The Ecological Consciousness Of Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819-1891) is an American writer in 19th century. The special experience of whaling sailor made him have special feelings for the ocean, so that he created a great number of literatures on the background of the ocean. Herman Melville not only demonstrates strong ecological consciousness in the text, but also experiences appearance-perfection-depth gradual process. Based on Melville’s "Typee"(1846), "Moby Dick"(1851) and "Bartleby, the scrivener"(1853) this paper will analyze Melville’s ecological thought forming process, combining ecocriticism, ecological view of holism and spiritual ecology.This paper consists of three parts. The first part is the introduction, including ecological literary theory, the current research of Melville, related thesis topic selection and the description of his ecological perspective. The second part consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, taking "Typee" for example, this paper will analyze the appearance of Melville’s ecological concerns. Particularly, these concerns contain finding goodness of nature and the resistance of colonists’wanton occupation; overriding the nature and superiority of being a civilized man that he cannot give up; discovering the power of nature and the awareness of that nature is not passively "slaughtered". In the second chapter, taking "Moby Dick" for example, the paper will dissect the formation process of Melville’s ecological view of holism. There are three points. Firstly, Melville questioned and refuted anthropocentrism, including his accuse of whaling and critique of Ahab. Secondly, he confirmed nature’s main value of life symbolized by the ocean, Moby Dick and Queequeg. Thirdly, Melville explored the ways of reconciliation between man and nature. In the third chapter, by studying Melville’s short story "Bartleby, the scrivener", the paper will expound his focus on ecology of the human spirit of the 19th century. The last part is the conclusion of the paper, which is to summarize Melville’s ecological point of view and to point the enlightenment and profound significance of solving the ecological crisis.