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REFLECTIONS OF IN ’S

Kübra BAYSAL

Master’s Thesis English Language and Literature Department Assist. Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL 2013 All Rights Reserved

TURKISH ATATÜRK UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

Kübra BAYSAL

REFLECTIONS OF ECOFEMINISM IN DORIS LESSING’S THE CLEFT

MASTER’S THESIS

THESIS ADVISOR Assist. Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL

ERZURUM - 2013

I

TABLE OF CONTENTS ÖZET ...... IV ABSTRACT ...... V ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...... VI INTRODUCTION ...... 1

PART ONE DORIS LESSING 1.1. BIOGRAPHY ...... 4 1.2. NOTABLE WORKS BY DORIS LESSING ...... 10 1.3. INFLUENTIAL CONCEPTS IN LESSING’S CAREER ...... 17

PART TWO 2.1. “ OF FEMINISM ...... 21 2.1.1. First Wave Feminism ...... 21 2.1.2. Second Wave Feminism ...... 22 2.1.3. Third Wave Feminism ...... 23 2.2. ECOFEMINIST ECHOES ...... 24

PART THREE ECOFEMINISM 3.1. ECO/FEMINISM CORRELATION ...... 27 3.2. WHAT IS ECOFEMINISM? ...... 27 3.2.1. The Oppression of Women and Nature ...... 31 3.2.2. The Manstream Theory ...... 33 3.2.3. The Feminine Principle ...... 35 3.2.4. Ecofeminist Principles ...... 38 3.3. THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ECOFEMINISM ...... 39 3.4. ECOFEMINISM AS A SUBDIVISION OF OTHER THEORIES ...... 42 3.5. IMPORTANT REPRESENTATIVES OF ECOFEMINISM ...... 43

II

PART FOUR THE CLEFT AS AN ECOFEMINIST NOVEL 4.1. THE FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN THE NOVEL ...... 49 4.1.1. Body and Anonymity ...... 49 4.1.2. The Concept of Violence and Crime ...... 51 4.1.3. Depiction of the Patriarchal Discourse ...... 53 4.2. MANSTREAM THEORY APPLIED IN NARRATION ...... 59 4.2.1. The Process of Distinction and Classification ...... 60 4.2.2. Women’s Position in ...... 62 4.2.3. Male Isolation and Domination ...... 63 4.3. ECOFEMINIST RECONCILIATIONS IN THE CLEFT ...... 68 4.3.1. Human Interaction with Nature ...... 71 4.4. NARRATIVE QUALITIES IN THE CLEFT ...... 78 4.4.1. Narrators ...... 78 4.4.2. Characters ...... 79 4.4.3. Symbols in the Novel ...... 83

CONCLUSION ...... 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 88 CURRICULUM VITAE ...... 90

III

ÖZET

YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ

DORIS LESSING’İN THE CLEFT ADLI ESERİNDE EKOFEMİNİZMİN YANSIMALARI

Kübra BAYSAL

Danışman: Asistan Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL

2013, 90 Sayfa

Jüri: Yrd. Doç. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL (Danışman) Prof. Dr. Mehmet TAKKAÇ Doç. Dr. Ahmet BEŞE

Dünyadaki önemli çevresel ve sosyal problemleri roman incelemesi yoluyla ele alan bu tez çalışması, giriş ve sonuç bölümleri dışında dört ana bölümden oluşmaktadır. Giriş kısmı, feminizmden ortaya çıkan ekofeminizm ve bu hareketin adı geçen The Cleft eseri üzerindeki yansımalarına kısa bir başlangıç niteliğindedir. Birinci bölümde, tez çalışmasına konu olan The Cleft eserinin yazarı Doris Lessing’in bu esere altyapı oluşturan özel ve edebi yaşamına vurgu yapılacaktır. İkinci bölüm, kısa bir feminizm tarihçesi vererek hareket içerisinde görülen ilk ekofeminist yaklaşımlar hakkında bilgi sağlayacaktır. Üçüncü bölüm, bu çalışmanın teorik altyapısını oluşturan ve kadınsal ve doğasal sorunları bir arada ele alarak dünyadaki kritik sorunlara çözüm bulmayı amaçlayan bir teori ve hareket olarak ekofeminizmi detaylı bir şekilde sunacaktır. Dördüncü bölümde, Doris Lessing’in The Cleft romanı eko/feminizmden etkilenen bir roman olarak teorik ve yazınsal açıdan analiz edilecek ve gerçek hayatta yaşanan ekolojik ve sosyal sorunlara bazı çözümler önerilecektir. Sonuç bölümünde ise, Lessing ve ekofeminizm teorisi üzerinden romana son bir vurgu yapılarak çalışma sona erecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: ekofeminizm, Lessing, kadın, erkek, çevre.

IV

ABSTRACT

MASTER’S THESIS

REFLECTIONS OF ECOFEMINISM IN DORIS LESSING’S THE CLEFT

Kübra BAYSAL

Advisor: Assistant Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL

2013, 90 Pages

Jury: Asst. Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL (Advisor) Prof. Dr. Mehmet TAKKAÇ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet BEŞE

This thesis study which handles important environmental and social problems in the world through novel analysis consists of four main chapters apart from the introduction and conclusion parts. Introduction part makes a brief presentation of ecofeminism which has derived from feminism and the reflections of this movement on The Cleft. In the first chapter, the writer Doris Lessing’s personal and literary life shall be underlined for providing background to The Cleft which is the subject matter of this study. The second chapter shall provide information about the first ecofeminist approaches in the by giving a brief . Third part presents ecofeminism in detail as a movement and theory forming the theoretical context of this study and aiming to find a solution to critical problems in the world by dissecting feminine and natural problems together. In the fourth chapter, The Cleft shall be analysed in theoretical and literary aspects as a novel influenced by ecofeminism and some solutions shall be offered for ecological and social problems in daily life. In the conclusion part, the study will end by making a final emphasis on the novel through Lessing and the ecofeminist theory.

Keywords: ecofeminism, Lessing, female, male, environment.

V

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to present my high gratitudes to my thesis supervisor Assist. Prof. Dr. M. Başak UYSAL for his academic support, patience and friendliness during the period of thesis study. I am also indebted to Prof. Dr. Mukadder ERKAN first for giving me the inspiration about writing on ecofeminism and then for her academic support, encouraging attitudes and sincerity.

Further, I am so grateful to my parents, Sabiha & Mehmet BAYSAL and my brothers for sharing my problems and encouraging me always for achieving the better during my academic studies and all my life.

Finally, I thank my best and close friends for the helpful advice and friendly support they have offered.

Erzurum – 2013 Kübra BAYSAL

1

INTRODUCTION

Grown up outside Europe and Britain and nurtured by various different , Doris Lessing is a popular and a marginal British writer at the same time. She has given life to many notable works and attracted different groups all around the world into her cause. Due to the social and political tension of her childhood and teenage years covering the and the transition period of World War II, Lessing has adopted a strict and obvious style in her literature and created challenging pieces. As a feminist, socialist, ex-Marxist, postcolonial and most importantly an eco-friendly novelist, Lessing is appreciated by some cycles while marginalised and assaulted by other certain groups. That is the principal reason why her works have always been targeted for so many critical analyses and researches.

Despite the fact that she has taken no official education, Lessing has become an inspiring example by self-educating herself and rising to the level of a successful eventually. In the early years, she spends her time reading most of the day unlike her counterparts due to the social and political circumstances during her childhood and adolescence. This turns out to be advantageous for her as she prospers her literary, political and historical knowledge. Thus, she starts her writing career in 1949 by , then moves on with the famous and pens several other accomplished novels, volumes of novels, poems, drama plays, biographies, and up to date she produces one of her most recent works, The Cleft. The last one holds great importance in the main body of this thesis study because it embodies the central argument.

The Cleft is a novel which bears feminist, environmental and ecological characteristics under the context of ecofeminism. In this work, the story of the creation of men and women is re-presented by Lessing. She depicts a new type of where women are created long before the men, which draws reaction of the male power. The women who are called the Clefts are capable of conceiving babies without men thanks to their cooperation with nature. However, the men are born out of the Clefts later as other members of nature to be the partners of the Clefts, as just the contrary of the traditional story of creation. The nature-bound women are always protective and conscious of nature while men called the Squirts are usually after adventure and danger. 2

Hence, Lessing reunites the different-natured women and men in respect for Nature and the indispensability of either parts in life and the life-creation process. At this point, she underlines the main philosophy of ecofeminism due to its vitality for the future of the humankind and the sustainability of Earth.

Accordingly, ecofeminism is the underlying theory of this thesis study and among the main arguments of The Cleft, which shall be further dissected into the details. Ecofeminism is a theory, movement and philosophy which advocates nature and women against the patriarchal mind in that whatever has caused women’s suffering, inferiorisation and detachment from “production” and the destruction as well as degradation of the ecological system/nature so far originates from the patriarchal power. Additionally, women and men have or “presented” to have different qualities so that women are more connected and sensitive to nature whereas men are isolated from nature and the natural because of their rationality, insensibility and the ambition for progression. Ecofeminism then offers a solution to the feminist and ecological problems on Earth. It calls out for women along with men in collaboration to raise awareness in the society for restoring the natural balance and protecting the the planet from any possible harm for the next generations and the continuity of all kinds of life on Earth.

Thence, the study which presents, discusses and analyses the ecofeminist qualities in The Cleft by Lessing and gives the biographical context of the author consists mainly of three parts.

The first part will present detailed information about Doris Lessing’s biography covering her life story, achievements, involvements, works and the influential figures along with theories and movements in her writing career.

In the second part, a quite brief summary of feminism shall be presented as a basis for the emergence of the ecofeminist thought.

In the third part, ecofeminism will be the focal point as a movement and theory derived from feminism and ecology. This part shall provide the theoretical basis for the ecofeminist criticism of the novel.

The final part sheds light on The Cleft as an ecofeminist novel. The ecofeminist characteristics shall be applied to the text through point by point references and the 3

novel will be analysed in terms of eco/feminism and as a visible synthesis of related theories and Lessing’s own ideas.

4

PART ONE

DORIS LESSING

Doris Lessing, who is a British novelist, playwright, poet, short story and biography writer, is the central issue of this part. Lessing has a pretty interesting character and life story displaying great influence on her works and arguments, which bears importance due to the fundamental concept of this study. Because The Cleft constituting the central argument of the study is written by Lessing, it is highly necessary to put emphasis first on the writer, her biography, works and the influential elements along with personalities on her literary career. In that respect, this part shall proceed in three directions all of which uncovering detailed information about the writer, Doris Lessing.

1.1. BIOGRAPHY

Born on 22 October 1919 in Iran (then Persia), Doris May Tayler Lessing is an important British author awarded for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007, after receiving several other prizes previously for her literary achievements. She comes out as an accomplished writer following several years of literary and political strife leading her to maturation in many respects.

She was born to British parents, Alfred Tayler, who is an amputee of the World War I, and Emily Maude McVeagh, who works as a nurse during the war. The two of them meet during Alfred’s recovery period and get married. Later on, they move to Kermanshah, Iran to start a new life away from the effects of the the postwar period. After a few years spent in Iran, Alfred Tayler gets an opportunity to have his share from the Empire Exhibition and buy a cheap land in . So, the Taylers relocate to Rhodesia, South Africa in 1925 to lead a life based on farming and agriculture where Doris Lessing adopts her first impressions about the slaves and black people suffering at the hands of British colonialism, despite her family’s constant insistance of seeing themselves as landowners, not colonialists (Rowe 1994: 2, 3). Like many other European families who have recently moved to Africa, the Taylers have also paid so little for the already-owned lands and pushed their real owners, the Africans, to the margins. 5

Economical shrinkage and social classifications play a dramatic role in the Rhodesian society as well as other colonised African lands. The white people possess all the economical and cultural power and thus enslave and inferiorise the indigenous people, the real owners, with the help of those Western weapons. The indigenous people are in a pitiful situation as they work under the service of the white people who have luxury cars and many facilities whereas they have been denied of all possessions and the once happy, simple life of theirs. Racial discrimination, poverty and marginality have forced them into silence and obedience. Therefore, Doris Lessing grows up in this intensely colonial and political area though in the advantaged side where she witnesses the reality of the world at an early period of her life. The huge gap between the rich and the poor, the white and the black and then women and men are all recorded by her keen observation into her memory as vivid images of the real life. She is always aware of her own marginality because she denies involving in any side all through her life (Pickering 1990: 2). As she is raised up by her family on the frontier, among rigid classifications and prejudice, she deliberately prefers to maintain her observer’s status. Likewise, she grows more political in time thanks to the heated political arguments she overhears at home.

Later on, Lessing realises the great distinction between her ’s and father’s characters. Alfred Tayler dreams of an Edenic place where he can be free of all rigidities and limitations whereas Emily Tayler is a of community and rules. He enjoys dealing with farming both for making money and as a means of personal relaxation. On the other hand, Lessing’s mother, Emily feels imprisoned in the farming life in which she knows she has no chance to fulfill her social desires or to elevate to a higher position in the society. That is the apparent reason why she presents the model of an unwilling wife and mother who has many dreams to accomplish yet. Lessing’s parents have therefore a tense familial relationship due to her carefree father and dissatisfied mother. Seeking a kind of equilibrium between her parents’ relationship, Lessing is confused about the whole concept of marriage and love. She feels extremely stressed and under pressure due to her parents’ complicated emotional states (Lessing 1994: 59). Because she writes many of her novels based on her own experiences, Lessing posits problematic marriages into the core of the main argument in her many works. 6

She is an enthusiastic reader and a dedicated learner at the beginning of her education period. She remains to be so until she gets a serious eye infection and leaves school at the age of fourteen. Due to her immense desire to be free from the constraints of the formal education system despite her infinite love of reading, she feels relieved to be denied of school education. She is extremely happy because she is not shaped in and discoursed by the arrogant Western education system (Lessing 1994: 79). So, she begins self-educating herself and writes small pieces in her teenage years. She forms a strong and highly intellectual background. By reading Proust, Balzac, Tolstoy, Hitler, Dickens, Scott, Kipling, Stevenson, Stendhal and D. H. Lawrence all of whom nurture her desire and ability to write, she proceeds in the writing field. When she is fifteen, she flees from her mother’s strict rule and works as an au pair for a short while during which she borrows political and social texts of the time from her landlady to create a political standing for herself.

In 1938, she leaves the Tayler farm to work in Salisbury and joins the left-wing group propagating Marxism during the World War II. The next year, she marries Frank Wisdom, a civil servant and has two children. However, she recognises the sterility of her domestic role as a mother as well as wife and gets terrified at the possibility that she could become like her mother, Emily one day, that is, having many children and serving to her husband, yet consumed by her unfulfilled desires and dreams which might have opened a completely new path for her. Hence, she leaves her husband and two children in 1943 and dedicates herself to intense political activism and literary studies. She becomes a political activist afterwards and marries Gottfried Lessing in 1945, who is a refugee from the Nazi that she meets in a socialist meeting. Nevertheless, she refuses to be bound into the domestic system of marriage. By 1949, Lessing has already had a son, divorced her husband and moved to London with her son. Because she is very disillusioned with Marxism during the war witnessing the failure of the activists, she leaves the Marxist movement totally once the war is over. She thinks the Communist Party should have defended the rights of the repressed like the blacks or women. However the party falls through to accomplish Lessing’s expectations (Lessing 1994: 16). Contradicting with its original cause, the party conforms to the general stream after the violent and destructive World War II and pushes many participants like Lessing herself away from the movement. 7

The year 1949 is quite significant also because Lessing brings the manuscript of The Grass is Singing to London with her, where she gets it published the other year. And thence begins her writing career. After that point, she starts the series in 1951 and finishes it in 1959. Inbetween these years, she takes part in many political activities due to her communist beliefs and visits the Soviet Union. Then, she takes the first step into the editing business and assists the editions for some working-class writings. She resigns from the Communist Party in 1956 and she is banned from entry into South Africa and becomes a prohibited immigrant of Rhodesia because of her bold writings and outspokenness. Yet, she never abandons either the political events or the literary compositions. Eventually in 1962, she publishes her breakthrough novel The Golden Notebook which brings her fame, success and popularity despite her marginal literary standing. After this victorious novel, she writes The Four Gated City and Memoirs of a Survivor one after another in a short period. The latter is made into a film in 1981 which doubles Lessing’s literary triumph. Later on, she publishes The Diary of a Good Neighbour in 1983 under the psedonym ‘Jane Somers’ by which she measures her success and takes a great risk. However, the novel receives good reaction from the readers as well as the critics and once again she makes her own way even without her real name printed on the cover of the work (Maslen 1994: 43). In 1985, she wins the W. H. Smith Award for and gets the African Laughter published in 1992. Then, she is remunerated by receiving an honorary degree from Harward University in 1995. The next year, she finishes another novel, Love Again and experiments with some drama plays afterwards. By the 2000s, she has been announced to be the Companion of Honour in the U.K.’s last list of honours and she gets a chance to be titled as a ‘Dame’ by the English queen, but she turns the offer down as she figures it as a kind of “show off”. Throughout the 2000s, she pens her most recent novels, Mara and Dann in 1999, Ben in the World in 2000, then The Cleft in 2007 and lastly, Alfred and Emily in 2008. She publishes the last one in memory for her parents after getting the Nobel Prize in 2007. Nevertheless, Lessing feels restricted because of too much popularity brought about by the prize and she accounts publicly that she will not be able to write anymore. Because the prize has raised people’s expectations of her and therefore brought her creative talent to a standstill, she is rather limited by her previous literary achievements. Lessing has not 8

published any other work so far since 2008, which clearly explains and proves her point.

Being such a prolific and productive writer, Lessing is both a marginal and popular personality. She has always been supportive and representative of the oppressed alongside the margins and fought both by her pen and active political involvement for liberation from all types of restrictions. She has become a practitioner and propagator of important political, social and intellectual movements and theories like , Marxism, scientific theory, mysticism, anthropology, environmentalism and Freudian and Jungian (Pickering 1990: 6). As a result of this high loading of knowledge, she uses appropriate jargon in her works which is often the political jargon. Benefiting from these prosperous theories and movements, she is so ready to go always further towards what is socially and polically forbidden to her. Accordingly, she supports the feminist cause and asserts that women are moulded by the society into discoursed, oppressed beings (Maslen 1994: 10).

As for her writing style(s), she makes use of such different narrative techniques and forms as Bildungsroman, parody, allegory, legend, myth, romance, socialist realism and space fiction. In her themes, she has a holistic view at the back of her mind while creating the works. She constantly tries new styles in her writing that is why sometimes she has linear, chronological novels whereas she has layered novels other times. She never seeks for perfection. She just picks up whatever seems appropriate to the story. She is referred as a British writer who follows the European tradition as opposed to British tradition in her writings (Rowe 1994: 114). Further, she does not enjoy seperated and compartmentalised concepts of things in the world which could be referred as discriminations, classifications and oppressions in the society. Observing her parents’ contradictions in her Rhodesian years, Lessing acquires major oppositions like /nature, white/black, European/other, priviliged/exploited and the great difference between pragmatic and visible, which helps her develop a dialogic style in her writings. She is aware that even language bears discursive aims through semiotics and serves to the plans and seperational designs of the power. Herewith, she suggests more similarities than differences to deconstruct the oppositions and binaries by which she reunites nature and culture et cetera because she believes in the absurdity of categorisations in life, which is also a philosophy favoured by Marxism (Lessing 1994: 9

66, 97). In her texts, she uses her characters sometimes more than once, if it is a series she is writing and these novels are mostly interconnected. Then, the characters and the main story of the works are generally taken from Lessing’s own life because “You have to live in such a way that your writing emerges from it” she reflects as Pickering quotes from a Lessing interview (1990: 14).

Lessing keeps her writing permanently interesting and attractive because she never gives up pursuing her dreams, which is what motivates her in the first place to leave the domestic lifestyle and begin a new life full of political and literary potential. Her dreams are the fuel of her writings. Literally speaking, Lessing confesses in an interview that she dreams before she starts writing a novel because these dreams come out as the reflections of the contemporary life (Lessing 1994: 14). She refers to her own life in most of her works and uses autobiographical elements because she has a full, adventurous life story covering two world wars and numerous political as well as social developments. Consequently, she has such an extraordinary and unexpected style in each work that the readers have no other chance but to enjoy her creations and join her in the adventure because she has witnessed a great deal of historical events and experienced a lot more than many people.

