A Study Of Rudolfo A. Anaya’s New Mexico Trilogy From The Perspective Of Environmental Justice Ecocriticism

Rudolfo A.Anaya(1937-2020)is a famous contemporary Mexican American writer and one of the founders of contemporary Chicano literature,recognized as “the godfather of Chicano literature”.Among his novels,New Mexico Trilogy is regarded as his most influential work,involving the themes like Chicano culture,social injustice and environmental injustice and so on.After its publication,New Mexico Trilogy is widely welcomed by readers and also highly praised by academic circles.It includes Bless Me,Ultima,Heart of Aztlán and Tortuga.Up to now,domestic and foreign academic circles mainly study the trilogy from the standpoint of archetypal criticism,politics of identity and post-colonialism to reveal its humanistic meanings.Yet,the trilogy is also full of ecological meanings,but there are few researches from the perspective of ecocriticism.For this reason,this paper tries to interpret New Mexico Trilogy based on environmental justice ecocriticism,aiming to reveal various environmental injustice against Chicano community and its underlying historical,cultural and realistic roots from the racial perspective,to explore the ecological wisdom in the culture of the disempowered groups,and then to provide some enlightenment for realizing universal environmental justice.This thesis mainly tries to analyze the trilogy from the following three levels.The body part firstly reveals the environmental injustices Chicano people suffer from and its realistic consequences,like the degradation of land and displacement from homeland;the devilish living environment in barrio.Secondly,the thesis explores the historical,cultural and realistic roots of the above environmental injustices,such as the conspiracy of anthropocentrism and racism in the mainstream culture,the instrumentalist treatment of Chicano workers and their environment,and the alliance of economic dominance and religious force within the internal colonial system.Finally,according to the analysis of the trilogy,the thesis puts forward possible cultural solutions to eliminate environmental injustice.For one thing,the old Native American mythology,which conveys the idea of connectedness and mutual benefits of the whole world,is a kind of precious cultural resource that constructs sustainable harmony in the world.Therefore,in the mainstream culture which is overwhelmed with binary opposition,the discovery and inheritance of old myth are helpful to lead all of the things in this world to keep in harmony and symbiosis.For another thing,the displaced Mexican Americans should redefine their relationship with place,and reshape their sense of place so as to realize re-inhabitation in the times of great change and crisis.At the same time,the ecological wisdom in the traditional culture of ethnic minorities is conducive to deconstruct mainstream cultural hegemony to achieve environmental justice.New Mexico Trilogy contains profound ideas of environmental justice.The perspective of environmental justice,no doubt,has considerable realistic significance to explore the underlying roots of environmental issues in the background of the deteriorating environment nowadays.Meanwhile,it also inspires people to cross all man-made boundaries.Only in this way,could people build a relationship of just and harmonious coexistence between one man and another,and between people and nature.