Women, Nature and Capitalist Patriarchy: An Ecofeminist Reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood (2009) Cover Image

Women, Nature and Capitalist Patriarchy: An Ecofeminist Reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood (2009)
Women, Nature and Capitalist Patriarchy: An Ecofeminist Reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood (2009)

Author(s): Paula Wieczorek
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Other Language Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej
Keywords: ecofeminism; women; nature; animals; Margaret Atwood; The Year of the Flood; capitalism; patriarchy

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the following paper is to analyse Margaret Atwood’s 2009 speculative fiction novel The Year of the Flood, drawing from the theories of such ecofeminist critics as Maria Mies and Karen Warren. The paper discusses the parallels between the exploitation of nature and animals as well as the oppression of women in the capitalist patriarchy. It explores the construction of women, nature and animals as dominated Others. Special attention is paid to the metaphors binding women and nature as well as to the development of ecological consciousness in female characters. Atwood undoubtedly criticises capitalism as well as genetic engineering, which contribute to the pollution and devastation of nature as well as have negative impact on human beings.

  • Issue Year: 3/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 112-122
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English