The Edible Woman

1. The Edible Woman A Comic-Satirical View of Women’s Positions in Society

2. General Question • Why does Marian cry in the Park Plaza and then run away from her friends? How is Peter presented in this scene? • Why does she kiss Duncan (the man at the laundromat)?

3. Outline • Background:50’s and 60’s in Canada • Society and its stagnant conformity; • Examples of femininity • Marian’s interview • Examples of Masculinity: Peter and Len • Chap 9-10: Marian’s responses • Duncan and his views of cannibalism • Images of Food, Eating and Body

4. 50’s in CanadaMyth of Domesticity • After WW II (1945) • Myth – 1) calling women back home Propaganda: “When will Mother be home again, doing what she does best, making a home for Daddy and me?” (Seen in magazines, sermons, political rhetoric, school textbooks & the doctor’s advice) 2) Women as submissive to and supportive of men, domestic and nourishing

5. 50’s in Canada Reality of Women at Work • Post-War Reality – 1) many reluctant to give up their paychecks and independence; • 2) in 1947 ¼ of Canadian women in work force; • 3) poor white women, single mothers, native women, black domestic servants, etc. • 4) professional jobs were largely unavailable to women; their jobs were mostly factory labour, domestic service, sales and secretary;

6. 50’s in CanadaMyth of Femininity • Sweet and sexy: • Sexiness = blond, long legs, cute curls, big breasts, etc.

7. 50’s 60’s in CanadaChanges • More young women were allowed to exter universities. • 1950 -- 25 % women; • The new “single girl” phenomenon. Age of first marriage started to rise slowly. •  new definitions of “femaleness” and female sexuality in the 60’s. • Influence of The Feminine Mystique (1963) and the other American feminist ideas of autonomy and women’s rights.

8. & Child birth: Birth control pills– began to be used in the States in 1960 Birth control advice from physicians considered illegal in Canada until 1969  abortion debate (pro-choice, pro-life) in the 70’s. 50’s 60’s in CanadaDomesticity

9. Edible Woman: Plot Summary • Part I – sense of crisis, escape and compromise; • Part 2 – in between Duncan and Peter; fear of being consumed  developing anorexia; • Part 3 – solutions

10. Society • Seymour Survey: 1) The fixed hierarchy in the office pp. 14-15; 2) stagnant, lack of energy; p. 11 3) controlling: Pension Plan; 4) Map – p. 19 • The landlady: conservative, keeping an eye on them, insist on “decency”

11. Society (2) • Comic or grotesque episodes showing people’s exploitation and repression of others’ bodies. • pp. 17-18; • Quebec •  social cannibalism.

12. Society (3) • What do you think about Duncan’s description of graduate school (pp. 101 - 103)

13. Clara (chaps 3, 4)– ad beauty turned into a monstrously pregnant body. pp. 28—her body; 33 -- her past and present; 34 – her present passivity; 36 her views of the pill; Knows what she wants to do p. 9 Ainsley chap 5 Wholeness of life or cattle-breeding pp. 39-41 Maternity:Ainsley vs. Clara Marian’s nightmare

14. More Questions • What do you think about Marian’s work? • What do you think about her relationship with Peter? • What kind of person is “the man at the laudromat”?

15. Marian’s Work • “What else can you do with a B.A. these days?” pp. 10; 54. • Re-enforcing social order (looks for a proper district) pp. 43-44 • Encounters and is subject to the other fixed value standards: • puritan self-righteousness; • Male sexism

16. Peter • A lawyer on the rise 56; • His room—weapons 58; (the other weapons—camera and his look 72;) • Needs Trigger to be his mirror image p. 23; • Uses Marian as support pp. 60; expects Marian to meet his expectations 63, 65; • Against female predator 65 • Peter on hunting 70-71 Marian’s realization of being used as “stage-prop.” 72

17. Len Slank • Len: a womanizer esp. interested in innocent women 90 • Ainsley’s action p. 69 –performs the role of an innocent girl to get her “prey.” Another reason for Marian’s escape

18. Chapters 9 - 10: Peter’s ways of controlling Marian • the fourth weapon—car; • Marriage  • Marian’s Responses • Marian sees him as a rescuer 92-93-94;

19. Duncan • Not masculine, or complete as a subject – his body p. 47; • Marian’s is attracted to his ideas: • His interpretation of the ad-- pp. 51-53—reveals the relations between food industry and patriarchal ideologies of masculinity and consumption. • His self-criticism (of the grads’ life)—liquid confessing like “an uncooked egg” • His sharp perception of their mutual needs 105

20. Images: Eating, Food & Predator/Prey • The survey company: rice pudding, beer, (later, tomato juice, meat cleaver, etc.) • Marian’s work: “licking” stamps • The pension plan will “feed off [her] salary” (18) • Work place as soup 11, as a three-layer sandwich 13; • One interviewee’s voice -- 45 • Ainsley escapes from Len as if from a “giant squid” 87 • The novel’s epigraph

21. Images: Body • P. 19 the map like measles; • Clara’s body; • p. 85 – As Peter is watching her, Marian feels “limp as a damp kleenex.” • P. 106 – Duncan’s body like tissue paper, too. • Marian’s skull—”like a cantaloup” 86; • (Ainsley, like a mermaid)

22. Reference • Silverman, Eliane Leslau. “Changes in Women’s Lives.” A Passion for Identity: An Introduction to Canadian Studies. 3rd ed. Ed. David Taras and Beverly Rasporich. Toronto: International Thomson P, 1997.