Study On Taoist Ecological Ideals And Ecofeminism In The Left Hand Of Darkness

In the late 1960 s, there came the second wave of the feminist movement in America, with the unprecedented booming period for the American Feminist science fiction. However, with the coming of the 1970 s, the global ecological environment was gradually deteriorating. In order to curb the environmental pollution and maintain human existence and development, the modern environmental protection movement arose. At the same time, ecofeminism came to appear with the development of feminist theory and practice. As the winner of two great world SF awards, Hugo and Nebula, the publishing of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin corresponded with the complicated cultural ideology of the era. In addition Le Guin also integrated Taoism,especially the Taoist ecological ideals into the feminist utopian world depicted in it. The Left Hand of Darkness is one of the well-known SF works by Ursula Le Guin. It tells about Genly Ai, an envoy sent from Ekumen to persuade the snow-covered planet, Gethen, to join a space organization.While he experiences various hardships and dangers during his journey, he tries to achieve the equal and harmonious coexistence. Finally, he completes his missions.This thesis discusses Taoism ecological ideals and ecofeminism implied within from the following aspects. They are writing background, androgyny, yin-yang balance, harmonious existence and the overlap and disparity between Taoist ecological ideals and Ecofeminism. Based on two theories, this thesis contains five parts as follows.Chapter One is the introduction of my thesis, which mainly offers Ursula Le Guin’s life, her works, recent studies on her work, the related literature review. Briefly introduction of some Taoist ecological ideals and ecofeminist criticism are also in this chapter. Chapter Two summarizes the origins of the idea of the gender mode of androgyny and its influence on Le Guin’s creation. In LHo D, the traces of both Taosim ecology and ecofeminism can be seen in the concept of androgyny created in her LHo D. Specifically the text analysis in this part mainly focuses on the Taoist: the “Yin and Yang” theory and the ecofeminist view about deconstruction of patriarchy. Chapter Three analyzes the harmonious world of snow and ice in LHo D, implying Taoist ecological thoughts and ecofeminisim in creating a equal and harmonious world. Chapter Four focuses on the overlap and disparity of Taoism ecological ideals and ecofeminsm in LHo D.The comparison displays similarities between western ecofeminist dual thinking mode as well as Lao Tzu’s ideals of harmony and evolution. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis. This paper, through digging out Taoism ecological ideals and eco-feminism in LHo D, highlights LeGuin’s unique ecological world in SF, so as to demonstrate the connection and integration between Taoism ecological ideals in the east and ecofeminist views in the west.