Tracing the Footsteps of Eco-feminism in Robin McKinley's Fairy Lands

Fairy tales and legends have from far been the root and the beating heart of all kinds of storytelling. They have been revised throughout the time, because of their depiction of the most important humane emotions and traits. Robin McKinley is among these revisionists who has revised her four novels Beauty, The Outlaws of Sherwood, Rose Daughter and Spindle's End from the old fairy tales and legends. The factors differentiating Robin McKinley's works from other fairy tale revisions are the women who are now the protagonists of her fairy tales. Women who weave their fates with their own efforts and not with the help of a prince riding on a high white horse. The two elements of female power and the nature's profound relation with the fairy stories and legends have made Robin McKinley's tales a great bedrock for ecofeminist discussions. Nature, always being called wild and untamable and therefore manipulated by human beings, have always been identified with women. Critics such as Ynestra King and Val Plumwood, theories of whom have been used in this research, have always stayed away from the unnecessary extremist discussions of helping women and nature.