Quest for the Self in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing: An Eco feminist Approach

Abstract

The particular paper focuses on the analysis of patriarchal domination and capitalist’s exploitation of women and nature. Through the ecofeminism point of view, I have made a depth study of Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing (1972), and found out that power, patriarchy and domination have oppressed both women and nature. The unnamed narrator, who is protagonist of the novel, symbolizes the natural and environmental destruction by the capitalists. Anna, David’s wife in the novel, represents women’s exploitation in the patriarchal society. The impact of ecofeminism is clearly discern in the novel when the unnamed narrator returns to natural world of the Quebec Island where she was grown up and associate her with nature. She burns all the stuffs that she had and reminded her of past, and decides to lead a life like the creatures of natural world. She rejects the artificial life and quest of her real self in the natural world.