Margaret Atwood's books share many similarities regarding theme and characters. In her books, she uses her characters to bring about many themes. Some of the more dominant themes are, females taking control of their relationships, females involved in non-traditional roles, trying to discover one's identity, struggling to overcome one's past, and the effect of the lack of parental affection of a child growing up. Life Before Man and Cat's Eye share all of these themes.

One of the predominate themes in Cat's Eye is that of females rising above the gender roles that society sets for them and taking control of their relationships. In the past, females were powerless in their relationships with males and they basically did whatever the males told them to do. This is how female characters were traditionally portrayed in novels. In Cat's Eye and Life Before Man, Atwood reverses this stereotype by making...