An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of Lives Of Girls And Women

Alice Munro(1931-),a well-known Canadian female writer,is very intellectual and writes in an incisive style.She has created many works as appealing to most people and is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2013.Lives of Girls and Women(1971)is her second work.From women’s perspective,it depicts a picture that women and nature are intimate with each other and are both oppressed in the male-dominated society,but resist in active ways to pursue their rights.Ecofeminism is a contemporary western trend of thought,which combines ecologism and feminism and aims to seek ecological sustainable development,to get rid of patriarchal values and obtain the equality between males and females.According to Carolyn Merchant’s ecofeminism theory,it is believed that the mechanical view of nature accelerates the endless plunder of nature.Merchant also criticizes the western dualistic thinking and thinks that under the influence of dualistic thinking,human beings’ oppression on nature and males’ oppression on females have a certain degree of commonality.Based on the criticism of mechanic view of nature and dualism thoughts in Carolyn Merchant’s ecofeminism theory,this thesis carries on a deep analysis of the patriarchal oppression on women and nature and their resistant behaviors.Based on Merchant’s ecofeminism,this thesis explores the relationships among males,females and nature in Lives of Girls and Women.Above all,this thesis probes into the living conditions of females and nature in a patriarchal society,including the closeness between females and nature,as well as their oppressed situation due to patriarchal values.Then it analyses nature and females’ resistant measures facing patriarchal oppression,such as nature’s punishment to males,Addie’s insistence on making her own voice in a patriarchal society,and Del’s avoidance of males’ physical and spiritual control and her realization of physical and mental independence.At last,this thesis has reached a conclusion that only males,females and nature oppose and eliminate dualism and patriarchal values together,can they build a harmonious relationship among them.