An Ecofeminist Study On Myantonia

The "Nebraska Fiction Series" of Willa Cather has attracted widespread attention in American literary field for the depiction of the vast Nebraska prairie landscape and the immigrant life of American frontier. Among this series, My Antonia is a classic one which is viewed as Cather’s representative work. In the world which Cather presents to us, Antonia’s optimistic personality and pioneering spirit leave the readers a deep impression. Therefore, there have been various of interpretations of the novel by many domestic and foreign scholars and critics since its publication, which include romanticism criticism, Marxist criticism and feminist criticism and so on. Nowadays, in the context of the rapid development of industrial civilization and the deterioration of environment, more and more critics begin to study the work from an ecological point of view. This thesis attempts to explore an ecofeministic interpretation in a deeper lever.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the author and the work, which explains the significance of this study. Then the critical background of My Antonia both in China and abroad is presented in detail.Chapter Two mainly talks about the theoretical foundation of this thesis, which emphasizes the essential meaning of ecofeminism and its developing history. Besides, the reason why this thesis aims to interpret the novel from this angle goes to two parts, one of which concerns about the ecofeministic awareness of the author influenced by her life experience and the other part shows the ecofeministic idea reflected in the novel.Chapter Three explores the intimate relationship between nature and women. Through textual analysis, it is clear that the female characters have more connections to the nature when comparing with male characters. From this point of view, scholars are likely to combine the problem of nature into the problem of women.Chapter Four deals with the comparative analysis of the status quo of women and nature in the novel. It shows that both women and nature are subjugated under the male-centered prejudice, but some women can be seen as the forerunners in struggling for their identities and finally achieve the self-realization.Chapter Five is the consequence of the rebellion from the oppressed women and nature. The harmonious picture presented in the end of the story gives people great confidence to fight against the inequality treatment of women and nature under the oppression of old world.Chapter Six is the conclusion of the thesis. From the above study, we can conclude that only the cooperation of mankind and nature through consistent effort can help us achieve a desirable ecological new world.