2024 : 4 : 29
Mohammad Ghaffary

Mohammad Ghaffary

Academic rank: Assistant Professor
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4012-0093
Education: PhD.
ScopusId: 55573741900
Faculty: Literature and Languages
Address: Arak University
Phone:

Research

Title
The Representation of the Binary Opposition of Nature and Culture in Iris Murdoch’s The Bell: An Ecocritical Approach
Type
Thesis
Keywords
ecocriticism, culture, nature, religion, patriarchy, Murdoch’s The Bell
Year
2023
Researchers Mohammad Ghaffary(PrimaryAdvisor)، Hamid Varmazyari(Advisor)، Mustafa Ayyed Mohammed Mohammed(Student)

Abstract

Iris Murdoch is one of the greatest novelists in the 20th century because of her writings that contain philosophical insights into human life. Murdoch's The Bell reflects the perspectives that result from human desire of living naturally or following certain norms of the modern culture. This study was concerned with highlighting the representation of the binary oppositions of nature and culture in her fourth novel The Bell, which has been analyzed by numerous critics because of the various combinations of the themes included in it. The main argument was that nature and culture resulted in many conflicts because of the different philosophies and ideologies that humans had about the two. The findings showed that life in the patriarchal community is a kind of restriction for Dora, Toby, and Michael who preferred liberty of the modern culture to the traditional and religious principles. This study presents a background for later studies that want to deal with Murdoch's works through the representations of the prospects of human living in patriarchal societies and enhances the understanding of Murdoch's philosophy about the Western cultural life and religious restrictions as well.