A Palette of Unconvential Symbolism: Color Imagery in Three Margaret Atwood Novels

• Main Author: Martin, Shannon
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 1995
• Subjects: Creative Writing; English Language and Literature
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/915; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1918&context=theses

In this thesis, the writer examines the color imagery in three Margaret Atwood novels: Surfacing, Cat's Eye, and The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood uses color in unconventional ways by forcing colors to symbolize the opposite of their common meanings, by allowing colors to represent simultaneously two opposing ideas, and by disregarding traditional color meanings by creating her own unique associations. Atwood's color imagery supports her thematic concerns in that through her themes--as with her use of color--she challenges the reader's expectations by throwing into question many conventional ideas about progress, religion, and the sex-gender system.