POSTMODERNISM AND GENDER: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE FEMALE CHARACTER IN THE WORKS OF TONI MORRISON AND MARGARET ATWOOD

Abstract

Postmodern literature has fundamentally transformed the representation of female identity by rejecting fixed meanings and challenging traditional narratives that have historically defined women through patriarchal perspectives. Among the writers who have significantly contributed to this transformation, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood occupy central positions because their fiction reconstructs women's experiences through fragmented narratives, historical memory, and critical reflections on social power. Although they belong to different cultural and historical traditions, both authors investigate how race, gender, ideology, and institutional authority shape female identity. Their novels encourage readers to reconsider established assumptions regarding womanhood, autonomy, memory, and resistance. The present study examines the female characters in selected works by Morrison and Atwood through the theoretical perspectives of postmodernism, feminist literary criticism, critical thinking, and discourse analysis. Their contributions extend beyond literature by encouraging critical awareness of equality, justice, identity, and human dignity within contemporary global society.