An Ecofeminist Study Of Across The River And Into The Trees

Ernest Hemingway (July21,1899-July2,1961), the sixth winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in American literary history, was one of the most contributed and far-reaching writers in the20th century in the world. Hemingway’s creating style is characterized with economy and understatement, and his contribution is of great importance to American literature.His attitude towards women, however, has always been a controversial topic through ages. Many researchers have argued that Hemingway was a great writer but with discrimination against women, so that is why there are many images of "masculine guys" in his works. Some critics even call him a "woman-hating" man. Actually, after rereading Hemingway’s works from the perspective of ecofeminism, we are not surprised to find that he is not a man with only one-sidedly masculinity as most people consider. Rena Sanderson (2006) clearly saw this and pointed out, in her Hemingway and Gender History, that "Hemingway fashioned an ideal... of reciprocity between the sexes, an ideal he pursued in his fiction for his entire career".Although researches on Hemingway both at home and abroad have been specialized and systemized, they mainly refer to his famous works. As for his fiction Across the River and into the Trees, it got continual censure since its publication in September1950. From the modern viewpoint, however, such comments are unfair. Actually, as a novel finished in Hemingway’s late creation career, although it is not his most successful one, it is still an unavoidable novel of studying Hemingway and his creating ideas comprehensively.The objectives of this study are to explore the reasons for the formation of Hemingway’s ecofeminist consciousness, and interpret his novel Across the River and into the Trees from the perspective of ecofeminist theory. The study will finally prove that Hemingway is a writer of ecological consciousness and feminism consciousness. He advocates the harmonious and equal relationship between human and nature and between men and women. Thus, we can have a new interpretation and understanding of Hemingway through this novel.The thesis all together contains six chapters.The first chapter is a brief introduction about Hemingway and his novel Across the River and into the Trees. Chapter Two summarizes the overall researching situation on Hemingway both at home and abroad and his novel Across the River and into the Trees. Chapter Three is the theoretical rationale which is composed of two parts:the first part is the development of ecofeminism and the second part is the major ideas of ecofeminism.Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the body section of the thesis. Chapter Four mainly focuses on the formation of Hemingway’s ecofeminist sensibility from the influence of his parents, social background, his life experience in nature, and his reading experience. Chapter Five analyzes the content of novel the Across the River and into the Trees in detail from the perspective of ecofeminism.Chapter Six is the conclusion. It discloses that Ernest Hemingway is a writer of ecological consciousness and feminist consciousness. Beneath the peaceful description of this novel, Hemingway shows his deep concern about the relationship between man and nature, and man and women.