Once and for all, Doris Lessing is a sensitive writer towards the problems of the world and the world agenda. She hates wars and anything related to violence as she thinks it is all nonsense and unnecessary. She has always had a serious engagament with political protests both through her works and literal participation since her youth, supported the oppressed and harassed groups like women, the black, Third World nations, once-colonised communities and the nature. She stands against the Western patriarchal philosophy, racism, capitalism, elitism, colonialism, globalism and antropocentrism. In that respect, it is rather natural that she adopts an ecofeminist philosophy and produces ecofeminist discourses which combine the problems of women and nature. First of all, she is accused for adopting an unfeminine standing for expressing women’s emotions which have long been silenced by the misogynist society through her courageous female characters questing freedom and living their lives like the men. Then, Lessing explains her opinions about the situation of nature that humanity should be conscious about nature, animals, plants, birds, reptiles and everything on Earth which make up a cosmic whole and create harmonious balance (Pickering 1990: 10

129). Elsewhere in an interview she confesses that she feels very sad for Africans and the exploited lands along with threatened animals. Pointing out the devastating results of the Western colonial philosophy, she depicts the pitiful situation of the continent as a whole with its inhabitants and nature (Maslen 1994: 57). She also mentions about the Greenhouse Effect and planetary warming and the fact that humanbeings continuously pollute the earth, give harm to the rain forests and cause extinction of several kinds of animals. She is concerned about the environment and critical of the companies cutting down trees for capitalist purposes. She calls it as a kind of crime which should be prevented by the sensitivity of people. She hopes that people will evolve into better beings in the future as they have evolved from their primitive states millions of years ago. Thereto, she shares that her interest changes direction in each decade and that she is able to make a fusion of these movements. She brings ‘feminism’ of the 1990s together with her recent interest of ‘ecology’ which apparently comes out as ecofeminism at the turn of creating a fresh work (Lessing 1994: 187, 198, 219). Consequently, she changes the dimension of her writing when she writes The Cleft in 2007 as an ecofeminist work and blends myth and fantasy with reality.

Therefore, Doris Lessing is a great writer of the 21st century who has given inspiration to many writers and readers alike to change their lifestyles in a positive way and to keep discursive matters away from the society. Preserving her dignity evermore through her dissenter personality, she has always evaded indecent options and chances of pompous popularity that is why she is still an applauded writer of countless significant works most of which have left profound impacts on the reader.

1.2. NOTABLE WORKS BY DORIS LESSING

In this section, Lessing’s works will be the subject matter upon which a general criticism of the writer’s style, themes and arguments might be gathered. Lessing has produced her works under different circumstances and in complicated moods that is why her works range from political to feminist or from utopic/dystopic to realistic, then from space fiction and psychoanalitic to serious romance. Thus, she draws a distinct kind of writing tradition and gives life to numerous works altering in movement, mood, themes, narrative style and genre. For this very reason, Lessing’s works shall be 11

categorised and presented according to the shared characteristics like themes and genres to provide an explicit introduction of the author.

Initially, the African based or related novels, namely The Grass is Singing and The Children of Violence have common characteristics so that Lessing presents the life of women in Africa though from two different dimensions (Rowe 1994: 14). In both novels, Lessing depicts the quest and struggle of two women into self-perfection and gaining feminine confidence within the rough conditions of Africa. The protagonist of The Grass is Singing, Mary Turner is an isolated and self-conscious woman around her thirties who decides to find a husband upon overhearing her friends’ conversation about her. Then, she expects to realise her dreams by marrying a farmer, Dick Turner, which turns out to be disastrous for her future plans. She looks forward to be free from her family’s rule, the school and the restricting white society. Nonetheless she steps into another imprisonment unconsciously. Dick is a successful and content farmer, however Mary understands she is so far from being a farmer’s wife, feels imprisoned in the farming life and realises her fatal mistake. From then on, she tries to satisfy her expectations through superficial struggles like changing her clothes, behaviours and she hopelessly tries to prove her domination over the slaves. She wears ’s clothes and gets flirteous with men, especially with the African slave, Moses. Moses is a huge African slave working at her husband’s farm and she is occupied with underestimating and pushing Moses to his limits whenever she lacks confidence and seeks for company either sexual or emotional. Because she is an unhappy and dissatisfied wife, she dreams of Moses as the strong male figure. Yet, their relationship grows to be problematic each day as she both hates and likes him and the same can be observed for Moses as well. Mary becomes more and more isolated and psychologically shattered in time so that she finds no concrete reason to keep her going in life. In her hard times, she gets much support from Moses and gets really close with him. Nevertheless, she is killed in the end because of a machete blow by Moses who has been sent away from the farm. She prepares her own death, commits suicide through Moses and causes Moses’ fall as a murderer and ‘a stereotypical black slave murdering his own master in cold blood’ (Rowe 1994: 15). So, Mary ends her life as an unhappy, restricted, criticised and unstable woman who fails to pursue her dreams. 12

On the other hand, the protagonist of the Children of Violence series, is a dissenter and a quester since her childhood as her surname already suggests. In this series which is classified as a Bildungsroman, Martha’s multi-dimensioned maturation is presented. The series which is written by Lessing to reflect the great conflicts of her generation covers five books which are chronologically Martha Quest, , A Ripple from the Storm, and The Four Gated City. At the opening of the first volume, Martha Quest, Martha is a 15-year-old girl. She is stuck to her father’s farm just like Lessing herself did and she gets depressed at the limited potential of her present life. She models herself as the ‘vis-à-vis’ opposite of her parents and the African community. Therefore, she belongs neither to the white nor the black community. She always runs away from her mother’s strict rules and perfection and finds a job outside the African town, which again bears the autobiographical elaboration of the author. So, she experiences sexual relationships and independence, yet she does her best not to become like her parents. However, she marries Douglas Krowell at the end of this novel. In the following volumes, Martha has a daughter named Caroline, but she gets terrified at the thought of being a domestic woman and leaves her life along with marriage behind rather soon. She is disturbed by Mrs. Quest’s constant lectures and interference in her decisions similar to Lessing’s mother grown up in the Edwardian style and determined to persist her elitism and perfectionism at each level of her life. Still, Martha follows her own path and takes the books as her guide in life dictating her to become an intellectual woman in opposition to domesticism and illiteracy, similar to Mary Turner who imitates whatever she reads in the magazines (Maslen 1994: 10). Martha turns into a Marxist, socialist and activist individual who is far from being domestic or like her mother. It is only many years later that she realises her busted-up relationship with her daughter Caroline due to her increased engagement with , which disturbs her conscience. So, she dreams herself in her sleep as Caroline, a little girl left alone in a dark room or afraid of something, which underlines Jungian connotations of the unconscious (Pickering 1990: 59). Then, she tries to bind the loose ends. Further, in the last novel The Four Gated City, imperialism has ended its course and the power has changed sides to the Third World Countries where a new city shall be founded by Mark, whom Martha supports in his cause. Towards the end, she loses her faith in communism and develops a double 13

vision through which she can analyse the concepts of sex, death, time and being (Pickering 1990: 74). Hence, in these two African based novels Lessing pictures two different kinds of women who dream for another life beyond reality, yet only one of them can fulfill her quest, even partially. Lessing gives hints about herself and her family’s life in these works and plans different ends for individual characters as heroes either matured or destroyed by circumstances.

Moving on, Doris Lessing’s gender-based or related novels are highly appreciated and studied by readers, critics, feminists and scholars for the influential messages they bear within narration. The Golden Notebook alongside Martha Quest and A Proper Marriage are called Lessing’s feminist novels. As for her recent works, The Cleft can be called as an ecofeminist novel pointing out feminism plus ecology. Martha Quest novels are important in terms of African background. However, they are also feminist novels in that the protagonist Martha observes the futility of her already-planned life as a woman and struggles to change the course of her future. She lives an independent life, has relationships, forms her intellectual knowledge and prefers an active and free life over the marital life she has once willingly chosen. Especially A Proper Marriage describes the unfair situation and entrapment of women in marriage. Lessing is said to create such a reckless and extraordinary female protagonist that, as some critics comment, she kills the “Angel in the house” (Rowe 1994: 31). Likewise in The Golden Notebook, the main character Anna Wulf pursues an “unfeminine” life resembled to men’s lifestyle by the critics, as Wulf cares for her writing career and searches for the essence of quality writing. In the novel, women are outside the traditional borders as they earn their own money, bring up their children by themselves and live without their husbands (Lessing 1994: 173). Anna is a leftist originated from her communist past, divorced and has a daughter. She lives with her daughter, yet she has a rather independent life because she is not limited with feminine responsibilities. On the contrary, her life is full of social, sexual and political activity. She also tries to write the best work she can produce. She asks philosophical questions about the nature of writing and criticises the publishing industry for being too mainstream, canonised and insistant to change the main essence of the original novels for discursive reasons such as popularity. She puts emphasis on the act of writing and the responsibilities of the writer. The novel is set in London in the 1950s with Anna’s memories of long Rhodesian years during the World War II. It is 14

based on three main concerns of the 1950 which are , sexual struggle and madness. Anna has serious psychological problems and a fragmented identity that is why she works so hard to find her personal unity. Similarly, Lessing divides the novel into five parts as a striking way of satirising the compartmentalisation promoted by the globalised world system and recalls the need for a holistic view by listing these parts under one title, ‘Free Women’ (Maslen 1994: 17). These books can be explained as the black book which stands for art and satire, red book for communism, yellow book for public and private life and women/men relationships, blue book for the writing process and Anna’s inner self and the Golden Notebook as a summary of all books and emphasis on wholeness against fragmentation. Among the different coloured books, Anna’s life is classified and reunited in distinct books as a writer, mother, friend, leftist, woman and a person undergoing psychological breakdown. She spends much time with her friend Molly in London. Molly’s ex-husband Richard keeps both of them busy and triggers heated dialogues about sex and politics among them. Richard marries to Marion after getting divorced, yet he seeks sympathy from Molly and Anna for his problematic life due to his wife’s alcohol addiction. Still, the two argue among themselves about the origin of Marion’s problem and they mostly blame Richard at the end, which turns into a man/woman battle sooner or later (Pickering 1990: 101). In this case, Lessing comments in the ‘Preface’ of The Golden Notebook that some women consider this work as the promoter of a sex war, while others think it is a weapon in the sex war (Lessing 2007: 9). Anna is an oversensitive writer experiencing a crisis period during writing and requires psychoanalitic assistance under the name of theraphy which is provided by who Anna calls ‘Mother Sugar’ due to the constant euphemism provided by this lady. After she meets a man from the writers’ block named Saul, she falls in love with him and they are succumbed into a passionate and erotic love relationship which leaves them both as devastated, fragmented and unable to write. Still, Anna manages to get out of madness and decides to write a seperate notebook which shall define her identity much better than the previous ones and thus writes the ‘Golden’ notebook (Rowe 1994: 45). In a general overview, the diary-formed The Golden Notebook gives a point by point analysis of Anna’s life, her personal history, fears, dreams, plans, her increasing madness and the emergence of a fresh new Anna out of lunacy who is rather determined to have a new beginning in her life. Hence, Lessing depicts different 15

portraits of authentic women in these works who seek for their individual success and undergo various experiences to get out of the type of ‘norm-al’ woman.

Moreover, Lessing searches for the depths of inner space as well as the outer space in some specific novels. Briefing for a Descent into Hell and The Four Gated City are in the pursuit of inner space while Canopus in Argos series explores the outer space through space fiction. The Four Gated City, which has already been mentioned before, is the presentation of Lessing’s emphasis on the psyche of individual and the change from the individual focus to the power relations and the systems of knowledge- production which are the driving forces of a society. In other words, she starts with the individual and finishes her search with the society, the collective. Briefing is the story of a man who looks for his lost identity in an asylum. In the novel, the echoes of Bakhtinian voices are often heard in that people talk but cannot communicate with one another (Maslen 1994: 27). Due to the discoursed nature of language, words, sentences and even conversations have always already been pre-determined. Through this argument, Lessing examines the “humane” element in life similar to Kundera’s arguments and dwells on because as she believes then, there is nowhere else but in (Rowe 1994: 64). She displays that the threat of constructed identities, appearance and the alienating feature of language destroy the inner space. The limitation of the official language causes vast distruption in the human psyche. In Charlie Watkin’s case in the novel, he develops a blurred notion of normality against lunacy, sleeping, light and real human contact in the mental hospital he is residenting. In dialectic style, the language of doctors and patients are compared through Charlie’s point of view. Further on, the space fiction gives way to Lessing’s inner fiction as she desires to reflect the outer circumstances moulding the inner psyche which she places as planets in the Canopus in Argos series (Pickering 1990: 142). These novels are produced in a way that the human readers are reminded of their vanity in the face of planets, which are immensely superior to the humankind that is why the series are all based on different planets. Lessing deals with the division of subjective and the collective, yet she defines a new kind of existence between the two. One does not have to choose one over another because the individual is mostly depicted to be lonely, miserable and isolated, whereas the collective or community is a group where people develop collective characteristics like collective unconscious in which everyone comes 16

to become identical with others. However, there is a point between individual and collective, which is a relaxation or a resting place for all humanbeings. This is what Lessing indeed writes about in this series (Rowe 1994: 79). Through her space-fiction, she explores the possibility of an individual/collective blending among the battles and rivalries between the galactic empires. She tries to defamiliarise human culture and history in this way, which reflects the writer’s own dilemmas and inner conflicts as well. Apart from these novels, Lessing’s The Cleft is a novel which cannot be restricted into a certain area for its complicated blend of the myth with fantasy and the real with the unreal. Yet, it might be defined as a “space” as well as “time” novel, because the plot takes place in an anonymous island described like in another planet and in a prehistorical time and the Roman narrator goes back and forth in time to account the main story which is the reversal of the creation myth. To sum, Lessing writes mainly on inner and outer space in abovediscussed novels, which are finally connected via a resting point on which she pays utmost attention.

The last group of novels to be mentioned are The Diaries of Jane Somers, The Good Terrorist and The Fifth Child, all of which are written in the realistic mode. At one point in her career, Lessing leaves her psychological and less-understood novels behind and returns to realism with these works. She re-enters the Earth and writes the family novel which is obviously realistic. Jane Somers is a series which is published under a pseudonym, not with the author’s name. These are romantic and gender-based novels in which maternal and paternal conflicts make up the majority of the essence (Rowe 1994: 93). The protagonist Maudie is a divided person who remembers the violence and terror of the past years in Victorian England. She is a lonely woman left by her family and living through many tough experiences. Along with Maudie, Lessing creates many different female figures in these novels in terms of their gendered roles most of whom seem to have a kind of relation with Lessing’s other characters in an overlapping style. Therefore, recurring themes and characters are the underlining quality of these novels as they provide a realistic picture of families and women. Additionally, institutions and the power systems are presented inadequate in the novels. Similarly, in The Good Terrorist, Alice Mellings has a somehow similar life to that of Anna Wulf and Martha Quest, yet she is not able to make any connections with history or culture (Pickering 1990: 185). She is a good terrorist who looks for a house for herself as a 17

revolutionary person and the black sheep of her family. She turns out to be a domestic threat later on and remains to be so as long as she is excluded by her family. Her terrorist psychology and the obligation to become the dissenter both in society and the family are reflected dramatically, as in the inner psyche of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent (Rowe 1994: 100). The novel reflects anarchy rather than , which shows the lack of sympathy and understanding in the society despite the stabilised political situation. The last novel, The Fifth Child has a likewise domestic terrorism theme that is Ben, the protagonist, is born as a monstrous child and disappoints his parents. He is “the other” in his family, let alone the society. Still, his mother Harriet supports him with maternal sensitivity and she is able to socialise him though it requires her patience and efforts. In response, Ben becomes a part of the city gang, just like Alice who is lured into terrorism, but Harriet makes a great sacrifice for her son and decides to go with Ben, abandoning her other children and husband. So, all these realistic novels show that Lessing is courageous enough to embrace “the other” and face the monsters of the society just like William Golding’s brave initiation in The Lord of the Flies (Maslen 1994: 48). Creating such characters like Alice and Ben, she reflects the marginal point of view which makes it easy to sympathise and feel for “the other”, which aims to create a kind of social change through awareness in the society. Because she writes quite matter-of-fact, even bitter-realistic pieces, Lessing is considered to be a serious writer who always has sentences to articulate about the social, political, cultural and genderwise situation of her country alongside the world.

1.3. INFLUENTIAL CONCEPTS IN LESSING’S CAREER

The concluding section is centered on the major ideas Lessing utilises in her narratives. She puts great emphasis on some concepts and displays certain qualities initiated by some personalities and is resembled to the authors in terms of the integrity of her works. In the following section, the study shall dwell in detail on Lessing’s use of African context thanks to , the influence of Laing, Bakhtin and Foucault theories on Lessing, her common characteristics with such writers as , Muriel Spark and .

At the outset, Olive Schreiner has an enormous impact on the development of serious African literature. With her African Farm, she gives great inspiration to Lessing 18

for writing The Grass is Singing. Before Schreiner, African people are considered non- existent and less valuable than the white race, let alone paying attention to their customs, life and considering about their inclusion into literature in a decent representation. Lessing reads volumes of novels, the English classics and world literature in her teenage years. However, what sears her most is the style of Schreiner in that she creates her work upon a serious African theme which reflects the actual miserable situation of the African people (Lessing 1994: 113, 120). Thus, she enhances Lessing’s imagination and perception of Africa so that she can produce great works about serious matters of the world. Lessing praises Schreiber’s work for being in the frontier of the mind and using Africa as a real setting, which inspires her The Grass is Singing and the Children of Violence series.

Further on, Lessing pays attention to the psychological concept of Laing. He becomes a model theoretician for Lessing around the 1960s with his claim in The Divided Self that the power structure of society pushes the individuals to be outsiders and turns them into alienated, psychologically divided beings (Maslen 1994: 22, 23). This also makes the bold distinction between sanity and lunacy blurry because it is subject to discursive encoding of the meaning and the likewise decoding of the message. Then, he favours madness over sanity because he believes that individuals can achieve unity after a dramatic psychological crisis or breakdown during which they can explore the inner depths and extremes of their own inner worlds. Lessing lays stress on madness in her Golden Notebook, Briefing for a Descent into Hell and The Good Terrorist in a similar way in that the characters get through a psychological breakdown, yet only some can survive the crises while others not.

Further, Bakhtin and Michel Foucault provide the theoretical knowledge Lessing borrows for the basis of her novels. Bakhtin accounts that the novels are invaded by waves of culture and the societal reaction, which turns them into decoded and biased pieces of art. Likewise, languages and literatures are both a way of communication and understanding among humanbeings. Still they limit the possibility of meaning due to their nature which is created according to certain norms and values in a semiotic formation (Maslen 1994: 5, 27). Lessing benefits from his ideas in Briefing for a Descent into Hell and The Good Terrorist and the last volumes of Canopus in Argos series. Foucault is also an important writer for Lessing with his Discipline and Punish, 19

which discusses the colossal effect of power relationships on the society and its imprisoning effect on the physical as well as mental freedom of people. Lessing puts forth the rational and the “non-rational” by progressing Foucault’s ideas and sides with the non-rational, or in other words the non-discoursed knowledge, which develops the true perception of a person (Ibid. : 22, 43). Lessing applies to these ideas in the previously mentioned novels and also in The Cleft. In the novel, she implies the emergence of a discoursed society once they acquire language and expand their knowledge. As the society of the Squirts become more authentic, they tend to be more arrogant and less neutral towards women and nature. The increasing knowledge in-put encourages them to desire more and to rule the group of the Clefts as their inferiors. The men lose their objectivity and become discoursed leaders of the society. Moreover, affected by Foucault’s definition of the author and how authors come to be identified with the text first and then they become a seperate entity as an obstacle before the text, Lessing takes a risk by her preference of a psedonym for Jane Somers series and survives as a great writer consequently.

Then, Lessing’s involvement in Sufism and her relations with some writers shall be discussed. After the 1950s, Lessing becomes interested in Sufism, which is a kind of mysticism without a rigid set of rules or the restrictions of freedom. Influenced by the writings of Idries Shah, she enhances her vision of humanbeings and other things on Earth alongside the other planets in the universe. Sufism is the search for personal freedom and finding happiness in small things. In this philosophy, everything has a purpose in life. It embodies Islamic, Christian, Jewish and other religious resonances, yet it cannot be limited to any. Sufism can be clearly seen in the Children of Violence series, in which Martha quests for her personal serenity and tries to find meaning in life (Pickering 1990: 63, 64).

