Exploitation of Women and Nature in Surfacing

Abstract

Taking the similarities between women and the mother earth into consideration, ecofeminists suggest that women are more sensitive towards nature and environmental issues. As a parallel to this, Margaret Atwood in Surfacing illustrates how women and nature are victimised by the patriarchy and adopts a questioning stance towards the patriarchal hegemony in the universe. This paper aims to analyse how women and nature are exploited by the patriarchal system with reference to Margaret Atwood’s novel, namely Surfacing. Moreover, in this paper the question of what should be done in order to find solutions for women and environmental issues will also be raised. Meanwhile, how literary works can be used to generate awareness for emerging environmental problems will be discussed through the study of Atwood’s novel, Surfacing. It will be suggested that positive sciences will not be enough to raise environmental consciousness among the people and thus, the usage of social sciences such as literature or ecocriticism is absolutely necessary to create environmentally-friendly generations for the future.