A Pioneering Work Of Ecofeminism In Canadian Literature

This thesis selects Atwood's second novel Surfacing (1972) as its object. By exploring ecofeminist elements that Atwood has utilized consciously or unconsciously here, this thesis aims to examine how she has perfectly combined her ecological complex and feminist concern together so as to unveil the ecofeminist thought embodied in this novel. Surfacing expresses a deep concern and anxiety about women's living state in a patriarchal society and about the survival problems facing all life forms in nature. This theme, which ecofeminists are concerned with and probing into, appears in Atwood's early novel—Surfacing, showing the pioneering and progressive aspects of her thought. Starting from interpreting the binary oppositions in this novel, especially from three perspectives—human / nature, male / female, and reality / memory or objectivity / subjectivity, this thesis attempts to expose the oppressive conceptual framework and "a logic of domination" within it. In course of integrating into nature, the narrator finally abandons opposite dualism and hierarchical concept by embracing feminine principle and ecofeminist ethics, from which we can gain a glimpse at Atwood's own ecofeminist ideal. However, at the end of the novel, the narrator is trapped in a dilemma of whether to stay on the island or return to the city. This, to some extent, reveals Atwood's own perplexity and doubt about ecofeminism.