In the final remarks, Lessing draws similarity or shares common qualities with certain writers. She creates the character of The Golden Notebook, Anna Wulf, as an extension of Virginia Woolf for her excessive commitment to writing and the search for feminine authority in life. Then in The Four Gated City, Lessing moves from the description of Martha’s fate towards her adaption into the society and the evolution of the survival, which bears similarities with George Eliot’s characters (Pickering 1990: 56). George Eliot also writes about people who experience change under tough 20

circumstances of life. Hence, it is clear that Lessing is indebted to all these theorists and concepts and also she provides a kind of resemblance to those writers. Being such a far- reaching author, she exhibits a prosperous writing career evolved from her advanced knowledge about theories, countries, lifestyles, concepts, movements, writers, important personalities and religions. Thereof, it is hardly surprising to come across some parallelisms or resemblances in her works because as much as she gets the material from life, she creates her own original pieces of writing in her long career.

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PART TWO FEMINISM In this part of the study, feminism is the central point providing the theoretical background of ecofeminism and The Cleft in general. Feminism is a significant movement challenging the enormous patriarchal system by defending the rights of women in the world. The French word féminisme stands for a belief in the form of a theory striving to extinguish and finish sexual differences and gendered roles in the discoursed society (Humm 1992: 1). In time, feminism has crossed borders and reached millions of women gathering them around one single purpose: to provide an uplift and women-men equality in social, cultural, political, judicial and working fields. Reaching its peak in mid-1990s, feminism still sustains to affect millions of people.

The principal thought underlying feminism starts with a realisation of the societal imbalance between men and women in terms of gender, placing women below men (Hannam 2007: 4). Following this recognition, the “conscious” women seek to gain their rights and try to establish a kind of balance between sexes through petitions and protests. After all, gender is a social construct stereotyping men as the founder of a society and women as milder, more emotional and less rational beings in comparison to their partners, turning them into subjects of oppression and domesticated personalities. In this context, takes individuals as wholes and equals, which eradicates the basis for politics encouraging sexual discrimination.

2.1. “HERSTORY” OF FEMİNİSM

The first well-known feminist personality acting before the popular First Wave Feminism of the 19th century is . She is called an ‘Amazon’ feminist for her prowess and directness in her writings (Walters 2005: 30). Due to her efforts and the outbreak of , women begin to have important roles in public as mother educators and are introduced to the working life. Therefore, the struggle of the early feminists opens the way for future feminism(s).

2.1.1. First Wave Feminism

Scaling from the 19th century to around the 1920s, First Wave Feminism is the first official propaganda of the feminist movement. Its main objective is to eradicate the de jure (official) obstacles women encounter in daily life. 22

All the same, the first phase of the feminist movement gets support from women and men likewise, though their numbers are rather few. As a significant feminist, introduces a fresh male perspective in 1869 by clarifying the natural equality between men and women. Next, is a pioneer for organising a women’s convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, which amplifies women’s amendments to the whole world. In the second half of the 19th century, however, the ‘suffragists’ appear. For them, voting is the first step to get full citizenship responsibilities and a requirement to create a pro-feminist government which shall not hamper women’s reformative proposals in the future. Through the 1900s, the ‘’, the radical members participate in the movement. establishes the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903, which turns the formerly naive feminist propaganda into a serious political protest. Through her riots and activism, she becomes a gallant, indomitable feminist (Hannam 2007: 64, 65, 67).

In the early 20th century, women suceed in gaining some legal rights, though the idea is yet limited to theory. As the issue remains still polemic, the First World War breaks out and turns everything upside down. Previously despised women citizens of the countries take part in heroic deeds during the war. When the war ends, nations remember the vitality of national unity and personal equality regardless of gender or colour, which becomes a turning point in the history of feminism. First Wave Feminism is indebted to not only the situation during the war but also to the works of significant writers like Virginia Woolf and .

2.1.2. Second Wave Feminism

Starting with Simone de Beauvoir’s inspiring work in 1949, a new wave of women’s movement takes form with efforts of women recognising the grave nature of their problem. Second Wave struggles against de facto (unofficial) inequalities along with de jure (official) ones.

Reproduction and production are the central points of the new wave. Production covers the citizenship responsibilities and occupational rights of women whereas reproduction refers to their biological fertility and rights related to maternal matters. In either case, women’s limitation results from their sexuality. The rising notion of heterosexual family, female body and ideal female qualities in the 1930s due to 23

Freudian ideas form the basis for Second Wave Feminism which works to defeat the biological fate of women. Furthermore, the idealisation of heterosexuality is thought to be the main cause of all types of (Charles and Hughes-Freeland 1996: 136). In continuation, feminist women getting back-up from Civil Rights Movement, black riots and student protests demand for equal pay, equal educational opportunities and the right for . So, the ‘’ propaganda starts defending the freedom of female body (Walters 2005: 108, 112).

Drawing their line from socialism and the left, the new feminists pay utmost attention to women’s liberation movement. When they proclaim “”, they actually call for all women being aware of their fate and relentless enough to challenge it. After the realisation that women are stronger when united, they enunciate the slogan “personal is political”, which is the male mentality interfering negligently in women’s private lives and matters related to their bodies alongside social, political, sexual and professional preferences. Second Wave claims that stepping into a woman’s personal is indeed a political act which is generated by the same misogynist mind. Finally, the UN declare the year 1975 as International Women’s Year and then institute the years from 1976 to 1985 as The Decade for Women. In the Second Wave, , Betty Freidan, and are the contributive writers.

2.1.3. Third Wave Feminism

Around the 1990s, the feminist movement experiences divisions and disputes likewise. Upon the failure and dissolution of the Second Wave, Third Wave is a backlash of old feminism by avoiding to include its faulty sides like observing ‘sex’ as the only unifying point.

Third Wave Movement moves away from deterministic and essentialist approaches due to the defeat of the left wing all around the world. Hence, it presents universal diversity and an harmonious platform of serenity alongside justice for women. The wave makes a perfect combination of different theories like post-structuralism, postcolonialism, queer theory and transnationalism. Determined not to be a monolithic movement, feminism links women together within the concept of economical and political globalisation(s) and leads them towards a better future through joint propagandas (Hannam 2007: 168). They new uphold positive which encourages 24

women’s distinct participation in daily life with different biological and psychological characteristics and needs, announcing their acception of their . Further, violence, sex exploitation, abortion and oppression are some of the main concerns of the new wave. Finally, there are many notable authors who support the and open the way for women’s struggle. Among them are , and .

2.2. Ecofeminist Echoes

In the final remarks of this part, the study shall call forth who are in the same line with ecofeminists in terms of the joint relation between feminism and ecology. Ecofeminism is seen in the second and third phases of the feminist wave as there appears a concern for environmental matters due to developing technology and the expansion of capitalism all around the world.

To begin with, feminist writer Susan Griffin (1943), makes an ecofeminist point when she indicates that the of women and the exploitation of nature are both conducted by the Western science to dominate and control both parts. Because nature is regarded female, it is raped and taken advantage of by the male rule. Men prefer violence instead of sympathy and tend to destroy women and nature likewise. In her Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her (1978), she adapts the story of Red Riding Hood, who is the representative of all women and who is in perfect tune with animals and nature (Humm 1992: 75, 76). Red Riding Hood is a young woman who wanders freely and happily in nature, yet she is captured and tried to kill by the “Big Bad Wolf” as the representative of the patriarch. She recounts that men want to control women and nature because they are afraid of their own desires and deficiencies.

Later on, Sherry Ortner (1941), an antropologist, makes an innovation when she reflects that women have similarities and close relations with nature. The deployment of the ecological system and silencement of women are the activity of patriarch, she notes. In her work “Is Female to Male As Nature is to Culture” she discusses the reasons for women’s connectedness to nature (Humm 1992: 254). Male system and culture produced by the same mentality get both frightened and repelled by women and nature.

Ortner finds two types of relations between women and nature: 25

a) Female body and the menstruration period present a close relationship to nature, therefore, women are more responsible towards nature than the abstracted and distanced men.

b) Women’s body and its functions place them below men and leaves them in the subjection of the patriarch inevitably.

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PART THREE ECOFEMINISM

This part of the study starts with a question: What exactly is ecofeminism?

Ecofeminism is a which associates women with nature regarding their interconnection, therefore offering solutions which shall serve to the problems of both sides. It is a philosophy and way of reading things in terms of ecology plus feminism. It is one of the rare fields of study which combines two major distinct areas in one theory.

It is the 21st century of the world. Mother Earth is dying. Natural resources are vanishing, forests are shrinking, so many types of animals and vegetation are standing at the threshold of extinction and- women are suffering. All these ecological problems are in some way listed within the same concept with women’s problems that makes up the backbone of ecofeminism. Ecology/environmentalism and feminism blend in the ecofeminist theory which puts the blame of ecological disasters and women’s stigmatisation on the patriarch. The theory discusses that both environment and women are suffering at the hands of men and that the social alongside ecological balance of the world is collapsing piece by piece due to the major domination of men. Male violence is not only aimed at women but also at nature and “her” forests, rivers, seas and lands because of the same antropocentric perspective which puts emphasis on “man” as the sole representative of “mankind”. Having started with the realisation that human survival and natural stability are interdependent, ecofeminism introduces a universal idea which rejects all sorts of oppression, men over women, society over nature and the 1st World over the 3rd World. This calls forth solidarity and emphasises the justified position of the movement. Ecofeminism rationalises the point that women should rise against the male destruction of the feminine and the nature which are both seen as one and take action to restore everything in its natural place and protect nature for this is the only way to preserve survival of the Earth. This is a feminist ideology which encompasses a humane, yet environmental approach transcending any gender-related or political arguments (Shiva 1994: XVİİ, XVİİİ). Its main purpose is to eradicate the harmful consequences of all antropocentred acts conducted generally by men and to revive natural serenity and social equality on the planet Earth. 27

3.1. ECO/FEMINISM CORRELATION

The ecofeminist theory combines ‘eco’ with ‘feminism’, which naturally results as an environmentally-conscious survival movement led mostly by female pioneers. Eco already indicates the ecological side of the movement, yet ecofeminist theory visualises nature as a harmonious whole not to be distrupted, violated or exploited by neither men nor women. Mother Earth is bountiful and nurturing on the one hand, however it is also a potentially terryfying power for humanbeings. Nature is in its best form as it is and women who are familiar and connected with nature are the ones to shield it from any possible harm. Indeed this is a green movement which depicts women the way to remember their repressed femininity and recognise the nature as their trusted companion, constant nurturer and protective shelter. Previously negative qualities attached to femininity are regarded positive in this movement because women are connected to nature through these qualities. The theory dictates them to protect nature because they are similar and to be sensitive enough to consider the future of their children and the vitality of survival for human race along with the Earth. Thereby, this is how ecofeminism is constituted out of ‘eco’ and ‘feminism’, which indispensably puts greater responsibility on women’s shoulders.

3.2. WHAT IS ECOFEMINISM?

Ecofeminism is a political and philosophical negotiation of feminism with ecology as well as some other fields to recreate an ecologically balanced surrounding for people, animals and plants. As a movement and a theory, it calls out to end all kind of restrictions, that is, it equates the social, political and cultural oppressions with the oppression of nature and asserts that the only way of women’s liberation is through that of nature’s (Gaard 1993: 1, 2). Due to this inclusiveness, ecofeminism embraces all non-dominant parties like women, the black groups and the Third World nations. Then, it points out the dominant parts as the Western world, white middle and upper class members and most importantly men for the disturbance of the natural peace on Earth both by exploiting indigenous lands, people and women by forcing them into their service. Having derived from feminism, Marxism and socialism, ecofeminism strives to compensate for the permanent destruction of the male domination in various aspects of social and ecological life. It is an umbrella term to produce overtly political relation 28

through different perspectives. That is why it cannot be restricted in a pre-determined border or explained with a single definition.

To give more comprehensive information about ecofeminism, it starts initially as a reaction to green environmentalists who cannot tolerate feminism. It can be defined as a feminist activism which functions like peace movements, women’s health demands, anti-nuclear movements and animal protection protests. It embodies social and environmental purposes within the theory and depicts the process of (re)creating a livable world for all living things. According to Gaard, “Ecofeminism is a value system, a social movement and a practice, but it also offers a political analysis that explores the links between and environmental destruction” (1993: 18). It is an ecological as well as social movement which supports the rich diversity of women and establishes “oneness” between women and nature in that respect.

In reference to Carolyn Merchant, ecofeminism is divided into four types as liberal, cultural, social and socialist ecofeminism(s) all of which are influential in different parts of daily life (Tamkoç 1994: 78, 79). To begin with, liberal ecofeminism enables reforms in the government and state affairs. Cultural ecofeminism changes the notion of women and nature in society and strives to alter the notion of feminine and the natural. Social ecofeminism develops equality for all living things on Earth including nature and encourages peace and harmony in the world. Finally, socialist ecofeminism satirises the Western philosophy through its capitalist activities and pushes it to make a revolution to save the environment.

Moreover, being an antiracist theory and the manifestation of feminism within environmentalism, ecofeminism is taken away from the white women’s concern and supported by women of all colours and associated from time to time with some versions of “pagan feminist ” (Sturgeon 1997: 20, 25). The strong belief centered around natural religion and the natural deities like Gaia and Mother Earth is rather influential on the ecofeminist theory. It declares that everything has intrinsic value in nature, therefore a biocentric view should replace the androcentric or antropocentric philosophies. Ecofeminism is also an apology to men because it proves that feminists are also sensitive about environmental problems, however their arguments and accusations eventually target the men (Plant 1989: 25, 49). It is sometimes 29

acknowledged to establish a romantic relationship between women and nature to end both humanist and environmental colonisation. Presenting an innate connectedness between and nature, the theory suggests a resolution for both environmental and feminine problems at the same time. It unites patriarchal matters and personal morality all at once under the context of ecofeminism. Patriarchal matters cover social values, systems, relationships and the devaluation of the feminine principle whereas personal morality comes to indicate the gender-based positioning of people and things in the society (Gaard 1993: 9, 17). Ecofeminist theory despises the male mind which justifies any act set to exploit nature and take the advantage of women. Therefore, it brings an end to the illimitable power of on Earth.

The ecofeminist theory also claims that reality is gendered at the outset in that hierarchical positions direct the way life continues. Women are described to be strong- spirited emotional creatures who are closer to nature and who lack high intellect. This is the patriarchal politics of underestimation of the feminine values and characteristics to enable a rise and significance in the men’s position. Making use of the discoursed representation of women both as a weapon and a starting point, ecofeminism encourages women involvement in the movement to defeat the archetypal “all powerful” man image. It is quite simple to alter the general depiction of men because it is enough just to recall the fact that men are also human. This means they have their own weaknesses, fears, feminine qualities and doubts, just like their companions, the women. At this point, men reunite with women and nature because they are the parts of the same harmonious ecological system (Gaard 1993: 19). The focal critique of the movement is the rejection of dualities like man/woman, human/animal, white/non-white and western/the other, which locates men in a superior place over women, coloured people and those of different races and finally animals. Because ecofeminist philosophy draws its line from feminism, ecology, environmentalism and philosophy, it protests against all kinds of dominations and superiorities. Beginning with sex/gender discourse, it criticises all hierarchies underestimating women’s, the Third World countries’ and animals’ vitality to the life in the world.

In reaction to male domination, nature is the focus of the movement and anything which poses a threat to nature is to be eliminated for the sake of ecological 30

peace (Warren 2000: 37). In this philosophy, life is made up of a perfect and interrelated web in which there is no hierarchical system. Humanbeings are in no way superior to other non-living things. On the contrary they are the constituents of ecological system in the world. Accordingly, the body is quite important in the theory because men are the symbol of mind while everything else such as women, people of other races, animals and nature is related to body. Thus, ecofeminism shapes its arguments around restoring the vitality of body which is animalised, coloured, feminised and naturalised. This is why ecofeminism both contributes to and benefits from nature/science development and local/indigenous cultures. In the Western logos, men are justified to rule over women and nature. As a solution to the patriarchal problem, the ‘virtue ethics’ which works to convince people for good deeds dictates that only morally good people feel responsible towards nature, which moves them through secret psychological instinct. Another effective principle is the ‘land ethics’, which changes the position of homo-sapiens from the coloniser and the master to the servant and protector of nature. According to this, the land must be preserved with its integrity, biotic community and diversity. It also helps establishing close links with natural phenomena and members of nature like calling such indicators as “brother lion” and “Mother Earth”. Because the land is considered as blessed in the Leopoldian land ethics, indigenous culture is called forth to indicate there should be no material benefit from the lands which should be all free and harmonious as they are in nature (Warren 2000: 81, 82, 87). Leopoldian land ethics denotes the value of biodiversity and the preservation of ecological balance in nature and provides rich context for ecofeminist studies in terms of deep green ecological studies.

Hence, among the main arguments of ecofeminism are the attributed or natural relationship between women/nature and the importance of preserving the biological variety. Carolyn Merchant describes the women/nature situation clear enough by explaining the meanings of the obvious words and linking them in one theory. The word “ecology” derives from the Greek “oikos” which means “house”. Therefore, ecology is the science of the household, in other words, the Earth. Then, a connection between household and the Earth is provided by women, because they can keep both their houses and the planet well-preserved and balanced (Sandilands 1999: 4). Then, as for the unique integrity of the natural system, men, women, animals and every small bit of the 31

world should fulfill their functions without acquiring any idendification or replacement with another member of the nature. When the meanings of man, woman, nature and human are emptified and each comes to represent the other, there is nothing left except for “tabula rasa”. This creates a chaos and yet another type of hegemony: an artificial ecological world in which everything can replace the others. In this aspect, poststructuralism is not essential for this theory. Even Derida suggests that a tree cannot be thought apart from the nature because it is both the affecting and the affected in the ecosystem by absorbing and air and producing oxygen as a result. It eventually gets dissolved in the soil to nurture other plants as well as animals and the soil itself. This is a natural phenomenon to emphasise that men, women, animals and plants have their distinct vital roles in nature which cannot and should not be identical with anything else (Gaard 1993: 216). However, it is important not to encourage the patriarchy for pursuing domination on everything in nature, which shall take away all grounds for exploitation. So, the main point presented is that a peaceful unity and ecological understanding should bring about more radical change for the benefit of all living things on Earth.

3.2.1. The Oppression of Women and Nature Studying the past, present and future of the women’s and nature’s oppression which goes hand in hand, ecofeminism categorises this restriction in ten groups as; a) historical, b) conceptual, c) linguistic, d) symbolic and literary, e) spiritual/religious, f) epistemological, g) political, h) ethical, ı) empirical and j) socio-economic interconnections (Warren 2000: 21-37). To focus on these separate and interconnected states of oppression, substantial analyses shall be made next.

a) Historical Interconnection: Observing the destruction of nature, ecofeminists pinpoint that it is the patriarch, the ruling system of the which has caused the pitiful situation of nature at present. Because it created and presented the systems in the society and classified people in the first place millions of years ago, it gave rise to the representation of female stereotype in history.

b) Conceptual Relation: It is the conceptual structure of hierarchy in the world which produces mind/body, men/women, culture/nature and reason/emotion dualities 32

and consciously departs some concepts as the inferior and “the other”. Women are degraded like the nature itself for bearing similar procreating qualities by patriarchy.

c) Linguistic Connection: Sexist and gendered language defines women as the inferior and insignificant while representing men as the indispensable parts of human life. The language attributes high qualities and names to men whereas low and insignificant values are attached to women and nature. The biased language gives an excuse for ecofeminist arguments by naming women as chicks, foxes, serpents, birdminds et cetera and diminishing them to the animals’ position. The same language feminises animals, the forests, lands and other parts of nature. The forests are raped, the untouched lands are penetrated, the waters are contaminated and the world is called Mother Earth, while the mother is ironically violated. Hence, women are animalised and animals alongside nature are feminised by the male mind to equate them in the same inferiority. Language is only one of the phases of raping both women and Earth, penetrating and contaminating the pure lands by force (Berktay 1996: 74).

d) Symbolic and Literary Connection: It points out the images of women and the non-human nature significantly. The symbolic patterns between women and nature and a realistic patriarchal detachment from ecology mark this type of the oppression. In literature and many narrative modes, the males are at the forefront while women and nature follow them behind.

e) Spiritual and Religious Restriction: Destruction of nature for humanbeings and the inferiorisation and silencement of women originate from the dictation of religion and spiritual belief. Three great religions as well as minor ones demand the use of women and nature for the service of “mankind” and women’s abstraction from active productions. The religions are based on the fact that humanbeings are created above everything else which is regarded by the patriarchal power as justification for their domination over nature and women as the representatives and ancestors of “mankind” (Beklan 2005: 2, 3). Ecofeminism seeks for sympathy about feminine values and requires change and adaptation in the major and minor religions.

f) Epistomological Connection: It is about knowledge. Knowledge is produced by the male power. Therefore it is biased from within, which banishes the actual 33

knowledge and its beneficiaries from the center. Women are held away from knowledge production, therefore from highly intellectual field

g) Political Interconnection: Ecofeminism starts as an oppositional political discourse drawing attention to the bio-centered relations of men, women and nature as a threefold interconnection. Thus, it openly opposes the misogynist and capitalist activities. One side of women/nature interconnection is political because women are presented to have closer relations to nature by the male system, therefore forced to integrate with the natural.

h) Ethical Interconnection: Environmental ethics which is an environmentally friendly ethics and land ethics which preserves the purity of lands emerge as opponents to the Aristotlean and Baconian ethics of progression. It underlines the vitality of nature for the survival of humankind.

