, exciting, pleasant rape than she can get pregnant and still be a virgin. As Estelle says,‘Listen,’ I said, ‘those aren’t RAPE fantasies. I mean, you aren‘t getting RAPED, it ‘s just some guy you haven’t met formally who happens to be more attractive than Derek Cummins,… and you have a good time. Rape is when they’ve got a knife or something and you don’t want to’ (32).Atwood manipulates these images within Estelle’s fantasies creating an ironic picture with subtle, biting humor. A mirror-image paradox in which the basic idea in the story and in the character of Estelle balance each other as opposite ideas and traits stand side by side. The thin almost non-existent plot is held up by the developed character of Estelle who presents us with a series of mini-plots held together by Estelle’s particular Bloom, 6perspective. Each little sub-plot involves Estelle’s meeting an adversary, whether that be a would-be rapist, one of the other women in the lunchroom, or herself. Each little dramatic episode brings us nearer to knowing Estelle. Margaret Atwood allows us to know a large part of Estelle’s personality in a short time by exposing her to many antagonists. In each case she is triumphant, speaking her mind as the predictable world of her own fantasies allows her to know of each sweet romantic ending. Estelle emerges saintly after each conflict until the end of the story when she defeats herself realizing that in actuality she is fantasizing about something that she has no understanding of. Her loquacious personality is packaged in a believable rounded character. After reading this story, (or listening to Estelle talk to us) we have mixed feelings, likes and dislikes of Estelle as we might if we had a conversation with her in a coffee shop. Margaret successfully creates a living human being for the reader, Estelle’s new friend. (Perr...
