2。3 The significance of this thesis

From above, whether foreign or domestic study, most of them mainly focus on the following aspects: Motherhood, Magic Realism, Narrative strategy, Post-Modernism symbols and poetic language of Beloved and few people use ecofeminism theory to analyze the novel。 In Beloved, two basic themes are referred: nature and women, so it is very suitable to use ecofeminism to interpret it。 This thesis uncovers the oppression of black women from men and the whole society and criticizes patriarchy and anthropocentric dualism to show the situation of black women in the United States and domestic readers also can better understand and take measures to eliminate the racial and sexual discrimination。 The thesis also show the relationship between women and nature and the role of nature on women which make people see women’s potential to protect the earth and lead the ecological revolution, triggering people to ponder how to build a harmonious and equal society。 

3。 Ecofeminism

As the ecological crisis has raised great attention from all over the world, ecofeminists have come up with a new idea to work out the problem of the ecological crisis, and points out that the problems of environment and female are not isolated with each other but integrated and interconnected organically 。 

3。1 A brief introduction to ecofeminism来自优O尔P论R文T网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520`18766

     Ecofeminism, a political and social event which originated in the early 1970s。 It is a term on the book Le Féminisme ou la Mort (1974) which was written by the French writer Françoise d' Eaubonne。 She called on women to “take part in the project to save the earth” (Francoise 27)。 It is a school of thought which is combined by ecology and feminism。 The aim of ecofeminism is to establish a world that people respect the intrinsic value of nature and believe that there is no gender difference between human and other species。 According to Ariel Salleh, ecofeminism is “a recent development in feminism thought which argues that the current global environmental crisis is an outcome of culture。”（Salleh 139）There also exists a close link between the ruling of women and the destruction of nature and without the existence of the harmony nature, women cannot walk from the dilemma。 So the connection between humans, non-human others and the earth are very important。

During the 1980s, some culture feminists such as Carol Gilligan and Jean Baker Miller。 They realized the fact that both women and nature were subjected to the domination and oppression of men。 Just like Aristotle said: “women are mere tools” and “ they are property at the free proposal of men。” They strongly criticize the patriarchy and anthropocentric dualism that brings a lot of pains and tortures to women and leads to the destruction of the natural environment。 At the same time, they are eager to liberate women and nature to pursue the human equality and build a harmonious society。 So ecofeminism is not only a theoretical innovation, but a political and social movement。

3。2 Ecofeminism, anthropocentric dualism and patriarchy

In the Bible, God creates everything。 Mankind is his great masterpiece, so other inventions are all served for human, which is called the original Anthropocentric dualism。 It pided creatures into many levels and human live in the central location, all other life or non-life are existing around the human。 Since the Renaissance, the human use their knowledge of natural science to dominate and plunder the nature。 But the advances of the science and technology make them constantly expand their ambitions and conquer the women and nature。 This centralism and pision of life has made our society in a racial and sexual segregation situation。 Actually, the life on earth consists of a complete and organic unity, which are dependent on each other and there is no difference between high and low。 Ecofeminists think that the reasonableness that men should govern women and nature is not existent。 They argue that we should live in a society that male and female, mankind and nature can live together equally and comfortably。论文网