摘 要

《荆棘鸟》是澳大利亚当代作家考琳·麦卡洛的一部长篇家世小说，围绕女主人公梅吉和神父拉尔夫的感情主线，描绘了克利里一家三代女性的人生经历， 时间跨度长达半个多世纪。作者对三代女性不同人生境遇的描写，刻画了父权由强势逐渐走向衰落，而女性意识却一直呈上升趋势的变化过程。本文将通过法国女性主义者弗朗西丝娃·德·奥波妮提出的生态女性主义理论，来对书中的主要女性形象进行对比分析。并且通过作者笔下的人物及其对自然环境的描绘，来探索作者的生态女性主义思想。此外，本文将进一步理解生态女性主义对澳大利亚作家的影响，尤其是对其小说中所塑造的人物的影响。

关键词：考琳·麦卡洛;《荆棘鸟》;生态女性主义;女性;自然;和谐关系

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Demonstration 3
   1. The contrast between Eco-feminism and Radical Feminism 3
      1. Female features reflected in Eco-feminism 4
      2. Female features reflected in Radical Feminism 5
   2. An analysis on radical female image of Mary 5
   3. An analysis on transitional female images of Fiona and Meggie 7
      1. Fiona: traditional, tolerant and submissive 7
      2. Meggie: awakened, persistent but compromised 8
   4. An analysis on ecological female image of Justine 9
      1. Justine’s pursuits of self-reliance 9
      2. Justine’s desire for equal and harmonious relationship with males 10
3. Conclusion 11

Work cited 13

Bibliography 14

An Analysis on Images of Major Females in The Thorn Birds from the Perspective of Eco-feminism

Introduction

The first climax of women's liberation movement came at the end of the 19th century. Its focus was to strive for gender equality as well as the equal political rights. Hence, women's liberation movement is often referred to as the "feminist movement". The second climax of feminism began between the 1960s and 1970s. It is believed that the second feminist movement originated in the United States and continued into the 1980s. This movement focused on the nature of the division of labour between the sexes as well as the elimination of unequal pay for equal work between men and women. It required ignoring the view that gender differences are the basis for women's subordination to men. During the second feminist movement, Radical Feminism and Eco-feminism arose subsequently.

Radical Feminism proposed by Kate Millett developed into a systematic theory of self-identification in the 1960s. Its main theoretical achievement is the patriarchal theory which refers to the mechanism by which fathers act as parents. Millett added a new meaning to Radical Feminism and then it has two meanings: “first, it means that men rule over women; second, it refers to the dominance of the male elders over the younger generation” (Zhang, Kang and Li 26). Since the 1960s, this concept has been defined as a systematic mechanism of male superiority and female inferiority. Radical feminists are vehemently and explicitly opposed to the patriarchal system. They believe that women's main enemies are men, not the system.

This is in sharp contrast to Eco-feminism. Eco-feminism was the product of the combination of feminist movement and ecological movement. It was proposed in 1974 by Francoise d'Eaubonne who called for a new relationship between humankind and nature as well as between men and women. According to Francoise, the oppression of women is directly related to the oppression of nature. She believed that by advocating the ethical values of love, care and justice, the traditional hierarchical

relationship can be replaced by the relationship of interdependence. Eco-feminism is not only one of the important schools of feminist research, but also one of the important schools of ecological philosophy.