Interpretation Of Ecofeminism In The Old Curiosity Shop

Charlse Dickens lives in an era when England has experienced huge change in social, economic and political aspects after the Industrial Revolution. However, the industrial development was at the cost of sacrificing nature. In the meantime, women were still in the submissive position. For the purpose of humanitarianism, Charse Dickens hopes to establish a harmonious society in which gender position is equal and human beings respect nature. The Old Curiosity Shop, written in1841, reveals Dickens’s idea above and inherits British traditional writing style of picaresque. It tells the story of Nell and her grandfather’s running out of’Fog City’London and the reclamation to nature after they were broke.This paper is going to interpret the ecofeminism embodied in The Old Curiosity Shop, which is divided into three chapters.The first chapter is divided into three parts. The first part is going to introduce basic information of Charlse Dickens, including his historical background, childhood and emotional life. The second part is to introduce the development of his works together with a summary of The Old Curiosity Shop. The last part is about Literature Review.The second chapter introduces the definition and development of ecofeminism.The third chapter, the most important chapter of this paper, is going to interpret the ecofeminism embodied in The Old Curiosity Shop, which is divided into three parts, including unity between women and nature, women and nature’s reaction against men’s oppression and the integrity between men and women as well as men and nature. The unity between women and nature lies in both women and nature suffer from male-dominated society’s oppression, and women have a more intimate relationship with men. As for the oppression, women have tried to break the traditional women’s attachment to men by self-independence and gaining the character of hermaphroditism, besides, nature punishes men, as the representative of people, in its own ways. The last part is to interpret the embodiment of integrity between men and women as well as men and nature, which reflects Dickens’s desire for harmonious society.This paper is to elaborate the theory of ecofeminism and its embodiment in the text, whose aim is to uncover Charlse Dickens’s desire for harmonious society in which everything is equal. Charlse Dickens’s work has major guiding significance for today’s ecological problem and unfair gender relationship.