An Ecofeminist Study Of The Windup Girl

Paolo Bacigalupi, a new rising star in the field of science fiction, is a productive and celebrated writer, whose works have acquired remarkable success. His first novel, The Windup Girl, also his masterpiece, was awarded for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus awards, and named one of the top ten novels of the year by Time Magazine in 2009. In China, the study of Bacigalupi and his works has not yet really started and most of the reviews are about the introduction of his works. No critics have probed deeply into his works. Likewise, the study abroad mainly focuses on the author and his talent in science fiction. In summary, no articles and thesis have conducted a systematic analysis of The Windup Girl, in spite of the fact that The Windup Girl is, sometimes, studied along with his short stories.After reading The Windup Girl, I find that Bacigalupi has given readers a bleak depiction of the social and ecological crisis with which human beings will confront in the futuristic world. The Windup Girl is an apocalyptic novel, by which Bacigalupi attempts to warn and enlighten mankind of the ecological disasters and by which shows his eager concern for reconstruction of the ecological order. Ecofeminism, the combination of feminism and ecology, mainly studies the relationship of dual oppression to women and nature in the patriarchal society from two perspectives of ecological crisis and sexual discrimination. Moreover, what ecofeminists concern about is not only nature and women but also the liberation of all life forms, including the liberation of the poor, the ethnic minorities, the members in the third world and even animals and plants on earth. Because of this, I will analyze the novel from the perspective of ecofeminism.With the theory of ecofemisim, the thesis will analyze the novel from the following aspects. First of all, in the 23rd-century futuristic world depicted by Bacigalupi, nature is ravaged and almost ruined because of anthropocenturism. Energy resources have almost exhausted, biodiversity has been destroyed, the land is abused and the ecological system is almost broken down. In addition, in the futuristic patriarchal society, women are still the victims of patriarchy, and there exist some certain connections between women and nature, which means that they are all subjugated in the patriarchal society. In The Windup Girl, men arbitrarily modify women’s bodies according to their will and, at the same time, discipline and tame these bodies in order to make them provide men with a better service. What’s worse, women’s subordinate economic status and their internalized docility and self-discipline strengthen the hegemony of men, which also makes women docile and tamed. The thesis also analyzes the intense interracial and inner-racial conflicts and the deep roots for racism and classism. At the end, the thesis analyzes the efforts in order reconstruction and identity rebuilding, though the individual efforts seem so tenuous. The bleak futuristic world and persistent efforts in rebuilding illustrate Bacigalupi’s strong yearning for a harmonious world. With concern over contemporary social reality, the thesis probes into various kinds of oppression and inequalities in the futuristic world described in the novel, and appeals to rebuild a harmonious coexistent world according to the principles of ecofeminism.