Margaret Atwood is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and short story writer. With such a variety of works in different types of writing, it is difficult to grasp every aspect of Atwood’s purpose of writing. A comparative analysis of Rape Fantasies reveals the Atwood’s writing is varied in many ways yet soundly consistent especially when comparing a particular set of writing such as a group of her other short stories. Atwood’s background plays a large part in her writing. Atwood was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1913. Her father was an entomologist, so she spent much of her childhood in the wilderness and other various urban places around Canada. Throughout her life, she lived in numerous Canadian residences as well as several towns in the United States. She has also lived in England, France, Italy and Germany. With this extensive background, Atwood displays a vast knowledge of the world around her, although large portions of her writing are based on Canadian settings. As a young girl, she started reading many books and even writing poems and comics. After deciding that she wanted to become a writer, Atwood attended the University of Toronto and earned her bachelor’s degree in 1961. Following this, she went on to receiver her master’s degree from Harvard University. Since 1961, Atwood has produced a highly acclaimed body of work that includes fiction, poetry and literary criticism. Atwood published her first volume of poems, Double Persephone, in 1961 (Toronto), followed by many more throughout the next three decades, interspersed with novels, including The Edible Woman, Surfacing, Lady Oracle, Life Before Man, Bodily Harm, The Handmaids Tale and The Robber Bride. (Contemporary Literary Criticism, 48). Among Atwood’s extensive list of writing, it is important to note the handful of short fiction that she has published. Her most recent collection of short fiction is titled “Good Bones” ...
