Eco- Feminism in Arundathi Roy’s the Ministry of Utmost Happiness: A Critique

Abstract

Eco-feminists believe strongly that nature and women have a bond as they share patriarchal oppression. Social-feminists differ from Eco-feminists in that Eco-feminism focuses on the role of gender in political economy. Eco-feminism emerged during the second wave of feminism in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s. Women perceive an interrelationship between classism, sexism, racism and environmental damage. Just as feminists struggled to eradicate gender discrimination, there is a need to overcome the challenges that climatic change has on humanity. Human oppression is linked with the exploitation of nature, hence it is considered a feminist issue. Eco-feminism uses the basic tenets of feminism to achieve equality between genders. Eco-feminists are of the idea that nature has to be maintained with mutual care and co-operation. Eco-feminism is an academic and activist movement which tries to eliminate exploitation of nature by human beings and any kind of exploitation of any kind. Some contemporary Indian novelists not only investigate female oppression, but also the biological, psychological, and social environment. Arundathi Roy is a contemporary Indian English writer who is acclaimed as a political activist and eco-feminist writer. In this paper, an attempt is made to unravel the demise of some birds and animals due to unethical modernization through scientific technology and also through re-habitation in Roy’s second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. This paper also traces how embracing nature can change the issues of gender as well