A Comparative Study Of Willa Cather’s Works From The Eco-critical Perspective

After the thriving of Feminist criticism and Postcolonial criticism, ecocritism is another literary theory gradually formed in the1980s. As a burgeoning literary and cultural criticism trend, ecocritism arised under the pressure of ecological crisis and it is accompanied by the gradual maturity of the ecological philosophy. In the face of the serious crisis which already appeared in the ecological system, ecocritism has a clear purpose and meaning. It is not only composed of some concepts, regulations, structures and modes, but also a kind of hope and longing. From the perspective of the ecocriticism, this thesis attempts to compare Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! and The Professor s House. This study can reveal Willa Cather’s ecological vision and prompt people to reflect on ecological problems in our own society. The aim is to let more readers have ecological consciousness and alleviate the external ecological crisis as well as human’s inner spiritual crisis. This thesis tries to interpret the human’s relationship with nature, with other people and with oneself, which will enable more readers to appreciate the natural scenery in the two novels. Meanwhile, this thesis attempts to make the readers start to think about how to treat the relationship between the growing demand of material desire and spiritual needs.This thesis introduces the demarcation, the ideological features and the main responsibility of ecocriticism first, then combining with the connotation of the ecological literature, analyzing Willa Cather’s two novels from the aspects of ecological aesthetic theory, the principle of simple living, the criticism of the desire motivation theory, the criticism of the conquest and control nature concept etc. In O Pioneers!, Willa Cather mainly probes into the relationship between man and nature. She advocates an idea of going back to nature, immerging oneself into nature and returning to the harmony with nature. While in The Professor’s House, the author explores the relationship between man and the society as well as man and himself. How to find one’s true self in reality and how to get one’s soul satisfied under the discontented current social situation. At last, this thesis tries to reveal the common ground of these two novels:Willa Cather’s ecological vision runs through the two novels.