An Ecocritical Reading Of The Maine Woods

As one of Thoreau’s representative works, The Maine Woods records his trips in the woods. This thesis attempts to explore the ecological theme in The Maine Woods from the perspective of ecocriticism which focuses on the relationship between man and nature as well as man and spirit, reveals that man is part of nature and should be in harmony with other creatures in nature, and that man should pursue the richness of spiritual world instead of the richness of materials.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives an introduction to Henry David Thoreau and his literary accomplishments, summarizes the research background, the purpose and significance of the study, and at last introduces the overall structure of this thesis briefly. Chapter Two is literature review about Thoreau and his works and finds that previous people’s research on Thoreau mainly focus on Walden, very few of them have studied The Maine Woods. Therefore studying The Maine Woods is valuable. Chapter Three makes conclusion to the main theories which include anthropencentrism, animal rights theory and ecocentrism, on the basis of the development of ecocriticism in Europe and America. In general, ecocriticism focuses on the relationship between man and nature. Anthropocentrism holds the opinion that human beings who have the intrinsic value are in the leadership of ecosphere. Animal rights theory insists that animals are the living conscious creatures with their own rights. Humans abuse nonhuman cruelly is immoral. Ecocentrism enlarges ethics thoughts and the scope of main body rights from humans to the ecological system which involves the natural processing and non-humans. After the literature reviewing about the development of ecocriticism in China, it has found more and more scholars are concerning about the subject in recent years. The ecological interpretation of The Maine Woods is presented in the fourth chapter. At the beginning of this chapter, it mainly introduces the relationship between man and nature and man and spirit. Man has no prior right over other creatures in nature and should live in harmony with nature. Man should go closer to nature and enjoy the moment being alone instead of chasing the fulfillment of materials. And Thoreau encourages people to enrich their spiritual realm constantly and unceasingly. In Chapter Five, it makes a conclusion to the thesis. Studying on The Maine Woods under the framework of ecocriticism not only offers a different perspective to expound Thoreau’s natural writings, but also arouses the reader’s ecological consciousness.The thesis gets the conclusion that we should respect every creature in nature. Thoreau’s ecological views can be principles of our behavior.