论文总字数：38469字

摘 要

弗吉尼亚•伍尔夫是英国文学史上最杰出的女权主义作家之一，《达洛卫夫人》是其最具代表性的作品。本论文主要分析作家在小说中所流露出的生态女性意识。通过对男性和女性，女性与自然之间关系的描写，作家意在揭示女性和自然在男权社会中所遭受的压迫和剥削，同时，伍尔夫还批判了社会与战争的残酷性，表达了她对人类生存境况的深切关注。通过阐述女性自我意识的觉醒以及女性对男权社会的反抗，伍尔夫意在阐明女性与自然必须要从父权制度下解放出来，从而保持人类自我身份的完整。同时，通过对女性与大自然之前的和谐关系的描绘，伍尔夫表达了构建一个男性与女性，人类与自然和谐相处的社会的美好愿望。

关键词：弗吉尼亚•伍尔夫；《达洛卫夫人》；生态女性主义；父权社会

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Patriarchal Society"s Oppression to Women and Nature 3

3.1 Patriarchal society’s invisible oppression to female characters 4

3.2 Patriarchal society"s oppression to nature 5

4. Resistance and Revolt from Women 6

4.1 Burton and Clarissa’s awakening of self-consciousness 6

4.2 Clarissa"s revolt against the man"s oppression 8

5. Harmony Between Women and Nature 9

5.1 The amazing power of nature 9

5.2 Women’s harmony with nature 12

6. Conclusion 14

Works Cited 15

1. Introduction

Virginia Woolf is not only known as one of the greatest writers, but also recognized as one of the pioneers of the 20^th century feminism. In her works, she particularly shows her sympathy for women, and reveals her strong feminism consciousness. She believes that women"s rights should be maintained, and their social status should be gradually improved. She expresses her deep concerns for women"s living conditions in many of her works, of which Mrs. Dalloway is the most representative one. It is considered to be her first mature experimental work and brings her the fame as one of the greatest figures of the 20^th century in English literature.

The novel describes Clarissa, the heroine"s main activities in a day in London, beginning with her buying flowers in preparation for the dinner party until the end of banquet at midnight. Taking Clarissa as the core, with the banquet as the tie, the novel depicts the state of minds of many kinds of people. During the day, Clarissa starts to be suspicious of her life. She feels a little uneasiness about the life on the surface. The apparent rich material life cannot get rid of her inner emptiness and loneliness, and she could hardly find her own space. Therefore, when she looks in the mirror, she begins to feel a kind of fear. There seems to be an invisible claw in her heart that she could not see the direction, so she is under a kind of unprecedented pressure which she cannot break away from.

Through the delineation of Clarissa"s one-day activities, the writer reveals women’s dilemma and awkwardness in the patriarchal society and expresses their wish of getting away from it. Although lots of researches have been done on Woolf"s social criticism in terms of dissecting the characters, insufficient attention has been paid to interpret Woolf"s eco-feminism consciousness in this novel. Such a research situation considered, this thesis probes the female characters" oppression and subordination under the patriarchal society in the novel and does a thorough examination of Woolf"s eco-feminism consciousness.

Eco-feminism is a movement that sees a connection between the exploitation and degradation of the natural world and the subordination and oppression of women. It emerged in the mid-1970s alongside second-wave feminism and the green movement.〔...〕from feminism the view of humanity as gendered in ways that subordinate, exploit and oppress women. (Mellor 1) So, under the patriarchal system, both the natural world and women are subordinated, exploited and oppressed by men who represent patriarchy. However, eco-feminists also hold the perspective of deep greens that humanity is not just reliant on its physical environment, but that the natural world, including humanity, should be seen as an interconnected and interdependent whole. (Mellor 1) To some extent, this helps eco-feminists reduce their predicament and supplies human beings ways to rethink the relations with the natural world and with their own species.

