An ecocritical reading of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale and Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide

Abstract

This thesis explores an ecocritical and ecofeminist reading of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide. The study examines how the two novels intersect with feminist and ecological concerns, highlighting how gender and environmental issues are interconnected. By using an ecofeminist lens, this thesis aims to analyze how the authors represent gendered power structures in their narratives, and how those structures are connected to environmental exploitation. Atwood's novel portrays a dystopian world where women are subjugated and their reproductive rights are controlled by the powerful male elite. In contrast, Ghosh's novel depicts the lives of humans and non-humans in the ecologically fragile Sundarbans region. The thesis explores how the novels represent the struggles of women and marginalized communities to assert their agency and resist patriarchal and environmental oppression. The study examines how the characters' experiences and interactions with their environment reflect the interconnectedness between gender and ecology. Through an ecocritical lens, this thesis argues that both authors offer a critique of patriarchal capitalism, which exploits both women and nature for profit, and proposes alternative ways of thinking about the human-nature relationship that prioritizes ecological sustainability.