An Ecofeminist Interpretation of A White Heron

An Ecofeminist Interpretation of A White Heron

In the short story A White Heron，there exists the phenomenon——no name hunter，and the absence of male characters in Sylvia’s family.Through an eco-feminist perspective，this essay analyzes this phenomenon with the intra-textual and out-textual evidence. Key words Absence；Male;Eco-feminist

In her short story A White Heron，Sarah Orne Jewett does not go with the stream that “man is praised as the conqueror of nature at that time(Jin 284)” but subtly reveal a different attitude toward the relationship between human and nature which entails an interesting phenomenon that men characters are degraded while women characters are elevated.

一、The demonstration of this phenomenon

In this story，the hunter，as the invader of nature，likes to kill birds，stuff and preserve them.He comes from town to this New England wildness to hunt for a white heron.No name is awarded for him all through the story.Name is very important for a person；even the cow is superior to him because she has a name of Mistress Moolly.The most ironical appellation the hunter acquires is “the ornithologist”(qtd.in Ma 64).

Quite different from him is Sylvia，the nine-year-old heroine in the story.She really loves nature.“The name Sylvia means a genus of birds” (“Wikipedia”)，which makes the heroine have some inner relation with the white heron.With her bravery，she climbs the great pine-tree；with her virtue，she gives up telling the hiding place of the white heron；and with her loyalty to the nature，she loses the friendship with the hunter.

二、Analysis of Jewett’s intention of constructing these characters

In this story，the absence of Mr.Tilley and Dan gives Mrs.Tilley，Sylvia’s grandma，the opportunity to sustain the whole family.“This design is …the conscious choice with the feminist awareness of freedom，which implies a fact that only the decadence of patriarchy in the family can provide space for the free development of women”(qtd.in Huang 197).Besides this feminist awareness，Jewett also shows her anxiety for the nature.The title of this story A White Heron can well illustrate this.“The white herons were nearly hunted to extinction in the nineteenth century because their plumage was a popular decoration on women’s hats”(qtd.in Ma 64).With the process of industrialization，many people think that money is everything and blindly exploit the nature with no end.The hunter is a typical image of that era.But this image in this story is degraded.

三、 Ecofeminist interpretation of this phenomenon

In the Female Utopia(a notion from Jin)of this story，all species are equal.This can be manifest in the relationship among the trio：Sylvia，Mistress Moolly，and Mrs Tilley.Mrs Tilley and Sylvia both live in the wildness，which makes them acquire some inner relations with nature.Sylvia plays hide and seek with Mistress Moolly.When they come back home late，Mistress Moolly gives “a loud moo by way of explanation”(qtd.in Ma 61).And Mrs Tilley speaks to her，“Yes，you’d better speak up for yourself”(qtd.in Ma 61)All the three live a peaceful and harmonious life before the sudden appearance of hunter.The hunter，who has no consciousness of compassion for the situation of the white heron and continues to kill birds，is bound to be degraded.Superficially，he loves many birds and has a great knowledge about them，but this kind of love on the basis of stuffing and preserving them is quite ironic.According to ecofeminists，“the real love for nature does not rest in her utility for human beings.”(Jing 28).

The joint aim of ecofeminists is to arouse people to show more concern over women and nature.They have the same enemy，the traditional androcentrism(also called the dominant masculinity by R.W.Cornell)，which not only oppresses women but makes nature out of its normal track.Ecofeminism，which implies a sense of harmony，caters to the need of the most people.The dominant masculinity that encourages one to conquer another badly destroys this harmony and should be modified.A White Heron is written in 1886.At that time，the dominant masculinity does not endanger the nature so much as in Nowadays.But the far-sightedness of environment protection planted in this story has a very realistic significance，that is，be kind to nature and she will “reward you with gifts and graces”(qtd.in Ma 71).However，the dominant masculinity，if combined with the advanced science and technology，will bring about the catastrophic results.Therefore，it is very necessary to protect the nature through the combination of man and woman to eliminate this chief criminal so that the harmonious society could be really constructed.

[ References ]

[1]Jewett，Sarah Orne.“A White Heron.” Selected Readings of English Short Fiction.Ed.Ma Jianjun.Wuhan：Wuhan University Press，2007:56-72.

[2]金莉.文学女性与女性文学[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2004:250-295.

[3]荆子蕴.《野草在歌唱》的生态女性主义解读[J].文教资料，2008(32).

[4]杨珺.“无父文本”中女性的成长.荒宁(编).中国女性主义[M].广西：广西师范大学出版社，2005:197-199.

童 鹏

南昌工学院民族教育学院，江西 南昌 330108

在短篇小说《一只白色的苍鹭》中，出现了一奇怪现象——猎人没有名字，及Silvia家庭男性的不在场，本文通过文本内外结合的方式，使用生态女性主义视角来分析这一现象。

不在场；男性；生态女性主义

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