THE ECOLOGY OF OPPRESSION: GENDER, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESISTANCE IN AN ABUNDANCE OF WILD ROSES BY FARYAL

Abstract

In postcolonial societies, the inseparable reality of gender-based violence, environment degradation, and feminine resistance are the residuals of the long embedded ecological and patriarchal oppression. An Abundance of Wild Roses by Faryal Gauhar presents a rather interesting account where material and real losses of women are reflected in the form of the trauma of their bodies as well as the failure of nature. The paper attempts to propose a detailed critique of how these themes are portrayed in the book through the ecofeminist theory as the main analytical tool. The textual analysis was based on language, imagery, and symbolism that Gauhar uses to demonstrate the collective nature of suffering and power of women and nature. The conclusions show that the resistance discovered in the novel is not the grand revolt as a rebel but the resistance in the materialized forms of care and ritual as ecological sensitivity. The symbol that repeats throughout the novel is the wild rose, symbolizing silent endurance and resistance. Ecofeminism as both a framework and a deciphering mechanism is essential not only because it helps categorize the interrelations between gender, environment, and power but also because it serves as a means by which to unmask or rather de-layer the connected nature of these three interrelations. Although this analysis is confined to one piece of literature, it points to further research into comparative ecofeminist analysis across South Asian literature and the development of more relations across disciplinary boundaries between literary criticism and grassroots ecofeminism and environmental justice movements.