On The Modern Anthropocentrism In Atwood's The Edible Women, Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale And Oryx And Crake

Margaret Atwood is one of the most famous women writers in Canada. As a versatile and prolific writer, she has produced fourteen collections of poems, five collections of short stories, three works of critical essays and eleven novels. Up to now, she has gained many literary awards including Canadian Governor General's Award, American Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Booker Prize. Within her works, she reveals a profound respect for the natural world, and her ecological theme has also been widely discussed in many previous studies.In this thesis, with the modern anthropocentrism as the theoretical support, this thesis will analyze and deconstruct Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman, Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake. Modern anthropocentrism means to respect nature while remaining human beings' subjectivity. Traditional anthropocentrism and the contemporary biocentric egalitarianism both have their limitations; only modern anthropocentrism can keep the balance between the human beings and nature. With modern anthropocentrism, this thesis explores the deep root of the ecological crisis by analyzing the four books.The inflated human desire and using the double-edged-sword technology in the wrong way make human beings fall into the bottomless pit. Reckless consumption has led to the devastation of natural resources and abusing of technology has plunged the whole ecosystem into disasters. As a result, human beings as sufferers reap what they have sown. They are quite vulnerable in face of great catastrophe caused by their activities. And the only way for human beings to be out of the chaos is to respect the nature as well as remaining human beings'subjectivity. Only in this way, can they achieve the ideal balance between themselves and nature.