《路》的女性生态主义解读

摘 要：《路》是科马克・麦卡锡的经典力作，被称为后启示录小说。论文从生态女性主义的观点出发，结合小说中体现的对自然毁灭性的破坏和女性悲歌式的命运，探讨它们的共性以及所处的困境，并根据自然与女性、女性与男性、自然和男性之间的关系，重点分析父权制社会对自然的摧残和女性的征服，以及父权社会下女性地位的缺失、附属男性不平衡非生态的关系，从而揭示麦卡锡对现代工业文明造成的恶劣环境的批判以及在男性主宰自然、女性的过程中，女性与自然的悲剧及其最终根源。生态女性主义解读旨在呼吁更多人关注现实中生态破坏、环境污染、女性受到歧视压迫等问题，为自然、女性、男性三者间达到平衡和谐的关系而努力。

关键词：生态女性主义；《路》；父权制；生态平衡

Abstract：Crowned as a post apocalyptic novel，The Road is a classic work written by Cormac McCarthy.From the perspective of eco-feminism，the essay analyzes the destructive damage towards nature and womens tragic life and discusses their similarities and predicament.Through the demonstration of the relationships between nature-women，women-men，nature-men，the study emphasizes on the illustration of the destruction of nature and the conquest of women，as well as the absent existence of women and the imbalanced and non-ecological affiliation with men in a patriarchal society，thus revealing McCarthys criticism to the severe impact on the natural environment brought by modern industrial civilization and the ultimate root of the tragic existence of women and nature in mens dominance.The eco-feminism interpretation is aimed at appealing for more attention on the issues such as ecological damage，environmental pollution，discrimination and oppression against women etc，for more balanced relationships between nature，women and men.

Keywords：eco-feminism； The Road； patriarchy； Eco-balance

1.Introduction to The Author and The Road

Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright，well known for his wide genres spanning from Southern Gothic，Western，to modernism.His unique writing style，rich content and deep meanings contained in his works have attracted great attention in literary field.Born on the Rhoad Island and with an Irish nationality，he and his family moved to Tennessee，the United States of America，it was there he started his novel creating career and family business.Ranking third in Six，he has three sisters and two brothers，it was with them that he spent his childhood.He later entered a Catholic School while his father went to become a lawyer，whose experiences in a major way affected McCarthys career life.

His latest fiction The Road，which is characterized as a typical post-apocalyptic tale，has received many awards，including the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

The novel is about the journey of a father and his son after a major cataclysm that has destroyed the civilization as well as most of the life on earth.To survive the oncoming harsh winter，the father takes the boy towards the sea in the south，across a vast and barren landscape with only cannibals remained.During their trek，they have suffered from starvation and illness，they have met with constant threats of attack and exposure，they have been seeking for hope and struggling in a seemingly meaningless world，the most significant task is that they have to choose between survival，which is fear based，and humanity――love.

In The Road，the world was devastated with the earth covered in ash，sun obscured，plants and trees dead.The main characters，the father and the boy，was moving forward against all the hardships to their objective ―― the South.Theres a clear absence of female characters in the novel.While the rare appearance of the nameless wife-and-mother in the book is presented as a weak and faithless，which forms a clear-cut contrast with the father and the son.The common ground shared by women and nature indicates the predicament that they are both faced with.

2.Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism，first coined by Franoise dEaubonne in 1974，is a social and political movement developing from the union of environmentalism and feminism，which emphasizes the internal relation between women and nature.It points to the oppression and subordination of women and nature，the intersection between sexism，racism，and other characteristics of social inequality.

One pioneer of eco-feminism is a woman named Carolyn.Merchant，she was one of the first that combined the idea of natural discrimination and sexual discrimination together and put them under the context of social policy，economic power and historical background and examined them respectively.Merchant，in her The Death of Nature：Women Ecology，and Scientific Revolution，described a changing，evolutional process，which says：Nature is as a single organism，this is an idea possessed by the ancients，expressing a invariable core that equals nature，particularly the earth，and the role of a mother，nature as the mother.

