The author paints Estelle’s character into a vaguely defined landscape that the reader can only surmise is a singles’ bar or comparable locale, and peoples it with a solitary, unidentified male listener. Due to the first-person narration and the monologue style of delivery, the reader is exposed to a limited, likely unreliable, reality—that of Estelle and her delusions of competence and control. Betty Almost a coming of age tale, with the adolescent narrator who doesn’t quite understand the world of the grown-ups that she observes. Betty is part of “Betty and Fred” the couple who live next door at the cottages where her family is spending the summer, and the girl and her sister are a bit taken with Fred, but it is Betty who makes them welcomed and treats them well. Fred seems so ideal to their young minds. About half way through the tale, our narrator observes, “I began to think that I might not want to be married to Fred after all. He unrolled from Betty’s mouth like a long ribbon of soggy newspaper printed from end to end with nothing but the weather.” That simile said all.

Incluso quienes jamás irían a los lugares que ella describía, quienes no podrían permitírselo, no querían oír hablar de peligros, ni siquiera de incomodidades; era como si desearan creer que quedaba un lugar en el mundo donde todo iba bien, donde no ocurría nada desagradable. Her disregard for dreadful concepts and her ability to make light of serious situations are the very character qualities that make believable her carelessness in the end. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this,” Estelle says in the next-to-last paragraph, “except I think it helps you get to know a person, especially at first, hearing some of the things they think about.” Her entire nervous spiel, start to finish, now reminds us far too much of her fantasies. In the story’s last lines, Estelle says, returning to the subject of rape, “once you let them know you’re human… I don’t see how they could go ahead with it, right?” But, as before, there is no indication of how the man at the bar responds or whether he responds at all. Perhaps he is a danger to vulnerable Estelle, perhaps not, but the story’s comic tone now goes swirling down the drain of Estelle’s essential solitude. It appears that she has failed to make a human connection, and she has come no further in understanding the ugliness of rape: “I mean, I know it happens, but I just don’t understand it.” Developed through the literary device of dramatic monologue, this story presents virtually no exposition and little recognizable plot. The reader must wait patiently for tidbits of information while wading through the inane rambling utterances of a protagonist who is obviously speaking to a male not directly involved in the story. By calmly listening to her rapists or starting a conversation with them, she attempts to assert herself. She can relate to and give advice to her rapists. They can even watch the late show together. Truly, Estelle’s rapists are as unrealistically obliging and polite as her coworkers’ rapists were romantically accommodating. These fantasy men are definite failures at raping Estelle, but they are more successful at having a relationship with a woman than the “successful” rapists. Ironically, the men even leave her feeling sorry for their unsuccessful attempts at rape.

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Libro que contiene ocho relatos que tratan sobre la relación entre una mujer y un hombre; algunos me han gustado más que otros. Es cierto que encontré cierta repetición... De todos modos, los leí sintiéndolos y eso ya es suficiente como para valorarlo positivamente. Además, me vi habitando en los cuerpos de las diversas mujeres que aparecen en esta colección. Hallarse supone conectarse con el autor o la autora, es por ello que el libro seguirá estando en mi estantería, reclamándome de vez en cuando. «Érase una vez» y «A favor de las mujeres tontas» me resultaron de gran importancia. In Margaret Atwood’s 1977 short story “ Rape Fantasies,” the narrative situation is revealed through the narrator’s sarcastic, ironic, and ultimately sincere style of speaking. Aceasta mi-a plăcut cel mai mult, deși mai sunt destule notate cu 5*: Omul de pe Marte, Betty, Polarități, Pregătire, Dansatoarele ș.a. The premise that “all women have rape fantasies” is a hasty generalization that the magazines use to fuel the female readers’ fancies about rape. For example, Darlene asserts, “I certainly don’t (have rape fantasies).” Darlene’s assertions refute the argument presented in the magazine concerning the generality of rape fantasies. Even though the Magazines put forward statistical proof to validate that the fantasies involve recognizable people such as bosses, all the rape fantasies presented by the narrator and her associates involve unacquainted men. If the characters in “Rape Fantasies” were a sample used to assess the hypothesis relating to the familiarity of rapists in rape fantasies, then the hypothesis would be false. With her usual wit, Margaret Atwood uses elements of humor to lighten the mood of "Rape Fantasies" at the same time introducing the seriousness of the topic. The reader is introduced to the first person narrator, a young woman by the name of Estelle, who works in the filing department of her company. From the beginning of the story, Estelle shows the reader just how difficult it is for women to laugh at themselves when they have been conditioned by society and mass media to fit into certain perceived stereotypes. She points out tha...

