Salted Earth: An Original Fiction Manuscript and Ecofeminist Analysis of the Monstrous Childless Woman Trope

Abstract

The thesis “Salted Earth: An Original Fiction Manuscript and Ecofeminist Analysis of the Monstrous Childless Woman Trope” seeks to examine the stigma that surrounds the social construction of barrenness, and explores the relationship between infertility and feminine identity. The critical foreword analyzes the representation of fertility and childlessness in western culture through an ecofeminist lens and asserts that the naturalization rhetoric surrounding the issue is perpetually reinforced through cultural artifacts and is particularly damaging to barren women. The foreword also investigates the depiction of childless women as monstrous and “other” in the selected works of Aimee Bender, Margaret Atwood, and Judy Budnitz. The original fiction manuscript, “Salted Earth,” consists of four short stories that explore the relationship of barrenness to character identity and attempt to subvert the monstrous childless woman archetype.