In re-writing The Penelopiad, what assumptions and ideas about culture and society is Atwood seeking to question?
Atwood aims to question the idea that there is one true tale for the events of a story. Never is there just one side, and all too often we take the side of power, because those who have power tell the tale. These ideas are taken as the truth, without question from anyone, but Atwood aims to question these tales taken as truth. Penelope is a side character, a footnote that is disregarded and praised, but simply a shadow because she has no meaning as a character by herself in the Odyssey. Atwood aims to give her character meaning again, build up someone who is more than just a shell of a faithful wife but has their own tale and their own story, as all real people do. Atwood is seeking to question the assumption that wives have to be so faithful, so ever loving, despite any actions of the husband, that a relationship is the wife’s job and her’s alone, an idea that is still deeply rooted in our society.