reflects a deep-seated honesty whereby she is constantly questioning social roles, mores, attitudes, organization, and convention. While she takes a very definite stand against certain issues (for example the influence of advertising/media on women's body image), she is also a...