From Bodily Oppression To Ecological Diversity

The publication of Toni Morrison's Beloved in 1987 really has stirred the literary world. It is incredibly popular among readers and secures Toni Morrison's reputation as a great woman writer in the history of American literature. Beloved is such a great novel with profound themes, remarkable artistic creation and poetic language that it becomes an inexhaustible source of interpretation and appreciation.Critics focus their analysis on different aspects of the novel. A large number of critics analyze its themes by using different critical methodologies, such as feminism, Marxism, post-modernism, post-colonialism, and psychoanalysis as well. Among them, some agree that Beloved reflects American history and intends to reconstruct the history of the blacks based on the interpretation of their history, memory and trauma, and some try to explore the impact of African culture on the novel. A few critics are interested in analyzing the language and narrative strategies in the novel. Moreover, evidence in Beloved is also dug out by some critics for eco-critical analysis.This thesis, taking the bodies of black women in Beloved as focus of attention and referring to basic ecofeminist ideas, is an attempt to explore the interconnectedness between the oppression of black woman and the exploitation of nature in a male-centered society, and to reveal the possibility for a positive transformation from bodily oppression to ecological diversity. In other words, the thesis is also exploring the possibility of liberating both women and nature from a male-dominant society and creating a state of harmonious coexistence of all living things. Chapter One first briefs Morrison's achievement and the important position of her Beloved, then offers a general introduction to critical views of Beloved at home and abroad. Chapter Two first introduces the theory of ecofeminism and then provides a general framework for an ecofeminist reading of Beloved. Chapter Three focuses on the bodily oppression suffered by black women in Beloved to reveal the connection between the oppression of black women and the exploitation of nature. Chapter Four makes a thorough examination of the ways to heal the trauma of black women in Beloved. Black women try to assert their self-identity by means of bodily intimacy with nature and worship for their ancestors so as to be liberated from a male-centered society and establish a society within which all living things live together harmoniously.