Pursuing A Harmonious Society

Margaret Atwood,a novelist,poet,and literary critic,is known for "Queen of Canadian Literature".Her works focus on ecology and women and call for environmental protection,equality between men and women,and harmony between human and nature.Therefore Atwood is regarded as the representative of ecological feminism in the literary world.Ecofeminism is the combination of ecologism and feminism which opposes andro centrism,anthropocentrism,dualism and hierarchy and advocates changing the wrong idea about conquering nature,emphasizes interdependence and equality of life and endeavors to establish a harmonious of relationship between human and nature.By giving nature a female characteristic,ecofeminists strengthen the connection between humans and non-humans,and insist that human beings can live in harmony with nature which lays the foundation for the development of their healthy relationships.Among various genres of Margaret Atwood's works,novels show her ideas of ecofeminism best This thesis will focus on the gradual process of revealing her thoughts on ecofeminism by analyzing Atwood's three novels—The Edible Woman,Surfacing and The Handmaid's Tale.These three novels reflect not only Atwood's consciousness of protecting environment and feminism,but also the relationship between women and nature,human and nature,and men and women.The first chapter of this thesis mainly analyzes the connections between women and nature from the following two aspects:women and land;women and animals.The second chapter reveals the oppression of women and nature in the patriarchal society.Where there is oppression,there is resistance.So the third chapter introduces how women and nature resist in oppression.The fourth chapter proposes an idea about building a balanced society.The conclusion summarizes Atwood's opinions of ecofeminism and advocates the equality between human and nature,women and mea In her first novel,The Edible Woman,the natural world begins to be destroyed,and female become male's accessory.When Marian begins to wake up,she resists by overcoming eating disorder eventually.In the second novel,Surfacing,the environment is getting worse and worse.Women have lost their identities and have no rights to express their thoughts."I" recalls the past through close contact with nature,realizing that only by breaking the shackles of male's dominating can female gain self-confidence,self-reliance and self-esteem The Handmaid's Tale describes the severe destruction of the ecological environment in the Republic of Gilead,which is ruled by men The extreme conflict between men and nature emerges.Most women lose abilities to have babies and the power of ruling class is threatened.Women become birth machines,conpletely losing their rights to speak.In the novel,women try to escape the bondage of the patriarchal society and start to resist in the real sense.Through three novels,Atwood gradually reveals her understanding of ecofeminism so as to call for the construction of a harmonious society.