This thesis interprets Mrs. Dalloway from the perspective of eco-feminism on the basis of text analysis. It is composed of six parts. The first part briefly introduces Virginal Woolf and the main content of the novel Mrs. Dalloway and the theoretical framework of this thesis. The second part is about some research situations both at home and abroad on this novel. The third part analyzes the oppression and subordination of the patriarchal society to female characters and the natural world. The fourth part elaborates the female characters" awakening of self-consciousness and living situations as well as their revolt against the patriarchal society. The fifth part supplies the ways to deal with the relations with man and woman, human being and the natural world, enlightening the harmonious relations between human beings and nature. Based on the above parts, this thesis concludes that only human beings free from the patriarchal society, can they live in harmony with their own species and the natural world.

2. Literature Review

Since its publication in 1925, Mrs. Dalloway has been interpreted by many scholars and critics both at home and abroad from various perspectives.

With regard to Woolf’s mental illness, some critics interpret this novel from psychoanalytical point of view. For instance, Mou Fanghua (33-37), in her “The Depth of View, Life is far from ‘truth’—Woolf’s Psychological Reality from Narrative Strategies of Mrs. Dalloway”, analyzes a series of technologies and narrative features and proves that through the proper application of these narrative strategies, Woolf expresses the character"s psychological world, and thus successfully expresses aesthetic thought of her "psychological reality".

Other critics pay attention to the sexuality in the novel like Clarissa’s love for Sally, and like Kilman’s love for Elizabeth. In the article “The Rebellion Against Compulsory Heterosexuality Culture—On Woolf’s Lesbian Literary Narrative”, Pan Jian (2) owes Clarissa’s marriage with Richard to the suppressed homosexuality without realizing the impact from the society over women.

Some critics analyze the feminist elements in the novel. Emily Jensen (162-179) considers Clarissa’s choice to live a traditional heterosexual life as a sacrifice of female sexual pleasure and friendship with the same sex. P. Rose (1979) holds that in Woman of Letters: a Life of Virginia Woolf that, the core of Woolf"s sentiment and thought reflects her feminism ideas though she has never admitted being a pure feminist.

Still some others mainly focuses on its writing technique—stream-of-consciousness. Guan Shuhong (98-103, 126) discusses the attitude system of stream-of-consciousness in Mrs. Dalloway and how they promote to build the theme of love. Another scholar Wen Hongjia (49-51) also expounds this theme from the perspective of writing style and writing skills.

So far, insufficient attention has been paid to Woolf" eco-feminism expression. Through analyzing the relationships among the characters and the natural world, this thesis intends to does an examination of Woolf"s eco-feminism consciousness, and at the same time adds a case study to eco-feminism theories and practice. In doing so, readers will get to know Woolf’s eco-feminism consciousness better and perceive her wish of building a harmonious world.

3. Patriarchal Society"s Oppression to Women and Nature

Eco-feminists investigate that both women and nature are placed on the subordinated position and men who represent the patriarchal world have been dominating over nature and women. And "in patriarchy, nature, animals and women are objectified, hunted, invaded, colonized, owned, consumed and forced to yield and produce (or not)〔...〕as women as a class, nature and animals have been kept in a state of inferiority and powerlessness in order to enable men as a class to believe and act upon their "natural" superiority/dominance." (Mellor 49) In Mellor"s view, the domination of woman and nature are directly connected. The domination over women and nature are culturally analogous. In a sense, women can be seen as nature naturalized and nature can be viewed as women feminized. At the same time, the oppression to women and nature is so deeply permeated in the patriarchal society and people"s psyches, and this phenomenon exists both visibly and invisibly.

3.1 Patriarchal society’s invisible oppression to female characters

From the eco-feminists perspective, “men’s domination of women is deep and systemic, and it is accepted around the world by most men and many women as ‘natural,’ as something that somehow cannot be changed” (Karen J 202). To Karen, in the patriarchal society, most men, to some extent, even many women think it natural that women should be inferior to men in the walks of life. The system in which men have more values and more social, economic powers than women is found throughout the world—East and West, North and South. Women suffer both from structural oppression and the patriarchal society dominated by men.

