An Ecofeminist Reading Of Doris Lessing's The Cleft

The man/woman, human/nature, culture/nature, mind/body dichotomies dominant in Western ideologies have subordinated woman, nature, and minority groups, and subjected them to oppression and exploitation. The present MA thesis interprets Doris Lessing's latest work The Cleft from the perspective of ecofeminism, and centers on the relationship between man and woman, as well as human and nature.Doris Lessing is one of the most celebrated and distinguished contemporary writers in English literature. Having written more than seventy short stories, ten novels, two plays, one collection of poems, many papers and reminiscences, she enjoys great reputation for her various literary perspectives. Her works cover almost all aspects of the 20th century: racialism, feminism, communism, mysticism and so on. Lessing has got almost all the awards for literature on the European continent, including the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature.Published in 2007, The Cleft retells the history of human creation through an old contemplative Roman senator. Since its publication, The Cleft has been invariably considered the biblical fiction. Critics and readers abroad have done some studies on it. These studies mainly focus on the aspects of the novel's narrative strategy, feminist theme and mythic feature, and so on. However, up to now the critical papers or comments on the novel are seldom seen on the Internet or in the library in Mainland China. Only one is found which is titled as"Postmodernist Traits and Predictive Components in The Cleft".This thesis tries to employ the ecofeminist criticism to expose the unjustified dominations of women and nature by men and human beings under the patriarchal conceptual framework, as conveyed in the novel. It is concluded that a harmonious world will be established, in which patriarchy no longer consider nature and women as"others"or"objects".This thesis falls into five parts. Chapter one mainly focuses on the author's introduction and her family background, her works and researches of her works, as well as the theoretical framework of the thesis.Chapter two deals with the theory of ecofeminism, including the introduction of ecofeminism, the main characteristics of ecofeminism, and the ecofeminist literary criticism. Ecofeminism that prevailed in the 1970s is a genre of feminism as well as a pioneering trend of environmentalism. Ecofeminists analyze the joint oppression of women and nature, and require human beings to pay more attention to the increasingly destroyed environment and nature. In the viewpoint of ecofeminists, patriarchy is the root cause of women oppression as well as the nature oppression. Ecofeminist criticism is an approach that studies the relationship between men and women, human and nature, and aims to revitalize literary study and arouse human being's ecological consciousness.Chapter three is devoted to the analysis of connections between women and nature from the aspects of symbol, experience and status. The connections between nature and women are obviously symbolic no matter in the western literature or eastern literature. Nature is"feminized", while women are"naturalized". Besides the hardships and humiliation suffered by women and nature in patriarchal societies are experiential connections between nature and women in literature works. Moreover, the connections between nature and women in literature also rest with their similar literary status or position in literary works. The three kinds of connections are all reflected and demonstrated in The Cleft.Chapter four is the analytical focus on dismantling and deconstruction of the patriarchal oppression in the novel. In The Cleft, nature and women are not completely servile or totally submissive to men's domination and oppression. Instead, both of them behave as the strong counter-power against the domination and oppression.Chapter five is the conclusion of this thesis. By telling the history of human being's creation and presenting the changes of relationship between men and women, nature and human from a feminist point of view, Lessing has fully revealed her ecofeminist awareness. At last, a belief is conveyed through the novel that only when the patriarchy no longer considers nature and women as"others"or"objects", could this world achieve equilibrium.