Margaret Drabble stands as a luminary in the world of literature, having contributed a wealth of novels, a biography of Arnold Bennett, and numerous articles and stories. Her role as the editor of the fifth edition of the Oxford Companion to English Literature in 1985 showcases her profound understanding of English literary traditions. Drabble's eighth novel, The Ice Age, exemplifies her creative engagement with these traditions, weaving them into contemporary narratives.

Often likened to George Eliot, the celebrated Victorian novelist, Drabble shares Eliot's fascination with the moral choices individuals face and the repercussions of these decisions. Across her works, characters grapple with not only making choices but also owning the consequences of those choices. In The Ice Age, this theme of choice is particularly poignant, as Drabble presents a world where unpredictability and chance undermine the individual's ability to foresee outcomes.

Drabble's novels do not offer simple solutions to the complex dilemmas they present. In a conversation with Nancy Poland, Drabble confessed, “I have lots of questions. I don’t really pretend to have any answers so I am not a teacher. I am an explorer.” This exploratory approach permeates The Ice Age, as it delves into how characters navigate a landscape marked by depression and chaos, each forging unique paths of adaptation.

The narrative technique employed by Drabble in The Ice Age echoes the omniscience seen in nineteenth-century literature. However, unlike Eliot's tightly controlled narrative environments, Drabble offers a looser grip on her fictional world. The narrator, embodying this shift, acknowledges the difficulties of storytelling in a modern context. As the narrator contemplates the future of Anthony Keating, a character whose life is left unresolvable, it reflects the challenges of projecting certainty in an era riddled with disillusionment. "It ought to be necessary to imagine a future for Anthony Keating," the narrator admits, highlighting the struggle to conjure a story in a world resistant to neat conclusions.

Similarly, the character Alison’s journey concludes with the narrator admitting that her "life is beyond imagining," emphasizing a departure from the definitive endings once commonplace in Victorian novels. Drabble's refusal to delineate Alison’s future signifies a commitment to authenticity, suggesting that any attempt to predict her fate would misrepresent the complexities of real life. Thus, The Ice Age not only reflects the unpredictability of modern existence but also challenges the narrative conventions that seek to impose order upon it.