A Relationship between Women and Nature: An Eco-feminist Reading of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom

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