包头英语专业论文终稿-从生态女性主义角度分析凯特·肖邦的《觉醒》

包头师范学院 本科毕业论文 AnAnalysis of Kate Chopins The Awakening from the Point of Ecofeminism 从生态女性主义角度分析凯特从生态女性主义角度分析凯特肖邦的觉醒肖邦的觉醒 学 生 姓 名：罗 庆 霞 学院：外 国 语 学 院 专业：英 语 班级：2 0 0 9 级 本 科 6 班 指 导 教 师：钟 豆 梅 二 一 三 年 五 月 Abstract Kate Chopin is widely recognized as an outstanding American writer, for she is one of the few women writers who bravely attacks the male-centered society of the nineteenth century in their works. Her masterpiece The Awakening, created at the end of the nineteenth century when the patriarchal ideology prevailed, mainly depicts the female protagonist Ednas awakening of the selfhood. It is worthy of the recognition as a canon of feminist literature. This writer intends to analyze The Awakening from an ecofeminist point of view. In the first part, the paper gives introduction on the author Kate Chopin and the book. The second part describes the general survey of the ecofeminism development and the main viewpoint of ecofeminism. The third part explains the relationship between man and nature from an ecofeminism point of view. It explains that people just want to get profit by controlling and destroying nature. However, female care about the nature more than male. They sympathize animals and they like nature. The fourth part mainly talks about three different females in this novel. They lived in the same period of time, but they had different lives. The last part makes a conclusion. Key words: ecofeminism; nature; awakening; woman 摘摘要要 凯特肖邦是美国文学史上杰出的女作家。她之所以能够跻身于 19 世纪美国小说名家之列，在于她的作品折射出女性主义的光辉。她是少 数在作品中对 19 世纪男权社会进行大胆抨击的女性作家之一。凯特肖 邦的巅峰之作觉醒创作于 19 世纪末以父权为纲的时代，描写的是女 性自我意识的觉醒，是当之无愧的女性主义文学经典之作。 本文将从生态女性主义的角度分析觉醒这部小说。第一部分介 绍凯特肖邦和这部小说。第二部分叙述了生态女性主义的发展及生态 女性主义的主要观点。第三部分从生态女性主义的角度解释人与自然的 关系。男人只是想通过控制和毁坏自然来和获得利益，然而，女性则更 关心自然。她们同情动物，喜欢自然。第四部分主要讲述这部小说中的 三位女性角色。她们生活在同一时期却又不一样的人生。最后一部分是 本文的结论。 关键词：生态女性主义；自然；觉醒；妇女 Contents Abstract 摘要 I. Introduction.1 II. Ecofeminism2 A.AGeneral Survey of the Ecofeminism Development.2 B. The Main Viewpoints of Ecofeminism.3 III. The Ecofeminism Exploration of Man-Nature Relationship in TheAwakening. 3 A. Nature as the Victim.4 B. The Connection between Female and Nature.5 IV. The Ecofeminism Exploration of the Heroines in Patriarchy Society7 A. The Revolting Edna7 B. The Perfect Adele11 C. The Freak Reisz13 V. Conclusion. 15 Works Cited16 1 I. Introduction Kate Chopin (1851-1904) who stepped on the American public stage in the late 19th century began her life as Kate OFlaherty, born in St. Louis in 1851. Kate Chopin is a sensitive and intuitive nature-lover who often hymns the nature in her works. As Darwin maintains that all life began in water and that this life perpetuates itself through reproduction, Chopin believes natures “undying urge” contains a spiritual importance, thus it makes perfect sense that her heroines obtain the free individuality with the inspiration from nature. The controversial novel The Awakening is quite ahead of its time with its modern concerns and the brilliant setting as well as ambiguous characterization and symbolic imagery offers a profound space to interpret. It is indeed a gold mine for us to explore deeper into its core. It largely attracts feminist critics for its devastating portrait of Victorian marriage and the discovery of Edna Pontelliers talent, sexuality and individuality. The Awakening is a story of what happens when a woman does not accept her place at home. The novel moves us because it illustrates the need for womens psychological, physical, social and sexual emancipation: the goals of feminists in the twentieth. As Chopin depicted Ednas sexual awakening like a product of a biological imperative, the footprints of Darwinism and naturalism is also obvious. Nevertheless, the ecofeminism approach seldom touches Kate Chopins The Awakening. The ecofeminism declares that the same existing victimized position of females and nature under patriarchal system is the link between women and nature. In The Awakening, Chopin demonstrates homologous oppressions to women and nature and reveals the patriarchal system as the root of that dual subjugation. This paper attempts to explore The Awakening from ecofeminism perspective with the purpose to reveal the relationship between human beings and nature and the female who were dominated by the man. In the first part, the author gives introduction on Kate Chopin and the book. The second part describes the general survey of the ecofeminism development and the main viewpoint of ecofeminism. The third part explains the 2 relationship between man and nature from an ecofeminism point of view. Here, the author talks about that people just want to get profit by controlling and destroying nature. However, female cares the nature more than male. They sympathize animals and they like nature. The fourth part mainly talks about three different females in this novel. They lived in the same period time, but they had disparate lives. The last part makes a conclusion. II. Ecofeminism With the development of ecocrticism in late 20thcentury, ecofminism theory made its presence in literary studies. In the broadest sense, ecofeminism is a distinct social movement that blends theory and practice to reveal and eliminate the causes of the dominations of women and of nature. A.AGeneral Survey of the Ecofeminism Development Ecofeminism is a social and political movement that sees a critical connection between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women. It emerged in the mid-1970s alongside the second-wave feminism and was hailed as the third wave of feminism. Ecofeminism developed as a theory and an activist position in response to the feminist, ecological and peace movements and as recognition of the strength of female participation. Irene Diamond and Gloria Feman Orenstein explain that Ecofeminism is a term that some use to describe both the diverse range of womens efforts to save the earth and the transformation of feminism in the west that have resulted from the new view of women and nature.as the seventies advanced and as women began to understand how the larger cultures devaluation of natural process was a product of masculine consciousness. (Murphy 48) Ecofeminist activism grew during the 1980s and 1990s among women from anti-nuclear and environmental movements. The “Women and Life on Earth: Ecofeminism in the Eighties” conference held at Amherst was the first in a series of ecofeminist conferences, inspiring the growth of ecofeminist organizations and actions. 