Gender View And Ecological Awareness In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood(1939-),the spokesman of Canadian literature,is one of the most versatile and eminent female writers whose published works involve poems,novels,essays,literary criticisms,telescripts and so on.As a well-known writer with international reputation,Atwood dares to touch plenty of sensitive topics boldly,and the themes in her works are closely related to the reality.Although Atwood is mainly famous for the feminist novels,she devotes herself to a wide range of subjects including the gender relation,the Canadian nationality,the human rights protection,as well as the urgent ecological imbalance.In her productive and unceasing writing career,her works provide the extensive research space and the broad research perspectives for scholars.The research perspectives abroad and at home are quite various and wide.At present,studies on feminism,nationalism,writing techniques,dystopian theme,politics and psychoanalysis take the mainstream of research on Atwood's masterpieces.As Atwood's masterpiece which fully manifests the close relationship between nature and women in a male-dominated society,The Handmaid's Tale(1985)deserves to study to find out the creation intention of Atwood.In this thesis,grounded on the theories of ecofeminism,the author aims to explore the intimate relationship between nature and women by analyzing the harsh plight and hard resistance of them in patriarchal society in The Handmaid's Tale,so as to promote the understanding of the gender view and ecological awareness of Atwood.The thesis is divided into five parts.The introductory part demonstrates the major works and literary contributions of Atwood,the current research status and trends on the works both at home and abroad,the theories of ecofeminism functioning as the theoretical support for further analysis as well as the significance and innovation of this thesis.The following three chapters throw light on the similar dilemma of nature and women,the intimate connections between nature and women,the strong resistance of nature and handmaids against patriarchy.Chapter One elucidates the similar plight confronted by nature and women in patriarchal society.It analyzes the devastated nature in Gilead and all the enslavedwomen with deprived rights in the male-dominated society.In the novel,the male dominators in the country of Gilead only pursue the short-term interest by extracting resources at a rate beyond the level of replenishment.At the high cost of species extinction and ecological pollution,males do severe and irreparable damage to nature without limitation.Meanwhile,nuclear radiation,electromagnetic wave,and chemicals threaten people's health and lead to the low birth rate.In order to save the population crisis,fertile women are forced to give up their original family and jobs.They are recruited to give birth to babies for the upper class after specific training,serving as breeding machines in the male-dominated society.Chapter Two explicates the intimate connections between nature and women.It explores the natural shelter of women in patriarchal society,the greater damage on women in the polluted environment as well as the ideological root of the suppression.In the patriarchal society,women and nature have the born similarities because of the fertile ability and other traits so that women have advantages over men to understand nature both physically and spiritually.With the same subjugated fate in Gilead,females always regard nature as the refuge from the outside world to gain enough power and fight against the suppression.Meanwhile,they suffer greater damage than males both mentally and physically in the polluted nature.Through detailed analysis,it can be reached that both the oppression on women and the control over nature are derived from the patriarchal culture characterized by the thinking mode of dualism and the hierarchy of class.Chapter Three enunciates the strong resistance of nature and women against the suppression.It includes the intense antagonism from nature,the awakening struggle of women,and the reconstruction of harmonious ecosystem.Under the strict dominance of patriarchs,nature punishes the human beings in form of deteriorating living conditions,seriously warning them that the destruction of the natural world means the perishing of people themselves.Meanwhile,no longer accepting male-imposed requirements,women begin to nurture themselves with the cumulatively strong female awareness.Many of them take the covert or subtle strategies to rebel against males.Troubled by the severely unbalanced relationshipbetween nature and the human beings,people must take some effective measures to reconstruct a harmonious world.Only when people promote the liberation of women to reach the harmony between males and females,can they reconstruct an equal and sustainable ecological environment with the aid of the female wisdom and female power.The last part is the conclusion.Based on ecofeminist theory,this thesis interprets the intimate connections between nature and women from the analysis of the similar dilemma of them,and it tries to find out the root of the imbalance of society.By enunciating the extremely dangerous living conditions of people as well as the unyielding resistance of nature and women,Atwood criticizes the suppression on women and the conquest of nature in juxtaposition,and she puts forward that people have to overturn the patriarchal culture to build up the equal and harmonious relationship between nature and the human beings.Through the analysis of the intense gender conflicts and the living conditions at stake,the thesis demonstrates that in Atwood's view,gender equality and ecological balance are two inseparable aspects in the building of a harmonious society,and Atwood writes the novel to highlight her purpose of awakening people's concern for environmental protection and consciousness of care.