Abstract

This study explores wilderness and the antithesis of victimhood and femininity assigned to the female protagonist by her society in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing. It adopts an eco-feminist perspective to delve into the social and patriarchal circumstances that lead the protagonist to live in isolated wilderness. She goes to a remote island in Canada to find her missing father; strikingly, she finds selfhood and autonomy in the island’s wilderness. Therefore, this study explores wilderness as a remedial refuge for the protagonist from patriarchal society, the main objective being an examination of the wild terrain as a perfect replacement for the society depicted in Surfacing. It follows a qualitative methodology by applying a textual analysis and detailed investigation of three interrelated literary elements. First, the novel’s setting is examined as an ideal incarnation of the wild terrain that captures the protagonist’s attention, convincing her to live there, as she seeks to escape from her patriarchal society. Second, the novel’s characters are discussed as representatives of those who marginalize her. Third, the novel’s narrative point of view is identified as an embodiment of Atwood’s view of the violation of women’s private lives, which is a key factor that triggers the protagonist to resort to wilderness to regain her lost feminist self that is distorted by patriarchal society. In so doing, this article makes valuable contributions both to studies of Atwood’s early work and to the burgeoning field of ecofeminist literary criticism.

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