3.Shared traits and Predicament of Nature and Women

Nature has been exhaustedly exploited and interfered with by human beings，which causes serious environmental problems，such as deforestation，degradation of grassland，soil erosion，expansion of dessert，water shortage and so on.Similarly，women have not shaken off the domination of patriarchy or sexual discrimination though feminist movements help women to obtain relatively more social，economic and political rights.The inequality of opportunities for women in education and employment still exist and domestic violence，sexual harassment and sexual assault haveno fully disappeared.Both nature and women get stuck.Ecological crisis is essentially the destruction of feminine principles，the marginalization，disparage，replacement and denial of females.

Nature is often regarded as the origin of human beings.In literature，the earth，the river，the ocean are always compared to mother，the flowers are used to describe the smile of girls，the waterfall is seen as the beautiful long hair of women，cherries are regarded as the glamorous lips etc.Meanwhile，nature also possesses the opposite characteristics of women，including the wildness，untamed instincts，vulnerability，the changeable traits，and the immense potential power，which can be observed in the description of storm，thundering，gale etc reflected in literary works.Nature endows the world with life，just like a gentle mother，while it is also a dark grave embracing the death of everything.The circle of life in nature and its mysterious swallowing power relates itself to women.Generally speaking，compared with men，women are more emotional，passive，pessimistic，fragile and mysterious.The natural things in The Road reflect the feminine qualities，such as quietness，stillness，fear，uncertainty，insecurity，and darkness.

3.1Womens Tragedy――The Conquest of Women

Both nature and women are suffering from the suppression of patriarchy.Ecofeminists think that in the development of global economy，nature and women have been reduced from ment reverence and awe to their conquest.When the productivity was relatively low，in awe of nature，prevalent worship towards fertility and women appeared.However，with the improving productive force，men gradually take up the productive labor，and the reverence and awe for nature decreases and the ambition to conquest increases correspondingly.The contempt for women is the root of the opposition between civilization and nature.In the western world，Bible tells men were created first，followed by women，who were made from the rib of men.In Christian traditions，men are closer to God，symbolizing sense and spirit，while women are closer to nature，symbolizing lust，material world and degeneration.Therefore，the conquest of women becomes unavoidable，literally and practically.

In The Road，some natural descriptions reveal the unconscious degeneration of the female character.“In dreams his pale bride came to him out of a green and leafy canopy.Her nipples pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white.She wore a dress of gauze and her dark hair was carried up in combs of ivory，combs of shell.Her smile，her downturned eyes.”（McCarthy，2007：18）Here the bride presented in the dream is the fathers dead wife.She was depicted as “pale”，thus giving readers the first impression that she is a powerless and timid woman.Under the subjugation of men，“pale” is the symbolizing word showing womens inferiority to men.Also，details about the bride，such as “green and leafy canopy”，“gauze”，“ivory”，“shell”，can be associated with the beauty in nature.However，the man pictured the beauty bleak and lifeless，as a walking dead instead of a vigorous woman.In his memory，her sweet wife should be the one who submitted herself and followed her husbands advice as a docile wife.When she was sick，he regarded it as his own responsibility to take care of her，though there is a sense of husbandly responsibility here，yet this is the kind of responsibility that is built upon mens sense of superiority，the following is the same； when his wife made her own choice and left him，the man never forgave himself，as he thought he could stop her，her choice should surrender to his head-strong belief.When the man and the boy wallowed into the ground and lay watching across his forearm，they saw a tramping army.

“Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women，perhaps a dozen in number，some of them pregnant，and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites ill clothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked to each to each.”（McCarthy，2007：72）

The women are chained as slaves，they were forced to keep silent and serve men at the cost of their bodies and souls.They are speechless and unable to fight against those bad pared with men，women are often regarded as second-class citizens and put under surveillance，bounded by the male-dominated economy and culture.

Female is to male what nature is to culture.Therefore，it is seemingly impossible to balance nature and culture，fairly and harmoniously，or even make nature the dominated role，exceeding that of culture.As the victims of a patriarchal society，women are under great pressure，struggling to make a balance of their different roles，in the end，as the novel indicates，they cling to the very little hope，but probably are still unable to escape from the conquest of men.Apart from submission to patriarchy，the predicament of women is also mainly reflected in their tragic life.

