THE FEMALE BODY

‘…entirely devoted to the subject “The Female Body”. Knowing how well you have written on this topic… this
capacious topic…’- letter from the Michigan Quarterly Review

1.
I agree, it’s a hot topic. But only one? Look around, there’s a wide range. Take my own for instance.
I get up in the morning. My topic feels like hell. I sprinkle it with water, brush parts of it, rub it with towels,
powder it, add lubricant. I dump in the fuel and away goes my topic, my topical topic, my controversial topic, my
limping topic, my nearsighted topic, my topic with back problems, my badly behaved topic, my vulgar topic, my
outrageous topic, my ageing topic, my topic that is out of question and anyway still can’t spell, in its oversized coat
and worn winter boots, scuttling along the sidewalk as if it were flesh and blood, hunting for what’s out there, an
avocado, an alderman, an adjective, hungry as ever.

2.
The basic Female Body comes with the following accessories: garter-belt, panty-girdle, crinoline, camisole,
bustle, brassiere, stomacher, chemise, virgin zone, spike heels, nose-ring, veil, kid gloves, fishnet stockings, fichu,
bandeau (…) barrettes, bangles, beads, lorgnette, feather boa, basic black, compact, Lycra stretch one-piece with
modesty panel, designer peignoir, flannel nightie, lace teddy, bed, head.

3.
The Female Body is made of transparent plastic and lights up when you plug it in, You press a button and
illuminate to different systems. The Circulatory System is red, for the heart and the arteries, purple for the veins; the
Respiratory System is blue, the Lymphatic System is yellow, the Digestive System is green, with liver and kidneys
in aqua. The nerves are done in orange and the brain is pink. The skeleton, as you might expect, is white.
The Reproductive System is optional, and can be removed. It comes with or without a miniature embryo. Parental
Judgement can thereby be exercised. We do not wish to frighten or offend.

4.
He said, I won’t have one of those things in the house. It gives a young girl a false notion of beauty, not to
mention anatomy. If a real woman was built like that she'd fall on her face.
She said, If we don’t let her have one like all the other girls she’ll feel singled out. It’ll become an issue. She’ll
long for one. Repression breeds sublimation. You know that.
He said, It’s not just the pointy plastic tits, it’s the wardrobes. The wardrobes and the stupid male doll, what’s his
name, the one with the underwear glued on.
She said, Better to get it over with when she’s young. He said, All right but don’t let me see it.
She came whizzing down the stairs, thrown like a dart. She was stark naked. Her hair had been chopped off, her
head was turned back to front, she was missing some toes and she’d been tattooed all over her body with purple ink,
in a scroll-work design. She hit the potted azalea, trembled there for a moment like a botched angel, and fell.
He said, I guess we’re safe.

5.
The Female Body has many uses. It’s been used as a door-knocker, a bottle-opener, as a clock with a ticking
belly, as something to hold up lampshades, as a nutcracker, just squeeze the brass legs together and out comes your
nut. It bears torches, lifts victorious wreaths, grows copper wings and raises aloft a ring of neon stars; whole
buildings rest on its marble heads.
It sells cars, beer, shaving lotion, cigarettes, hard liquor; it sells diet plans and diamonds, and desire in tiny crystal
bottles. Is this the face that launched a thousand products? You bet it is, but don’t get any funny big ideas, honey,
that smile is a dime a dozen.

It does not merely sell, it is sold. Money flows into this country or that country, flies in, practically crawls in,
suitful after suitful, lured by all those hairless pre-teen legs. Listen, you want to reduce the national debt, don’t you?
Aren’t you patriotic? That’s the spirit. That’s my girl.
 She’s a natural resource, a renewable one luckily, because those things wear out so quickly. They don’t make ‘em
like they used them. Shoddy goods.

6.
One and one equals another one. Pleasure in the female is not a requirement. Pair-bonding is stronger in geese.
We’re not talking about love, we’re talking about biology. That’s how we all got here, daughter.
Snails do it differently. They’re hermaphrodites, and work in threes.

