This dissertation will be an attempt to explore how Margaret Atwood uses existentialist concepts in The Heart Goes Last (2015). I will attempt to prove that, in the novel, freedom of choice is a requisite element to find one’s true self and therefore; be happy.
Literature is an experimental place where everything can be built or deconstructed in order to analyze and reflect upon the real world and the nature of man. Consequently, it is a laboratory where authors can branch out possibilities for their characters. In the modern world, everyone strikes for a happy life. Therefore, it is logical that this quest for happiness is also explored in literature. Multiple philosophies have tackled this topic of happiness.
One of them is utilitarianism …show more content…
As Carol Ann Howell writes, “In Atwood’s fiction there are no essentialist definitions of ‘woman’ or ‘feminism’ or even ‘Canadian,’ but instead representations of the endless complexity and quirkiness of human behavior which exceeds ideological labels and the explanatory power of theory.” Her science fiction narrative - or as she calls it, speculative fiction - explores the human being’s reactions when taken to the extreme circumstances of the real world. As she said in an interview, “I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist.” Deeply anchored in the real world, her novels reflect upon what it means to be human when the circumstances of the world change. This genre is useful for existentialist thought because a problematic characteristic of the real world can be exacerbated until the world turns into nothing but anxiety, fear and ashes. In Aliens have taken the place of angels the author said, “They [science fiction narratives] can explore the nature and limits of what it means to be human in graphic ways, by pushing the envelope as far as it will go.” In The Heart Goes Last, the government is using utilitarianism to convince people that the system is tough for their own sake. However, the characters soon realize that the system is not as idyll as it first seemed. Therefore, they will have to find a way to be happy notwithstanding the circumstances in which they are
Literature is an experimental place where everything can be built or deconstructed in order to analyze and reflect upon the real world and the nature of man. Consequently, it is a laboratory where authors can branch out possibilities for their characters. In the modern world, everyone strikes for a happy life. Therefore, it is logical that this quest for happiness is also explored in literature. Multiple philosophies have tackled this topic of happiness.
One of them is utilitarianism …show more content…
As Carol Ann Howell writes, “In Atwood’s fiction there are no essentialist definitions of ‘woman’ or ‘feminism’ or even ‘Canadian,’ but instead representations of the endless complexity and quirkiness of human behavior which exceeds ideological labels and the explanatory power of theory.” Her science fiction narrative - or as she calls it, speculative fiction - explores the human being’s reactions when taken to the extreme circumstances of the real world. As she said in an interview, “I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist.” Deeply anchored in the real world, her novels reflect upon what it means to be human when the circumstances of the world change. This genre is useful for existentialist thought because a problematic characteristic of the real world can be exacerbated until the world turns into nothing but anxiety, fear and ashes. In Aliens have taken the place of angels the author said, “They [science fiction narratives] can explore the nature and limits of what it means to be human in graphic ways, by pushing the envelope as far as it will go.” In The Heart Goes Last, the government is using utilitarianism to convince people that the system is tough for their own sake. However, the characters soon realize that the system is not as idyll as it first seemed. Therefore, they will have to find a way to be happy notwithstanding the circumstances in which they are