Abstract

Toni Morrison is the first American black woman novelist who has obtained Nobel Prize for literature. Her novel Beloved is known as a milestone in the American black literature. This novel depicts the black slave woman called Sethe, who killed her baby girl when chased by her slave owner in order to get her out of the shackles of slavery. This thesis analyzes the novel Beloved from the perspective of ecofeminism and reveals the repression and exploitation that men have done to women through criticizing patriarchy and anthropocentric dualism. This thesis makes analysis of the common features between women and nature and the role nature plays on the three black women’s searching for their self identity, provoking people to think about how to establish a society within which men and women, human and nature can live a harmonious and equal life.

Keywords: Beloved；Ecofeminism; Patriarchy; Anthropocentric Dualism;   Nature

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

2.1 Domestic research on Beloved2

2.2 Foreign research on Beloved.2

2.3 The significance of this thesis3

3. Ecofeminism 3

3.1 A brief introduction to ecofeminism4

3.2 Ecofeminism, anthropocentric dualism and patriarchy 4

3.3 Toni Morrison’s ecofeminist consciousness.5

4.The Relationship between Women and Nature 6

4.1The common features between women and nature 6

4.2The function of nature on the women’s searching for self identity.7

5.Black Women’s Recovery from Trauma and Construction of Self Identity8

5.1 The trauma of black women.8

5.2 The self construction of black women10

6. Conclusion.12

Works Cited.13