7.
Each female body contains a female brain. Handy. Makes things work. Stick pins in it and you get amazing
results. Old popular songs. Short circuits. Bad dreams.
Anyway: each of these brains has two halves. They’re joined together by a thick cord: neural pathways flow from
one to the other, sparkles of electric information washing to and fro. Like light on waves. Like a conversation. How
does a woman know? She listens. She listens in.
The male brain, now, that’s a different matter. Only a thin connection. Space over here, time over there, music
and arithmetic in their own sealed compartments. The right brain doesn’t know what the left brain is doing. Good for
aiming through, for hitting the target when you pull the trigger. What’s the target? Who’s the target? Who cares?
What matters is hitting it. That’s the male brain for you. Objective.
This is why men are so sad, why they feel so cut off, why they think of themselves as orphans cast adrift,
footloose and stringless in the deep void. What void? She says What are you talking about? The void of the
Universe, he says, and she says Oh and looks out the window and tries to get a handle on it, but it’s no use, there’s
too much going on, too many rustlings in the leaves, too many voices, so she says, Would you like a cheese
sandwich, a piece of cake, a cup of tea? And he grinds his teeth because she doesn’t understand, and wanders off,
not just alone, but Alone, lost in the dark, lost in the skull, searching for the other half, the twin who could complete
him.
Then it comes to him: he’s lost the Female Body! Look, it shines in the gloom, far ahead, a vision of wholeness,
ripeness, like a giant melon, like an apple, like a metaphor for breast in a bad sex novel; it shines like a balloon, like
a foggy noon, a watery moon, shimmering in its egg of light.
Catch it. Put in a pumpkin, in a high tower, in a compound, in a chamber, in a house, in a room. Quick, stick a
leash on it, a lock, a chain, some pain, settle it down, so it can never get away from you again.
(Margaret Atwood – The Female Body)

A
I. READING COMPREHENSION

Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)- Canadian novelist and poet. She has
published more than thirty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays.
Her novels include The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin.
She is the recipient of many literary awards and honours.

1.
Paraphrase
Paraphrase the underlined words/phrases.
2.
Title
Comment upon the title of the above text. How can you interpret the author’s choice of talking about the “female
body” instead of the “female mind” for example?
3.
Paragraph 1
Margaret Atwood has agreed to write on the topic of the female body.
a. Choose adequate synonyms for the word “ topic”.
b. Looking at paragraph 1, try to characterize the way in which the author presents the female body. Find key
words/phrases in this characterization.
c. What is the relation between the image of “the female body” that the author creates in this paragraph and the
term “ topic” that is used here as a synonym for the female body?
d. What does the author mean by the phrase “ hot topic”. Do you think that “ the male body” also represents a “
hot topic”? Motivate your answer.
4.
Paragraph 2
The Female Body is described as possessing a number of accessories.
a. Why do you think the author chooses this particular group of accessories?
b. Which of these accessories are still worn by/ still characterize women nowadays and in what circumstances?
c. Try to name a group of similar accessories that accompany the “male body”.
5.
Paragraph 3
The author claims that the Female Body is made of plastic and it lights up when plugged in.

a. Is this image consistent with the image from the first paragraph? What similarities/differences are there between
the two?
b. Why does the author choose to present the “ different systems” in the female body in a detailed manner? Why
do you think each system is associated a different colour?
6.
Paragraph 4
a. In what context does the conversation in paragraph 4 occur and what does it refer to?
b. Which of the two speakers do you agree with?
c. How can you comment upon the remark “ I guess we’re safe?”
7.
Paragraph 5
The author underlines that the Female Body has many uses.
a. Examine the different uses of the Female Body. How can you comment upon them? Can you think of similar
uses for the Male Body?
b. What does the author mean by “ It does not merely sell, it is sold.” when referring to the Female Body.
c. Why does the author claim that the Female Body is a renewable resource?
8.
Paragraph 6
Comment upon the following: “ Pleasure in the female is not a requirement.” Does this echo the author’s own
thoughts?
9.
Paragraph 7
a. What is the difference between the female brain and the male brain in the author’s opinion? Do you agree with her
point of view?
b. What have men lost in the author’s opinion and how do they try to compensate for that loss? Do you think this is
an accurate description for the attitude of men towards women?

II. STYLE

Register
a. Exemplify instances of familiar language in the text.
b. Exemplify instances of formal language in the text.
c. How can you comment upon the interplay between familiar language and formal language in the text?

Stereotyped expressions
Investigate the use of the following sentences in the text:
a. “ Repression breeds sublimation.”
b. “ Pleasure in female is not a requirement.”
c. “ We’re not talking about love, we’re talking about biology.”
d. “ Is this the face that launched a thousand products?”
e. “ Would you like a cheese sandwich, apiece of cake, a cup of tea?”
Irony
“ From Greek: dissimulation”. A form of expression by which the writer intends his meaning to be understood
differently and less favourably in contrast to his overt statement” (cf. Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature)
Taking the above definition as a point of reference, investigate the use of irony in Margaret Atwood’s text.

