An Ecofeminist Study Of A Lost Lady

Willa Cather is an important American writer in the 20~thh century.A Lost Lady is one of her later masterpieces,in which Cather depicts the heroine Marian's passionate love of life and her unremitting pursuit of happiness in tremendous adversity.This thesis explores Cather's ecofeminist thoughts in A Lost Lady from the perspective of ecofeminism by analyzing the relationship between human beings and nature and between men and women in different social periods.Through a thorough theoretical and textual analysis of A Lost Lady,this thesis reveals that men and women can coexist in great harmony with each other and with nature in the end of the pioneer period,and both women and nature are loved,respected and protected by men for their pure beauty and intrinsic value.The thesis also uncovers that the harmonious relationship among men,women and nature is completely disrupted in the industrialized age,which is replaced by severe women problems and ecological crisis that lead to Marian's“getting lost”from“charming”and nature's destruction from protection,for the utilitarian men treat women and nature as something which would generate more profits and ruthlessly oppress and exploit them only for their usefulness.This thesis concludes that Willa Cather highly praises the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature and between men and women,condemns men's dominance over nature and women in patriarchal society,and deeply concerns for the“shared destiny”between women and nature in her work.This thesis appeals people to pay attention to the problems of women and nature in modern society,and hope it will help the study of A Lost Lady.