ı) Empirical relation: It is actually proved that women and nature are connected taking the ecological degradation and women’s oppression into account. Both their political standing and the spiritual sensibility show once again the deep relation between them and nature.

j) Socio-economic connection: The male-biased notion causes sociological crises in terms of women’s happiness and ecological serenity. It results in economical crashes in the long term as these patriarchal policies shall destroy the fertile lands, clean water sources and other ecological constituents. Hence, the world shall suffer oil, fuel and water shortage, while witnessing environmental disasters.

It is fair to say that ecofeminism responds the cynical attitude of the deep ecologists by combining feminism with essential sympathy towards nature and its future in the hands of men. It is a social analysis of environmental problems (Sandilands 1999: 136). It articulates one voice which encompasses several more and molds them into one rightful and universal cause for survival of humankind and nature hand in hand.

3.2.2. The Manstream Theory Ecofeminism rejects all types of distinctions and dualities such as culture/nature, separation of human/animal and self/other all of which are generated by the male 34

premise. In this context, everything pushed outward the center is marginalised, feminised or animalised. Dating back to the Enlightenment Period, a famous manstream theory is introduced which has already great influences on the manstream green theory. Because The Age of Reason brings about the idea that society evolves in a forward progression and human development is attained only through denial of social and natural constraints, the polarisation process is triggered instantly. It articulates the set of notions that some ideologies and policies demand the exploitation and destruction of nature and the environment by all means. Propagating the mechanical school of science, Bacon dischotomises male/female, objective/subjective and mind/emotions concepts and encourages men domination over women, animals and nature. Then, the meaning of production is equated to the material value of production. Therefore women’s eco- friendly cooperation is simply ignored as non-productive or unimportant. Women and nature are both epistemologically invisible and methodologically omitted. Then, an anthropocentric perspective prevails in daily and ecological life.

Besides, manstream theory stigmatises women and nature for some religious reasons. Christian creation myth is based on the seducement of Adam by Eve and their banishment from the Garden of Eden. Eating the forbidden fruit, they fall from Heaven to Earth, which is the point the suffering of humanbeings begin. Due to this myth, women are held responsible for men’s misery and the cause of everything “evil” as they are regarded evil by nature (Merchant 1996: 28). Further, nature is an extension of the female because the Earth is where humanbeings are forced to live after the Fall as a punishment. Therefore, it is quite symbolical that women and nature are both condemned to be the other and “the evil”.

According to the male premise, some principles are to be followed by the male members of a society (Gaard 1993: 24). 1. A polarisation of male/female archetypal images (femininity, masculinity) is required. 2. Man should claim a historical relationship between women and nature so that both of them are put into the patriarch’s service. 3. Men are represented as independent and authoritative creatures similar to mushrooms. They can handle the faculty of reason, transcendence and individualism. They can live everywhere without any or sisters. 35

4. Male values should be generalised and globalised. 5. Masculinity is above feminine and the natural. 3.2.3. The Feminine Principle Feminine principle is a manifestation marked with productivity, activity, diversity of form and perspectives and interconnection with all things on Earth, uniting humankind with nature and persuading them for leading a green, peaceful life. Emerging as a protest of the manstream theory and green theory, the feminine principle presents suggestions for interconnection and creation against the destruction and abstraction of nature. It is the base ground for ecofeminist theory because it depicts how women are dependent as well as influenced by nature while oppressed by the patriarch and likewise how nature is maldeveloped and harassed by the same hierarchical mentality. However, the death of feminine principle is concurrent with natural degradation which causes women’s pain eventually.

Displacament of women from production is originated from the same colonial mind in the Enlightenment Period, which results in the destruction of lands, water resources and forests. Originally feminine qualities like productivity, activity, diversity and creativity are later attributed to the males and the feminine values are turned into masculine values by the biased systems. Ecofeminism underlines the feminine principle and legitimises the female activity to protect natural integrity whereas it delegitimises the practices of patriarchal community. In the criticised male thought, whatever distrups the peace of environment and damage nature is called scientific, rational and necessary for the progression of humankind (Shiva 1989: 13, 16).

In the feminine aspect, women have great responsibility towards nature and to raise consciousness in society. Gottilieb reflects how grave the ecological problem is and invites women together with all humanbeings to save the planet in cooperation for the future generations.

“She said to me that the Earth is in trouble. . .the thrusting, aggressive, analytic, intellectual, building, making-it-happen energy has very much overbalanced the feminine, receptive, allowing, surrendering energy. . . what needs to happen is an uplifting and a balancing. . . but not only do women need to 36

become strong in this way; we all need to so this, men and women alike” ( 2004: 463). Accordingly, every constituent piece of nature has an interdependent relation to women. To begin with water is a woman concern, thus it is women’s duty to collect water in the southern hemisphere local areas. Therefore, when the water is contaminated, insanitary or removed from the indigenous land, women have no other choice but to walk for kilometres to find water for their sustenance. The water problem turns out to be more acute when water shortage is experienced because of the reductionist science changing the course of river banks, reversing the logic of rivers, streams and canals, which in the end causes flood or drought with a most optimistic prediction (Shiva 1989: 189). As for farming, it is the female farmers who grow most of the agricultural product in the Third World. Similarly, forests are also adored and protected by women for both economic and spiritual reasons. On the contrary, the capitalist western economics regards forests as the sources of money and replaces indigenous trees with monoculture vegetation, which destroys the balance of nature consequently.

All throughout centuries, women and nature have both been subject to male violence, harassment and rape. Even the infamous witch-burning sessions in Europe are linked with the patriarchal fear of women’s knowledge and power. In 1511, the Act of Parliament in England banishes women from the practice of medicine, healing and a close contact with nature, which threatens women for a possibility of being denounced as sorcerers or witches. As it is the constant patriarchal agenda to keep women in silence and nature in servitude, the destruction of knowledge and ecology results in four types of violence: a) violence against women, b) violence against nature, c) violence against the beneficiaries of knowledge and d) violence against knowledge (Ibid.: 17). That is to say, those groups desiring to possess power try to falsify the knowledge, exclude and marginalise the possibly dangerous groups like women and enslave them for the benefit of patriarch. When the suffering of women through centuries is taken into account in the ecofeminist reading, one of the most striking sign of violence and harassment is the Mestizo women in the Latin America. Their skin colur is the obvious symbol of rape and exploitation. The present mixed coloured people of Latin America are the descendants of “Dark Grandmothers” who are raped by white conquerors just 37

like the land possessed and infertilised by them. As an extension of this attitude, many philosophers and religious authorities underline the procreating characteristics of women and recognising the potential for women’s active participation in life, they imprison women into domestic life and cut off their relations with natural and productive life. In some parts of the world like India, women are thought to pollute the sea during their mensturation period. Men despise them for being unclean and keep them away from the sea during the hunting season even though they are as productive as the sea itself and their period is the pre-requisite of the childbearing process (Ruether 1996: 85).

Similarly, the knowledge is controlled and reversed by the patriarch and hence, a process of knowledge exclusion takes place. The process can be named threefold: a) Ontological ignorance of knowledge in which anything out of the central notion is instantly excluded or considered non-existent. In this respect, history characterises a reductionist, modern, patriarchal and progressive tradition because it has various distortions and gaps if dissected with an ecofeminist approach (Gaard 1993: 96). b) Epistomological reversion of knowledge because the actual version of knowledge is replaced by the discoursed one. c) Sociological ignorance of knowledge as anybody standing out of the norm are marginalised and denied of accessing and producing true knowledge.

The feminine principle boldly calls the Western “development” as synonymous with desertification and degradation of the target land. The human intervention which poses a threat to the ecological system is redefined by the new theorists as a destructive act. Feminine principle as a part of ecofeminism presents production against manifacture because it causes consciousness in women in that they realise the negative effects of capitalism and globalisation both in nature and in their bodies (Tamkoç 1994: 82). Waste materials and harmful substances released by factories and engines into nature and chemical fertilisers inoculated into natural products cause natural degradation and changes in women’s as well as men’s bodies in terms of fertility and hormone system.

In this theory, women are restored to their position which is in nature because they already produce and take active parts in life both by procreating new generations 38

and contributing to the natural flow of life. They are the only ones who can relieve the disturbed, violated Terra Mater, Earth in the shape of Mother, or in other words, Gaia, the Mother Earth (Shiva 1989: 30). Women are capable of conceiving that is why they feel sympathy to nature with which they have common characteristics. They are life- givers, nurturers and cooperators of nature. They grow life in their bodies and so does the Earth. They have become the first producers of societies due to their sacred connection with nature. Procreating new lives and pruductivity ascended women to a priviliged position in the first human civilisations. Their bodies are in perfect harmony with the cycles of the moon and the tides of the sea. So, the earliest image of woman appears as the Goddess, the source of life (Ruether 1993: 4).

Consequently, the feminine principle uncovers the secret relation between women and nature while recalling the importance of benefiting from this connection for the survival of Earth and the humanbeings. Nonetheless, it does not necessarily isolate women from men or dream for a world without men. On the contrary, the feminine principle which is the laying ground of ecofeminism recites how it is to be a woman, which includes her relationship to nature alongside men. Because men and women are the two vital parts of the procreation, their emotional and biological reconciliation is highly required. Hence, the ecofeminist theory defies various arguments by liberating both women and men in the feminine context as men have been molded around certain norms for centuries. Also it is not certainly known if all men voluntarily take part in the misogynist and anti-environmental attitudes (Ruether 1996: 53). This is how ecofeminism encourages them to have their life without any oppression.

3.2.4. Ecofeminist Principles As a theory, movement and philosophy, ecofeminism has certain principles and basic characteristics clarifying and justifying the cause of the movement (Gaard 1993: 20). There are 9 rules encouraging involvement into a feminist green philosophy in the society. 1. Fundamental social transformation is indispensable to the theory. The change of values and revolution in the systems are quite necessary. 2. In nature, everything is vital, therefore an ecological awareness is raised to promote social change. 39

3. A bio-centred view should be followed instead of the western antropocentric ones to enable sympathy towards all kinds of life in nature. 4. Humanbeings should serve for nature, not vice versa. They should preserve the natural diversity and ecological balance. 5. An ethic-based mutual respect should be fostered both as a philosophy and policy. 6. Dualities such as male/female or culture/nature should be abolished so as not to declare one dominant part above others. 7. The process of change should be visible in daily life as to ascertain that the theory has been put into practice. 8. Reposition of male and female hierarchy is important because ‘Personal is political’. 9. The power and authority of the patriarchy should be distributed equally in the society so that oppression and exploitation can be prevented in advance.

3.3. THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ECOFEMINISM

Ecofeminism is a conceptual framework which suggests certain ethics and courses of action and motivates people for participating in social as well as environmental movement of consciousness. Starting as a subdivision of feminism and borrowing from ecology, socialism, Marxism and philosophy, it can be observed in the history even in the second wave of feminism, which indicates that ecofeminism has a rooted context. Because the degradation of nature is parallel with the history of colonisation which starts as early as the 12th century and women’s oppression becomes a common characterics of the societies, ecofeminism is embedded within all colonial and misogynist activities as a reaction to all sorts of constraints.

Ecofeminism emerges as a movement in the 1970s but the theory comes out around 1990s. The first incident calling forth ecological awareness of women in the world is the Chipko Movement. Preceding the UN Decade of Women, the Stockholm Environment Conference and 1980 Women’s Pentagon Actions (WPA), Chipko 1 is the legendary story of a small group of Indian women. In 1974, twenty-seven women in

1 Chipko: means “to embrace” in Indian language.

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Reni, Northern India protest the tree cutting/destruction. They hug the khejri trees for weeks and months to protect them and so the Chipko Movement takes place in history (Gaard 1993: 5-7). These local women save 12.000 trees from felling and announce the commercial disturbance of ecological system to the whole world due to the cutting of trees and replacing the indigenous forests with monoculture plants and trees. They underline such environmental issues as indispensable parts of women’s lives and the vitality of ecological integrity banishing human interference, which turns out to be a universal ecofeminist event in a short while. These women are quite determined to protect the nature even at the cost of their own lives. They are so protective of the forests as it is the direct source they benefit to run their houses and are dependent on tree products to live. Trees are synonymous with food, money, fuel, home products (herbal, medical and wooden material) and provender. They bear great importance for these Indian women because they know each tree and even the smallest parts of nature closely, while men display an ignorant attitude. That is why women show great reaction to the cutting of trees which are loved like their children. Shiva recites that during their resistance against the men cutting tress, they sing a song which later becomes their slogan including deep ecological morality.

“What do the forests bear? Soil, water and pure air. Soil, water and pure air Sustain the Earth and all she bears” (1989: 77). Similar to Chipko, another protest takes place in Kenya around 1970s. African women plant trees and revive the soil in the degraded fields of Kenya in this protest named as the Green Belt Movement. Under Wangari Mathai’s guidance, they plant millions of trees in seventeen years. Even though it does not attract much interest like Chipko, it is still notable for initiating and contributing to an ecofeminist movement in the world. Therefore, defeating the imperial mind even temporarily, the Chipko women and other minor incidents are the perfect examples to prove that humanbeings and women can attain their rightful causes and reject restrictions through non-violent mediums. 41

To dwell on the ecofeminist history, it is right to mention Françoise d’Eaubonne as the early practitioner of ecofeminism. Even if the ecofeminist theory settles only after the 1980s, French writer d’Eaubonne is considered to provide the theoretical basis for ecofeminism around 1970s. She believes that the feminine Earth can be verdant for everybody again. In her ecologically feminist work, she coins the word ecoféminisme and entitles the book as such. For this reason, she is cited as the founder of the movement (Gaard and Murphy 1998: 15, 19). She frames ecoféminisme as an activism and ideology both of which become popular simultaneously all around the world. She believes that while taking active parts in nuclear power protests and other environmental movements, the ecofeminists actually demand all for the well-being of nature, ecosystem, animals, vegetation, women, men and children. So, opening the way for future ecofeminist movement, she suggests that if their demands were satisfied, there would be no problems in the world. Later in the 1980s, the number of ecofeminist writings increases and the controversial relation between women/nature is distinctly handled by writers from different fields. Ynestra King writes “The Women and Life On Earth” (Sturgeon 1997: 25). In 1983, ecofeminism is discussed as a way to offer some solutions to environmental degradation and the word ecofeminism is used in its actual meaning in 1987. Towards the end of the 1980s, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Rosemary Radford Ruether and several more produce many works on ecofeminism. Basing their claims on scientific data, they reflect the pitiful situation, maldevelopment and suffering of nature alongside women in the Third World Countries and other parts of the world. In the 1990s, the movement receives even more interest what with the rise of the ecological collapse worldwide. Then, it continues to arouse arguments among writers/members of various different fields such as ecology, feminism, Marxism, socialism, postcolonialism et cetera.

Hence, the ecofeminist theory and its movement persist drawing attention up to date and urge people towards intuitive and empathic thinking about nature and women altogether as the suppressed incognitos of societies. Because preserving the ecological balance and taking green precautions have been included in the agenda of the developed countries since Kyoto Protocol (1997), such matters bear much more significance now than they did in the past. The human race is getting more anxious each day for their lives with the changing climate and ecological disasters. Accordingly, the movement 42

shall be addressed again for possible solutions about environmental and ecological crises in the future because the present state of the world does not seem so promising right now.

3.4. ECOFEMINISM AS A SUBDIVISION OF OTHER THEORIES Originated from other theories and extending the borders of these theories with an ecological feminist attitude, ecofeminism becomes potentially a melting pot for radical movements. It not only takes the feminist, ecological and postcolonial theories into the core of its main argument but also embodies philosophical, Marxist and socialist intuition. This is the reason why it is called to be made up of contradictory pieces and to lack an infrastructure as a movement (Sturgeon 1997: 19).

At the outset, it is asserted that ecofeminism grows out of several feminism(s) like , and . However, it is quite visible that even though ecofeminism borrows heavily from feminism, there are still some disagreements along with the common grounds between these theories. That is to explain that radical and liberal feminists deny at times to be associated with nature or any feminine relation to nature which they have mostly despised in their movements. They put a distance between feminist thought and natural connotations only to refute the discoursed women/nature interconnection (Warren 2000: 21). Furthermore, ecofeminism focuses on mutual problems of both women and nature while feminism examines women’s problems mostly. In this respect, feminism is a closed field whereas ecofeminism is much of a universal theory embracing countless fields and beings. To move on, ecofeminism is in different tunes with the Liberalist and Leftist green/ecological theories because they do not take gender/sex issues into account while demanding a change in the society. They offer reason, education and spirituality for ecological and environmental problems, which results in partial success or no success at all.

As for the shared or joint propagandas, ecofeminism develops a kind of sisterhood and solidarity between all women and nature by inviting the previously feminist cycles into the new cause. It might be explained as feminist contribution in a universal level which takes local situations into consideration. From a Marxist feminist perspective, the cultural-symbolic patterns linking women and nature are parts of an 43

ideological superstructure by which the system of economic and legal domination of women, land and animals is justified and presented “natural” and inevitable within the total patriarchal cosmovision (Ruether 1996: 3). Apart from this, ecofeminism makes a combination of feminism with native/indigenous/local perspectives in the body of the movement and becomes a sibling connection between two theories because it problematises issues common to both and rises against all dominations, which eventually marks it as a postcolonial theory. Also because ecofeminism is not limited to white women or men, it is declared to be a universal movement and thus, an anti-racist theory. Then, ecofeminism benefits from science and technology for field research and the credibility of arguments.

Ecofeminism is thus an amalgam of different theories, thoughts, activisms and protests which turn it into an encompassing movement at the end. As the world gets more and more exploited, the ecofeminist need to provide empathy and convince people for ecological consciousness will be more acute. It will possibly move ecofeminism to include new perspectives borrowed from some other theories as well as practices and extend the frame of ecofeminism even more.

3.5. IMPORTANT REPRESENTATIVES OF ECOFEMINISM Principally, ecofeminism is a rather progressive movement as well as theory which has been around in the world history since the 1970s. Thanks to the theoretical contributions of François d’Eaubonne and the term ecoféminisme she introduces, ecofeminism embodies the general form it has taken up to date. Therefore, it is right to recall this theoretician and other writers who have had innovations for the ecofeminist cause and popularised the movement. Among the famous ecofeminists are Vandana Shiva, Greta Claire Gaard, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Maria Mies and Susan Griffin.

François d’Eaubonne, who was born in 1920, calls upon women to initiate ecological revolution by raising green consciousness in the society. She demands a world in which humans can weave beneficial relationships with nature by abolishing the discoursed manstream theory and cutting all strings with the patriarchal mentality. She introduces the term “ecoféminisme” or “écologie féminisme” in her book Le féminisme ou la Mort. Due to the political atmosphere of her time, she grows more radical and 44

feminist in years. She has a revolutionary life and shows great influence on such writers as Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre in the 20th century.

