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turgeon 28)”. So the study of the ‘alternative culture’ that views nature in a way different from the Western anthropocentric dualism is helpful to explore the possibility of constructing the “self-in-relation”.
Ecofeminism also attaches importance to the study of community and its value toward nature. Ecofeminists believe that the personal experience is rooted in the community and thus “the ideal context for revealing personal experience is a nurturing and supportive environment (quoted in Gruen 361)”. And valuing community is based on the desire to communicate, not to talk at or dictate other members of the community (Gruen 361). So the personal experience is very much connected to the community and the dialogic process between individual and community is also important in ecofeminist framework. And the concept of community is extended to include nonhuman beings. Gruen (1997) believes that the feminist valuing in community can provide insight into constructing community with nature.
To sum up, ecofeminism criticizes the logic of domination set up by the anthropocentric dualism, which places human at the center of universe, and the definition of human in the dualistic framework does not include the ‘others’. Valuing the struggles of the oppressed individual and community in their pursuit of self-construction and harmonious relationship with nature can provide insight into the understanding of ecofeminism.

1.2 Toni Morrison’s Ecofeminist Consciousness
As pointed out by Karla Armbruster and Kathleen Wallace (2001), “Morrison’s profound engagement with the natural world has thus far been overlooked by most of her critics, with prominent exceptions of Barbara Christian, Vera Norwood, and Jhan Hochman”(211). Barbara Christian (1980) has attached great importance to nature and black community in her study of Morrison’s first three novels, The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1974), and Song of Solomon (1977). She argues that the interpretation of Nature is not only crucial to Morrison’s characters’ attempt to understand themselves but to the understanding of her ways of telling the tales. And this theme remains in all her later works. And Beaulieu(2003) suggests to value Morrison’s works from the feminist or black feminist approach for the elements like “humor (ironic and otherwise), misdirection, and song” are common to black women writers in their resistance to the polyvocal oppressions and “the discovery and rediscovery of Black life, especially that of the Black woman, as it has been lived in America(13)”. Therefore, the understanding of nature and women is crucial to the interpretation of Toni Morrison’s works and the ecofeminist approach can provide a platform to examine both elements in a profound way.
In Beloved, the tree image on Sethe’s back, Denver’s emerald room, Baby Suggs’ preaching in the clearing, Paul D’s tree Brother, are all manifestation of nature. Nature plays am important role in each character’s understanding and salvation of themselves. For ecofeminists, nature, women, and other underclass groups are all victims of the anthropocentric dualism. They are objectified and inferiorised. As a result, black people are treated as non-human and black women suffered from both the anthropocentric and androcentric oppression. In order to search their self-identity, the slaves in the Sweet Home escape to the Free states. Sethe gave birth to Denver at the riverside and this river can be seen as the route to freedom本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。