Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Jan Gorak, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Adam Rovner

Third Advisor

Frederique Chevillot

Keywords

Apocalypse, Dystopia, Formalism, Margaret Atwood, Narrative structure, Utopia

Abstract

In the first two books of her MaddAdam series (a projected trilogy), Margaret Atwood explores a series of events from three very different perspectives. A close reading of the two texts suggests that the specific focalizers chosen, and their very different ways of perceiving the world around them, are central issues in the novels. In Oryx and Crake, Atwood establishes the apocalypse as a problem of dystopian vision through the book's deeply flawed focalizer. In The Year of the Flood two alternative visions are offered in order to rehabilitate the perceptual problems of the first text. In the three chapters of this paper, I will explore the devices used to establish each focalizer's specific vision, the ways in which each focalizer views apocalypse, and the relationship of each focalizer to the utopian perspective that appears poised to redeem dystopia and apocalypse.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Jennifer Leora Nessel Cassidy

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

109 p.

Discipline

Literature

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