An Interpretation Of Michael Punke’s The Revenant From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Michael Punke published his first novel The Revenant in 2002.This novel has drawn wide attention since it was adapted into film for the same name in 2015,directed by Alejandro González I?árritu.It is a thrilling tale of betrayal and revenge set against the 19~thh century American frontier when the fur trade boomed.Attacked by grizzly,the hunter Hugh Glass was injured seriously and abandoned by companions.Fortunately,relying on the strong desire to survive and the rich field survival skills,he revived and launched an epic vengeance.Punke reflects and redefines the relationship between human and nature in this novel.Eco-criticism is a kind of literary criticism to explore the relationships between human and nature,literature and nature under the guidance of ecological holism.It aims to reveal the ideological and cultural root of ecological crisis,and explore the unique ecological aesthesis of literature,in order to encourage people to form and strengthen the ecological consciousness,and to promote the construction of ecological civilization.Eco-criticism consists of three basic theories:land ethics of Aldo Leopold,deep ecology of Arne Naess,and eco-feminism of Patrick D.Murphy.Land ethics denounces the anthropocentrism,puts forward the concept of land community,and extends the ethics category to the relationship between human and land.Its ecological holism has paved the way for the core idea of eco-criticism;“Gestalt ontology”of deep ecology emphasizes the internal relationship between things,advocates bio-centric Egalitarianism and achieving the harmony between human and nature through human’s“Self-realization”;andeco-feminismstretchestheextentofcriticismfrom anti-anthropocentrism to anti-androcentrism,explores ecological problems from the perspective of gender,and believes that the thought of human’s domination over nature derives from the thought of male’s domination over female.The thesis consists of three parts.The first part introduces the background information of Michael Punke and his works,especially The Revenant,related theories of eco-criticism,especially the theory of deep ecology of Arne Naess,literature review of The Revenant’s study and the layout of the thesis.The second part of the thesis,the main body,is divided into three chapters.Chapter One explores the disharmonious relationship between European immigrants and nature in the western United States.With the invasion of consumerism,the Whites desire to conquer the wilderness driven by commercial benefit.Chapter Two discusses the violation of bio-centric egalitarianism in nature that the novel embodies.This chapter focuses on the strives between different human races,the conflicts within the same human races,and non-human races’being killed by human races,then figures out the root of conflicts and reflects on modern civilization.Chapter Three analyzes the achievement of men’s Self-realization from nature.This chapter mainly focuses on the forgiveness of foes,the recognition of living being’s intrinsic value,and the integration with wilderness.The last part is a conclusion.In The Revenant,Punke praises for the divine nature,criticizes the anthropocentrism,and dreams full of optimistic beliefs and good future about the harmonious relationships between man and nature,man and man,man and society.