A Study Of The Multiple Relationships In The Fifth Child And Its Sequel From The Perspective Of Ecofeminism

As the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007,Doris Lessing is considered as one of the most important British writers of the 20 th century.Although the novels The Fifth Child and its sequel Ben,in the world are not representative works of Lessing,they are also two masterpieces of Lessing in her later period of creation.In the two novels,she describes the tragic story of the hero Ben who suffers a variety of misfortunes in his family and society vividly,and finally ends his short life by jumping off the cliff.This paper will analyze the relationship between hero Ben and nature,Ben and female and Ben and male in The Fifth Child and its sequel under the guidance of ecofeminism,to reveal the affinitive relationship between Ben and nature and Ben and women,and the conflicted relationship between Ben and men under the dominance of anthropocentrism and patriarchy.The opposition caused by the disharmonious relationship between man and nature and man and man also alerts people to reexamine their values and development view and call for people to deconstruct the traditional binary relations of inequality,and to construct harmonious and equal relationships between man and nature and man and man.This paper consists of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.The first part is the introduction,which mainly introduces Doris Lessing and her major works.In addition,this part also includes the literature review of Doris Lessing’s novel The Fifth Child and its sequel Ben,in the world at home and abroad and the innovation points and research significance of this paper.The second part is the main body.This part includes three chapters,which mainly use the theory of ecofeminism to analyze the relationship between hero Ben and nature,Ben and female and Ben and male.The first chapter mainly analyses the affinitive relationship between hero Ben and nature.Due to some atavistic characteristics and animal factors of Ben,he has a natural affinity with nature,in addition to this,both Ben and nature are regarded as “the other”in the human society and both of them are exploited and oppressed by man under the dominance of anthropocentrism,the same destiny also makes Ben has a closer relationship with nature.The second chapter mainly analyses the affinitive relationship between hero Ben and females.Because of Ben’s strange appearance and barbaric behaviors and together with his low intelligence,Ben can only exist as a marginal person,and so do the females,and both of them are suffered from the exploitation and oppression in the patriarchal society.The same destiny makes Ben has a more affinitive relationship with females,and females’ sympathy and care also give Ben the courage and power to live in the cold human society.The third chapter mainly analyses the conflicted relationship between hero Ben and males.Males are considered as the dominant party in the patriarchal society while Ben is the other party to be exploited and oppressed,therefore,the conflict and confrontation between Ben and males run throughout the whole novel.By analyzing the causes,embodiments and consequences of Ben’s resistance and suicide and the spiritual crisis of humanity themselves to reveal the drawbacks and harm of anthropocentrism and patriarchy as well as the necessity and urgency of constructing equal and harmonious relationships.The third part is the conclusion.Firstly,this part summarizes the general idea of this paper based on the theory of ecofeminism and appeals to people to respect and love nature,females and other vulnerable groups and build an equal and harmonious relationship together,only when nature,women and all vulnerable groups can be treated justly and equally,can human beings have a truly harmonious and beautiful world.Secondly,this paper also appeals to women to throw off the shackles of patriarchal thought and get rid of their dependence on men and learn to be independent,and strive to realize their own life values.Finally,this part summarizes the shortcomings of this paper,as a beginner of Doris Lessing,this paper only analyses her works from the perspective of ecofeminism,therefore,there is still a need for further exploration and research on Lessing’s works.