3.2Natures Tragedy――The Destruction of Nature

The Road shows total destruction of nature.Wreckages，waste gas，fire，polluted air are everywhere.The earth is fully covered with ash，the sun became obscured.The rivers run black.The sea is grey.Plants and trees are dead.Green is a color appearing only in the dreams.Red occupies the world in the forms of fire and blood.The world presents itself with an image of barrenness and bleakness.

In his book review of The Road，an environmentalist named George Monbiot calls the book “the most important environmental book ever written”（Luttrull，2010：58）.Focus on the grim and postapocalyptic setting，argument of characters bleak outlook in a barren and lifeless world without a biosphere continuously remind readers of their own present and future reliance on natural resources.From Monbiots perspective，McCarthy hopes the disturbing prospects of life in a world inhabited solely by humans will move his readers out of environmental apathy and into an appreciation for how their fates are intertwined with the fate of the biosphere.In other words，the only new life that the world can produce for momentary sustenance has been destroyed and thereby leads to a future of slow decay.As it is stated in the novel：

“The land was gullied and eroded and barren.The bones of dead creatures sprawled in the washes.Middens of anonymous trash.Farmhouses in the fields scoured of their paint and the clapboards spooned and sprung from the wallstuds.All of it shadowless and without feature.The road descended through a jungle of dead kudzu.A marsh where the dead reeds lay over the water.Beyond the edge of the fields the sullen haze hung over earth and sky alike.“（（McCarthy，2007：177）

Modern science and technology and the development of industrialization result in the dissimilation and materialization of men.All kinds of crises generated by the worsening environment makes the sustainable development of human civilization extremely hard.Once the ecological system breaks down，human beings environment will be destroyed fore sure.

“By then all stores of food had given out and murder was everywhere upon the land.The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters…The soft black talcblew through the streets like squid ink uncoiling along a sea floor and the cold crept down and the dark came early and the scavengers passing down the steep canyons with their torches trod silky holes in the drifted ash that closed behind them silently as eyes.Out on the roads the pilgrims sank down and fell over and died and the bleak and shrouded earth went trundling past the sun and returned again as trackless and as unremarked as the path of any nameless sisterworld in the ancient dark beyond.”（McCarthy，2007：181）

The Road illustrates the impossibility not only of human survival but of human virtue in the face of complete ecological disaster.Nature is not a tool for human beings to use for survival but what we rely on.It gives and takes back.The novel provides us with multiple ways of looking at the loss of nature.The father and the son are both mourning the lost mother，but their loss is more than that.They have also lost their past，their future，their traces，and live in a world that has lost its ability to reproduce life.To some degree，they are mourning Nature itself.Basically，The Road is the lamenting of nature about the damage done to it.

4.Conclusion

The Road is a an elegy of women as well as the lamentation of nature.Through the detailed and vivid descriptions of the severe devastated nature，Cormac McCarthy presents an ecologically imbalanced world which can be predicted on the basis of the current environmental problems.Apart from environmental issues，the other problem that draws great attention is the unequal relationship of women and men.Together，the predicament and situations of these two problems have been sharing many similarities in common.

Ecofeminists criticize the modern western scientific concept of development，and hold a negative view towards industrialization and market economy，appeal for a more balanced environment，eliminate the selfishness featured in a male-centric world，where nature is devastated and taken as mens private space.The increasingly serious ecological crisis reflected in the novel warns us that we should review the development mode of the modern society and the mutual dependent relationship between human beings and nature objectively，relocate the position and function of women and nature.Nature moves according to its own law.Human beings should respect life as all life has the right of survival and prosperity instead of forcing nature to submit to Patriarchal society.

The Road is aimed at arousing peoples understanding and respect for nature，and appeal to the importance of ecological protection and the awareness of sexual equality.Men should overcome the self-centered consciousness，treat women equally，realize and affirm the value of females objectively，respect nature and the fact that men and women should rely on each other and reach the balance.Only by this can we achieve our goal of harmonious coexistence of men，women and nature.Moreover，the close relationship between nature and women puts the most urgent task in this society and the major responsibility on womens shoulder，i.e.to repair the alienated and damaged relationship between nature and human beings.（作者单位：浙江财经学院）

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