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     The female physical body is a complex entity that is explosively controversial. In the novel The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood, the female physical body is displayed both as a place of captivity and as a locus for dissent against the dominant discourse of meat and the grip of patriarchy. Utilizing the feminist-vegetarian theory provided by Carol J. Adams, I hope to explore and render these clashing representations of the female body to ultimately prove the female protagonist Marian’s journey through the novel is an accurate reflection of the choices and pressures women and men currently face in our society as pertaining to the dominant discourse of meat and the grip of patriarchy.

     With aid from scholar Emma Parker, I will demonstrate the only way Marian is able to articulate any form of dissent or rebellion is through “her body-mediated knowledge,” for which feminist Beverly Harrison provides the anchoring definition. To further complicate this development I will pose the question: Is Marian acting deliberately in defiance of patriarchal control, in rejection of the dominant discourse of meat, or is she simply a phobic female character who is being swallowed by the pressures of consumerism and feminine identity?