women and the stereotype they represent. Marian also explores the image of herself as a wife and mother, through her pregnant friend Clara. Atwood compares Clara to a boa-constrictor who swallowed a water-melon(p.25). Claras body represents the way in which a womans body can get out of control, if she allows nature to take its course. Clara, as Marian sees, is littering the world with children for no specific purpose. Consequently, Clara becomes a vegetable unable to think for herself or to concentrate. Marian rejects Claras version of a womans role because she thinks it is irresponsible and precarious. A fourth alternative is her roommate, Ainsley, who represents the predatory female. Atwood characterises her as a combination of military general and inert vegetable growth. Ainsley plots to impregnate her self through Len Shank and raise the child alone, then later tries to force him into marriage. To Marian, Ainsley is far to dominating and immoral.In rejection of these roles, Marian is left in an empty state and succumbs to irrational behaviour due to her lack of self-knowledge. Marians engagement to Peter intensifies her anxieties about the future. Prior to his proposal, Marian hears a hunting story of Peters; he describes killing and gutting a rabbit. Irrationally, Marian feels a panic as in tense as a hunted animal as she identifies with the rabbit. She runs from Peter, an action she does not understand. Atwood illustrates that she is afraid of becoming a victim of Peters, like the rabbit. Later that evening, she hides under the sofa bed in Lens apartment. Atwood presents this irrational gesture of escape with overtones of a rabbit burrowing or the desire to return to an uncomplicated life of the womb. Marians instinctive mechanisms of escape are conquered by Peters urge as a predator. Marian allows herself to be conquered, thus following societys expectations of a woman. Accordingly, she accepts Peter proposal and says, Id rathe...