Men’s domination of women is deep and systemic. Many movements for social justice accept the assumptions of male dominance and ignore the oppression of women, but patriarchy pervades human"s political and personal lives. In the novel, Miss Kilman is such a victim of the patriarchal society. She is Clarissa’s daughter Elizabeth’s tutor. She is born poor but through great effort, her knowledge of modern history is more than respectable. However, she refuses to succumb to the will of the ruling class which excludes her from the mainstream society, so she cannot become a formal teacher. To make a living, she has to be a home tutor, a sacrificial lamb in the patriarchal society. She believes in God and plays the role of educator which should be respected, but her spirit is distorted. With strong and uncontrollable desire, she is dying to take control of others like men, not allowing them to have independent character. Miss Kilman takes great pains to transform Elizabeth, make her believing in God too. Though hated by Clarissa, because Kilman is not only ugly and poor, she also has a sense of superiority to struggle with her and tries to make an influence on her daughter. However, Kilman does not hate Clarissa; instead, she pities and despises Clarissa, as the novel goes, “She came from the most worthless of all classes—the rich, with a smattering of culture” (Virginia 90). In Kilman"s eyes, the fact that Clarissa could live a luxurious life owes to her good birth. “And there rose in her an overmastering desire to overcome her; to unmask her. If only she could make her weep; could ruin her; humiliate her; bring her to her knees crying. You are right! But this was God’s will, not Miss Kilman’s. It was to be a religious victory” (Virginia 91). So, the powerful patriarchal society exerts a subtle influence on the woman"s character, making them accept the views and values carried out by the patriarchal society, which is devouring women. Besides, its religious rationality is destroying humanity and massacring human beings.

Traditionally, women are considered to be impotent and incapable to be a whole, and they have to depend on men to fulfill themselves, just as Karen states, “women were subordinated and dependent on men for their realization and value, always needing men as their path to fulfillment”. (Karen J 112) In the novel, though Millicent Burton is a lady with good family. She has the reputation of being more interested in politics than people; of talking like a man; of having had a finger in some notorious intrigue of the eighties, which is now beginning to be mentioned in memories. However, at the moment, she has to rely on the power of man to accomplish a difficult task—an immigration event. For this reason, she has to please, flatter, or even deceive men in order to achieve her own purposes and realizes her aspiration. In this sense, living in a patriarchal society, a woman has to be politically dependent on men and takes men’s standard to examine and regularize themselves. In other words, women’s true selves disappear and men"s influences are exerting on them invisibly.

3.2 Patriarchal society’s oppression to nature

A famous eco-feminist Davis holds that the patriarchal society not only does great harm to women, but also mercilessly exploits and subordinates the natural world at his disposal, as he states, "Man is the enemy of nature: to kill, to root up, to level off, to pollute, to destroy are his instinctive reactions” (Davis 335). In this sense, man and the patriarchal society should be responsible for the deterioration of the natural world.

In the patriarchal world, men not only oppress women but also exploit and subordinate the natural world at their disposal. In such a society, men represent civilization while women and nature are inferior to men. Patriarchal system endows men with privileges and constantly encourage them to expand and occupy with honor and decoration. In order to satisfy their ambition and prove themselves, they take advantages of war to gain benefits and fulfill their ambitions. Though the war is over and life seems to have restored to calmness, the war brought about by them has a disastrous effect on human beings" physical and mental health. Both human beings and nature suffer a lot from the brutality of the war. War takes away countless lives. “except for someone like Mrs Foxcroft at thr Embassy last night eating her heart out because that mice boy was killed and now the old Manor House must go to a cusion; or Lady Bexborough who opened a bazaar, they said, with the telegram in her hand, John, her favourite, killed”. (Virginia 4) The deep mental scars and psychological effects that result from such large disaster can be just as devastating as the physical destruction. Those young soldiers" death makes their parents overwhelmed with sorrow, as well as the results in many women losing their economic dependence. After suffering from the pain of losing their sons, women have to face the fact that they are hard to survive.

