Ecofeminist’s Interpretation of Cry, the Peacock

This paper delves into the domination of both women and nature regarding them as subordinates in Anita Desai’s Cry, the Peacock. The parallel treatment both women and nature get in the world indicate that they are inferior to men due to patriarchy. Along with the colonization of America by Europeans, the woman and nature have been subjugated. On the one hand, due to rise of science and technology, the hierarchy between humans and nonhumans has been created and humans have shown their dominance over nonhumans regarding themselves much superior to the nonhumans. So, the interconnectedness of all living beings is denied and relation between humans and nonhumans is terribly affected. On the other hand, due to patriarchy, women are treated as submissive as nature and both women and nature are dominated. The major objective of the paper is to explore the connection between ecology and feminism due to patriarchy. Since the paper deals with the protagonist’s, Maya’s struggle to free from her husband, Gautam, the representative of patriarchy and her love for her pet dog, whereas her husband shows indifference to her and the dog, the suppression and domination of both Maya and the dog get revealed in the novel, the ecofeminism becomes the right theory for the textual analysis of the novel. In this context, Carolyn Merchant’s concept “Women and nature have an age-old association - an affiliation that has persisted throughout culture, history and language” (xix) becomes applicable reflecting the connection between women and nature. Likewise, from Merchant’s theoretical lens, Maya’s struggles in the select novel can be understood as Merchant states “Women are struggling to free themselves from cultural and economic constrains that have kept them subordinates to men in America society” (xix). Hence, for the theoretical concept, Merchant’s theory of ecofeminism has been adopted.