Then, Vandana Shiva, who is a scientist, environmentalist, writer and ecofeminist, has great works defending and propagating the movement initially in India along with some Third World countries and then the whole world. She is a scientific committee member in many organisations like International Forum on Globalization. She gives much importance to the ecological problems of the world and takes a major role in the universal ecofeminist issues. She indicates that the integrity, sustainability and balance of nature can be preserved through women’s healing abilities and their efforts to awaken ecological consciousness on Earth. She advocates the idea that a female ruling system instead of the patriarch can fix all problems at once. She emphasises the vitality of biodiversity and farmers’ problem in India and generalises it to the whole parts of the world. As the founder of the organisation ‘Diverse Women for Diversity’, she articulates that female production is considered “non-production” simply because it has not much capital value, which has caused the collapse of the ecological balance at the end (Saner 2011). Hence, she defines feminism and ecology as inseperable for the future of humanbeings alongside the world.

Moreover, Greta Claire Gaard is an ecofeminist writer and scholar. Her books are cited widely for ecofeminism and ecocriticism. She has ecofeminist works discussing the ecological problem and animal freedom, vegetation and queer theory altogether, which is quite a novel approach in the field. She is a professor of English in the University of Wisconsin. She applies ecofeminism to ecocriticism and ecocomposition, therefore practising the theory in terms of literary criticism. She is the one who introduces a new perspective into ecofeminism by utilising the close reading of the literary texts with an ecofeminist insight. She gives equal importance to women’s problem and that of animals, vegetation and the nature.

As for Rosemary Radford Ruether, she is orginally an American writer and theologian who has deep concern in ecology and feminism. She makes combinations of ecofeminism and religions in her studies, which significantly reflects women’s unfair situation and inferiorisation which goes hand in hand with nature’s situation. 45

Maria Mies, who is a feminist writer and professor of Sociology, has several books about ecological feminism and the Third World problems. She establishes the Women and Development (WED) programme in . She has taken active part in women’s movement since the 1960s and puts forth distinct ideas on methodology and the economical states of countries. She criticises the modern systems of economics and value systems because they are both manipulated by patriarchal mentality. History is directed by men and science is constrainted by patriarchal goals that is why Mies fights for a change in the society against the injustice and discrimination.

Finally, Susan Griffin appears as an ecofeminist writer with her eco-influenced works and practices. Because she is a feminist author and has concerns for the environment, she builds the links between women and ecology and recognises the key importance of women’s responsibility towards nature and the future of humankind. According to her, the diminishment of women and the destruction of nature are both the results of binary opposition reinforced by the patriarch to justify their dominance. That is the reason why Griffin pens declarative lines to make her ecofeminist points clear.

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PART FOUR

THE CLEFT AS AN ECOFEMINIST NOVEL

In the last part of the study, the main concern will be on Doris Lessing’s The Cleft in terms of ecofeminism. It is an anti-traditional, ecofeminist and additionally a new historicist novel by making up a fresh new story of creation favouring the feminine side and challenging against the male dogma, tradition along with history. Because it is an ecofeminist work which constitutes the major essence of this study, it shall be analysed in an eco/feminist perspective first by separating the feminine and the masculine sides through the feminine principle and manstream theory of ecofeminism, yet then reconciliating them once more in the pot of ecofeminism as males and females for the continuation of a harmonious life on Earth. Accordingly, the main principles of ecofeminism will be applied during the dissection of the novel and a green as well as peaceful resolution shall be made in reference to the novel transmitting influential messages to the humanity reading it.

Primarily, presenting a general outline of the novel should be essential to the study because ecofeminist qualities are embedded in the plot and narration. The Cleft is a work “recreating” the traditional creation myth of the humankind. In the main story, it is argued that it was the women who came to being on Earth. These women who are named Clefts after the rock they have settled their lives around lead an eco-friendly existence on an island. Theirs is a society of solely females which has a monotonous cycle of life giving birth always to baby . Nevertheless, the routine is interrupted when one of the Clefts conceive a baby boy and gives birth to him. The small community of Clefts are shocked and scared upon the sight of the baby boy. They get rid of this baby and the following male babies instantly as soon as they are born. However, this is certainly not the best solution for their problems as the male babies keep coming. They leave the babies on a rock to be taken by the eagles as preys or they just throw the babies into the sea and think they have cleared their female society from the monsters which are equipped with “… all bumps and lumps and the thing like a pipe which is sometimes like a sea squirt” (Lessing 2007: 12). Nevertheless, the baby boys manage to survive thanks to the eagles and some other animals like does on the other side of the island and they have become grown men somehow. Later on, both parts get 47

aware of one another and the real adventure begins with this acknowledgment. The monsters or in other words, the Squirts are both repelled and attracted to the Clefts. However they follow their masculine instinct, which eventually leads them to kill one of the Clefts as a result of rape. In the following weeks, a Cleft named Maire and then another called Astre decide to visit the men, which leads to pregnancy. They continue meeting the Squirts, to the enjoyment of both parts and give birth to real “human” babies after several months. The new babies and their extraordinary awakenness raise suspicion among the old Clefts and the young ones alike. The old ones plan a ruthless plot for the Squirts on the other part of the island and the two Clefts siding with them along with their babies. Still, with collaboration of the Squirts and the conscience of many young Clefts, the plot is avoided and the old ones are wiped out of existence by the joint efforts of both parts. At that point, a healthy relationship of men/women is initiated and the severed connections are repaired after years of loneliness and segregation. Then, many years later, the descendants of this united community continue living on this island although on two separate worlds. This time there are two leaders of the societies. Maronna is the Clefts’ leader while Horsa is the Squirts’ leader. The two are related to each other like a couple despite the absence of the concept “couple”. Maronna is a motherly figure around her thirties whereas Horsa is a young man around his twenties. They always disagree and get angry with one another, just like the other male and female members of their community, which underlines the apparent differences between two sexes. Females are excessively concerned about the safety of children for whom they have spent so much time and energy during infancy and childhood, whereas males acting so arrogant about child care find the female attitude too unnecessary and exaggerated. Towards the end of the novel, Horsa gets exhausted of Maronna’s bossy behaviours and decides to take off with other men and some young Clefts. He sets upon an expedition towards the other parts of the sea with an urge to discover new lands. Yet, Maronna learns about his discreet plan and follows him to warn him about the recklessness of his plan reminding the risk of losing children and women on the way. But, he ridicules her excessive concern and leaves her behind with a mocking attitude again. All the same, he is left in a miserable state at the end of his expedition, lost many children to the dangerous nature and forfeited the faith of his group as a leader. Recognising his great defeat, he makes his mind to go back to the 48

Cleft Island and seek sympathy from Maronna. They wander around the forests for days and weeks because they lack the natural incentive to follow the paths of nature. This or that way, they are able to reach the Cleft eventually where a spectacular reconciliation takes place between the Clefts and the Squirts with mutual love and compassion. The women are full of sorrow upon learning about the death of their children during the expedition and blame the men for their imprudence. However, this time men take the blame without any complaint. At that instant, Maronna and Horsa feel for each other, bound with pain and sorrow, and cuddle together in male and female compassion. This is the marking point in this fantastic history of mankind because they form a peaceful society with mutual sympathy, harmony and concern for ecology.

In the further analysis of the novel, the narration will be studied within the concepts of time, place and narrative style. Although The Cleft does not appear to be an ordinary framed novel, it recites the main story in an amazingly anonymous manner giving the general history of humankind. The main story of the novel, or in other words, the plot takes place in the prehistoric times and recites the creation of human beings on Earth. The Roman narrator guesses that the documents he has kept so far belong to much earlier times, implying the prehistoric roots of the main story. Still, there is no certain date that is referred throughout the novel. It is such an early incident that the females try to preserve it through Memories, the protectors of the oral female history (136). Similarly, the events happen in an anonymous piece of land, of which the only thing known is that it is an island where there is no much cold during the year. The narrator speculates about the place on his own and asks if it is in Greece or Italy, implying the relation between the first Cleft/Squirt combined togetherness and the Roman people (171). However, he is only guessing about the setting of the plot.

Then on, the narrative style of the novel does not have so many ups and downs. Therefore, the narration in the novel emerges to be linear. The Clefts have a quite monotonous life and the Squirts establish their lives on a routine. The main story starts with the first females and ends with the happy reconciliation of the females and males. This is the reason why it moves diachronically only with the exception of the Roman narrator who makes comments on the developments in the story and adds personal comments. There are some tension points as the emergence of the Noise which triggers chaos and fear among people and destroys the nature. Another tense incident can be the 49

plot of the old Clefts and the moment they want to cast down the Squirts to the heart of the rock Cleft. If the climax of the narration is to be called forth, it is certainly the explosion of The Cleft as a volcano and threatening the people’s lives. The males struggle to save their companions’ and children’ lives and the effort creates worry and pity in the reader. Yet, they fortunately succeed to save them in time and the novel ends happily leaving a promising future for next generations.

4.1. THE FEMININE PRINCIPLE IN THE NOVEL

Posited among the main arguments of the ecofeminist movement and theory, the feminine principle dwells on the critical situation of the ecology and environment alongside the pitiful situation of women in relation to the nature. It protests against “development” suggested by the Western philosophy because it is identical with the destruction of nature and maldevelopment (Shiva 1989: 30). Further, it is the propagator of women’s creative and productive qualities and the close contact with nature acting as the negotiators between humanbeings and nature. Therefore, the role of women in society and nature displays quite a vital role for the continuity of life on Earth both by procreating and protecting life on Earth.

4.1.1. Female Body and Anonymity

When The Cleft is taken into account via the feminine principle, there are numerous parts in the novel pointing out ecofeminism. Principally women’s body has a close relation and resemblance to the nature and in accordance with the changes in nature (Ruether 1996: 4). At the beginning of the novel, the author pinpoints the direct association between women’s period and the cycles of the moon along with the red flowers shedding a kind of red liquid during obvious times of the month. These flowers grow inside the Cleft which is the source of life and the meaning of existence for the Clefts and let their liquid out once a month which signals the beginning of women’s mensturation period. The women adore the Cleft and feel responsible for cutting the red flowers inside the Cleft so that their own period can start. Kept clean of the saplings and bushes thanks to women’s efforts, the Cleft is the rock which has a clean cut deep hole down displaying great similarity to the female genitalia (Lessing 2007: 9). The Clefts’ bodies are able to conceive babies by their interconnection with nature and can create a society of women. They are evermore naked and in close contact with nature. They 50

spend most of their days swimming in the sea and observing the nature, at night they watch the moon. So, according to Maire’s account of the story, there is no accurate explanation about the origin of women’s pregnancy. It is either the sea and a sea animal or the moon, however it is not absolute. They become the mothers of both women and men, therefore of all humankind, which strikes their vitality for life creation (11, 16). They grow life in their wombs similar to the nature which is always so fruitful and sacrificing. The Clefts’ breasts are all the time full of milk and ready to feed the babies no matter if it is their own baby, or another Cleft’s, just like the Mother Earth providing food, medicine, cure, shelter and life to all humanbeings, animals and plants (Shiva 1989: 30). In the beginning, they are afraid of the baby boys and they do as their authority, the Old Ones bid, which is to get rid of them. However, after they mate and form a society with the Squirts, they begin nurturing baby boys as well as the girls. Yet, all mothers are responsible for all babies in this community, as there is no concept of property among women yet. In the following months, more and more Clefts start feeding the babies because the infants’ numbers are increasing.

The Old Ones prohibit the young Clefts from meeting the Squirts. However, the nature finds its way and they are impregnated by men. Once the babies are born, the male ones are momentarily eliminated by the Old Ones and attempted to be killed. However, the young mothers protect the male babies and sacrifice themselves by getting to the other side of the island to feed all baby boys who need mother’s milk. Because the doe which has been a substitute mother for all males has grown too old to feed the babies and there is no other animal letting the babies feed from her, the adult Squirts are desperate until the Clefts give them maternal support. Meanwhile the men who have never witnessed such an incident are fascinated by the sight of a mother breastfeeding the baby (94, 95). Hence, the figure of “all nurturing mother” emerges in the the society through this development.

The Cleft women are called by the female accounter of the novel, Maire, as the ancestors of “mankind” and they are an anonymous group with no individual names or family names, only categorised by their tasks, which means they have no intention of popularity or ambition of power as contrary to the discursive patriarch (Introduction). There are such certain groups among the Clefts divided according to their responsibilities as the Cleft Watchers, Fish Catchers, Net Makers, Fish Skin Curers and 51

the Seaweed Collectors. They have such a simple and harmless life embraced all by nature (10, 11). The nature turns the Clefts into mothers for both girls and boys and the Squirts into fathers after the process of mating through which the cycle of life which is filled with vital variety (88). By the time Maire gives birth to the first baby of humanity, she takes the baby to her father’s island a short while later, which is to the amazement of the Squirts as they realise the facial resemblance between the father and the baby. The Monsters are made aware of their paternal qualities when the father grows protective and affectionate towards the baby, which is a milestone incident in the history of humanity as the concrete system of family. Therefore, the female/male mating produces life on Earth and the creativity of both sides are combined by the laws of nature (98).

4.1.2. The Concept of Violence and Crime

Because societies are most certainly associated with good acts as well as the evil purposes, violence is unfortunately one of the determining qualities of “being human”, yet the definition of human is often limited to the “man” due to the increasing authority of the patriarch within different areas of life in the world. Men have always desired to set domination on women along with nature as the weak sides and tried to destroy them through centuries via literal and discursive violence including the destruction and transformation of knowledge (Shiva 1989: 17). Likewise, the society in the The Cleft becomes a scene of violence for the Clefts and the Squirts. It is an indispensable part of the society as seen first in the case of the male babies. The Clefts are ruled by the old ones who are the only authority in their community and bear similar characteristics with the male authority in that they propagate violence when the first baby boy is born. Because the male babies depict “the other” among the female society, the old ones get frightened and wrathful because of the babies and want to kill or destroy them at the first sight. This is the general mentality of the patriarch and the old Clefts represent the patriarch among the Clefts. They liken these babies to the sea squirts because of their genitals and think they are born defective or crippled. Thus, they command the young women to leave baby boys to their death on the cliff or throw them into the sea implying it is for the well-being of their society (18, 19, 83). As more babies are born to the women, the old ones grow more violent and try experiments on the babies by examining their bodies and observing the grown males secretly from a distance. The young ones 52

respect the old Clefts’ words and do as they desire. So, they realise that the male nipples have no function and their bodies are covered with lumps and swollen flesh. What scares and arouses curiosity among them most is the male genitals which they call “squirt” (32). Then, they experiment on a few baby boys and mutilate them guessing they could be normal without a squirt. Yet, the babies cannot survive the incident. Then the Clefts fight with the eagles protecting and carrying the children to the other males (28). Afterwards, the young Clefts side with the Monsters and protect the newborn babies from experimentation and death, which awakens the old Clefts’ wrath. They crave to take the men’s lives.

On the other side, the males called “Monsters” or “Squirts” commit a crime when they desire the women. After days of peeking the Clefts who walk around naked, they are directed by unknown instincts and kidnap a young Cleft. All of them rape her one by one, which eventually kills her. This marks the first rape in the history of the humankind and one of the first crimes alongside the old Cleft’s previous violence. Seeing a dead person for the first time, they dispose her body into the river clumsily which flows by the forest they inhabit. They have followed their passions and killed her unknowingly. Later on, the same males are plotted to death by the old ones. They are lured into endless pit in the Cleft, where the Clefts make monthly sacrifices by throwing a Cleft inside. The void inside the Cleft fumes deadly gases while the Cleft itself embodies a deep hole both of which can easily kill anyone. So, the men are cheated by the attractive girls and brought to the Cleft where they will either be poisoned or be pushed down to smash in the rock (126, 127). They step in the cave trusting the women. Just as they are about to die by poisoning that Maire interferes to save the men. Thus, other women support her for her cause and side with the men against the savage old ones. Leaving the Cleft altogether with no dead, the two groups stare one another in relief when the old ones attack the men. Just then, a Squirt who was about to die a moment ago by poisoning crushes the head of an old Cleft and adds to the list of violence (129). Afterwards, the society is purified of the dictation of the old ones in an indefinite way, which again contains connotations of violence and destruction.

Thus situated, it is quite obvious in the main story of the novel that the patriarchal mind carrying out destruction and inciting violence are deliberately eliminated at the course of the events, when especially the old ones are taken into account as the origin of 53

evil and fierceness in the Island Cleft. Therefore, the novel once again reminds the amicable side of the ecofeminist feminine principle and satirises all acts of violence and harassment committed by either men or women. But because most men and women in The Cleft have not been discoursed or biased by the power relationships at the beginning, it is the old ones living for countless years who are the first practitioners and creators of the havoc among the two groups of people. At the end, it is them again who are destroyed by the system of natural flow which continues its way with the reunification of men and women as partners and the collaborators of nature.

4.1.3. Depiction of the Patriarchal Discourse

Continuing with the discursive methods of the patriarchal world, knowledge transformation is a frequently encountered practice. When knowledge is the matter of question, it instantly calls out for philosophy, history and culture of a society into mind. All of these and many more are constituted by the authoritative male mentality which bends, adapts and submerges the truth into their purposes commanding the ignoration and degradation of women and nature alike. As Gaard points out, the threefold process of knowledge transformation takes place in the social life almost naturally because the real “natural” has already been silenced or morphosed (Gaard 1993: 96, 97). To begin with, in The Cleft, there are two accounts reciting the marginal version of the Biblical creation myth. One of them is produced by Maire as the mouthpiece of the female society and the second account is by the old Roman historian who lives in the period of Nero. Indeed, Maire’s account is presented embedded within the historian’s narration. At this point, what invites attention is the preservation alongside the presentation of their narrations. At first, Maire speaks as a female member of a female society and gives information about the good as well as the evil qualities of her people. However, she mostly has a defensive tone because she knows that the male history stigmatises and undermines female accounts (9, 10). She is a ‘Memory’ of the female society who is thus called as the protector and mouthpiece of the oral female history. The “oral” aspect of the feminine history draws several connotations because it implies the purity, naturality and harmony of a society which is not yet corrupted by culture or the already- biased written history. It reminds the traditions, customs, literature and culture of the indigenous people of Africa, America and Asia where so called “primitive” societies are forcedly turned into slaves and ruled by their superiors who have the “written” literature 54

and history. As the narration moves on, Maire gives more details about the Clefts and mentions once more that this story has never been heard because it was ignored and underestimated by the canonised history as part of the knowledge transformation (23). Then, the Roman historian tells the story from a male perspective and openly expresses that the original myth of creation is longer and a lot more different than the popular account, however the patriarchal creation myth is shorter, yet has so much importance that it is turned almost into a taboo in the society which is hardly challangeable (21). He reflects the background of the male account of history, yet he sides with the Clefts in the original story of creation most of the time as an outstanding historian figure of the patriarchal system. He proves the discursive quality of knowledge and history alike when he mentions the “suppression of truth” at the beginning of his narration (24). Then, he boldly explains the process of this transformation which covers the destruction and “locking up” of the original knowledge and takes sides with the “feminine” version of history:

“The method used by the females, the careful repetition, word by word, and then the handing down to the next generation, every word compared and checked, by a method of parallel Lines of Memories is a very efficient preserver of history… You would be surprised at the mass of material in our – I jokingly called them prisons. Yes, this, I am afraid is the joke used by us official warders of the forbidden truth” (26).