Nature cannot avoid the ravages of war as well, which is evident from the description in the novel where natural beauty is devastated. “as a train comes out of a tunnel, the aero plane rushed out of the clouds again, the sound boring into the ears of all people, and the bar of smoke curved behind; a ceiling cloth of blue and pink smoke high above, and there was a rampart of far irregular houses, hazed in smoke, the traffic hummed in a circle” (Virginia 19) To be honest, the industrial revolution does aggressively bring great benefits to human beings and stimulate the development of the whole society. However, at the same time, it also aggressively damages the peace and harmony of the original living environment in the forms of noise and smoke. Nature is in a state of devastation, with wasteland everywhere. So in the patriarchal world, the consequences of disasters brought by men do great harm both to women and nature, which produces negative impact to the development of the whole society.

4. Resistance and Revolt from Women

4.1 Burton and Clarissa"s awakening of self-consciousness

Feminism rejects all forms of male dominance and affirms the value of women’s lives and experience. It recognizes that no pattern of domination is necessary and seeks to liberate women and men from the structures of dominance that characterize patriarchy, as Lady Burton denounces in the novel,

“Always went back to those fields down in Devonshire, where she had jumped the books on party, her pony, with Mortimer and Tom, her brothers. And there were the doges; there were the rats; there were her father and mother on the lawn under the trees, with the tea-things out, and the beds of dahlias, the hollyhocks, the pampas grass; and they, little wretches, always up to some mischief!” (Virginia 82)

It was the true life. Man and nature should maintain a natural close contact. In the real world, in order to achieve such equality, Lady Burton breaks through the limitations of family and is positively in touch with the community. She does what she wants to do and challenges the strong patriarchal society.

As to the woman"s true living conditions, an Indian scholar gives a description of the daily lives of village women in her countries,

While they work on an average many more hours than their men, they eat much less. When there is little food, it is the woman who has to go without…She works in the fields, looks after the children, comes home and prepares the family meal and then has to be available for her man whenever she is required…rural women endure childbirth after childbirth which drains them of physical energy and destroys their health. They have little or no access to health care and such facilities as there are pitifully in adequate. In any militant struggle that they, or their men, have been involved in, they are the ones who are most vulnerable to police and state repression. They suffer violence and abuse within their own homes. Yet little is known of their condition. (Butalia 132-33)

The above quotation indicates that there is little hope for rural women’s development in the so-called Third World. Women must change the traditional concept of their virtue and dare to say “no” to the patriarchal society. Women should unite to call on people to change the traditional view of the world; accomplish the total change from values to action; and awaken people"s awareness of gender equality.

The society which the heroine Clarissa lives in is dominated by patriarchy. It is an era when women are naturally defined as vase or men’s accessories. However, their yield of secular in marriage does not mean she would always compromise. Most women are at home to do their own job—a mother and a wife, but Clarissa is busy preparing for the exclusive high society party. Her purpose is to offer an opportunity for people to communicate with each other. She is not killing the boring time but seeking for opportunity to socialize with her friends and other people. As for Clarissa, banquet is a platform that not only gives her happiness but also forms her own relationship. The most important is that all the results could finally help her get rid of psychological dependence on her husband. In this sense, Clarissa’s feminism consciousness has awakened. She gradually realizes that she should have her own life and enjoy herself instead of totally succumbing to her husband.

4.2 Clarissa"s revolt against the man"s oppression

As a mother，Clarissa sees through the essence of patriarchal society. She clearly realizes that her daughter"s dream would be engulfed by this society. She must reinvent herself and back to the real "ego" state. At the party, when Clarissa hears the news about Septimus’s suicide, she is shocked. But at the same time, she is also proud of him. Septimus has done the thing according to his own will. To some extent, his death makes Clarissa realize self-destruction is also a kind of rebirth. She is determined to get her back, owning her true self and making life meaningful. Her substantive changes in heart reflects in the appellation used by the author. At the beginning of the novel, the writer addresses her Mrs Dalloway, and it means that she is just the wife of Mr Dalloway. So Clarissa has not got her own name. It means that she is inferior to men and she has no social status, just the property of a man. At the end of the novel, the writer gives Clarissa the name, as she narrates, “what is it that fills me with extraordinary excitement? It is Clarissa, he said” (Virginia 141). At this moment, Clarissa is determined to return to her own world bravely, walking toward her friends and owning complete independent self. In this sense, Clarissa is bravely taking actions and revolt against patriarchy. Besides, such a sense of revolting against patriarchy is also reflected on Clarissa’s remembrance for her young lover. When she meets Peter on the road again, her heart still ripples out. When she requests Peter to take her away and repeatedly invites Peter to attend the banquet, she totally despises the so-called patriarchy and the traditional patriarchal feudal ethics. This behavior of rebelling against orthodoxy shows Clarissa’s determination to break away from the secular society.