3 Ecofeminism as an academic discourse did not develop until the mid to late 1980s. It finally came into literary studies in the 1990s as critics began to develop the insights of ecofeminism as a component of literary criticism. As a result, the reinterpretation of works by women demonstrating ecological sensibilities and proto-ecofeminist and ecofeminist themes has been, and continuous to be given more attention, particularly in womens studies and womens literature courses. B. The Main Viewpoints of Ecofeminism As mentioned above, ecofemnism highlights the inner relationship between women and nature and reveals how woman and nature are marginalized and reduced to aphasia condition. “It stresses the inner link between women and nature in order to pursue the harmonious gender relations and to renew the relationship between man and nature” (Gaad 45). Thus, the term ecofeminist combines Womens Movement and conservation of nature together. The essence of ecofeminist which aims to struggle with the male-cultural values is targeting at anthropocentrism as well as the male patriarchal society. The main claims of ecofeminism are as follows. (1) The oppression of women and the denigration of nature are caused for the similar reasons and women are closer to nature. (2) Ecofeminism argues against patriarchal ideologies and anthropocentrism. (3) Ecofeminism calls for social and natural diversity for a healthy interconnected web. (4) Ecofeminism claims science, technology and development are tools and products of patriarchal dominance. (King 15) III. The Ecofeminism Exploration of Man-Nature Relationship in The Awakening The ecofeminists hold faith in the homologous domination of woman and nature by criticizing the dualistic method under patriarchal society, in which nature diminished to victimized position by being over exploited and violently destructed, at the same time, 4 women dropped to inferior position by being enforced or assimilated to obey patriarchal rules. A. Nature as the Victim In the novel, Kate Chopin bears an ecological awareness that presents the men-dominated nature in humans pursuit of money in the process of modern industrial civilization. Edna is a main witness of mans domination over nature. Men, labeled the brand of “master of all things”, were seemingly entitled to utilize and damage nature willfully with the fake excuse that nature is born to be entertained and to serve for humankind. Therefore, nature is disappointedly disappearing during the trend of industrialization and modernization. The entire description of Mr. Pontelliers presentation by Chopin throughout the novel is sufficiently typical American businessman before readers. Chopin drew up about the modern men who become “half corpse” and “less than humanness” in that they are over-conscious in the money, social and political side but the intuitive side. Mr Pontellier is the representative of material and money. As a stock agent, his hands are always filled with the brokerage business. The goal of Mr Pontelliers whole life is to amass material possessions. His only interest lies in making money. His motto is “The way to become rich is to make money, not tosaveit”(Chopin71).Hewastrulyanastutemerchantwholeadeda materialistic-oriented life, for he was so acquainted with the market reports even though the newspapers had not yet met his reading needs. He was a typical magnate who accomplished abashedly this kind of industrial success and he was also the one marching among the constructing troop, which promoted the industrialization to be progressive with humans infinite desirable profits and their causes for the massive exploitation. It consequently brings out the denaturing behaviors without considering the sustainable development in the future. Mans greedy pursuit seems never to stop. “Men not only exploit natural resources to meet their economic demands but also take animals for their entertainment. Animals are reduced to something entertaining and pleasing” (Mellor 33). The green and yellow parrot 5 appeared at the outset of the novel, which ought to sing freely in the thick and picturesque forest, but only hung miserably in a cage “outside the door, kept repeating over and over: Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Sapristi! Thats all right” (Chopin 1)! However, when hearing this persistent maddening resistance from the birds, Mr. Pontellier does not bear any sympathy for the poor animals. Yet he arises with an expression and an exclamation of disgust for the birds disturbed his newspaper reading. Obviously, in the eye of Mr Pontellier, “The parrot and the mocking bird were the property of Madame Lebrun, and they had the right to make all the noise they wished. Mr. Pontellier has the privilege of quiting their society when they ceased to be entertaining” (1). He never respected the birds as creatures but only plaything. He saw nature as just a matter that men have the right to take advantage of. Furthermore, New Orleans is a city where the protagonists settled down. In spite of no amount of depiction on prosperity in this industrialized setting directly, the reader could also peep at it as a commercial metropolis. The city for men is a battlefield to gallop as well as a hunting ground to massacre. All in all, the marching processes of industrialization and modernization have not done much good to our reliable planet. The instrument they adopted to attain money including science