The Ecological Interpretation Of Oryx And Crake

Margaret Atwood,the Queen of Canadian Literature,has been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in literature.Though she has published more than 30 works covering poems,novels as well as literary critic,she has never ceased literary creation.Oryx and Crake,published in 2003,is defined as the dystopian work of the 21 st century.This thesis,through the discussion on the bad effects of science and technology,attempts to interpret the novel from the perspectives of deep ecology.In the novel,the expansion of human desire,together with human’s neglect of natural law,gave rise to the alienation of technology.In reverse,the alienated technology led to the loss of significance of human being at the philosophical level,and caused the extinction of mankind finally.The ecological and social problems presented in the novel are in accordance with the main concerns of deep ecology,hence,the ecological thoughts and theories of Martin Heidegger’s,Aldo Leopold’s and Arne Naess’ s will be adopted to analyze the novel.The thesis consists of five parts.The first part is a brief introduction of Atwood and her novel Oryx and Crake.In order to make the ecological interpretation reasonable,the development of eco-criticism will be briefly retrospected,along with the reviews on theories used in this thesis.In the following part,the research viewpoints of the scholars both at home and abroad are reviewed so as to grasp the academic trend of the novel.Combining the ecological theories with the human,ecological and social crises caused by the dominance of science and technology,Chapter one makes analysis of such issues as the dehumanization of technology,the deterioration of the relation between human and nature,as well as the alienation of social relationships.Chapter two explores the possible countermeasures to solve the technological and ecological crises presented in the novel with the help of Heidegger’s “poetic dwelling” and other ecological viewpoints.Poetic dwelling requires our being aware of the danger of anthropocentrism,getting rid of the shackles of modern technology,and strengthening the value of arts and humanities which provide spiritual home for human beings.Based on the action program of deep ecology,Chapter three attributes the ecological disaster to capitalist ideology.It is the egoism and the principle of supremacy of interests that lead to the deviation of technological development and damage the ecology.The harmony in the post-disaster world helps us to reflect on the limitations of anthropocentrism,putting human and non-human into the ecological community.In addition,as a proportion of arts and humanities,literature serves as an indispensable element of the construction of the community with a shared future,in the aspect of ideology.Therefore,Oryx and Crake arouses people’s thinking about the community with a shared future,providing us with the possible solutions to deal with the global ecological crisis.The novel reveals the causes of the crises,pointing out that the abuse of the technology and the limitation of capitalism are to be blamed.Advocating that the shackling off technological constraint should start from ideological roots,deep ecology theories contribute greatly to solve the ecological problems.Literature as a part of ideology promotes the construction of the community with a shared future,thus Oryx and Crake is of significance to the exploration of human’s living in harmony with nature.