A Study of Women-Nature Connections of The Rabbit Hutch from the Perspective of Ecofeminism

Abstract

Tess Gunty is one of the most recognized contemporary novelists in America. Her debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, is a mesmerizing work reflecting the individual struggles to survive and connect in a decadent modern society where everyone seems to be isolated from the outside world, whether physically or spiritually. Ecofeminism emphasizes that women and nature are closely connected as they are considered to be in an inferior status and, therefore, oppressed and dominated by men in the patriarchal society. This study intends to focus on what kind of interconnectedness of women and nature is presented in the novel and further provide an analysis of their twin domination and oppression by the male agencies of The Rabbit Hutch within the Ecofeminist theoretical framework. The novel offers ecofeminist narratives that illustrate the objectification and commodification of women and nature and exhibit the dangers of men’s master mentality and masculinized exploitation towards women and nature. The study concludes that oppressed by patriarchal agencies, women and nature formed a mutually supporting relationship. Under value dualism and hierarchical oppositions, women and nature are instrumentalized or commodified by the dualistic ideologies adopted by patriarchal agencies.