5. Harmony Between Women and Nature

From the eco-feminists" perspective, modern human beings ignore the role of nature and even destroy the natural world to please themselves. This is a complete departure from the traditional humanistic care. Meanwhile it is also a big mistake to put human"s interests above healthy and harmonious development of the entire ecosystem. By doing so, human beings consciously and unconsciously accelerate the deteriorations of the natural world and human society. Confronted with such an awkward situation, eco-feminists advocate people build up the bond between human and nature, and they should interconnect and care about each other. Eco-feminists think that women should be more responsible to remove men"s domination over women and nature. They are also capable of healing the alienation between men, women and nature. Finally, human beings will be harmonious with the natural world and create an ideal place to live in.

5.1 The amazing power of nature

From the ecofeminists" point of view, women and nature should be treated one and they should have the same equality with man. However, in reality “the establishment of Western industrial civilization which is against nature deepened the oppression of women, but women were able to obtain endless courage and strength from the nature to struggle against patriarchal oppression.”(Wen 93) So to some degree, nature has the magic power to help women struggle against the oppression from men. In this case, women and nature have to unite to free themselves from the domination of the patriarchal society. Once people get close to nature, communicate with nature and be in harmony with nature with awe and thanksgiving, they can find their spiritual home and find the road for the recurrence of humanity.

When Clarissa lives in Bourton, life is firmly in control of her father. Patriarchal family is tedious, depressing, boring and dull. However, she is living in the arms of the nature, falling in love with sweetheart; enjoy playing in the wild with friends; dreaming of the future and pursuing ideals. Nature brings her endless strength and power which makes her full of confidence. When she opens the French windows and plungs into the open air in the morning, it is fresh and calm, and the air is just like the flap and the kiss of a wave. She looks at the flowers, at the trees with the smoke winding off them and the rooks rising, falling. Then, her sweetheart Peter appears. In this sense, woman and nature are blended with each other wonderfully, and the beauty of nature dilutes Clarissa’s unpleasure in life and gives her infinite energy. At this moment, she is free and happy. She has the right to speak, to think and has the capacity to act.

Besides, by portraying Clarissa’s intimacy with natrue, Woolf intends to call on human beings to keep harmony with nature, as she narrates in the novel, when Clarissa is “turning her head from side to side among the irises and roses and nodding tufts of lilac with her eyes half closed, snuffing in, after the street uproar, the delicious scent, the exquisite coolness” (Virginia 10) This demonstrates that the beauty of nature can give women physical and mental comfort and strength. When embracing nature, they are filled with the pleasure and power, which man can never receive from nature.

Furthermore, by the use of the word “waves” in the novel, Woolf again conveys the magic strength and power given by nature. The waves are warm, broad and free. They represent a source of power which inspires Clarissa to break away from ambivalent mood and her development is partly relevant to the waves. For instance, in the early morning, she feels the fresh air is like the flap of a wave, like the kiss of a wave. The image of “waves” in the novel symbolizes an invisible hand that beckons to Clarissa. Clarissa owns all that the women want to possess. She has a prominent status, a loving husband and a lovely girl. However, she has a great longing for have a new life again. She wants to be a woman like Lady Boxborough who is dignified and sincere instead of being herself. With waves collect and fall,

“The whole world seems to be saying ‘that is all’ more and more ponderously, until even the heart in the body which lies in the sun on the beach says too. That is all. Fear no more, says the heart. Fear no more, says the heart, committing its burden to some sea, which sigh collectively for all sorrows, and renews, begins, collects, lets fall. And the body alone listens to the passing bee; the wave breaking; the dog barking, far away barking and barking.”(Virginia 29)

The above quotation reveals the effect of the amazing power of nature to Clarissa. Strolling along the beach, she becomes calm and gains the inner peace. Accompanied by the beautiful scene, she does not feel fear again. What"s more, she gains some incredible courage and unflinching struggle to be reborn.

