An Eco-feminist Reading Of The Cleft

Doris Lessing (1919-) is generally considered to be one of the most prominent femalewriters in English literature of the twentieth century. Lessing enjoys worldwide celebrity andis deemed as one of the greatest female writers after Virginia Woolf. She is renowned for herlarge number of works with a great variety of topics and various forms and styles. She is theoldest winner and the11thwoman writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature on October11,2007. One of her latest novels The Cleft was published in the same year. The novel depictsthe origin of human beings in a different way with women’s first appearance.Since its publication, The Cleft has been invariably considered as a biblical fiction.Critics and readers home and abroad have done some studies on it. These studies mainlyfocus on the aspects of the novel’s narrative strategy, feminist theme and mythic feature, andso on. This dissertation is an attempt to read this novel from the aspect of eco-feminism andcenters on the relationship between man and woman, as well as human and nature.The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion.The Introduction gives a brief presentation of Doris Lessing’s life experience, works andthe current literature review on The Cleft as well as the main content of the novel.Furthermore, it also makes a brief introduction of the main points of eco-feminist theory.Chapter One discusses nature’s influence on the early Clefts (female). The Clefts,women only, were the first mankind in the history. They led a simple and leisurely life whichenabled them to get on well with nature. They were attached to their habitat from generationto generation. Nature could satisfy their basic needs and they never wanted more from nature.Chapter Two analyzes nature’s interaction with mankind after the male appearance. Itwas peaceful and quiet before male babies’ birth. Since men’s appearance, women began toexplore the outside world and their view has been broadened. However, men tried to conquerthe world in their own way. Their exploitation of the natural world finally led to nature’srevenge.Chapter Three focuses on the conflicts between female and male. A few groups ofgender relationship in the novel have been analyzed to find out that harmony between menand women will give rise to their happiness.The conclusion is based on the former parts, summarizing the main ideas that have beendiscussed. By analyzing the relationship between men and women, nature and human fromthe angle of eco-feminism, it is revealed that women and nature should be respected and should get equal treatment as men.