LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 8 August 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Self-Discovery Through Nature in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing

S. Ramya Niranjani, M.A., M.Phil.

Abstract

Destruction of land and environment and its consequences on living organisms is one of the modern problems that we are facing today. Eco-feminism derives an idea that all living organisms must be seen in relation to their natural surroundings. Margaret Atwood, a Canadian writer, has depicted the exploitation of nature and women in her novel Surfacing. The nameless protagonist or the narrator of the novel is an ecofeminist. The heroine goes to her birthplace in search of her lost father. She finds the place a “foreign territory”. The heroine has deep sympathy towards nature. She finds that her birth place is being violated by Americans and Canadians in the name of civilization and this is leading to environmental degradation.

She realizes that as she has been exploited by the man whom she married, the sacredness of our planet earth is also exploited. In the process of her journey through nature, she understands the association between nature and women. In her struggle against oppression and domination, she associates herself with the natural world, with the landscape and with animals, and realizes both nature and women are the objects of domination. Her journey through wilderness gives her the ability to see things clearly.

In the final part of the novel, the heroine identifies herself with the natural world. She acquires a new identity and refuses to become a victim. She refuses to go back to the city. She wants to be free from the evil effects of materialistic and technological world. The present study attempts to recall the importance of returning to nature in order to experience harmony and peace in and around oneself.

Eco-Feminism and Margaret Atwood

The term Eco-feminism seems to imply that Eco-feminist writers are mostly concerned about the oppression of women and the oppression of earth. The paper analyses the relationship between women and nature by examining nature as a capable means for women’s self-discovery in Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

S. Ramya Niranjani, M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor of English
Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous)
(Affiliated to Periyar University)
Salem 636 016
Tamilnadu
India
ramyadarsha@yahoo.in
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