A Study On Chicana Initiation Novels From The Perspective Of Ecofeminism

Chicana writers who sprang up in the 1990 s are receiving more and more attention.Their identities of gender and ethnicity make their works more attractive to scholars at home and abroad.Alma Luz Villanueva,Sandra Cisneros and Ana Castillo are all together honored as the three most outstanding Chicana writers in the contemporary Chicana literature.Luna's California Poppies,The House on Mango Street and The Mixquiahuala Letters are the most representative masterpieces of the three celebrated Chicana writers respectively and reflect the difficult growing process from infancy to maturity under the triple oppression of race,gender discrimination and patriarchal culture.The term ecofeminism was first put forward by French feminist Francoise d' Eaubonne in her book Le Feminisme ou la mort in 1974.Ecofeminism criticizes the cultural values of patriarchy or paternity and praises femininity.Ecofeminists pay attention to the connection among gender discrimination,the control of nature,racism and other social inequality.In addition,this theory indicates that there is a direct relationship between the oppression of women and the control of nature.The aim of ecofeminist theory is to establish the harmonious relationship between human beings and nature,men and women.Based on ecofeminism,this study firstly focused on the various oppression from the family and the society in the growing process of the heroines under the dual culture in these three novels.Secondly,the thesis discussed the struggle made by the four heroines in terms of the attitude to male and gender awareness as well as destruction of traditional family ethics.Finally,the present dissertation clarified the social responsibilities taken by the four Chicanas,the ways of the four heroines' self-actualization from the three aspects of gender identity,ethnic identity and cultural identity,and the positive initiative guides in their growing process.It could be found that there were some connections among the three Chicana initiation novels.The heroines in the three novels all suffered from the similar oppression and used their ways to struggle for their self-actualization,and they all realized their self-value in the end.It is hoped that this thesis may enrich the researches of Chicana novels and be served as the supplement of the researches on these three Chicana writers as well as their works in order to help readers have a better understanding of this ethnic group.