A study of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novels: The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx And Crake

Margaret Atwood?s The Handmaid?s Tale and Oryx and Crake, as dystopic novels, reflect the theme of fear. Unlike utopias, dystopias present ills of society and even how far the disaster can be. In this respect, dystopic novels are described as warnings for horrifying future.For the theme ? fear, the best approach is psychoanalysis, and the most significant psychoanalyst is Jacques Lacan. Extending Freudianism, Lacan introduces imaginary, symbolic, real orders; and ?Name of Father? within imaginary. He points out the importance of language within unconsciousness and ?mirror stage?, as a part of psychosexual development, in which a child, for the first time, recognizes his/her body as something separate from his/her identity; thus, he/she is alienated. Another challenge for child is ?castrating? impact of his/her mother. Highlighting the importance of language, Margaret Atwood has used female protagonists in her novels except for Oryx and Crake. To Atwood, ?context is all?.To this extent, The Handmaid?s Tale is female presentation of American society of 1980s and their victimhood for reproduction politics. Women are alienated and fragmented because of the prohibition of reading and writing basically; in other words, the predominance of ?law of father?. Via male narration, Oryx and Crake reflects how a hell biotechnology can create. Like in The Handmaid?s Tale, ?law of father?, language, fragmentation, and the influence of mother are indicated. Both novels are representations of fear although their presentation are made by two people of different genders.