从生态女性主义角度分析凯特·肖邦的《觉醒》英语专业论文终稿

包头师范学院

本科毕业论文

An Analysis of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening from the Point of Ecofeminism

从生态女性主义角度分析凯特·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 Edna’s 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. Ecofeminism (2)

A. A General Survey of the Ecofeminism Development (2)

B. The Main Viewpoints of Ecofeminism (3)

III. The Ecofeminism Exploration of Man-Nature Relationship in The Awakening (3)

A. Nature as the Victim (4)

B. The Connection between Female and Nature (5)

IV. The Ecofeminism Exploration of the Heroines in Patriarchy Society (7)

A. The Revolting Edna (7)

B. The Perfect Adele (11)

C. The Freak Reisz (13)

V. Conclusion (15)

Works Cited (17)

I. Introduction

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) who stepped on the American public stage in the late 19th century began her life as Kate O’Flaherty, 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 nature’s “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 Pontellier’s 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 women’s psychological, physical, social and sexual emancipation: the goals of feminists in the twentieth. As Chopin depicted Edna’s 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 Chopin’s 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