An ecofeminist study of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer
Main Article Content
Abstract
Ecofeminism has pervaded many disciplines such as science, philosophy, politics, and literature. It emphasizes the ultimate interconnectedness of lifecycle. Ecofeminists contend that any shot to liberate and release women won’t be fruitful and prolific without the liberation of nature. This article intends to study the woman/nature interconnectedness with ecofeminist perception in Kingsolver’s selected two novels Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer. It, strictly, challenges environment, animal elimination and how the female protagonists using their environmental consciousness, creating some connections with natural settings and imitates a union between women and nature. The study, indeed, focuses on women (feminism) and nature (ecology) under the authority of men. Ecofeminists attempt to find solutions for the social problems and the diseased cultural masculine system of the societies. Thus, they attempt to examine women and nature and the way they react against the masculine, misogynists, and unequal communities. Hence, they insist to mirror themselves as the source of life. Life will be continued by women who are the backbones of civilizations and families. They deliver courage, nurturing, provision, maintenance and are vital to the development of the children. Consequently, they have the right to take on leadership roles in communal organizations.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Birke, Lynda, Joan Dunayer, and Marti Kheel. Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations. Duke: Duke University, 1995. Print.
Campbell, Andrea. New Directions in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars, 2009. Print.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Routledge: Routledge, 1994. Print.
Davis, Elizabeth Gould. The First Sex. P. New York: Putman and Sons, 1971. Print.
d'Eaubonne, Françoise, and Jacob Paisain. "What Could an Ecofeminist Society Be?." Ethics and the Environment, vol. 4, no. 2, 1999, 179-184. Print.
Epstein, Robin. “An Interview with Barbara Kingsolver.” Progressive, vol. 12, no. 9, 1996, 1–12. Print.
French, Marilyn. Beyond Power. New York: Summit, 1985. Print.
Gaard, Greta. Ecofeminism. Philadelphia: Temple University, 1993. Print.
Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm, editors. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Georgia: University of Georgia, 1996. Print.
Gruen, Lori. “Dismantling Oppression: An Analysis of the Connection between Women and Animals.” Living with Contradictions, edited by Alison M. Jaggar, Routledge, 2018, 537-548. Print.
Hawkins, Brendan. “Charged with Resistance”: An Ecocritical Reading of Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer and Flight Behavior. Diss. NC Docks, 2015. Print.
Herman, Judith Lewis. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic, 1997. Print.
Hofrichter, Richard. “Cultural Activism and Environmental Justice.” Hofrichter et al, 1993, 85-95. Print.
Jones, Suzanne W. “The Southern Family Farm as Endangered Species: Possibilities for Survival in Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer.” The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 39, no. 1, 2006, 83-97. Print.
Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. London: Abacus, 1990. Print.
---. Prodigal Summer. London: Faber and Faber, 2000. Print.
---. Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands. Washington: National Geographic Society, 2002.
---. Small Wonder. London: Faber and Faber, 2011. Print.
Mack-Canty, Colleen. “Third-Wave Feminism and the Need to Reweave the Nature/Culture Duality.” NWSA journal, 2004, 154-179. Print.
Magee, Richard M. "The Aridity of Grace: Community and Ecofeminism in Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams and Prodigal Summer." New Directions in Ecofeminist Literary Criticism, edited by Andrea Campbell, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008, 15-26. Print.
Plumwood, Val. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge: Routledge, 2002. Print.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. New Woman/New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation. New York: Seabury, 1975. Print.
---. My Quests for Hope and Meaning: An Autobiography. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2013. Print.
Ryden, Kent C. Mapping the Invisible Landscape: Folklore, Writing, and the Sense of Place. Iowa: University of Iowa, 1993. Print.
Swartz, Patti Capel. “Saving Grace”: Political and Environmental Issues and the Role of Connections in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal Dreams.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 1, no. 1, 1993, 65-79. Print.
Vakoch, Douglas A., and Sam Mickey, editors. Literature and Ecofeminism: Intersectional and International Voices. Routledge: Routledge, 2018. Print.
Wagner-Martin, Linda. Barbara Kingsolver’s World: Nature, Art, and the Twenty-First Century. Bloomsbury: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print.
---, and David King Dunaway. Barbara Kingsolver. New York: Infobase Learning, 2004. Print.
Warren, Karen J. Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000. Print.
---, and Jim Cheney. “Ecofeminism and Ecosystem Ecology.” Hypatia, vol. 6, no. 1, 1991, 179–97. Print.
Wenz, Peter S. “Leopold’s Novel: The Land Ethic in Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer.” Ethics and the Environment, vol. 8, no. 2, 2003, 106-125. Print.