An Ecofeminist Interpretation Of Jennie Gerhardt

Theodore Dreiser is one of the most influential writers in the history of modern American literature.His works attract a large number of readers,among which Jennie Gerhardt is one of the representative works.Through the description of Jennie’s life,the novel truly reflects the American society at that time with great disparity between the rich and the poor and social contradictions.This paper aims to reinterpret the works from the perspective of ecofeminism,combining with feminism and ecological theory,to extend the study scope of the work.Ecofeminism is not only a powerful political and social faction,but also provides a unique perspective for literary criticism.As the theoretical basis of this paper,ecofeminism combines feminism and ecologism,and provides a solid theoretical basis for studying the relationship between man and man,man and nature,and man and self.This paper takes Dreiser’s novel Jennie Gerhardt as the analysis text,from the perspective of ecofeminism,mainly discusses two issues: first,the connection between women and nature;second,the influence of patriarchy on ecology and women.The theoretical framework and research methods part focuses on the main points of view of ecofeminism,schools of ecofeminism and summing up the similarities and differences between different schools.After that the research methods are described.The main body starts with the focus of ecofeminism,the relationship between women and nature,and analyzes the relationship between women and nature in the traditional sense.Then it analyzes the relationship between Jennie Gerhardt and nature from three aspects: Jennie’s love for nature,Jennie’s natural-like character and Jennie’s similar fate with nature.This paper also discusses how men put women and nature under their domination.From the three aspects of the imbalance of natural ecology,social ecology and spiritual ecology in Jennie Gerhardt,this paper analyzes that the root of ecological imbalance is anthropocentrism.Then through the analysis of the three main male characters’ control over Jennie,it points out that the cause of Jennie’s misfortune is androcentrism.It attempts to explore the solution to the crisis faced by human beings,especially women and nature,which means to correctly understand the relationship between mankind and nature,establish equal and harmonious relationship between men and women,and establish healthy spiritual ecology.The purpose of this study is to establish the subjectivity of women and nature and their identity construction from the perspective of ecofeminism,and then to explore how anthropocentrism affects the relationship between human and nature and how androcentrism affects the relationship between men and women.This research advocates establishing an equal,non-dualistic,non-anthropocentric,and non-masculine ideology.