An Interpretatin Of Alex Haley’s Ecocritical Comments In Roots

Alex Haley is one of the most outstanding Afro-American writerswho have explored the theme of blacks’ ethnic identity to improve theirself-confidence and sense of pride. He is best known as the author ofRoots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography ofMalcolm X. Of his two works, Roots was awarded the Pulitzer Prize andadapted to the screen.Since its publication, many scholars have studied Roots differentpoints of view. Some focused on its theme of racial discrimination andblack aesthetics. Others mainly researched into its craftsmanship.Recently critics began to see it as an embodiment of ecocriticism. Goingin this direction, the current thesis gives a detailed analysis of the maincharacters to show how different aspects of ecocriticism can be integratedinto a systematic analysis of the novel Roots. And this is the veryoriginality of the thesis.The whole thesis is divided into five parts. The introductory part gives a brief survey of the theory of ecocriticism as well as the author andRoots. The second part demonstrates anthropocentrism-causedman-nature disunity and ecocentrism-based man-nature harmony found inthe novel. The third part contrasts the intracultural man-man harmony anddiscordant intercultural relationship to emphasize the importance of abenevolent social ecology. Part Four traces Blacks’ loss of self-identityand their reconstruction of identity to show how important a favorablespiritual ecology is to the harmony of a society as well as of nature atlarge. The final part of the thesis reiterates the major points discussed inprevious sections of the paper and pins down the conclusion harmoniousspiritual and social ecologies are the guarantee of a harmonious naturalecology, and a harmonious natural ecology is the only promise for humansurvival.