Ecological Significance Of Biblical Archetypes In Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy

With the deterioration of the environment and depletion of resources,concerns about environmental protection are increasingly prevalent nowadays,Among all the activities around environmental conservation,it is easy to ignore the humanities.Nonetheless,protecting the environment requires not only advanced policies and technologies but also cultural awareness that instructs people to interact with the natural world.The MaddAddam trilogy written by Margaret Atwood,including Oryx and Crake,The Year of the Flood,and MaddAddam,precisely incorporates religion into ecology with artful use of biblical archetypes.Using Northrop Frye’s theory of archetypal criticism,this study intends to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the ecological significance of biblical archetypes in the trilogy.In general,this study suggests that biblical archetypes possess diverse ecological significances in characterization,narrative structure,imagery,and theme.Firstly,a detailed analysis of three types of archetypal characters reveals that the role of mankind in nature is more like a steward than an owner.Secondly,the U-shaped pattern in Toby’s and Zeb’s narrative demonstrates the significance of moral construction in environmental protection.Moreover,while paradisal images like the Flood and the Garden imply the opposition between human consumption and environmental conservation,animal images like pigs and lambs pose other problems like species extinction and genetic engineering.Finally,the composition of two pairs of biblical themes—sin and salvation,heaven and hell—combines biblical significance with ecological problems,through which Atwood builds up an alarming posthuman world.In consequence,this study shows that ecological literature and religion as major shapers of human values and ethics are of significance in promoting environmental awareness.