sented by a blond-rubber doll that is pulled towards society and image of a pretty wife for Peter. An older dark haired doll represents the other half of her, which is drawn away from societys ideal towards the amoeba like Ducan. Marian tries to live out each life, playing the Florence Nightingale on call comforter for Ducan and donning a sequinned red dress and elaborate hair-do for Peters party.Her life in the two roles is ended when she discovers the reality of the two men, and successively she discovers the truth about herself. At the party, she discovers Peters hidden self, as a homicidal maniac with lethal weapon in his hands(p.255). She flees to Ducan where she discovers that he too, is part of the victim predator game. Ducan tricks Marian into sleeping with him by appearing helpless. Marian realises he was not corrupted by her, but acting innocent so she would give motherly attention. Once again, she passively allowed a person to manipulate her.As a result, Marian comes to the realisation that Peter is trying to destroy her and Ducan is just looking for attention. She decides to act and no longer be acted upon. She asserts herself by baking a sponge cake in the likeness of the ideal woman. She serves it to Peter who considers her crazy and runs off. Marians appetite returns and she eats the cake destroying the commercial image of society and becoming a whole person. Atwood shows her integration by resuming the text in first person. She is back to where she began before her engagement to Peter. She is capable of thinking for herself and making choices accordingly. She has becomes self-aware.Marian achieves self-knowledge by asserting against her passivity and rejecting Atwoods caricatures of the roles of the underpaid worker, the ideal of femininity, the mother wife oppressed by her reproductive function, the over-aggressive predator, the lover alienated by her emotions and the manipulated caregiver. With her future now on her ...
