Free Handmaids Tale Essays: Life and Times of Margaret Atwood :: Handmaids Tale Essays

The Life and Times of Margaret Atwood Three Sources Cited Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on November 18, 1939. She lived in a cabin in the Canadian wilderness for most of her childhood (her father was a forest entomologist), and that is where she gained her love for books and reading - probably from boredom. She also took up writing during this time, at the age of six (Margaret Atwood). Sshe came to want ot be a writer her senior year in high school when she says, "all of a sudden a big thumb came out of the sky and touched my head and a poem was formed." Who would have thought that the young girl who lived in the woods would grow to become a prominent female writer and poet? Atwood went on to attend Victoria College at the University of Toronto. She received a bachelor's degree there in 1961 and went on to receive her Master's from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass. In addition, she attended Harvard University in 1962 - 63 and 1965 - 67 (Information Page). When she made the decision to be a writer she said s he wanted to "lead a double life. (Margaret Atwood). This double life would include going "places I haven't been; to examine life on earth; to come to know people in ways, and at depths, that are otherwise impossible; to be surprised...to give back something of what [I have] received," said Atwood (Margaret Atwood). She certainly achieved this goal of a double life. Atwood managed to live many places around the world in order to "examine life on earth." Here is a time line of the places she lived during certain years of her life. 1939 - 1945: Ottawa 1945: Sault Ste. Marie 1946 - 1961: Toronto 1961 - 1963: Boston 1963 - 1964: Toronto 1964 - 1965: Vancouver 1965 - 1967: Boston 1967 - 1968: Montreal 1968 - 1970: Edmonton 1970 - 1971: England (London), France, Italy 1971 - 1972: Toronto 1973 - 1980: Alliston, Ontario 1980 - 1983: Toronto 1983 - 1984: England, Germany 1985: Alabama 1986 - 1991: Toronto 1992: France 1992 - Present: Toronto As is evident, she liked to move around a lot and to see different people and different things (Information Page). Although Atwood would have preferred to stay home and write all day she did have a number of jobs over the years.