Beta
136113

“The Question of Land and Woman: Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country from an Ecofeminist Perspective”

Article

Last updated: 22 Jan 2023

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Alan Paton's maiden novel, and still his magnum opus, Cry, the Beloved Country has often been interpreted as a post-colonial literary document that records the segregational discrimination of the 1940s, which was later institutionalised as the ill-reputed apartheida few months following the publication of the novel. Indeed, such readings are true. However, they do not take into consideration the feminist considerations and ecological implications permeated in the novel. The examples that show the political, social and economic exploitation of women along with the degradation of land are numerous. This article is an ecofeminist reading of Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country: It aims to elucidate that both white and black women do not have much leverage within the colonialist and patriarchal society in which they live. The weak and minor position given to women here goes hand in hand with the degradation of African land. To the dismay of many, more particularly feminists, almost all the female characters depicted in the novel are stigmatised as helpless, naïve or immorally decadent. Even the good ones of them stereotypically play second fiddle under pater familias and endure the monotonous chores of mothering and domesticity. As for land in pre-apartheid context, it is not any far better off than woman as it has been degraded and eroded by man-induced factors such as inappropriate agricultural practises, overcultivation, overgrazing and gold mining. Furthermore, poverty-stricken tenants have deserted their land for urban regions in search of better life.    

DOI

10.21608/jwadi.2020.136113

Keywords

Degradation, ecofeminism, Land, patriarchy, Woman

Authors

First Name

Sayed Mohammed

Last Name

Youssef

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

A Staff Member at the Department of English Language and Literature, College of Languages and Translation, Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

28

Article Issue

28 - الجزء الأول

Related Issue

20268

Issue Date

2020-10-01

Receive Date

2021-01-06

Publish Date

2020-10-01

Page Start

71

Page End

94

Print ISSN

2536-9555

Online ISSN

2682-4582

Link

https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/article_136113.html

Detail API

https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=136113

Order

3

Type

المقالة الأصلية

Type Code

1,243

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة وادي النيل للدراسات والبحوث الإنسانية والاجتماعية والتربويه

Publication Link

https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

-

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023