Issues of gender and identity have often been addressed in literature. Women have lived under patriarchy for many centuries longing and searching for an identity to call their own. Gender discrimination and stereotypes have often led to identity crisis. From the earliest plays and novels to today, women have faced repression in one way or another. Society functioned with a narrow idea of ​​treating men as superior sections of society, they had the privilege of education and to do what they wanted while women were the inferior sex and were under constant male supervision. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Women were taught to be submissive, silent, and limited to only household chores. They had to take care of children and could only learn to sing, dance or learn to play the piano. The constitution of marriage was the only factor that gave women some recognition in society, those who married had the privilege of asserting dominance over the rest of the women. Gender norms pose a challenge to women in society to exercise their own identity. In a patriarchal society, it is difficult to raise one's voice and talk about establishing one's individuality when women and their children were economically and socially dependent on the men of the house. Male dominance is a common theme taken up by writers including Margaret Atwood who managed to capture patriarchal dominance, gender conflicts fused with identity crisis and religious influence in her novels very precisely, creating images of a dystopian world. Margaret Eleanor Atwood is a Canadian poet, writer and literary critic. Her works speak to a variety of issues, primarily the power of language, gender and identity, political power, and religion. She refers to her books as works of social realism rather than giving them a feminist identity. Atwood has created a dystopian world in both of her texts, The Handmaid's Tale and The Edible Woman, where she specifically talks about issues of gender and identity. The Handmaid's Tale is set in a near future where people live in a totalitarian state and the book chronicles the life of a woman and her journey to becoming a handmaid while dealing with issues of identity. The text explores themes of women's subjugation in a male-dominated society where all women desire an identity of their own and the freedom to do as they wish. The narrative jumps from the present to the past quite often and is from the point of view of a handmaid named Offred. Women assigned as handmaids have the sole purpose of providing an heir for the family, in addition to this they are also expected to carry out shopping errands. Only children born without defects are accepted by people and those with some deformities are not, however it is not exactly clear what happens according to the narrator's knowledge in the text. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The Edible Woman is the story of a young woman named Marian whose healthy, structured world begins to fall apart. She goes through an identity crisis and feels disconnected from her body and herself. The narrative point shifts from one person to another describing the identity conflict where the first narrative takes control later in the text. The text explores the themes of gender stereotypes in which we also see some characters who challenge them. Marian believes that, refusing to eat certain.