So, the female knowledge goes under harsh restrictions as one part of the diminished marginal history and even kept under control for centuries so that it should be considered epistomologically non-existent and thus another history can be created by the central authority without any obstacles. In the last phase of knowledge procession, those who benefit from the hidden knowledge are destroyed or stigmatised which turns them into marginals and peripheries so away from producing or propagating knowledge. The Roman historian later adds to his account whilst he uncovers the creation stories produced by male history as that the males came into being when the eagles’ eggs hatched. It is so much easier for the male society to accept that they are the descendants of such animals like eagles or deer, though not of females because it diminishes their dignity (142-3). 55

Moreover, the notion of “development” which is a Western production has a deep impact both on both women and nature in the novel. It requires constant progression even at the cost of distrupting the natural system and enslaving women in suffering. Beginning with the emergence of civilisation as indicated by the Roman narrator, men have been brought up in patriarchal mentality which dictates them to achieve knowledge and develop the society by neglecting and crushing nature and the weak groups from which they have come into existence in the first place. Principalised in the Enlightenment Period, the matter of development has generally been among the main issues on the patriarchal agenda (Gaard 1993: 23, 24). Likewise, the male group in The Cleft, the Squirts are mostly interested in finding other lands and innovating to progression. They make use of nature and every part of it including the land, animals, topography and women. They are obsessed with populating the Earth, expanding their lands and fighting against the beasts of nature. The most obvious instance of the male idea of progression is Horsa’s “expedition” which encourages colonisation of the land and abstraction from women along with nature. The men following Horsa deliberately isolate themselves from women and nature apart from the basic needs. They are exhausted by women’s needs, feelings and psychology. However they are dependent on them due to their instincts that mould them into selfish, discoursed beings in the process (145-6). The coloniser mind is reflected through Horsa and some other members of the Squirts, nevertheless it is destroyed all the same when the expedition is interrupted by Horsa’s ambition and the destructive forces of nature. At the end, the ones seeking development and progression are obliged to go back to their original island with unrealised dreams and dissatisfied pursuits.

On the other side, the Clefts are originally peaceful humanbeings leading a life in slow motion spending their time by lying on the beach under the sun or otherwise sleeping. They have always been slow until they realise the threat: The males. They have grown plump for being involved in such a slow life style. Yet, they are the vital part of the Mother Nature, fed and caressed by her (24). After they have met the Squirts, they have something to cling on and keep alert all the time for their safety. It is a kind of transformation for them both physically and characteristically as they learn how to run or accomplish similar activities along with adopting keener senses and awareness towards the dangers in life. One day, they observe what they call the breast fish during 56

its copulation process and they understand the whole concept of male and female mating (20). Also, once they are succumbed into sexual with the Monsters, they discover their bodily and personal differences with the males. After a long while, they once again come to know their procreating abilities by bearing real human children this time. Further, it is them who feed the babies and contribute to the “human” side of the natural flow apart from their protective attitude towards the Nature itself. Among the first society of the Clefts, it is Astre who starts the tradition of feeding baby boys along with girls. This brings about a great change of attitude among women as they recognise the great folly of the old women rationalising the torture and destruction of baby males (70). The Clefts are nature-friendly since the moment they are created because they are the children of nature who are so bound to it by gratefulness. By the time the old ones declare war on the males, young females bond together against the ruthless Old Shes and try to protect men as parts of nature and their companions (22-3). They safeguard both the babies they have conceived by the Monsters and all other males effectuating a threat to the old ones. Maire and Astre, the first women initiators of the combined life, feel so insecure with their “human” children that they keep guard during the night against the assaults of other Clefts brainwashed by the old. Eventually, they are trapped among their friends and obliged to run to the males’ forest where they establish closer relationships with the fathers of their children which can be called as the first instance of a ‘family’. Maire’s daughter looks exactly like her father as the father realises when he studies their faces by illumination of the river water (98-9). The new members of the two societies are whole persons, not halves like their mothers and fathers, which bears great ecofeminist propaganda as it requires the togetherness of women and men to procreate life and contribute to natural system (85). Thus emerges the first goddesses of humankind symbolising fertility and nurturing part of nature. Because Maire and Astre are the first of their kind to copulate with men, founding the ground for future initiation and they sacrifice their lives for the well-being of their babies and the males, they are depicted by the historian as goddesses among the poular ones like Diana and Artemis. They are known as the descendants of The Cleft which is a deity flowing red liquid like a woman flowing life (123). Maire risks her life and defends the weak when the old shes turn towards her and the others siding with males, she rises against them courageously and displays a good example for the confused girls. This is just one of the several 57

reasons why she and Astre survive in the female history as the first instances of goddesses (117-8).

In the final argument of this part, another constituent of the feminine principle which is the oppression of women and nature will be the subject matter. Male domination and inferiorisation of women alongside nature prevail in the majority of the novel. The Clefts are the first humanbeings, the procreators and mothers on Earth. They teach the men to speak in adult language which gives way to their infant tongue and socialises them in a proper life. They provide the men with cooking, cleaning and physical relationship. Still, the men take over their power once they are equipped with adult manners and language which is the clear evidence of linguistic oppression. Then on, they conceptually create such dualities like men/women and culture/nature which again demands the passivity of the second groups (Warren 2000: 26-8). They imprison women in certain words in their language like body, flesh, beauty, pregnancy, food, cleaning et cetera. They are with women only when they require them to satisfy their needs or for the care of the infants. Over time, they begin to force women to obey their commands and mate with as many women as they like because it is so noteworthy to increase their population on the island (34-5). They make use of women’s bodies in each way. However, they are sickened of women’s thoughts and desires when they spend some time with women. That is the main reason why they separate their lives and meet women only during the ‘Feast’ periods which contains highly physical involvement of both parts.

The Squirts handle the right of producing or taking advantage of knowledge because important decisions about the group are mostly made by the men, that shows the epistemological oppression of women. Besides, women and nature are symbolically regarded as “one” for their resemblance and treated as such, in a carefree and insensitive manner by the males (Warren 2000: 29, 33). They are exhausted by women’s excessive sensuality about the children’s safety and care. Because they are not responsible for baby boys until they are seven, they cannot understand women’s feelings making fun of the worried mothers (141). They like to be all by themselves as men because they feel like aliens whenever they are with women. So, the male/female stereotyping takes place as they call women too sensitive, emotional, complaining and irrational. On the other side, women consider them to be reckless, proud, arrogant and pushy. Hence, the males 58

are justified to rule and control women because women cannot think wisely. It is such a great distinction between the two kinds that at first that both sides think the other as stupid. In the case of a quite old Cleft who wants to ‘see for herself’ the men’s island supported by a few young girls walking over the Killing Rock, which is a very dangerous cliff marking the border between women’s island and males’ forest, and she gets whacked till she reaches the forest due to her old age exhibits a clear picture of females’ stupidity for males (107). They help the girls to take the old one back to the shore by building a litter out of tree branches and putting the old women carelessly on it. At that moment, each side criticises the other silently:

“The fact that the Old She reached the rock bruised and even bloodied did not concern the boys. What mattered was their achievement, and one that showed up the stupidity of the Clefts.

The episode became ‘Silly Clefts. They didn’t know what to do to rescue the Old One.’

About now began records of how the Clefts discussed the boys, always on the lines of ‘But why did they do that? They do such funny things, the boys.’ ” (113)

Besides, the male leader, Horsa, decides to leave the island for an expedition, yet he takes a few women with themselves to make use of them for cooking, cleaning and sexual activities, all of which point out the biased, ego-centered and dominant attitude of men towards women.

Likewise, the Monsters want to control and dominate the land, river, animals and the island as a whole because it puts obstacles into their way. They seem to be unaware of a land ethics, which advises the humankind to treat nature in a virtuous and friendly manner (Warren 2000: 37). Nonetheless, men hunt animals, then use their milk for feeding the baby boys in the first place when there was no Cleft on their side, destroy the trees for making a space for themselves when they build huts and fight against the forces of nature. They also keep a rather messy life, polluting the system of nature and disturbing the aura of the forest. There is a time when the number of people on the island doubles and the present space is insufficient which calls forth great violence among humanbeings and the grand destruction of the forest along with its inhabitants, the animals (172). Finally, the whole concept of male progression appears when the 59

males’ leader Horsa scouts to see the other lands surrounding their island because he is so tired of Maronna’s complaints and feels insprisoned in this limited piece of land, which includes the women’s shore, Killing Rock, the Cleft and their forest. With an obvious colonial mind, he sets on to discover and possess new parts of nature, distrupt the unctouched lands, destroy and pollute them (197). During his adventure, he constantly tries to dominate the forces of nature, but he fails each time, to his anger. He wants to go through the forest, yet the trees are so thick and there are so fierce beasts that they do not allow Horsa’s company to pass. Then, he sees an island at the far end of the land and decides to sail there with his best friend because the ‘pearly shine’ of the island fascinates him and arouses his colonial ambitions. Still, they are slammed by the ferocious waves of the sea and soon they shipwreck, which causes his friend’s death and leaves him crippled (203). Then, he hits the land back in a pathetic state to the point where he started his brief journey. Further, he attempts to dominate his group of men and a few women most of whom do not pay even the smallest bit of attention to him after he is crippled. His rule has passed to another young and strong male in his group, which shows the great competition among males unlike in the female society. At the end of this failed “discovery”, the group gives up and sets back to their island around the Cleft. They are confused and shattered by nature on their way back as well, because they are continuously lost and helpless (248-9). In the end, they arrive in the island and give way to the thought of discovery, even for a while, and realise the importance of women in their lives. Even though they have been insistent upon establishing power on nature and women at the beginning of the novel along with the creation when analysed in terms of oppression, they come to adopt a more flexible and considerate manner towards women and nature through the end, which is the first step into ecofeminist philosophy.

4.2. MANSTREAM THEORY APPLIED IN NARRATION

Regarded as the main cause of the major problems of women and nature on Earth in an ecofeminist perspective, manstream theory includes the genereal ideology and practice of the patriarch disturbing the harmony and peace in both respects. It is the common production of the famous philosophers and scientists like Bacon and Aristotle as they popularise the destructive activities of patriarchy for the sake of social and cultural progression. Especially during the Enlightenment Period, the patriarchal 60

philosophy is often focused for the European societies want to move forward and expand their borders, which could be attained only through the neglection of women, the marginalised groups and nature (Gaard 1993: 23-4). For that very reason, women are accepted as non-significant beings while nature is seen as a feminine thing which could be possessed and forcibly entered for the well-being of a society. The School of Science commands the men to epistemologically exclude women from production and building contact with nature while their existence is methodologically ignored because the abstraction of males from both parts is pretty essential. According to this patriarchal theory, there are some vital principles men must follow faithfully which are apperantly seen in The Cleft through the new society of male domination.

4.2.1. The Process of Distinction and Classification

Principally, basic dichotomies and archetypal images should be established in the society as norms, to be able to inferiorise the others. In the beginning section of the novel, the narrator Maire mentions about the emergence of two kinds as “Males, females. New words, new people” indicating the linguistic and ontological importance of the duality (13). Moreover, the first narrator of the novel, Maire, talks about the great alteration in language and how it has been biased, isolated and discoursed by the male society.

“… Even words I use are new, I don’t know where they came from, sometimes it seems that most of the words in our mouths are this new talk. I say I, and again I, I do this and I think that, but then we wouldn’t say I, it was we. We thought we.” (7)

So comes out the male society miraculously surviving from the death they are destined by the Clefts. A small group of Clefts make their minds to see the Eagles’ Hills where the baby boys are taken by the eagles. Then, they follow the eagle and realise that the birds are rewarded with fish by grown Squirts for bringing the babies into the male area. Thus they understand the real motive of males’ recent survival because they have been coordinating with eagles and giving them fish for saving the unwanted babies, which awakens their conscience that they should not throw the babies into the sea, rather that they should leave them on Killing Rock to be taken by eagles and to grow into a man (15-6). Shortly after, both men and women come to know one another and 61

the process of stereotyping and dualities takes a start. The males regard the women as too demanding, prudent and extremely concerned:

“Just as there were continual complaints by the Clefts about the dangers the little boys were expected to face, so there were complaints from the Clefts, specifically about the great river. The little boys should not be allowed to go near the river, said the women… The theme ‘How few we are, how easily we die’ – the words of a song – is reiterated. Many had died in that river.” (155)

The Monsters are really careful about classifying women in terms of sexuality. Apart from locating them below themselves in this freshly-budding yet discoursed society, they categorise and treat the Clefts taking consideration of their fertility, sterility and age. They live on a separate area, in the forest, while the Clefts go on living on the shore near the Cleft. Nevertheless, there are some women always living with the men because they are either infertile or know how not to get pregnant or how to abort, in any case these are the ones most favoured by men for they do not bother the males with their babies (169). Besides, the male group are synonymous with power, mind and authority as representatives of the rational thinking whereas the Clefts are the symbolisation of body, sensuality and emotions which proves to the patriarch that women are to be controlled by men. In addition to the men/women and mind/body contradictions, the Squirt society makes up the culture/nature division which is an antropocentric act justifying the intrusion into the natural system for the future and development of mankind. They trespass the virgin lands, pollute the rivers, violate the animals sexually and they are rather enthusiastic to find new places to dominate like colonists. They behave as if they are in a competition with nature as when they play with fire after its invention and then on, they swim in the hollow depths of the cold river flowing by their campsite. They are in pursuit of showing off and exhibiting their power to the women by trying to defeat nature each time (160-4). Men are usually at war with nature as can be gathered from the little boys’ interest in finding and owning new places during their games and adventures although these tend to end tragically most of the time (227). There is a group of boys in Horsa’s expedition company who are so wild that they rebel against Horsa’s rule and become exiles without asking anyone’s permission despite their young age. They take off to hunting parties, discover distant parts of the 62

new land and step into unknown caves. This is why it is not surprising to find out that they have been perished by the destructive powers of nature not much later.

4.2.2. Women’s Position in History

The second point included in the manstream theory is the establishing of historical relation between women and nature to reunite them towards patriarchal aims. As previously mentioned, history is not a neutral field of study. On the contrary, it is developed and shaped by the male mind for the benefit of the male system (Gaard 1993: 96). In the novel, the objectivity of history is questioned through different perspectives of the two narrators. Maire as the representative of the Clefts and the female society recites an extraordinary piece of history. Her story is a great challenge to the Biblical myth of creation which is recorded in the canonised history as favouring the masculine side. She puts forth the history of the Clefts, the first female community, preserved by the Memories of the society for long centuries. Defying the well-known fact that men are the ancestors of all humanbeings and that the women are the descendants of Eve who is created out of Adam’s rib, Maire’s account of history calls forth the Clefts as the first humans, therefore the first ancestors. This version of history is much longer than the canonised one as the latter has omitted or covered most of the original knowledge (13). On the other hand, there comes the Roman historian’s account. Although he does not reflect a patriarchal point of view most of the time, he mentions about the duality and partiality of the traditional history in that it elevates the powerful ones which is the patriarchy while omitting “the others” ontologically. He has some original documents about the emergence of the Clefts long before the first men and he decides to share them in his narration as he wants to unleash the “hidden” truth. He talks about the oral history of women from ‘mouth to ear’ and protected by the women storytellers or the Memories, having survived for centuries. At the other end, a written history is invented by the males to decrease the importance of oral history and to be able to change the truth according to their purposes (23). The written version superiorises males and silences women. As he also notes, knowledge is so elusive that it takes shape by the power relations: 63

“In Rome now, a sect –the Christians– insist that the first female was brought forth from the body of a male. Very suspect stuff, I think. Some male invented that – the exact opposite of the truth.” (27).

Women’s historical absence is also influential on nature as that nature is accepted to be feminine for its productive and nurturing quality. But because women are already passified and imprisoned by the male system, nature is also forced into the same process of neglection for bearing similarity to women. Consequently, the Clefts and their island are in the service of pleasing men and satisfying their needs. The Monsters have sexual relationship with women, impregnate them, then they oblige them to look after the babies until they are grown up, to cook for them and to clean their mess. Likewise, they destroy and take benefit of nature by raping and hunting its animals, cutting its trees, polluting its forests along with rivers and disturbing the natural peace of the island by their increasing numbers (37).

4.2.3. Male Isolation and Domination

The manstream theory explains that men are independent creatures like mushrooms. They do not need anyone but themselves and they hold the reason, rationality and power in their hands as isolated from women. They are abstracted from women because they do not consider women’s existence so important. Equally, they can pop up in any place like mushrooms without requiring a mother or a mate, the theory says. However, the truth is the exact opposite. It is only that the male power wants to dream itself as a separate, powerful entity in the world. In The Cleft, the Squirts or the Monsters are born out of the Clefts and so they have grown up to be men and then form their own community. Still, they try to isolate this community from the women as much as possible apart from the coupling periods, because they do not feel comfortable when they spend more time with women whose nature and expectations are so much different from theirs. That is why they take a decision that the girl infants should remain with their mothers on the shore around the Cleft while the baby boys should be raised up on the women’s side until they reach the age of seven. After that age, they will be relocated to the men’s forest and be equipped with manly qualities and resemble to the other members of the Squirt community, which means that all members of this society should behave the same regardless of age and join the others in dangerous games and other 64

risky activities. Putting forth this arrangement for preservation of masculinity, the males have made a great mistake unconsciously. Because those seven year old boys are still infants and they need their mothers’ careful protection. Nonetheless, they are encouraged by men’s reckless pride and seen as the equals of a grown man. Therefore, many children are lost either because of natural forces including drowning, burning, hunted by the beasts et cetera or men’s imprudent behaviours like involving them in dangerous wrestling games or swimming competitions (160-4). In any case, it is clear that they are not protected by the males. It seems easy for the Squirts to lose a child because they do not go through the process of pregnancy and make all efforts to raise the baby until it is seven. So, women under Maire’s leadership observe the great danger ahead their baby boys on the Squirts’ side and debate about the safety issues and what precautions should be taken to prevent any more infant death (158). They demand that there should be guards protecting the infants during the day taking shifts, which is an effective solution to the increasing number of infant death. Yet, the males only ridicule them for trying to cuddle the little “men” as if they were girls and are afraid that the women will femininise their sons. So, their system continues with the same negligence for the sake of protecting their manly dignity. The leader of the second generation of women, Maronna, also gets furious with Horsa whenever a little boy dies and she feels grief for all the casualties. In response, Horsa diminishes her and cannot rationalise her heightened reactions (178-9).

“They made platforms in the trees, and all kinds of pulleys and swings and walkways. The life trained them in self-reliance and in physical skills. There were of course accidents, and that was another reason the women’s complaints were so irritating. They said that when the boys fell and broke a leg or an arm, the men sent them back to the women’s shore to be put right. Couldn’t men at least watch over the little boys enough to stop so many falls – and even some deaths? This struck the men as positively irrelevant. Of course boys will venture into danger, and there must be accidents. What was this extraordinary concern by the females for safety?” (180)

Men are so isolated from women and the familiar nature having surrounded them for years that they decide to leave the Clefts and the island to find other places to settle. Not soon later, Maronna catches up with Horsa’s party and argue about the stupidity and danger of the venture plan (189). As usual, Horsa ignores her warnings and keeps 65

going despite his inner acknowledgment that she is right (191). Hence, the men have finally found an opportunity to isolate themselves from women even though it results as a catastrophe for them.

Another manstream principle influential in the novel is the obligation of generalising and spreading the male values which can also be equated to colonialism and the discursive propaganda. Even though the male society in the island is quite a new one and their values have not been stabilised yet, among the first aims they plan to achieve is to set a system of norms and rules for their male community and to generalise them to the other parts of the island. Initially, they do not leave their land and the forest and settle with the Clefts even after they start mating with them. They have a masculine lifestyle which contains plenty of hunting, wandering around, playing strength games, swimming in the ruthless river, running in the forest and showing off their power to other males and females. As males who provide the females with babies and rule over both women and the island as a constituent of nature, they have every right to give decisions in their combined society. They put a symbolical barrier between their area and the female shore and divide their lives accordingly. Because women are so distinct, passive and domestic, they come in handy only during mating periods which the male side look forward to see. The males set the rule about different ways of bringing up a baby girl and a baby boy to which women cannot challenge even a bit. They do not take women’s opininions into account even though women are right and they are not (158). The whole island, the women and the children all belong to them that is why they behave as the owners of everything in nature. Once they realise what their male genitals are used for and their function in begotting a new generation, their confidence and arrogance double to the level of arrogance and the grand folly. Following their established system in the island, the young leader Horsa decides to spread his rule to other lands around the island, if not to the whole world, as there has emerged no concept of ‘the world’ yet. Thus take place the journeys of discovery with male curiosity and wish to colonise new areas and populate new societies, which is the triggering point of all colonialist ventures. Horsa desires to generalise his rule first on women, then on nature and lastly on other members of his male community. If there was the knowledge of the world in his mind and he had the proper equipment to sail overseas, it is certain he would search and dominate other continents. Yet, his short- 66

termed expedition is interrupted due to his lack of foreseeing ability and high pride (203). He is quite disappointed when the girls he has taken to the expedition with them get pregnant and give birth to babies many in number.

“There were several pregnant girls and their size and condition caused Horsa many difficulties.

