Ecofeminism in the First-Person Narrative

    Ecofeminism explores the idea  that the structural mindset of the patriarchal framework gives permission for men to dominate women and nature for their own material gain. In her essay, “The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism,” Karen J. Warren discusses how the first-person narrative wields a compelling ability to change the domineering mindset which mankind holds towards nature. Similarly, the mutual domination and disrespect of women and nature within the patriarchal framework is discussed in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing from the perspective of first-person narration. The first-person narrative in Surfacing is tantamount to it’s ecofeminist intentions. According to Warren, the first-person perspective in literature about nature gives expression to more loving and respectful attitudes towards nature that would otherwise be neglected by mainstream Western ideology. She also explains that since women are often equated with the essence of nature and the realm of the physical and men are likened to the “human” or intellectual realms, the oppression of nature and women are undeniably linked. Given that rationalism entails man’s domination of nature, it follows that men are justified in the domination of women as well. Surfacing explores the dynamic between women and nature through the lens of her oppressed character in such a way that liberates nature and its ethical treatment, thus allowing her to be liberated from the chains of patriarchy.

    Warren explains four good reasons why the first-person narrative voice is imperative to the ecofeminist movement. Firstly, it places the reader “in relationship with” the narrator, which includes the non-human environment. Secondly, when the narrator’s attitude towards nature is more “caring” or “emergent,” it deters the reader from internalizing a more “imposed conqueror-type” relationship with nature. However, Warren highlights the importance of the voice coming from someone “cross-cultural,” meaning they are usually placed on the margins of a society that does not recognize their “range of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors” (27). Her rock-climbing analogy is in accordance with these ecofeminist guidelines because the speaker does not seek to “conquer” or “dominate” the rock, but rather seeks out a more compassionate, loving approach that allows her to be “in relationship with” nature. Her fourth point correlates with this interrelation with nature by highlighting the importance of the shift from an “arrogant perception” of nature to a “loving perception” that fuses nature and humanity together, rather than separating the two. A more “relation-based” mindset is what would fit Warren’s criteria for a healthy relationship between humanity and nature. This concept is impossible within a patriarchal framework that depends on domination to maintain its effectiveness. For the characters in Surfacing, love and arrogance play a huge role in the lives of the women who are oppressed by their willfully arrogant husbands.

    The narrator’s relationship with “loving” relationships in Surfacing proves to be very complicated and cynical. David and Anna’s relationship demonstrates how unethically possessive the relationships between men and women can be, especially in relation to nature. David’s manipulative treatment of Anna reminds the narrator of her own trust issues when it comes to love, and his blatant abuse of her submissive nature triggers painful memories that the narrator has chosen to repress concerning her abortion and gaslighting ex-boyfriend. Anna and David’s relationship also seems to fuel the narrator’s anxieties about love and how the word has been used to exploit her in the past. This perspective on love gradually shifts throughout the novel through the narrator’s gradual connection with the nature that surrounds her, enabling  the shift from “arrogant perception” to “loving perception” that Warren says is so critical to ecofeminist literature.The difference between the procuration and the domination of women and nature is reflected in the relationship of David and Anna. To assert himself as hierarchically superior to the women, he physically and verbally reminds the reader that he sees himself as an owner of Anna rather than being “in relationship with”:

    By insisting on his right to Anna’s body, he references the fact that since she is his wife, and therefore procured by him, she becomes an object which becomes as devalued as objects of nature. His behavior seems almost appropriate to the narrator in the moment where he appears to be about to kiss her because of her numbness to hierarchical oppression. However, it is important to understand Atwood’s criticism of the patricharical framework that made the narrator so uneasy about having a “loving perception” for most of the novel.  Additionally, his physical possession over her body brings the concept of “procuration” of women and nature to a more literal level, reaffirming mankind’s problematic tendency to tangibly rule over and threaten the feminine or ecological.

    The narrator of Surfacing offers her perspective on the land around her in the context of how it is  treated by the people that exist within it. A prime example of the importance of her first-person narration comes from the lake and her time spent on it with her surrounding company. Her internal critique of the “Americans” who occupied the lake more unethically than she preferred offers more insight on the problematic nature of ecological abuse. This critique is conveyed in the passage:

The narrator’s commentary on the uniquely “American” mindset that places procuration of nature rather than the appreciation of it is more effective because it reflects how the narrator has learned to see the flaws within her own society. By saying that the “Americans” spread themselves like a virus until healthy cells can’t tell the difference, she comments on the ignorance of those who seek to dominate nature- that they are blind to their own sickness. The narrator’s distress surrounding the “Americans” killing of the heron for sport parallels Warren’s statement about converging oneself with the nonhuman environment (which has been underplayed) in order to put oneself “in relation with” it.

    Warren’s comments on the importance of first-person narration in this context of ethical treatment of women and nature complements Surfacing perfectly because of the gradual shift in her internal monologue. The narrator goes from being victimized and separate from nature to being emancipated from the memories which haunt her by building a relationship with nature. She goes from being isolated from society to integrating herself with a more relation-based mindset towards both nature and her own repressed memories. By having the narrator of Surfacing go on the journey that she does, Atwood makes a similar comment on the importance of a move towards the deconstruction of a moral hierarchy by placing oneself within nature as “in relation with”. By placing the first person narrator within nature, a relationship is built between the two  that is based upon the blurring of hierarchical lines rather than the drawing of them. Therefore, Surfacing offers an ideal perspective for the dismantling of “value-hierarchical” thinking.