A Study On The Three-Dimensional Materiality Of "Oil" In Oil!

Upton Sinclair is a well-known American realist author in the twentieth century.His works mostly reflect the harsh reality and express his criticism of Capitalism.Oil!is a typical example of his realistic writing.Centering on the development of the oil industry,the novel shows the social status quo of the United States in the early 20 th century and reveals the potential dangers brought to society by the industrial development at that time.Although Upton Sinclair is not an ecological writer in the conventional sense,his depiction of the human-nature relationship in his writings is worth investigating and contemplating.Previous research on Oil! has primarily focused on the novel’s depiction of social class conflicts,demonstrating Upton Sinclair’s concern for social issues.Although a few studies have addressed environmental issues,few scholars have comprehensively analyzed the novel from an eco-critical perspective.Therefore,the current study takes material ecocriticism as the theoretical framework and investigates the materiality of “oil” in this novel,in hopes of providing a new analyzing perspective for the interpretation of this novel.According to Material Ecocriticism,matters have three dimensions of materiality:as agent,meaning generator and narrator.In this novel,oil also manifests the three dimensions.First,as agent,“oil” shapes the landscapes of the oil-producing areas,even brings destruction to the environment: the green vegetation disappears with oil drilling.Moreover,when “oil” enters human society,its agency is demonstrated in its continuous influence on people’s living conditions and psychological states.Second,in its interaction with humans,oil generates meanings associated with human society as the meaning generator.“Oil” no longer exists as a tangible entity after entering the society.It becomes the symbol of money,power,and exploitation by interacting with humans,resulting in unbalanced states and chaos in society.Finally,the text endows oil with legendary color and animacy by depicting “oil” as a monster and a player,hence oil is anthropomorphized as a narrator,telling its story in the natural and social world.By interpreting the three material ecological dimensions of “oil” in Oil!,this thesis holds that Sinclair exposes more of the negative side of oil.However,the negative side of oil is actually caused by the fact that human beings have not correctly recognized that oil,as a matter,has its own agency and is not a passive product controlled by human beings.As a matter,oil exerts its agency to intertwine the natural world and the industrial culture.Such intertwining illustrates that the blind development of oil industry not only causes natural and social ecological crisis,but also causes crisis in human psychology,which breaks the social ecological balance.Oil is no longer seen as a passive object or a cultural product;rather,it creates culture together with human beings.Humans are not the sole subject of the world.Oil as an element in nature,its agency suggests that nature and human beings are equal in terms of materiality,and human beings should live in harmony with nature.