Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.15291/sic/1.16.lc.1
Southern American Women vs. the Agrarian South: An Ecofeminist Dimension to Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie
Olfa Gandouz
Abstract
The present examines the relationship between women and nature in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie (1944) from an ecofeminist perspective. Like the American South, which was affected by the presence of the industrial machine, ‘the Southern Belle’ was affected by the patriarchal mindset. The common thread between Williams and some ecofeminists lies their call for preserving nature from the dangers of deforestation and the peril of industrialization, as well as their advocacy for setting women free from various social stereotypes. Starting from Francoise D’Eaubonne’s argument about ‘Green Politics,’ the paper will delve into the intricacies of the female self, focusing on the affinities between the downtrodden Green space and the marginalization of the “handicapped” Laura. Like Green politics, which focuses on creating an egalitarian society, The Glass Menagerie invites the audience to ponder over a better representation of women with special needs. In the same context of calling for equality, the ecofeminist theoretician Greta Gaard argues for the necessity of blurring the boundaries between nature and culture and respecting the ecological chain. She differs from other ecofeminist scholars in that she gives special attention to animals and is opposed to the minimization of women, animals, and nature. In the play, animal imagery will be explored through the presence of extinct animals (like the unicorn) in Laura’s The Glass Menagerie. The ultimate goal of this paper is to demonstrate how belonging to the Southern ecosystem helps establish new facets of female identity.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
343834
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2025.
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