An Eco-Feminist Interpretation Of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Mary Barton

As Elizabeth Gaskell’s first novel,Mary Barton can mostly represent her critical realism and arouses great social concern.As the most powerful evocation of the industrial scene before the twentieth century,it gives the reader a vivid picture of working-class’ life both in prosperity and depression,which is convincible by its honesty,meticulous observation of the telling details and the deepest sympathy to the poor workers.Actually,the Victorian era has witnessed the environmental degradation caused by the accelerating development of industrialization.It is also a period of conflicts in which the deep-rooted patriarchy stimulates the spreading of feminist thoughts.Eco-feminism,the combination of feminism and eco-criticism,tries to eliminate all kinds of inequalities about gender,race,and social class by opposing patriarchal ideology and oppressive dualism.In this novel,Gaskell fully expresses her anxiety about the deteriorated environment and miserable social conditions.In her work,she shows her environmental consciousness and creates important women characters in the public sphere and social production refuting the traditional Victorian domestic ideology.What’s more,Gaskell also advocates women’s authority in both social and domestic spheres.Since nature and women are the two vital themes of this novel,interpreting Mary Barton from an eco-feminist perspective is necessary and reasonable.This paper attempts to give an eco-feminist interpretation of Gaskell’s Mary Barton and find Gaskell’s eco-feminist consciousness by analyzing the characteristics of the heroine,Mary Barton,and other main characters,and interpreting the environmental changes brought about by industrialization.In Chapter One,the author introduces the related life of Elizabeth Gaskell and the background of Mary Barton’s creation.At the same time,the author explains the concept of eco-feminism and expounds its employment as an important theoretical basis for this study.Chapter Two gives the literature review and theoretical framework,and introduces two mainly eco-feminist theories in detail.Chapter Three and chapter Four conduct an in-depth analysis of the text,mainly from the relationship between women and nature,and explore the oppression and resistance of both women and nature as “victims” under the patriarchal system by means of Mary Barton,which provides more details for this phenomenon in the context of industrialization.Chapter Five mainly discusses how the oppressed women and nature interact man under the patriarchal system.Moreover,in this chapter,the author also explores the necessity and importance of achieving a harmonious relationship,which is of great significance in the context of the current construction of a harmonious society.