Intertwined Themes of Dancing Girls by Margaret AtwoodDancing Girls is a collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood. Each story captures a different aspect of society, different people of different ages, cultures and statuses, with different attitudes, emotions and behaviours; all in different places and life circumstances. Yet there are many connections between the stories, and these connections are found primarily in Atwood's portrayal of women. As Atwood says: In general, my novel is about women... None of them are about miners in the mines, sailors at sea, convicts in prison, boys behind the scenes, locker rooms at the football game... How to Come? Well, hell, I don't know! Maybe because I'm a woman and therefore find it easier to write like one. Each story focuses on a different female character and explores her thoughts and reactions to her social environment. Throughout the collection of stories there are a number of underlying themes that reveal Atwood's insight and understanding of why men and women are different. These themes include society's questionable definitions of femininity, the idea of ​​escape through fantasy, and the conflict that exists between men and women. One concept that Atwood explores to explain the differences between men and women is simply that there are biological differences between each gender. . This difference is highlighted in numerous stories, most significantly in “Giving Birth.” Atwood comments that for women there is some salvation from a male-dominated society in that, through the process of giving birth, the woman is granted a connection with her body that men simply cannot experience. They still have some connection to their or... .. middle of paper ...... able to see connections between seemingly disparate circumstances. Ingersoll-Earl.G., Margaret Atwood: Conversations, Virago Press, London, 1992, pg. 195Ibid., pag.17Atwood-Margaret., Dancing Girls, Vintage, London, 1996, pag. 225Ibid., p. 227Ibid., p. 229Ibid., p. 229Ibid., p. 240Ibid., p. 239Ibid., p. 239Ingersoll-Earl.G., op. cit., page 141Ibid., page. 142Aspin-Lois.J., Focus on Australian Society, Longman, Australia, 1996, p. 14Ingersoll-Earl.G., op. cit., page 102Atwood-Margaret, op. cit., page 63Ibid., p. 69Ibid., page. 69Ibid., page. 69Ibid., page. 131Ibid., p. 138Ibid., p. 143 Ingersoll-Earl.G., op. cit., page 32Ibid., page. 31Ibid., page. 245Atwood-Margaret, op. cit., page 98Ibid., p. 98Ibid., p. 87