Struggle of Survival and Identity Whims: An Ecofeminist Perspective in Lauren Groff's the Vaster Wild

Abstract

The current study explores the perspective of ecofeminism’s main assertion, which shapes that the patriarchal ideology authorizes the oppression of women and many other marginalized groups.  Development of society from material and intellectual point of view which is based on beliefs and patterns practiced in society in every civilization and culture. The study exhibits the interaction of ecofeminism, survival strategies and identity crisis, spark out the ways in which women and marginalized communities navigate environmental degradation and social injustice. Through an ecofeminist perspective, this research scrutinizes the relationships between human non-human worlds revealing the ways in which patriarchal foundations and dominant Western worldviews conserve exploitation and oppression. This study sheds light on the resilience and resistance strategies employed to survive and thrive in the face of environmental crisis. Centre of the study is the voices and experiences of the women. Ultimately, the research contributes to the complex web of ecology and feminism and identity which offers a possibility of transformation and sustainability. Women and environment both contribute in the welfare of human beings, so both are inseparable for every culture and civilization. In human /gender relations ecology is playing indispensable role, especially in women’s lives and the interaction between nature and women. And colonial patriarchal sovereignty which enforces for ecofeminism analysis. The Vaster Wild by Lauren Groff encounters a consequential problem regarding to the female character’s responses to and association with the natural world. The researcher exhibits the crucial point of the protagonist of the novel where she adopts a tremendous realization of the importance of nature.  Through ecofeminist beliefs and attitudes, they struggle for liberating themselves from the gender roles that are placed upon them. Due to that the study’s aims to examine it is not easy to incorporate natural aspects into these writings using an ecofeminist perspective. In this way it identifies the strong driving forces behind the adaptation of ecofeminist ideals by the writer and their female personae. The descriptive qualitative approach is used by the researcher for textual analysis. The current study’s findings demonstrates that female characters use ecofeminist perspective and strategies of physical survival and spirituality, in majority is of marginalized due to their gender, color and class. Groff’s ecofeminism stance reflects intellectual and spirituality. She is in favor of women who struggle for emancipation from the hindered of discrimination and bondage.  The researcher argues logics behind the domination ,system of oppression and its justification then, the interaction between nature and women and non-violent solution of the world problems is discussed by focusing on the Warren’s suggested ethics and spirituality.

Key Words: Struggle, Survival, Identity whims, Ecofeminism, logic of dominance, oppression, ethics, Spiritualism, interaction between women nature.