Otherness, Maternity, and Female Voice in Shell Shaker
Zahra Ghofrani
1
(
Department of Language and English Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran
)
Hassan Shahabi
2
(
English Department, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran
)
Hossein Moradi
3
(
Department of Language and English Literature, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran
)
Keywords: Cultural Ecology, Ecofeminism, Nature, Women, Native American,
Abstract :
This paper adopted the Eco-feminism approach to explore Shell Shaker, solely filled with Native American settings and issues. So, both nature and the woman of the Native American context were the focus of the study. The researcher showed how the Native American women can be representative of the nature of their ancestral lands and identify with it. The main argument that the researcher intended to study was parallel roles of both women and natural land for Native American. To this purpose, theories and notions of several thinkers were exploited. The researcher found different scenes in the novel that show both aspects of nature which include the mentioned concepts. On ‘maternity’, the researcher depicted how nature is considered a source of giving life and existence to the world like women. On 'otherness', the researcher found how nature is marginalized and ignored just like women. In other words, it is shown nature, like women, is ‘other' and secondary in the society. It was shown how nature and culture are related. Besides, it was proved that there is a close relationship between women and nature that one can delve further into.
This paper adopted the Eco-feminism approach to explore Shell Shaker, solely filled with Native American settings and issues. So, both nature and the woman of the Native American context were the focus of the study. The researcher showed how the Native American women can be representative of the nature of their ancestral lands and identify with it. The main argument that the researcher intended to study was parallel roles of both women and natural land for Native American. To this purpose, theories and notions of several thinkers were exploited.
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