Digital Object Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.35
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1260-5987Unprecedented environmental devastation and deep-rooted social inequalities demand serious critical examinations of modern social structures. Literature, holding a mirror up to the times, truthfully captures the severity of these ecological and societal crises. The burgeoning ecological imperatives have necessitated new ways of addressing the global concern of existence and extinction. Quite often, hegemonic masculinity is cited as the primary reason for the heedless exploitation of nature and environment, as represented in the literary texts. Ecocritical readings of the literary texts offer fresh examinations of the possible alternatives to hegemonic masculinities. It is in this context that ecological masculinity becomes a significant contribution to literary criticism, demonstrating the transformative potential of masculine ecologisation. It presents a paradigm shift in the conceptual frameworks of masculinity, encouraging constructive relationships with nature and non-human beings. The ideology is rooted in profeminism, and the basic pillars are care and deep ecological consciousness. Ecological masculinity demonstrates that man can move away from patriarchal dominance. This paper reads the novel Gift in Green by Sarah Joseph through the theoretical postulations of ecological masculinity. The study interrogates the novel’s representations of masculine subjectivity and environmental ethics. Dinakaran, the male protagonist, represents this new ideology. He exhibits the essential qualities of ecological masculinity, becoming a symbolic expression of its transformation from hegemony to care.
Dominic, Tojy, et al. “Masculinity beyond Hegemony: Ecological Masculinity and the Ethics of Care in Sarah Joseph’s Gift in Green.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 5, Oct. 2026, pp. 636-57, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n5.35.
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Research Centre for English Language and Literature (RCELL) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
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