A Thematic Study Of Alice Munro’s Ecofeminism In Her Short Stories

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013,Alice Munro is the first Canadian female writer to win such prize with short stories.She is also known as “a master of the contemporary short story” and “Canada’s ‘Chekhov’ ”(Canada’s ‘Chekhov’ takes Nobel prize).In her delicate and sharping writing,the oppression of women by patriarchy and the destruction of the environment by human can be seen everywhere,which embodies the ideas that coincide with the theme of Ecofeminism.Ecofeminists regard the oppression of nature by human beings and the oppression of women by men as stemming from a binary hierarchy.Based on the theory of Ecofeminism,this thesis will analyze selections from Alice Munro’s short stories,like Runaway,Dance of Happy Shades,Lives of Girls and Women as well as Too Much Happiness to explore Munro’s Ecofeminist consciousness.Chapter one explores the relationship between women and nature.Through the textual analysis,this chapter proves the affinity between women and nature,and points out that the suffering of animals in Munro’s stories is a metaphor for the fate of women.In Munro’s works,women are the guardian of nature and nature serves as a spiritual paradise for women.Chapter two discusses the relationship between women and men.This chapter illustrates the patriarchal oppression of women and women’s revolt against patriarchy.Meanwhile,in her short stories,Munro expresses her expectation for the new harmonious relationship between men and women.Chapter three analyzes the relationship between women and self.This chapter mirrors the crisis of women’s spiritual ecology.Namely,the state of imbalance and balance between women and nature.The imbalance is reflected by the identity crisis and the insanity of the female characters,whereas the balance is the reconciliation with self-identity and the spiritual pursuit of the female.The transformation from imbalance to balance expresses Munro’s confidence in female potential.Through the analysis of the fate of women in Munro’s work,this paper makes reflection how women strive for self-emancipation and ecology restoration.Women and nature should not passively wait for the recognition of the patriarchal society,but work together to complete self-redemption and ecological protection.Women as living creatures with subjectivity,should spare no efforts to gain their own economic and ideological independence.Owing to the close relationship with nature,they can draw strength from nature and in return actively contribute their own strength to ecological protection,so as to build an equal and harmonious social structure between women,nature and men.