Eco-feminists also hold the perspective of deep greens that, “humanity is not just reliant on its physical environment, but that the natural world, including humanity, should be seen as an interconnected and interdependent whole” (Mellor 1). To some extent, it helps eco-feminists reduce their awkward predicament and supplies human beings the ways to rethink the relations with the natural world and with their own species.

In the novel, Virginia Woolf presents the idea that human beings should live in harmony with nature. She believes that the human being should regard themselves as a part of nature. She calls on people to conform to the laws of nature and keep a harmonious relationship with it. In the novel, Woolf creates the character Septimus to exhibit the power of nature. “Leaves were alive; trees were alive. And the leaves being connected by millions of fibers with his own body, there on the seat, fanned it up and down; when the branch stretched he, too, made that statement.”(Virginia 17) Through the illusion of Septimus" mentally illness, Woolf highlights the amazing power of nature. Only in such a natural sentiment, can he feel the spiritually comfort. “The trees waved, brandished. We welcome, the world seemed to say; we accept; we create. Beauty, the world seemed to say. All of this calm and reasonable as it was, made out of ordinary things as it was, was the truth now; beauty, that was the truth now. Beauty was everywhere.”(Virginia 52) Through a unique symbolic depiction, Woolf enlightens people that human beings should be related to nature, and they should be symbiotic co-prosperity instead of being the two opposite sides. Nature plays the role of a powerful support—it provides humans with plenty of resources such as air, sunshine, water, food and dwelling which are necessary for all the creatures to survive. What’s more, nature also offers people the natural shelter to break away from dangers or get rid of these pessimistic moods. So human beings cannot ignore the important value of the natural environment and they should be gratefully in awe of the nature. It is only getting close to nature and achieves a direct appreciation of natural beauty and charm, can humans derive strength from it and survive for a better life.

5.2 Women’s harmony with nature

As to the relationship between nature and woman, eco-feminists holds that“woman is the allay of nature, and her instinct is to tend, to nurture, to encourage healthy growth, and to preserve ecological balance. She is the natural leader of society and of civilization, and the usurpation of her primeval authority by man has resulted in uncoordinated chaos” (Davis: 336). Davis"s words demonstrates the harmonious relationships between woman and nature. The two resemble each other in many aspects. In Karen J. Warren’s book Ecofeminism, women are described in animal terms as pets, cows, foxes, cats and etc., as he expresses that “animalizing or naturalizing women in a patriarchal culture where animals are seen as inferior to men thereby reinforces and authorizes women’s inferior status. Similarly, feminizing nature in a patriarchal culture where women are viewed as subordinate and inferior reinforces and authorizes the domination of nature” (Karen J 12). In other words, in the patriarchal world, the status of both women and nature are lower than men"s in almost every aspects of their lives. They are both humiliated and subordinated by men. In no case, can they surpassed the patriarchal world. But in the feminists’ opinion, all beings have equal rights. Therefore women and nature should be treated equally

