At the same time, it also obvious that Laura’s faith intensely informs the way she approaches the world-it isn’t just a cover for subversive views. One could argue that Laura’s need to draw on Christianity in order to justify this claim is evidence of the restrictions placed on women and their thought during this era. The novel was published in 2000 and like many of her novels, is set. Following Jesus’s tradition of focusing on the principles behind rules rather than the rules themselves, Laura argues that love is what’s important, not marriage. The novel tells the story of a handmaiden named Offred (she is intended to bear the children of Fred, a Gileadan General). The Blind Assassin is one of two books of fiction for which Atwood won The Man Booker Prize. Significantly, Laura frames her critique of marriage not in a progressive feminist light, but rather in a Christian one. The main narrative, which is told from the perspective of Iris Chase Griffen, also contains excerpts from a novel supposedly written by Iris’s dead sister, Laura (although it is eventually revealed that the novel was actually written by Iris).

Furthermore, Laura’s argument about marriage being an “outworn institution” that is more an economic transaction than a sacred bond foreshadows the feminist claims that became popular later in the 20th century. The Blind Assassin contains several stories embedded within one another. These days, many would argue that love is self-evidently more important than marriage. From a contemporary perspective, it may seem obvious that Laura’s argument is at least partly correct. When Iris confronts Laura about this in private, Laura replies with this quotation. Recently, Winifred has complained to Iris that Laura has been expressing outlandish ideas, such as saying that love is more important than marriage. Following the death of Norval, Laura has (reluctantly) been living with Richard, Winifred, and Iris in Toronto, where she has caused a great deal of trouble.

Synopsis of the blind assassin