Rape (“Rape Fantasies”)
In “Rape Fantasies” Margaret Atwood explicates the pervasiveness of ‘rape fantasies’ among women. The narrator, Chrissy, Sondra, Darlene, Greta and Estelle partake a discourse in relation to their ‘rape fantasies.’ Media platforms, such as TV and magazines, proliferate information about the imaginations which women espouse regarding rape. The narrator in “Rape Fantasies” observes that, “the statistics in the magazines, most of them (Fantasies) anyway, they say it’s often someone you do know, at least a little bit lie your boss.”
Compulsion-“The Man From Mars”
‘The Man From Mars’ is fixated on Christine, he stalks Christine, and manages to track her down to places that she least expects. For example, during the summer, “he came upon her abruptly in mid-campus she was unprepared.” Atwood adds, “Christine didn't know whether he meant he had left Montreal in order to be near her or just wanted to visit her at her house as he had done in the spring.” Had Christine been bringing the man up-to-date about her whereabouts often, then his capability to find her straightforwardly would have been logical. Seemingly, the man’s life spins around pursuing Christine no matter where she is because “all he had to do was look her up and record her every probable movement in block letters on his green notepad. After that day he never left her alone.” Even though Christine is not fascinated by the man, the man consecrates his life to tagging along her. The notebook where the man archives her specifics upsurges his odds of not letting Christine out of his sight. Also, Christine comes to know about the man’s attempts to stalk Mother Superior, which endorses that she is not the only woman that the man was preoccupied with.
