The Role of Nature in Toni Morrison's Beloved: An Ecofeminist Perspective

Abstract

Toni Morrison, through her novel “Beloved”, has brought into focus the exploitation of women and the environment. For this very reason, the aim of the study is to examine the complexity of embedding natural aspects within this text in the light of ecofeminist theoretical framework to unravel the role of nature in this novel. The study, therefore, aims to explore how Morrison in her novel "Beloved" has handled nature and employed it in a way to expose questions of gender and race. Thus, the descriptive qualitative method was employed in this study using the techniques of textual analysis. The conducted research was analyzed in terms of ecofeminist literary criticism by using thematic analysis.  This study traces the role of nature and its association with women in the novel. Morrison shows how the natural aspects when linked with women is a harbinger of true self-reliance and safety for women.Sethe, the main character, along with other characters enrich their lives with ecofeminist awareness, overcome tribulations, become almost self-reliant and triumphant by the end of the novel. Morrison through the novel asks women to develop and put forth their ecofeminist awareness in action, by promoting Eco-friendly ways of life.