Margaret Drabble, Existing within Structures

Though often proclaimed a woman s writer, Margaret Drabble is ultimately concerned with larger philosophical and psychological issues the most important being the question of the human will. Moran sees Drabble s fiction as being focused more on the problems which confront both men and women, of living in the bewildering contemporary world. It is a world of IRA terrorism, aborted fetuses, and suicide, but it is also a world of homecoming parties, homebaked bread, and waterfalls. It is a world where in spite of the fact that a human being is a tiny, powerless speck in a turbulent, menacing universe, there are redeeming qualities to the position. There is both beauty and humor in the condition of being human. Drabble s novels hold up for our admiration people who perceive these qualities of life in spite of its prevailing gloom. For Drabble, the psychological and physical connections of family provide both spiritual and psychological solace. Although the family curtails individual freedom, by influencing one s character and imposing familial responsibilities, it is ultimately a bulwark against life s turbulence and uncertainties.