An Ecocritical Study On Waiyaki's Identity Dilemma In The River Between

Ngugi wa Thiong'o,East African Novel Prize winner in 1965,is praised as one of the greatest writers in the 20^th century of Africa.He was one of the candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2019.The River Between,one of Ngugi's early works,has been included in the textbook for Kenyan middle school students.In this novel,it depicts ecological changes by invasions of the white culture and Waiyaki's identity dilemma is caused by these changes.Guided by Aldo Leopold's ecological thoughts,this paper intends to study Waiyaki's identity dilemma from the perspective of the relationship between man and nature,the relationship between man and man and the relationship between man and self in order to explain the importance of harmonious ecological relationship to human's identity.The thesis consists of six sections.The first chapter introduces the author Ngugi and his novel The River Between,and concludes the current studies of the text.The second chapter elaborates on theories of Ecocriticism and gives an overview of Aldo Leopold's thoughts in three aspects--ecological holism,the land ethic and the value of wilderness.It also explains the relationship between The River Between and ecocriticism.The third chapter,based on ecocriticism,illuminates Waiyaki's identity dilemma from the perspective of natural ecology,social ecology and spiritual ecology.By applying Leopold's ecological holism,the land ethic and the value of wilderness,the fourth chapter analyzes reasons for Waiyaki's identity dilemma through demonstrating the relationship between man and nature,man and man and man and self.The fifth chapter discusses Waiyaki's efforts to seek ways out of identity dilemma.It analyzes approaches to be out of identity dilemma and reasons for failure or success.The sixth chapter concludes the whole paper and reflects on the relationship between man and nature.This paper thinks that human beings have to dispose anthropocentricism.Human beings have to respect nature and keep a harmonious relationship with nature so that identities of human beings will be in a comparably stable status.Ecological holism helps human beings to keep a harmonious relationship between human and nature.