B
VOCABULARY

1*. POLYSEMY: FLESH. Translate into Romanian, paying attention to the uses of above word:

1. Romanul tău s-ar putea îmbunătăţi dacă ai da mai multă substanţă personajelor. 2. Nu mi-aş fi imaginat ca propria
mea fiică să mă trateze aşa: e carne din carnea mea! 3. Ştii foarte bine că biserica era foarte aspră în trecut cu preoţii
care se dedau plăcerilor carnale. 4. Nu-mi place cum arată - are buzele prea cărnoase pentru gustul meu. 5. De câte
ori să-ţi mai spun? Vedetele arată mult mai prost în realitate decât pe ecran. 6. Omul ăsta este pur şi simplu
dezgustător. Mi se încrâncenează carnea pe mine când ma gândesc la ce-a făcut. 7. Ai mai mâncat vreodată un
asemenea fruct? Sâmburii au o formă asa de ciudată şi coaja e foarte groasă, însă miezul este absolut delicios. 8.
Dacă ai pielea aşa de sensibilă, n-ar trebui să stai atât de mult la soare.

2*. POLYSEMY: PLUG. Translate into Romanian, paying attention to the uses of the above word:

1. Este atât de neglijentă! Întotdeauna uită să scoată dopul după ce face baie şi toată apa murdară rămâne în cadă.
2.Te descurci minunat! Dă-i înainte şi-o să vezi ce rezultate bune o să ai! 2. Televizorul nu merge pentru că ai uitat
pur şi simplu să-l bagi în priză. 3. Ştii că se gândeşte să oprească finanţarea proiectului pentru că nu i se mai pare
profitabil? 4. Cred şi eu că e fericită: a apărut la televizor şi aşa a reuşit foarte uşor să facă reclamă pe gratis
restaurantului. 5. Ce situaţie nenorocită! Fiul lor e în comă de mai bine de zece ani şi acum se gândesc dacă să-l
deconecteze de la aparatele care-l ţin în viaţă. 6. Am să te rog să astupi crăpătura din zid. Bineînţeles că e ridicol,
dar, din cauza ei, am tot timpul sentimentul că măa urmăreşte cineva.

3*. SYNONYMY: SHIMMER. Translate into Romanian making use of the following synonyms: shine, glitter,
sparkle, glisten, gleam, glow, twinkle, blaze, flash, flicker, glint, glimmer, beam

1. Sunt sigură că s-a făcut bine, pur şi simplu strălucea de sănătate când am văzut-o. 2. Nu tot ce străluceşte e aur. 3.
Muncise din greu să spargă lemne toată dimineaţa şi faţa îi lucea de sudoare. 4. Ochii îi luceau de fericire. 5. Apa
strălucea sub razele lunii. 6. Ţi-am spus că trebuie să lustruieşti pantofii stăpânului în fiecare zi! 7. Focul care
lumina în vatră dădea încăperii un aer de linişte şi pace. 8. Îşi face iluzii. Aşteaptă să se mărite cu un un bogătaş într-
o maşină lucitoare în loc să se mulţumească cu un om cinstit şi iubitor. 9. De ce îmi semnalizează mereu şoferul din
faţa mea? Crezi că ar trebui să opresc? 10. În sufletul ei mai stăruia o umbră de speranţă că lucrurile aveau să se
termine cu bine până la urmă. 11. Aveau o servitoare foarte harnică. De fiecare dată când se întorceau, podelele
sclipeau de curăţenie. 12. Nu este deloc frumos, dar s-a îndrăgostit de el când la văzut zâmbindu-i larg.. 13. A reuşit
să se întoarcă acasă, ghidându-se după luminiţele satului care sclipeau în depărtare. 14. I-au lucit ochii când a văzut
banii. 15 Acesta este primul meci de fotbal care se transmite în regiunea aceasta îndepărtată. 16. Nu mă miră ca a
avut succes. Are farmec şi o inteligenţă scliptioare.17. A strălucit de fericire când i s-a spus ca fiica ei este cea mai
bună elevă din şcoală.

4*. IDIOMS
a) Translate into English:

Scobitura tălpii, papile gustative, om cu strungăreaţă, dinţi ieşiţi în afară, crăcănat, saşiu, urechi clăpăuge, nas
acvilin/coroiat/ cârn/ borcănat/ lătăreţ, şchiop de un picior, chior de un ochi, mustaţă pe oală, pleoape căzute, obraji
scofâlciţi, ochi cufundaţi în orbite, sâni lăsaţi, burtă gogonată, cerul gurii, fluierul piciorului, rotula, guşat, degetul
mic, arătător, ochi injectaţi/ midgdalaţi, pistrui.

b) Fill in with the missing word:

The __________ of your foot; the __________of your nose; the __________of your hand/neck, the _____ of your
arm, the _________of your tongue/ nose, the ___________ of your palm/ of bread; the _________of your eye, the
__________ of your palm, the _________of your back, the ___________ of your neck/ belly/ hip; the _________ of
your belly/ breasts; the __________ of your legs, the __________of your neck; the __________ of your hair; the
_________ of your head; the _________ of your forehead