A Relationship between Women and Nature: An Eco-feminist Reading of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom
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Department of English
Abstract
This research paper primarily explores the interconnection between women and
nature in American society in terms of oppression and subjugation in Jonathan
Franzen’sFreedom. In this fiction, Franzen unfolds the vulnerable position of women
in American society in parallel with the feeble conditionof naturebecauseof the
masculine and capitalist worldview in the early twenty–first century. The female
characters are explicitly or implicitly subjugated in the text in the way natural forces
have been mutilated with men’s uncontrolled desire for material progress and
prosperity. InFreedom, the scenic beauty of nature along the right to live of a
cerulean song bird is encroached by the patriarchal agency in its collaboration with
the capitalist economic enterprise. The inappropriate political gain has influenced the
natural elements. Even the innocent children and youngsters are also impacted by
war fares. This research paper examines the vulnerable condition of women along
nature inthe theoreticalframe of eco-feminism. Moreover, it precisely brings in the
theoretical insights and perspectives of socialist ecofeminism postulated by Francoise
D’Eaubonne that concerns abolishing all forms of domination of all marginalized
groups and oppression of nature. Thus, the research workexplores thepatriarchal–
capitalisthegemony andcontrol over women and nature. Eventually, the research
concludes that the condition of women and nature in American society is almost the
same as we can observe in the text.
Keywords: Eco-feminism, oppression, Environmental degradation, hegemonic
masculinity, pro-feminist environmentalism, American values