They gave birth and the long balmy beaches where they camped and feasted, male beaches, full of mostly men, heard the wails of infants. Horsa was appalled, and so were all the young men. This is what they had run away from – wasn’t it?” (203)

Besides, the notion that males are superior to the feminine and the natural is often displayed in The Cleft. After the first human boy is born and the males come to understand that they can be fathers and increase the male numbers on the island, they are mostly focused on their sexual desires and copulation rather than trying to appreciate the women for their procreating quality and showing concern to their feelings. A short while later, the women make a clear picture of the males based on their sexual instincts and simple way of thinking because whatever they tell the males or teach them, they seem so ignorant and forgetful.

“… The females exhorted the boys, trying to teach them consistency of care. In the end, the guards on the river banks included females: they could not trust the boys to remember their duties.

They Clefts for the time believed that the boys were defective, mentally: they did not have normal memories. This idea developed to ‘they are born normal but then later they don’t seem to think anything but their squirts’ ” (156).

Similarly, they seem to have no toleration towards pregnant women or women on their periods as they always seek out a female to mate with, which creates a conflict on its own because women’s bodies are gifted with creating quality containing pre- requisites and the consequences of a women’s sexual productivity such as pregnancy or the mensturation period (193). However, mostly pregnant women are not desired among the male group and likewise couples are despised especially by Horsa as he likes to think all women as available to mate with all males. The emergence of couples and the concept of ‘love’ would not only diminish the number of mating people but it should also cause rebellion and jealousy fights among the group (199). The males are always 67

superior to the women observed in the case of little boys who try to rule the adult women and treat them in a disrespectful manner (221). The little boys are ignorant and overconfident even to the point of challenging their superiors, the male adults and going on adventure trips on their own. Accordingly, the males behave the nature as their inferior when they settle the island around the Cleft rock and masculinise it over time calling it as “theirs”. They exploit the forest and the animals along with the Clefts who are born out of nature. Towards the end of the novel, they plan to run away from their inferirors to that they are both repelled and attracted and set out on a journey of discovery. They want to have other lands and settle there in each way as seen in Horsa’s way of thinking:

“‘Horsa longed for his “other land’, that people coming so many ages later would not know what they meant by ‘longing’, ‘wanting’, ‘dreaming’.

Perhaps, if he could hear me, he might say, ‘No, you don’t understand. You see, I know everything there is to know about our land, every tree, plant, bird, animal. But that other shore I saw there, gleaming like a dawn. I know nothing about that place. I have to know – don’t you understand that?’ ” (251)

This is the reflection of the colonial mind which prevails in societies generally ruled and directed by men. Horsa risks losing people on the way and gets wounded during the process of colonial expedition. He is in a pathetic situation as a defeated crippled man and an ex-leader having lost his people’s confidence. He morbidly recognises his fault that he cannot dominate nature as because the nature is a giant power covering everything in the world. He sees the angry, destructive face of nature. Thus, once the Squirts apart from Horsa are wrecked by nature and then affected by the feminine aura of some females in addition to the domestic atmosphere of raising babies, they return in a short period to their Clefts and the island in pitiful remorse (216, 245).

Finally, women are stereotyped as unproductive and passive by the patriarchal manstream theory as opposed to the fact that women give life to new humanbeings and cooperate with nature for the continuation of life which can be called as one of the most significant kind of production. They emerge to exist out of nature as they have always been a part of it surrounded by the sea and caves as the old ones recite them in their stories. They could conceive children by nature through the sea, a fish or the moonlight 68

and produce new lives. They are in peace with nature sunbathing, sleeping and borrowing the required nutrition from the fish along with fruits, yet giving no harm to their environment. They have formed a society of women intact and harmonious with nature. They have formed the language in a feminine way to communicate with each other and taught it to the males later. They confront the males and start a new lifestyle with their coming. Hence, they give birth to distinct type of babies who cry and demand more for being of a different kind. This is another production the women succeed. Growing up these children as well as the previous ones, they provide the society with new people. As coordinators of natural life, they raise children and teach them the green way of life in contrast with the patriarchal destructive manners. They are more appropriate than men to produce things out of nature such as making ornaments, garments, necklaces and through the end of the novel producing things to cover their nakedness (71, 169). They keep their caves and environment clean and neat so that nature will not receive any harm. Moreover, producing life is not enough for them, they feel responsible for maintaining life as well in that they are constantly protective of the children and Maire is even sacrificial for saving the lives of Squirts from the old Clefts’ deadly plot. They are essentially equipped with intuition and cunningness as initiators and representatives of the natural cycle, which is dramatically depicted when they sense the dangers waiting for the expedition group and Maronnna’s female society gets a high perception of pain when their children die in a cave during the journey of discovery despite their distance to their children (246). They are also more sensitive to every part of nature, the trees, paths, animals and the geography of nature. They are superior to men in terms of perceiving directions and routes as they are more connected to nature. Therefore, it is right to associate women directly with production unlike the main patriarchal argument classifying them as an unproductive group of people.

4.3. ECOFEMINIST RECONCILIATIONS IN THE CLEFT

Ecofeminism which lays bare a new green philosophy conducting the humanbeings to lead a women plus nature-friendly lifestyle offers an effective solution to the critical problems of the world. Challenging to the misogynist and anti- environmental practices of the male system, ecofeminism combines the propaganda of feminism and ecology, which comes out as a movement and philosophy protecting women and nature altogether (Gaard 1993: 2). Therefore, it protests the destruction, 69

violation and inferiorisation of women and nature by minglement of feminism, ecology, environmentalism and philosophy in that everything in nature has vital importance in life. Accordingly, the novel encouraging an ecofeminist style marks its beginning with an ecofeminist argument:

“In a recent scientific article it was remarked that the basic and primal human stock was probably female, and that males came along later, as a kind of cosmic afterthought. I cannot believe that this was a trouble-free advent. The idea was grist to an already active mill, for I had been wondering if men were not a younger type, a junior variation. They lack the solidity of women, who seem to have been endowed with natural harmony with the ways of the world… Men in comparison are unstable, and erratic. Is Nature trying something out?” (Introduction)

Basing the analysis of the novel upon ecofeminism which encompasses both the feminine principle and manstream theory in one accordant whole, ecofeminist principles shed light on the narration at the outset. Primarily, there should be a social transformation among people for the well-being of nature, humanbeings, animals and each small bit of nature for the sake of ecofeminism. Even though the female society, the Clefts innovate life through a green philosophy, procreating and protecting the life on Earth, they are soon oppressed by male values after they meet and share a sexual life with males. Because the Monsters have set a different lifestyle for themselves until they have been reunited with females, they display an unfriendly attitude towards nature. They cut the trees in the forest to open a space for their camp, they rape some animals like goats to satisfy their unknown desires and pollute the land they are settled (37). They continue the same way even after they become a whole with females diminishing their opininions and advices about keeping a clean, neat and nature-friendly way of life. Women are restless for their system has been altered with male values and nature is exploited on the other side of their island. The males are constantly so active, violent and impatient though never considerate in nature. They want to break things, bend the trees, kill the animals, rape them, contaminate the forest and even fight among themselves, the males, which seems so funny and pointless to the Clefts. Thus, they make much effort to convince the Squirts for being more sensible about the children, meanwhile keeping away from dangerous activities in nature, which bears the purpose of protecting children, the men and nature itself altogether. Regardless of females’ 70

warnings, men follow their familiar route and set the rules in the society not knowing how tragically their story will end. Their expedition ends in failure and forces the company to go back. As soon as they return home, a great change takes place in their general understanding of life and they begin to sympathise with women’s feelings and stop their failed colonial act, which promises a great change in their society and the future generations (257).

In continuation, everything has a unique part in nature that is why a biodiverse perspective will be proper to protect life on Earth. The inanimate formations in nature like seas, rivers, forests, mountains, valleys, rocks, caves et cetera provide the humankind with food, shelter, clothes and heating, which means briefly ‘life’. In the novel, women swim and obtain their food from the sea and trees in the forest and accommodate in the caves on the mountains. They worship the deity Cleft and watch the valley from the Killing Rock. On the other side, men build their campsite of huts in the forest which is located in the valley, swim and get food from the river and hunt in the forests. As gathered, even these inanimate things are rather significant in both in Clefts’ and Squirts’ lives. As for the animate pieces of nature as animals and plants, they are indispensable to the lives of humankind. Both groups feed themselves thanks to the animals in the forest, sea and river while they use the trees and plants for food and medicine alike. Especially eagles, deers and wolves hold enormous significance in males’ survival because it was the eagles saving them from the old Cleft’s cruelty, the old deer and wolf feeding the needy babies with their milk. In this case, the great importance of nature with its constituents is undoubtedly critical for humanbeings. Thus, people should do their best to protect and sustain life on Earth by preserving the natural balance and integrity. The Clefts are already conscious and considerate about the natural harmony and also regard the males as their counterparts and vital parts of human life. They do not intend to harm neither nature nor men even when they are short of food and fighting for their survival (13). Then, the males are surprised to discover their function in life-creation in the beginning, yet they do not pay so much attention to natural cycle of life until they are reminded of the peaceful or green face of human existence on Earth by natural forces at the end of the novel (260). Additionally, the humankind is to serve the nature and preserve its pure, uncontaminated cycle of life, as 71

the Clefts and Squirts get determined to do in the end when they are reconciled by nature as males/females with all their distinctions.

4.3.1. Human Interaction with Nature

All the same, following the land ethics and treating nature in a friendly manner is among the main aims of the ecofeminist thinking. It motivates the humanbeings to become protectors and servants of nature (Warren 2000: 81). In The Cleft, there are many instances depicting this green practice. First of all, the Cleft rock is worshipped, kept clean and protected by the Cleft as the provider of female life. They observe the similarity between their genitalia and that rock that is why they elevate it to the position of a deity which creates life. Therefore, they think it requires life to continue life and sacrifice some Clefts to it (12-3). They guess that they borrow life from it and that they should virtuously return it back to the owner. And they never leave the Cleft behind, their mother and sister, which is the reason they are so faithfully attached to the place. When the pagan feminist spirituality is taken into account in the analysis of the novel, it is gathered that especially the females worship the land and the Cleft, which bears similarity to the Earth Goddess, Gaia (Plant 1989: 25). Because the land is considered to be sacred and the Clefts have no knowledge of any religion, they regard the Cleft as a goddess and so worship and sacrifice for her. Also because it commands them to live harmoniously with its lands, rivers and seas, they give almost no harm to nature in their entire existence. In this case, the males draw a similar picture as Horsa wants the women to reside around the Cleft because it is the mother of all of them, people. As the land ethics points out, humanbeings should obtain a protective, benevolent and friendly attitude towards land. The females treat the Cleft like a mother or a sister and serve for it. Likewise, the males cuddle the old doe and in another case a she wolf that feed their male babies when they are about to die of hunger.

Not only dangerous wild animals lived in the forests, friendly ones did too. The little boys saw deer, with fawns and probably had their first lessons in parental love, watching does with their fawns. They crept close, to watch. A doe stood its ground, unafraid: there was no reason yet for any animal to fear our kind. And besides, this was a child, and needy. The boy stood fondling the doe’s soft fur, while the fawn butted or licked his legs. Then the fawn began to suckle. And the boy, kneeling, did the same. The 72

doe stood, and turned her head and licked the child. And so that was how began the intimacy between the children and the deer… After all, it was a she wolf who suckled our [the Romans’] forefathers, Romulus and Remus” (37-8).

The males are also indebted to the eagles, sometimes mentioned as the ancestors of “mankind” by the patriarchal version of history. They carry the babies to the valley, to their survival instead of just eating them. Then, they assist Maire and Astre whilst they are running from the wrath of the old Clefts. Later, the great Noise takes place in their history and depicted as a great storm pulling up the sea so fiercely that a lot of fish die on the drained shore, the trees are cut off from their stems and the wind blows madly, which threatens all kinds of life on the island. During this period, the males take shelter in the Clefts’ caves and wait together for the storm to pass. But as soon as it is over, they go out to investigate the amount of hazard during which one of them sees the wounded giant eagles and runs for their help. This is a remarkable point in human history because both males and females take care of the eagles’ wounds and become friends forever (142). At the end of the novel, the combined society decides to keep living on the same island and pursue a benevolent attitude towards their mother, the Nature.

Following these ecofeminist steps, comes the abolishment of dualities like male/female, culture/nature and non-fixating the power on one group. Because the community in the novel is ruled by male system, it is not surprising to find out that women and nature are placed second below the men. The power is in the males’ control and they can name, categorise or dictate anything in this society just like separating their lives with the females’ and ripping the male infants from their mothers’ affectionate embrace at the age of seven. Neither these nor their harmful progression in nature have to do anything with women. They hold the power and force discursive change in the community, yet as they experience tragical incidents all throughout the narration due to the destructive aspect of nature and their previous diminishment of female intuition, the males make their mind to distribute power equally on both groups and give women a chance to express themselves to understand and feel for one another in a peaceful and natural environment (230). 73

The ecofeminist philosophy describes how the biased system(s) classifies women as stupid, weak and emotional beings. Because the Clefts care for children’s well-being and they usually tell the Squirts about doing things right, they irritate men except for the copulation times. They are sensitive and intuitive about the cycle of life, natural events and the children’s serenity because they resemble to nature for their child-bearing quality. The men think of them as fools as they keep saying the same things to men who are excellent at forgetting instantly what they have been responsible for. They are thought to be weak with their bodies not so strong as men and delicate humanbeings carrying babies in their wombs. The reason for their sensitivity is the tides and changes in their bodies during the turns of the months and their emotions come from their maternal characteristics (106). They are marginalised and excluded from the Squirts’ society for embodying strange qualities and bothering males with their distinction.

No matter how hard the male society tries to set male and female stereotypes, the men and women possess common points uniting them under the frame of humanhood. The ecofeminist movement does not make classifications or support dualities. On the contrary, it discusses that females and males are similar because males are also emotional creatures with their weakness. Likewise, Horsa is indeed an emotional man reflected in the situation when he loses an infant during the expedition because of a local disease. He feels such great pity, sorrow and remorse for causing the death of the child that he almost cries for the baby (231). He feels very weak and lonely for almost a year when he is apart from Maronna and her words full of wisdom. He secretly accepts that Maronna has always been right almost about everything and that she is a wise woman, which reminds him of his own stupidity and arrogance in the face of humanity. Finally, he embraces his humanity and leads his men in the same direction when he shares his sorrow for the dead children with Maronna and they both cry in affection (258). It is such an emotional scene that they look at each other’s eyes and communicate only with their eyes, accepting each other with their distinctions and similarities because they are both human, with their feelings and opinions. Thus, the men eventually reject their powerful image alongside the rational mind and reclaim their bodies and bodily reactions like crying.

Then again, ecology and women have a close relationship in what Carolyn Merchant mentions as the preservation of the household in symbolical accordance with 74

the science of household, in other words, ecology. Due to women’s domestic skills and the concern for household matters along with protection, ecofeminism suggests that women are the ones who can keep their homes and the planet neat and harmonious. It is fair to accept the claim because the Clefts are really careful about the hygiene and tidiness of their houses, the caves. Similarly, they care about the environmental matters and try not to distrupt the integrity of the great household, the Earth (Sandilands 1999: 2, 3). They keep the Cleft clean of saplings and thorns, get rid of the human trash and they try to teach the men the way of well-preserving their camp site. However, the Squirts do not take their lectures seriously and go on with their messy ways. What is more, they turn anywhere they settle into their lands, all messed up and violated. During the period of the great Noise or the storm, as the males stay with females, they hunt animals and gather the fish on the shore to feed the group and they protect the women. However, there are certain things the Clefts do not enjoy about the Squirts:

“The women did not seem to admire them for this cleverness. And, as always, came the complaints about the messy and smelly caves” (141).

Accordingly, the Squirts treat the Earth in a likewise negligent and unkind manner by disturbing its peace and harmony and contaminating its purity through their patriarchal and colonial purposes.

In another ecofeminist perspective, the novel puts forth the wrath of nature against the destructive attitudes of the humankind symbolically and literally defending itself. In the instance of the Noise, the nature captures everything and leaves them in pieces in an endless fury as if to give an unforgettable lesson to the Squirts who treat women and nature as their belongings. It destroys animals, plants and changes the outlook of the visible topography of the island, meanwhile scaring the group of people to death and even driving some of them mad. They are reminded of their humanity and insignificance in the face of the giant Earth. They are shocked by the instantly attack of nature which they have generally considered as their best ally:

“The ‘Noise’ was in fact a wind, coming from what must have been the east, one so strong, so irresistible, that they all believed at first in all kinds of supernatural intervention… The suddenness and the surprise of the Noise changed them all. Of course bad things had happened before, a death, a drowning, the unfortunate 75

beginnings of the males, but when had a murderous attack from nature, surely their friend, happened before? ‘What has happened may happen again.’ The Noise, the wind had thought them all how helpless they were.” (138, 140-1)

Nature, the Mother Earth has always drawn a helpful route for them from the first human beings until the storm incident. Until then, she has provided them with a bountiful life full of opportunity and peace. During those times they used to comment about it as “She oversupplies, over-provides, always and in everything” (169). However, “She” teaches the humankind her ways and calls them back to their mortality and temporariness in her own style. This or that way, nature directs the humankind to the right path either by creating natural catastrophes like the Noise or eruption of a volcano or by evil crimes committed by the people. In the former way, nature unleashes its harmful weapons to defend its harmonious cycle of life against those who have been merciless towards nature. When the Squirts leave their camping area and set out to find another land, the women follow them and they have to pass through the men’ camp site. However, they are terrified when they reach the place because it has been quickly invaded by beasts and turned into their area. There are boars, wild dogs and bears all ready to attack the women and children. Because it is originally their land, they are so fierce and enimical towards the people that they hunt one of the infants as their prey. It is as if these beasts of nature are saying “This is our place, keep out” (184). At that moment, the Roman historian recalls the pitiful fact that the Romans take advantage of these beasts by releasing them on the arena to fight against strong-built gladiators who often kill the animals so quickly without mercy. Those animals belong to nature, yet they are captivated and killed by the humankind who feels so free to intrude their natural household. Some of these beasts, the she-wolf, for instance, had been a mother to their Roman ancestors by proving the mercy and maternal kindness of animals. However, the humanbeings cannot be so considerate towards the helpless beasts made use of for the pure entertainment of the vicious Roman audience (185-6). The nature takes a defensive standing against humanbeings, the constant intruders and eliminates the weak and the evil ones during the process. At the start of the men/women unification, the old shes become an obstacle in front of their natural harmony that is why they are wiped out by nature at the hands of the male kind who wants to have a relationship with women, their natural partners (131). Similarly, it is again the nature 76

which kills some of the new-born babies due to an infection spread by a kind of fly on the “discovered” island where the expedition company has camped (204). Other countless number of deaths can also be counted as a consequence of the natural defense system against the harmful and curious ones. Later, nature punishes the colonial mind and bestows natural disasters on these harmful people for the sake of preserving its natural peace and sustainability (216). In the final part of the novel, the rock Cleft gives voice to nature’s demands and suddenly erupts just as the Squirts are about to arrive in women’s shore returning from their expedition (252). Its fatal liquids and gases threaten the women as well as children’ lives until the men come to save them. Then on, the society has no other choice but leaving the shore, their motherland behind although it breaks their hearts. It is as if the nature is throwing them out from her familiar warm embrace and pushing them to find other places to live and scatter on Earth as a new species. After the explosion, the villages are found on different parts of the world and life continues in another way.

“… The explosion of The Cleft is both the end of a tale and the beginning of the next Historians who wrote long ages before me agreed on that – and so let it be ” (260).

Otherwise it is also obvious that the rock Cleft is destroyed by the Squirts’ interference because they have been throwing rocks into it and distrupting its peaceful system since they started a mutual life with the Clefts. Just like their distaste with everything settled and harmonious, the males wanted to make Cleft their own and establish a new system for her, but because it was extremely deep and fatal beyond their reach, they made their mind to destroy it by throwing rocks even unconsciously. As the Cleft is indeed a volcano, its devastating flames awaken due to male interference and the human society is forced to leave the place for their safety. After the volcano erupts and the Cleft group is saved by the Squirts, Maronna yells at Horsa with anguish. In response, Horsa arrogantly tells they can move to another place (254).