and technology all lead to the disaster of nature such as pollution, global warming, over exploitation and destruction. The more severe consequence not only lies on the destroying home behavior but also relate to the distorted relationship between nature and human by regarding mans natural distinct. The ecofemminists believe that the science andtechnologyarethetoolsofpatriarchalsociety.Withthedevelopmentof industrialization and mechanical civilization, not only the forests and farm land are polluted, but also mans natural instinct degenerates and the harmonious relationship between man and nature is destroyed. B. The Connection between Female and Nature The process of Ednas awakening is one that turns a numb and unconscious existence of her soul and body into an integrated one. Therefore, she oscillates between the society 6 (including her social circle) and nature (including frequently the sea, the garden,etc.) She is driven by the unknown impulse to extract vitality and energy from the natural world. The novel starts with the image of caged parrot speaking “a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood” and “a mocking-bird” “that hung on the other side of the door, whisting his fluty notes out upon the breeze with maddening persistence” (1). As the property of Madame Lebrun, the parrot and the mocking bird has “the right to make all the noise they wished” (1). While Mr. Pontellier has “the privilege of quitting their society when they ceased to be entertaining” (1). Flying freely in the sky, birds are usually a symbol of beautiful objects, leaving cheerful association to people. However, the parrot and the mocking-bird are deprived of the freedom of flying in the natural world though they have wings, scarcely perform practical function. They have no companions or friends. They are separated from the world they belong to, speaking an alien language. The parrot seems to have the similar fate as the heroine Edna Pontellier, who is confined into the housewifery duties with nobody truly understands her thoughts. Her solitude is the same as that of the parrot, who has no companion to understand its language and intention. The sea plays an important role in the course of Ednas awakening. Actually, the sea nearly runs through the whole book. The sea is captivating. To come into its embrace is to approach the pure nature and genuine human nature. Chopin describes the sea from various aspects: “the voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting, etc.; the touch is sensuous, soft, embracing, like slow and white serpent, etc; the sight includes froth and foamy crests; and the odor is seductive ”(14). In the sea, the heroine Edna begins her meditation of self knowledge and eventually accomplishes her pursuit of ideal destination. The sea also gives rebirth to Edna through her death. She is awake ahead of her Era, so to awaken is to die and to awaken for her. Each time has a sort of journey into the sea, her mind changes. Until the final immersion, her journey of awakening fulfills. Actually, the revolt against the nature of the society cannot part from the influence or inspiring of nature. The revolt is in effect a new demand from nature, i.e., touching nature 7 rather than separating from or conquering nature. IV. The Ecofeminism Exploration of the Heroines in Patriarchy Society Apparently, nature has been objectified and subordinated by the traditional patriarchal ideology, yet which also inferiorized women.Val Plumwood argues that “it is not womens inherent characteristics but the patriarchal dualism which exteriorized women who are universalized as passive, emotional, sensitive and fragile human beings while men represent the active, mechanistic, intellectual, the analytical and the linear.” (Val Plumwood 42) Therefore, women for centuries are put in the secondary citizens subject to the patriarchal authority as nature controlled by human beings. Chopin is the typical keen writer to expose womens victimized position finely in her works especially in her controversial fiction The Awakening. Mr. Pontelliers famous gaze at his wife as one looks at valuable piece of personal property. A. The Revolting Edna It is rational to claim that Ednas revolts resemble the voice of the modern women declaring their rights as an individual. Edna apprehended self-consciously that her conventional life is so empty and uneventful that she defied social conventions to challenge herself from the social norm as an exceptional individual. She turned to her own image to seek an outlet for her self-expressive values and identity. The theme in Ednas awakening reflects an individuals internal growth. Her actions reflected an independent woman who keenly perceived the reality of the oppressive situation and took steps onto the revolt against the inequality in society. Chopin depicts the institution of marriage in which Edna has been otherized. The marriage is the domineering cage with definite roles and expectations for women. Edna tried every to break her marriage bond for seeking ways of asserting her individuality. Marriage becomes a confrontational site between Edna and her husband. The bond of marriage has been questioned as it leads toward the idea of the husbands possession of 8 the wife. Edna gradually dismissed her role as a mother and wife to accentuate her freedom. Woman, who wants to have her own identity, is still considered as inferior because she does not exist without her husband. In Ednas society, a married woman is not possible to seek autonomy in that they were expected to follow the social tradition to serve and to be submissive to her husband. Chopin creates Ednas voices to challenge the convention by depicting her contradictory behaviors and actions. Ednas disobedience along with her aggressive behavior unlocks the contrasting ideology between the voice of authoritative fathers and voice of the individuals desires. In her awakening, Edna recognizes that she no longe