An Interpretation Of Doris Lessing's Love, Again From An Ecofeminist Perspective

Doris Lessing (1919- ) is one of the most famous modern British women writers. She is famous for her various literary perspectives and abundance of works. From a standpoint of human survival and mankind's destiny, her works have covered most of the important issues in the 20th century, such as racial problem, amphoteric relationship, environmental pollution, youth violence and ageing problem and so on. In 2007, when she was eighty-eight years old, she won Nobel Prize for Literature.The novel love, again, which was published in 1996, is Lessing's masterpiece in her later years. In this novel, Lessing voices her special concern about colored women and aged women and narrates a story of two women living in different times. The characterization of fictional characters reveals Lessing's ecofeminist thoughts.With the approach of ecofeminism and a text-based analysis, this thesis explores ecological consciousness and female consciousness in the novel. It reveals what women suffer from unfair treatment both in the past and at the present time which leads to a series of unbalanced problems in human society.This thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to ecofeminism and Lessing's ecofeminist thought. Ecofeminism not only focuses on female and natural destiny under the oppression of patriarchy, but also concerns harmonious development of all things in the whole ecological system. Chapter Two, through the analysis of the tragic fate of the black woman Julie, points out patriarchy is the root of racial discrimination and class oppression. Patriarchy causes the ecological imbalance between human beings and the society. Chapter Three analyzes the aged woman Sarah's painful struggling psychological activities in love, which reveals the basic reason for aged woman's love depression is imbalance between a woman and her inner heart. Chapter Four by analyzing the relationship between two couples discovers whether male or female are too strong will cause the imbalance between men and women in gender relations.All the analysis justifies an obvious view that the importance of balanced relationship in the ecological system because everything is contradictory and interdependent. The novel love, again implies Lessing's profound ecofeminist thoughts—a harmonious and balanced relationship must be kept among the things concerned.