DOI: https://doi.org/10.59321/BAUETJ.V4I2.25
AUTHOR(S)
Tanveer Adnan1*, Tonuja Yasmin2
ABSTRACT
Ecofeminism, as a theoretical framework, not only redefines the analogous relation between women and nature but also offers a new critical paradigm to study patriarchal protocols of subjugating women and nature homogenously. Achebe highlights the parallels between women and nature in terms of fertility and reproduction in Things Fall Apart through the characters of Ani, the earth goddess, and Ezeani, the goddess’ priest. Similarly, Ammu suffers from environmental degradation and patriarchal tyranny in Roy’s The God of Small Things. This paper shows how these two fictional narratives demonstrate that the ecological imbalance and the damaged surrounding equally influence the lives of women and create a sense of waste and inadequacy in their psyche. It also takes a different stance as it critiques ecofeminism’s narrow focus on the interconnectedness between a specific gender and nature, while reassessing how this theory fails to account for other important social issues. When we are equating women with nature, we are unconsciously accepting their inferior positions, placing them in a rigid boundary, defining and minimizing their roles, judging them without a comprehensive social context, generalizing their attributes, hence, nullifying their individuality. Considering these broader concerns, this paper revisits the oversimplification of intricate gender relations and formation of linear narratives of women.