An Analysis of Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman Simone De Beauvoir's Le Deuxième Sexe was written some twenty-one years before Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and yet it epitomizes gender inequality encountered by the female human species. In De Beauvoir's book, she dismantles the foundations of gender inequality, myths and stereotypes related to being a woman. Atwood's novel, however, symbolically identifies the stereotype that women must endure throughout their lives as the second sex. The goal of this paper is to analyze Atwood's novel, The Edible Woman, using the theories discussed by De Beauvoir. Marian McAlpin is the main character of the novel. Other characters try to fit her into a “box” or fit her into a label that almost leads her to self-destruction. We have the “office virgins” group represented by Lucy, Amy and Millie, the “settled and procreative” stereotype – Clara Bates and the “liberal feminist” stereotype – Ainsley Tewce and the “lonely spinster”. All the stereotypical types (except Ainsley) wanted protagonist Marian to get married to a nice guy because time is running out. Building on de Beauvoir's analysis that biological differences are not the standard for male superiority over female, Atwood addresses the issue of society's expectations of women. Women are considered complete when they settle down and become mothers. Ainsley's quest for a child without marriage is also one of those paradoxes, Ainsley still wants to have a child despite her belief that women should go against expectations. She is “proto-feminist” and believes that women should have the right to choose and yet she is the one who tells Marian that “she (Marian) has turned her back… middle of paper… .met in the novel when Marian finally discovers Peter's true self. He runs to Duncan and also sees Duncan as a manipulator. Marian has been conditioned her whole life to follow the correct timeline for a woman. She followed her parents, she followed the landlady's ideal of a clean house, she followed her boyfriend's expectations and proposal. Although she tried to rebel, she still followed what was expected in a relationship where she takes care of a "wounded soul" in Duncan.Lyons' character, Brooke. , 1992. Using other people's terrible childhoods. In Ingersoll, E. G. (ed.) Margaret Atwood. Conversation, London: Virago, 221-33Alleyne, Richard, 20 January 2012. Couple raises son as gender neutral; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9028479/Couple-raise-child-as-gender-neutral-to-avoid-stereotyping.htmlde Beauvoir, Simone.,1949. Le Deuxième Sexe