On Seraph On The Suwanee In Light Of Ecofeminism

Zora Neale Hurston, a great novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist in Harlem Renaissance, is acclaimed as "the literary foremother of African American female writers". Most of Hurston’s works show the life of black female from different perspectives, uncovering the gender, class and sexual oppression suffered by black female. However, her last novel Seraph on the Suwanee, betraying her usual trajectory,, depicting the life of the white, is a most controversial one among her oeuvre.Currently, there have been abundant systematic studies on Seraph on the Suwanee abroad, including themes, characters, writing style and so on. In contrast, the domestic research on it is still in a fledging period, only a small number of scholars start to study Seraph in terms of themes, characters etc. Whether home or abroad, so far, there have been few comprehensive and further studie’s on Hurston’s Seraph by means of ecofeminism. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze Seraph in light of Karen J. Warren’s ecofeminist theory and elucidate the ecofeminist idea embodied in the novel.According to Warren, there exists conceptual, symbolic and linguistic interconnections between feminism and ecological problems. Men’s oppression on female and nature, the white’s oppression on the black and all forms of "ism" stem from the oppressive conceptual framework, which justifies the dominating relationship between the Ups and Downs. Ecofeminism aims to dismantle oppressive conceptual framework, advocate ecofeminist ethics-"care sensitive ethics", attaching much importance to care and love between man-man and man-nature relationship, and finally construct a harmonious world with love and care.The thesis starts with a brief introduction to the life of Zora Neale Hurston and the synopsis of Seraph, followed by a literature review on it. And then an overview of Karen J. Warren’s ecofeminist theory. The main body starts with the inferior position of female, the colored and nature in patriarchy under the shelter of oppressive conceptual framework, making it clear that the novel is a criticism of oppressive conceptual framework. The following part analyzes "care sensitive ethics" shown in the self realization of Arvay and the deconstruction of oppressive conceptual framework. Male and female, the white and the black, as well as men and nature are closely related in the biotic community. They depend on each other and they should love and care each other. Then comes an analysis of the ecofeminist proposition of a harmonious world represented in the novel. Life on earth is like an interconnected web, where there is no hierarchy, no domination. The hope of human being lies in going back to nature and building a harmonious and partnership-based world according to feminist and ecological principles. Finally, it draws the conclusion that Zora Neale Hurston is a novelist with an amazing foresight of ecofeminist wisdom.