The significance of Estelle's need to explain her position to the listener, despite her fears, she sees the risk being worth it as opposed to the alternative of isolation form human interaction, which not only unveils Estelle's vulnerability but in turn gives Estelle credibility ("I Just Don't Understand It." Gale). Many of the stories dealt with young women and their first jobs, first apartments, first lovers and first babies, which is to be expected given that this was one of her earliest books, comprised of stories originally printed in various magazines and periodicals at the start of her career. One can assume she was struggling to find her way as a young author in the midst of '70s feminism, with not much hope yet for a happy and balanced relationship. La tematica è la vita, in ogni sua sfaccettatura: amore, nascita, morte, follia, paure, solitudine. L'ambientazione è quasi sempre grigia, sporca, sciatta, fredda. I desideri, una volta soddisfatti, sono niente, le relazioni sono tutte segnate dall'incomprensione e dall'insoddisfazione. The final story, "Giving Birth," is an internal meditation of the fears and uncertainties of impending motherhood. Though fiction, it could just as easily have been a personal essay were it not for the presence of a ghost woman who our narrator sees on occasion, a proxy for herself, a sort of apparition of the worst case scenario. Effective and haunting.

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In this little episode we can see Estelle’s honesty and sweetness, since none of the disguised brutality found in the fantasies of the other two women is evident in the story that Estelle reveals. Along with maintaining an ironic balance within Rape Fantasies, Estelle’s personality revelations introduce other ideas into the story. Her casual friendly banter can take a complex, weighty topic such as rape and simplify it into one naive workingwoman’s thoughts. She mentions growing up as a Catholic girl and how that helped to save her from the fantasized basement axe murderer. The story brings out the inner feeling of the characters on how they feel about the subject of rape and how they look at it. Kuigi mul on mitu raamatut pooleli, siis ükspäev haaras käsi justkui iseenesest riiulilt Atwoodi raamatu. Tegemist on lühikese jutukoguga, milles on vaid 5 juttu. Lühijutud räägivad igapäevasest elust ja tavalistest inimestest ning nende mõtetest. Lisaks avaneb lugejale keskkond, milles tegelased elavad. Originaalis on see jutukogu küll oluliselt mahukam, lausa kahju, et vaid osa raamatust sai toona tõlgitud. Tõlge muidugi kannab kohati oma aja märke. Üllatusin, kui kohtasin sõna 'kartulikrõpsik' ja veidi edasi lugedes tuli 'Prantsuse praekartulid', aga kui arvestada, et tõlge on aastast 1987, siis ei ole kobiseda midagi - polnud ju sel ajal meil õrna aimugi, mis on kartulikrõpsud või friikartulid, need on saanud igapäevaseks ikka aastaid hiljem. Muus osas ei ütle tõlke kohta ühtki halba sõna, ja ega eelöeldu pole ka halvana mõeldud. Estelle is unsure of some of the most important rape questions but is somehow satisfied with this uncertainty. The author shows this attitude to be a constant in Estelle’s character, present whether she considers concrete or abstract ideas; and it is this trait, so deeply embedded in her very fiber, that negatively affects her humor, creativity, and other redeeming qualities so completely. Although "Rape Fantasies" is one of Atwood's most popular stories, little criticism of her work focuses on it specifically. Several critics have noted that Estelle seems to be a naive protagonist, but that view is rejected by an equal number of reviewers. Estelle and her female coworkers have very different ideas on what romance is and how to obtain it without falling prey to the insidious forces in society. The story is often used as a starting point for discussing the gap between men's and women's perceptions of each other.

My giving away the story’s surprises won’t spoil the story for those who have yet to read it. I believe that this brief appreciation of the surprises will prove an enticement. Truly, you could read Atwood’s tour de force dozens of times and continue to find pleasure in its inventiveness and Atwood’s astonishing knowledge of the human heart (also, if you happen to be a writer, you’ll gain much from studying its valuable lessons in the art of surprise). Ecco, la Atwood è in grado di scrivere storie così con un'arguzia e un'analisi sottile e spietata... non la definisco con la parola femminista perché so che la Atwood non vuole essere definita così, eppure è per me quanto di più femminista, onesto e senza vergogna io conosca.

Why is “The Man From Mars” mysterious? First, the man appeals to Christine to share her name by way of writing. Typically, people exchange their names verbally. Christine obliges in view of the possibility that the man is from a culture that is dissimilar to hers whereby sharing names through writing may be tolerable. Second, the man is resolute on going home with her on the first day that they pump into each other. His request is bizarre seeing that they have not been accustomed to each other for long. Third, the man calls Christine’s house, even though Christine did not give her telephone number. Details are not included on how he got the number though. Christine speculates, “most likely he went through the phone book, calling all the numbers with her last name until he hit on the right one.” If Christine’s theory is perfect, then the man must have been neurotic about being in Christine’s life. What is more, the man invites himself to Christine’s home for tea. On the occasions when Christine gives her the opportunity to speak out what he wants from her, the man does not express himself. It is her recognition of the danger of rape that drives Estelle to create fantasies in which she rescues herself through conversation and kindness. But – a smart added surprise from Atwood – Estelle’s last fantasy reveals that her isolation is so immense and desperate that she has imagined a would-be rape transformed (albeit fuzzily) into a romance, and it is just as we comprehend the depth of the narrator’s loneliness that we also reach that point in the story where we ‘get it’, and that chill I mentioned earlier fills our hearts: We’re reading a dramatic monologue… and her audience is a male bar customer.