- Atwood’s literary legacy provides a very fertile base for exploring the elements of utopia and dystopia in fiction. Each work of the writer is the result of a certain period of preparation and carries a specific idea. This idea usually sounds like a reflection of the writer’s concerns about the future of the world. The future of the world, of the human race, arouses concern, because the processes we live in today indicate a dystopia.
Atwood’s works are difficult to analyze within a narrow category. The author himself prefers to define them as speculative. She explains this aspect by the fact that her works resonate with the processes in the modern world and are based on historical events. In other words, what happen in real life form a rich enough base for the illumination of the issues highlighted by the writer, there is no need for fantastic elements. Unfortunately, this base is mostly dystopian.
It would be a big mistake to analyze Atwood’s works as a completely dark, hopeless dystopia. In her works, the writer demonstrates that human will, tolerance and compassion do not disappear even in the time of the greatest disasters. People definitely either rise up to fight against the totalitarian regime, or try to be united for the continuity of life and humanity. During all these processes, the issue that attracts the most attention is the complex human nature, contrasting moral and spiritual qualities. M. Atwood’s creativity attracts special attention primarily due to the ability to present all these contradictory points with their full complexity, convincingly, in a unique style.