“‘Why did you do it? The Cleft! You’ve killed The Cleft. Why?’ She knew the men were responsible, and that meant Horsa was responsible. Her accusations were hysterical, her ugly screams distorted her white-streaked face.

‘It’s our place, you’ve destroyed our place.’ 77

‘But Maronna, there are better places. I keep telling you. There is a much better place a little further along. We’ve just passed it.’

‘We’ve been here always, always. We are born here. You were born here. You were born in that cave up there.’ ”

The Cleft explosion can be discussed in a different ecofeminist perspective. The Cleft erupts perhaps because it has lost its function to trigger women’s periods as well as to control their pregnancy since the first appearance of the males on the island. Further, women need men to create life and their periods are determined by their relationships with men which clearly means The Cleft has been doomed to become a piece of rock which receives no more sacrifice after the Clefts begin to pursue a common life with the Squirts and creates no life. The female bodies have been born out of nature once upon a time, however they have found their own way once they met their counterparts, the men. It might be another reason why the Cleft erupts, in fury, at the end of the novel, by the time the men and women are so impatient to meet one another and to procreate hundreds of new people and innovate to the variety of life in nature.

Applying the ecofeminist theory to the novel, it is also apperantly displayed that men and women are both similar and different creatures at the same time. But because nature requires their unification for the creation of life, they should embrace one another with sympathy and affection and act together in a state purified of all the social ills, injustice, misogynism and discourses of the societal power to protect nature, the keeper of life. So, the reconciliation of the female and male kind happens during and after the incident of great Noise when they realise their humaneness and weakness altogether and get support from each other as the same species suffering from the same catastrophy. Then, the combined group tend the wounds of the eagles, the males’ so called ancestors, in a green philosophy of protecting life (142). The nature sets the way in front of women once they have a sexual intercourse with the men. From then on, their bodies experience a change until they are fully dependent on men to bear babies. There is a point when women are desperate because all men have left the island for invasion. They try the old ways to conceive babies, by waves or the moonlight, yet, they finally comprehend that it is no use (241). Both Clefts and the Squirts come to realise the fact a short while later because they are the two kinds of the same species just like they 78

observe in the animal couples that breed through the physical contact of the two sides (144). For this reason, there are often feasts and party-like arrangements to encourage and celebrate male/female relationship during which many women get pregnant to the next generation of people (153). And because they are the children of the same nature, it is most normal to observe the moons’ effect both on women and men. At certain times of the month, the group arranges feasts for making use of their excessive energy and meeting their sexual demands (162). Similarly, they both feel grief when a group of children die during the invasion and babies are lost because of infection, which is all the more reason to bring men and women together in cooperation and sympathy towards the collapsing or the destroyed nature.

4.4. NARRATIVE QUALITIES IN THE CLEFT

Focusing on the “other” side of the creation myth, The Cleft is certainly a challenging piece of writing composed by the outstanding British writer, Doris Lessing. It gives several messages through ecofeminist arguments, unusual style and altering point of views. As a novel, the work has essential literary characteristics to be dwelled upon in terms of narration. Due this respect, the novel shall be analysed in terms of the use of distinct perspectives through two different narrators, the characters presented within narration, symbols used for making an ecofeminist effect and finally the plot covering time, place and the type of narration.

4.4.1. Narrators

Because ecofeminism demands the harmony and unification of two kinds, females and males, and puts the emphasis on their common effort to protect the natural life on Earth, Lessing prefers to locate two narrators into her novel through which she can picture the kind of criticism she wants to make about gender problems combined with ecological collapse of the modern times. Indeed it is also claimed that the book has mazed narration which includes embedded accounts in the course of events. The reader is provided with the introspection of these narrators and able to perceive the pure essence of the novel. The narrators’ first hand experiences and descriptions of details from their lives draw an easy path within the plot to recognise the ecofeminist details the author deliberately points out. 79

Principally, Maire is the female narrator the reader comes across in the novel. She tells the story of the Clefts as a young woman belonging to a female society. In other words, she presents the female version of the canonical history in which she defies the fixed notion that men are the ancestors of all humanbeings who so quickly justify themselves to ascend to the position of the authority in the society (9). In her version of history, the Cleft society is the first group of human settlers in the world which opens the way for other groups, societies and civilisations in the future. Maire is the most courageous Cleft among her society because she resists against the restrained female order of the old and takes sides with men to protect their lives and to have a relationship with them in a joint life. This is the reason why she is given such great importance in the novel as a narrator. She is the initiator of real human life on Earth and a source of inspiration for those who follow her. Her narration has a rather influential place in the novel because she gives the ecofeminist side of women’s first emergence in the world and their innate and rooted interrelation with nature that they see it as their mother. Hence, her narration has a function reflecting the female perspective of the ecofeminist philosophy in the novel.

As for the Roman historian, he is the male member of a patriarchal society which is the Roman Empire and he holds an almost impartial position as a historian. He is the actual narrator of the book because he has hidden some old documents in his room giving information about the prehistorical community of the Clefts who experience countless incidents and become the mothers of all humanbeings. As a historian, he has the ethics that he should share the truth with humanity as opposed to the discoursed kind of historians who shape and distort the facts according to power relations (7). He increases the genderwise credibility of the novel in terms of the ecofeminist propaganda as he is a male, a Roman and a historian, which commands him to have a discoursed attitude three times against women and nature. However, he narrates the original story of creation by taking Maire’s account into basis and gives both sides of the incident by sharing the experiences of the males and their suffering through a male perspective. He signals the contact between women and nature by presenting their eco-friendly way of life which is full of peaceful and green way of living. He shatters the famous figure of historian by picturing himself as a just and conscious man of science reciting the marginal myth of creation to the reader. 80

4.4.2. Characters

Although the novel seems to lack deliberately an order and ordinary narrative style, the characters embedded within narration have essential functions contributing to the ecofeminist, feminist and new historicist arguments. Their numbers are just a few, yet they stand out as the representatives of the whole humanity: women and men, boys and girls and the masters and the workers, the white and the others. Namely they are the Roman narrator, Marie, Astre, Maronna, Horsa, Julia, Titus, Lydia, Lolla and Marcus.

4.4.2.1. The Roman Historian

To begin with, the Roman narrator is the first person the reader encounters in the novel. He seems like the stereotype of a common historian, yet he proves to be an extraordinary patriarchal figure supporting the women in his narration. He is the main personality shaping the narration according to his opinions. He is an old Roman living during Nero’s time. He has lost his first wife and two sons a long time ago. He is then married to a young woman named Julia and has two children, a girl and a boy (56). He often intervenes to the flow of narration by giving details from his personal life making either an ecofeminist or a patriarchal point in reference to the incident he recites in narration. He comes from a rich Roman family having house slaves and servants to carry out the hard work in and around the house and in the agricultural fields. That is why he confidently makes a marriage proposal to Julia who is from a very poor family at the time. He offers a comfortable and luxurious marriage life on the condition that Julia gives him two children. Because he is an old man, he takes the opportunity to marry when he falls for Julia and consents to an arranged marriage. Therefore, theirs is not a love marriage which lets Julia to behave as she likes apart from the obligation to bear two babies for her old husband. On the other hand, the historian cares for Julia and protects her like a father. When they have the two children, the restraint on Julia is loosened which encourages her to involve in feminist cycles of their time. The historian loves his children, Titus and Lydia, very much and he refers to their curiosity about female and male genitals when they are around six. They are afraid and repelled to see the differences between the females and males, still they are curious about the other (60, 61). He mentions about his house slaves who are depicted as the inferiors of the Romans. He makes patriarchal remarks by mentioning about the system in Rome and 81

the origin of males coming from the Eagles. Nevertheless, he is on the side of women most of the time as seen in his relationship with Julia who acts rather independent as a married woman.

4.4.2.2. Maire and Astre

The second character to be mentioned is Maire, the female narrator. She is a Cleft who experiences the first contact with the male kind and transmits her story through the historian’s accounts. She is a curious woman and a sensible person (51). He feels for the males once the discovery of the males’ existence takes place. From then on, she visits the men and has relationship with them resulting in pregnancy. She is also the first mother who gives birth to a human baby (55). She pictures an example to her friend Astre and the other Clefts following them. She is highly innovative in establishing relationships between men and women and thus founding the kind of society the humanity has now. She is so sensitive towards life, all kinds of it, that she feels no hesitation when she risks her life for saving the babies and the males during the old Clefts’ plot. She pioneers the joined life with males and gives birth to the future generations of the humankind. Her account gives feminine details about the Clefts’ life and their encounters with the Squirts, which provides the narration with insight. She is emotional, maternal and like a mother figure among the Squirts.

Another character related to Maire is Astre. She follows Maire for her preference of copulation with the men. She is posited among the initiators of male/female relationships. She is a curious Cleft and the mother of two human babies, therefore her contribution to the emergence of “real” humanity cannot be underestimated.

4.4.2.3. Maronna and Horsa

Further, Maronna and Horsa shall be analysed in terms of characterisation. Maronna is like Gaia, or Mother Earth, because she is the woman leader defending the rights of mothers, protecting children and treating the men in a maternal manner. She is the descendant of Maire, Astre and the first men. She is Horsa’s partner trying to council him on certain matters and showing him the vital parts of life. She reminds him his responsibilities about the safety and protection of women alongside children and she is quite attached to the environment she was brought up (156). She suffers whenever someone gets hurt or killed and has great intuition towards nature and life (240). She 82

feels desperate when Horsa is not beside her. She understands the void in her heart and tries to occupy herself with indulging into natural incidents (239).

When it comes to Horsa, he is the male archetype in the novel and the patriarchal figure who leads both men and women and takes the decisions for his society despite Maronna’s comparatively deeper influence on the people (163). His manly pride often directs him into dangerous paths along with imprudent decisions and causes his downfall though temporarily, however he learns bitterly that he should take Maronna’s advice and warnings seriously. He is highly interested in dominating the people as well as animals and the nature, which implies his passion of settling and colonising other lands. He has the masculine ignorance and confidence but eventually comes to terms with Maronna and seeks for her maternal embrace and serenity.

4.4.2.4. Julia, Titus and Lydia

Julia is the Roman historian’s young and beautiful wife. She looks for social elevation and power that is why she accepts the old man’s marriage proposal. She is an unamenable woman who hates to be dominated and domesticated. She gives birth to two children as she promised before marriage and leaves them to the slaves to be cared even though they are just infants. Thus, she is so detached from maternity and children’s care that she feels happy to spend her day outside as she likes (58, 59). Then she meets some women in Rome who are the members of feminist activities at Nero’s time. She enjoys being an independent and carefree woman and her husband does not try to restrain her meanwhile as she has kept her promise already. Through the end of the novel, the historian tells that they have ended their relationship as a couple, rather it is just like a friendship or a father/daughter affection between them. Julia has been having an affair with a rich Roman and she still cares about her old husband’s health and safety as if he was her father. She takes Lydia with her years ago when she leaves her husband and Titus behind. She presents a feminist and non-conformer figure in the novel lacking maternal characteristics.

Likewise, the children Titus and Lydia are narrated by their father, the historian. They are the other representatives of the male and female relationship. They spend a short period together until Julia divides the family. Titus grows up beside his father and adopts a masculine personality and bitterness towards women (148). When he sees her 83

sister Lydia as a grown teenage girl with his mother Julia who is still a breathtaking beauty, he feels hatred to both of them because they have left him and his father for strange reasons. He seems to be a misogynist in the future due to his painful past and neglected childhood (151). On the other side, Lydia is jealous of her brother during her childhood because he has different genitals from hers. When she becomes a young girl, she ignores him confidently with her beauty and charm and behaves like taking revenge from him for being male. She takes her mother as a model and imitates her flirteous manners. She is to become a woman seeking out for a rich husband and high position in the society.

4.4.2.5. Lolla and Marcus

The last couple of characters are Lolla and Marcus. They are the servants in the historian’s household. Lolla reflects feminine behaviours whenever she sees Marcus whom she feels great sympathy. She treats him cruelly and yells at him when he does not care about her or ignores her, but then she tries to make him talk to her and spend some time with her. She likes him very much, yet she tries to insult him by criticising his way of working (4). She is a stereotype of the young woman who tortures the man she loves. On the contrary, Marcus is a strong-built house servant trying to finish his work. He is very tired after hours of hard labour that is why he wants to rest as soon as he returns the master’s house. However, Lolla expects interest from him that he cannot afford at the moment. Thus, he represents the typical male behaviour coming home tired and ignoring the woman to get some rest.

4.4.3. Symbols in the Novel

Apart from other characteristics in the novel, there are many symbols utilised for making emphasis on the main points of narration. They are either centered upon the names or the physical appearance and function of the things.

For instance, the names have symbolical meanings contributing and empowering the personalities in the novel. Taking the symbolisations in the names, Maire is an Irish name which is the derivative of Mary. The association of the name with Virgin Mary is quite striking as Maire is the first woman who gives birth to a real human baby in the female version of history. She is the first mother figure and the ancestor of all humankind. Besides, Astre is another name possessing symbolical connotations. It 84

means ‘star’ in Greek which gives hints that the society might indeed be Greek because this Cleft woman names herself after a star. As for Maronna, it is again a derivative of Virgin Mary because she embodies the qualities of Mary for being the descendant of Maire. Also she leads the second group of the Clefts and encourages a joint life between the females and males. As can be guessed, Horsa stands for a strong man or horseman, but because the society has not tamed the horses until then, the name indicates his strong body and masculine qualities. Further, this name Lessing uses in her book bears resemblance to Horsa of the Jutes, the first group of German settlers in Britain in the prehistoric times, which suggests a dubious picture for the men’s line of origin (Collins 2000). Finally the general names of the two groups of people, the Clefts and the Squirts come from their genitalia, the vagina and the penis, as obviously indicated. They are differentiated from the other through their physical distinctions and personalities defined by the changes in their bodies which can be pointed as hormones. The Cleft as a rock from which the novel gets its name is also rather significant because it is a female deity providing women with fertility and period at the beginning of the novel, but gets destroyed at the end by male interference.

Moving on, the parts of nature are symbolical as well for they underline the ecofeminist philosophy of the novel. As an important satellite of the world, the moon has a major effect on humanbeings and the Earth. It causes changes both in women for they have come from the sea as semi-aquarian beings and men as the descendants of the women (162). They arrange feast at certain times of the month and take part in sexual activities during those periods. They feel high, active and energetic in the obvious days of the month which is controlled by the moon. The moon is also possibly the representative of Aphroditus, Artemis, Phoebe and Selene from the Greek mythology who are the gods and deities of moon and male/female unification as well as fertility.

Likewise, the eagles are seen as the saviours of the “mankind” and the enemy of females, therefore they are the symbols of masculinity for their hunting abilities and ruthlessness (16). They are described as great birds hovering above people proving their male power. In mythology of different nations, eagles occupy a significant place. Eagles are regarded to be the messengers of Gods and kings of the air. They are associated with Zeus and Jupiter from the Greek mythology and Odin from the Norse mythology all seen as the reflections of manhood and masculinity. 85

Then, the sea is also symbolical in the narration although it sometimes seems neutral in gender. It impregnates the women like a male and provides them with food and water like a mother (11). Both women and men have originated from the sea in the beginning. Later, it shows it rage to the humankind as the part of the nature, the Mother Earth. Thus, it is a female symbol affecting the lives of women and then the men. However, it is also quite possible to establish relation with the Greek sea god Poseidon because he is both the provider of life and fertility and the storm god at the same time.

In continuation, the forest in the island symbolises femininity in that it is invaded by the male group forcibly at the beginning and then it is exploited and degraded by them likewise. It gives them food and shelter like a female host and gets destructed in response.

Finally, the Killing Rock justifies its name and becomes a locale for murders and killings among people. It is also a borderline between the female and male districts witnessing struggles and plots against one another.

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CONCLUSION

As a prolific and challenging writer, Doris Lessing opens a bold argument in her The Cleft which is studied through an eco/feminist perspective in this study. Gathered from the aforementioned analyses of feminism and then its accord with environmentalism under the umbrella term ‘ecofeminism’, an ecofeminist approach and green legistlation are presented in the novel as a way for starting a fresh new life. When it is reflected into real life, the novel presents the ecofeminist philosophy as an effective solution for mortified critical problems like ecological crises and ecological maldevelopment in the world.

Beginning with such movements like Chipko in Himalayan India and Green Belt in Kenya which draw attention to women’s role in uniting nature and humanbeings and mending the ecological as well as environmental damage, ecofeminism aims to restore ecological balance and environmental justice on Earth. It eases women’s life as they are the primal sufferers in a possible ecological collapse and the ones who will be left empowered, sick and in poverty both in micro and macro levels, if a dramatic altering takes place in nature. Especially women from the Third World countries like Pakistani or Bangladeshi experience poverty and illness more tragically even to the point of death that is why the nature/women connection can be projected from locality to universality taking these incidents as the reference ground.

Ecofeminism continues to show effect since the 1970s. It frames the thought that women are in close connection with natural non-human beings through empirical, symbolical/cultural and epistomological mediums. The discoursed culture reinforces contradictions of mind/body, culture/nature, heaven/Earth and reason/emotion, by which women are dominated and their inferiorisation along with men’s superiority are both naturalised. Additionally, women are presented to have affiliation with healing, natural beings and establishing ecological paradigms. As an amalgam production of several distinct theories, ecofeminism is pretty crucial not only for the betterment of the women’s situation but also to lay bare the ways of retrieving the ecological degradation and destruction for the future of all humanity and the planet. This is only one of the many significant reasons why ecofeminism should be taken into account by people as well as the governments both as a philosophy of life and a green policy. In the present 87

state of the world, it is no exaggaration to name ecofeminism as the saviour of humanity because it has the potential to bring forth bioregionalism into the world. Living harmonuously in a certain region of nature, humanbeings are advised to lead an eco- friendly life through perfect accordance with nature, by which the sustainability and intregrity of nature can be preserved and the hazards carried out by the colonial mind can be reversed. Otherwise, the world will sooner or later confront big crises like oil shortage, fuel shortage, water problem, hurricanes, drought, flood and countless more natural disasters which eventually wipe the human existence out.

Doris Lessing has always been interested in marginal matters and sided with the inferiors. Born in Iran and raised up in Africa, a peripherical and colonised country, her personality comes out to be froward as a reaction to all injustice she observes throughout her life. Escalating her writing career year by year, she tries many styles, participates in various theories and experts in some styles. Towards the last years of her career, she creates a marginal plot in The Cleft and breaks down the stereotypes. Projecting the story of the Clefts and Squirts as the first human civilisation, Lessing shows how a society evolves forward. The Clefts are the first ancestors of the humankind from whom the Squirts and other people originate. They are the maternal figures and the first examples of goddesses in history for their maternal tendency. They give birth to female babies at the beginning and keep a green way of life in nature, still later they bear baby boys and generate the human population. Although they cast out all males from their female community naming them “the others”, they atone for their faults years later and embrace the males with their sensitivity, productivity and wisdom. Maire and then Maronna counsel the Squirts and become potent maternal figures in the mixed group. They remind the males the ways of pursuing a tranquil and amicable life for protecting their children, being sensitive towards women and preserving integrity of nature. Despite Horsa’s headiness and faulty decisions like his colonial journey resulting from his weariness of women’s persistant attitude, women finally manage to convince men to adopt a more indulgent, eco-friendly and unselfish type of living in nature and among people. Eventually, the males and females cluster under the umbrella of humanity and contribute to the flow of natural system. Lessing hence confidently verifies that a human society can correct its errors and develop forward taking ecofeminist philosophy as the chief cause for having a better world. 88

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CURRICULUM VITAE

Personal Information

Name Surname Kübra BAYSAL

Birth place and date Ordu/1987

Education

Bachelor’s Degree Hacettepe University English Language and Literature, 2008.

Master’s Degree Atatürk University English Language and Literature, 2013.

Foreign Languages English, German, Spanish

Academic activities İnsan Ruhunun Derinliklerinde Cilt 1 and Cilt 2 (2011), Ankara: Etkin Yayınevi (Translation).

Work Experience

Internship Atv Ankara Office (July-August 2007).

1. The Other Renaissance: Revival of Authentic Projects Women (2012), Romania (Presentation). 2. A non-conformer and a feminist: Juana Inés de la Cruz (2013), Poland (Presentation).

Kastamonu University, Department of Foreign Institutions Languages, 2012-present. Contact Information E-mail [email protected] Date 03.05.2013