Margaret Atwood is one of the most recognized Canadian writers of all time. During the early 1950s and 60s, when Atwood began writing, canadian literature was considered a “contradiction in terms” (“Margaret (Eleanor) Atwood”). By breaking out as a stunning poet and novelist, she helped Canada gain a better literary reputation. Born in 1939 in Ontario, Canada, she grew up living half of the year in the “wilderness of northern Ontario and Quebec” (“Margaret Atwood” Authors and Artists). Despite helping the family by chopping wood and hauling water during these times, she grew up being told she didn’t have a lot of options as a girl. She began writing seriously in high school and decided to be a writer at age 16, despite being “‘scared to