Women·Nature·Harmony

Zora Neale Hurston, as a contemporary black female writer, plays a significant role in the black literary fields. As a black female writer, Hurston never stops writing for women, animals, and nature , who are victims of the patriarchal society. Hurston uses her works to strive for equality all her life. So almost all of her works focus on black people's dilemma, black women's silence, ecological environment, racism and so on. Their Eyes Were Watching God is a classic novel not only in Afro-American literature but also in American literature. In the novel, Hurston describes women's sufferings and shows environmental deterioration in the patriarchal society. Obviously, Hurston shows her specific ecofeminist viewpoints in Their Eyes Were Watching God.In the novel, Hurstion expresses her ecofeminist viewpoints through the description of men's domination over women and nature. This thesis just analyses Hurston's ecofeminist viewpoints through Their Eyes Were Watching God. The thesis includes five parts. Chapter one introduces Hurston and reviews the previous literature criticism on Their Eyes Were Watching God.Chapter two provides the theoretical basis—ecofeminism. Ecofeminists believe that there are close connections of men's domination over women and nature.Chapter three mainly analyses the interconnections between women and nature. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part shows the similarities between women and nature, and the second part analyses men's domination over women and nature. This chapter not only interprets the relationship between women and nature but also points out that the basic reason of men's domination over women and nature is patriarchal thought. Chapter four expresses Hurston's hope to this world. Through the novel, Hurston shows her expectation of building a harmonious world which is filled with ecological equilibrium and gender equality.This thesis analyses the interconnection of women, nature, culture in Their Eyes Were Watching God from the angle of environment and gender with ecofeminist literary criticism, in order to probe into new meaning of the novel and evoke human's ecological awareness.