As far as Woolf is concerned, women are closer to nature than men because for women nature is a shelter where they can draw strength, wisdom, and protection. In Mrs. Dalloway, she links feminist spirit closely with the natural world and regards woman as the incarnations of animals and plants, which reflects that deep within the writer, she is always expressing her unconscious desire of being equal with the natural world. In the novel, it is more than thirty times that the writer compares Clarissa to plants or animals, which is described in the novel vividly. For instance, at the beginning of the novel, Clarissa is compared to “a touch of the bird about her, of the jay, blue-green, light, vivacious, though she was over fifty, and grown very white since her illness” (Virginia 3). At the end of the novel, when Clarissa hears Septimus’s death, she adjusts mood in scare, “she could crouch like a bird and gradually revive, send roaring up that immeasurable delight, rubbing stick to stick, one thing with another” (Virginia 134). Through the comparison between Clarissa and the animals and plants, Woolf intends to convey the intimacy between them. Women and the natural world have a lot in common, so it is easy for them to communicate with each other. As for Clarissa’s daughter Elizabeth, “people were beginning to compare her to poplar trees, early dawn, hyacinths, fawns, running water, and garden lilies”(Virginia 98). In addition, in Septimus’s eyes, his wife Lucrezia is often seen as nature, “he could feel her mind, like a bird, falling from branch to branch, and always alighting, quite rightly; he could follow her mind, as she sat there in one of those loose lax poses that came to her naturally, and, if he should say anything, at once she smiled, like a bird alighting which all its claws firm upon the bough” (Virginia 107). Thus it can be seen that women are biologically close to nature in that their reproductive characteristics keep them in touch with natural rhythms, both seasonal and cyclical, life and death-giving. “She was like a bird sheltering under the thin hollow of a leaf, who blinks at the sun when the leaf moves; starts at the crack of a dry twig” (Virginia 49). Women potentially have greater access than men do to have sympathy with nature and benefit themselves and the environment by identifying with nature.

In addition, there are several descriptions that compare the scene to women. It reflects the integration of the natural world and the spirit of feminism. For example, through Peter’s illusions and imagination, the writer makes a feminine description to the environment and scenery:

“advancing down the path with his eyes upon sky and branches he rapidly endows them with womanhood; sees with amazement how grave they become; how majestically, as the breeze stirs them, they dispense with a dark flutter of the leaves charity, comprehension, absolution, and then, flying themselves suddenly aloft, confound the piety of their aspect with a wild carouse” (Virginia 42)

This shows that women are more close to nature, especially facing the same fate when oppressed in the patriarchy. “One might fancy that day, the London day, was just beginning. Like a woman who has slipped off her print dress and white apron to array herself in blue and pearls, the day changed, put off stuff, took gauze, changed to evening, and with the same sigh of exhilaration that a woman breathes, tumbling petticoats on the floor” (Virginia 117). The above descriptions show the communion between women and nature. Women have similar situation with nature, both of them are delicate. So, women are more likely to identify with and appreciate nature. The exploitation of nature and animals is justified by feminizing them and the exploitation of women is justified by naturalizing them.

6. Conclusion

In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf expresses her deep concerns for the human beings" living conditions and reveals her eco-feminism consciousness. She first presents man"s oppression of woman and nature in the patriarchal society. By portraying their miserable conditions, she voices her criticism of the exploitation and cruelty imposed by the patriarchal society, which hinders human beings" development. However, under man"s oppression and exploitation, woman and nature also speak and bravely struggle against the authority of patriarchy. Their consciousness of revolting is awakened and they are also determined to decide their own fate. Furthermore, Woolf puts forward her insightful vision for human beings to get out of their dilemma. Only if human beings keep away from the established nature of exploiting and oppressing others, can they build a harmonious society with the coexistence among man, woman and nature. At the same time, human beings should live harmoniously with the other form of life, so that they can find the inner peace and liberate themselves from the patriarchal society.

The novel also bears its valuable social and realistic significance. The world is currently faced with various conflicts and social crisis which have bitterly endangered the existence and development of human beings. Woolf expresses her deep concerns about the relationships between human beings and nature in order to evoke their ecological consciousness and thus urges them to keep harmony between human and nature, human and human. So in this sense, this thesis provides another angle to approach Woolf"s Mrs. Dalloway and deepens our understanding of the relationships between natural world and human beings.

Works Cited

Butalia, Urvashi. “Indian Women and the New Movement.” Women’s Studies International Forum 8, no. 2(1985): 131-33.

Elizabeth Gould Davis. The First Sex. New York: Penguin Books，1971.

Karen J., Warren. Ecofeminism. Bloomington, IN.: Indian a University Press, 1996.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：38469字