Humanity And Nature

George Eliot is a famous Victorian novelist in the 19^th century.Her novels are well-known for her profound philosophic thoughts,her fervent concern with ethics, religion and social politics and the detailed description of her characters' psychology.The Mill on the Floss is regarded as an autobiographical novel of her.Her works are mainly studied from the perspectives of structuralism,archetypal criticism,psychological realism, feminist criticism,moral analysis and religious analysis,etc.However,there are nearly no systematic researches on her novels in terms of ecocriticism at home and abroad.Eliot describes a lot of rural scenes as well as the relationship between characters and environment in Mill.In addition,she exposes the destruction of natural scenes,the distortion of human relations and the loss of pastoral tradition brought by industrialization. All of these are the very problems ecocriticism concerned about.Ecocriticism,as a critical method just put forward in the 1970s,focuses on the ways that nature is reflected in literary texts.Reacting against anthropocentricism,ecocritics question the logic of industrial civilization which has produced negative impact on the whole ecosystem.This thesis intends to analyze Eliot's view of nature in Mill.It will first associate the natural scenes like the wilderness of Floss,the Red Deeps,Dorlcote Mill and the big flood with ecocriticism.Before the beginning of Industrial Revolution,the Tullivers keep a harmonious relationship with nature.With Dorlcote Mill,the family lives a pastoral life peacefully on the Floss.But,as industrialization crept across the old St.Ogg's Town,the Tullivers lose the property of the mill,which symbolizes the loss of agrarian existence. The Red Deeps as a wilderness for Maggie will be regarded as her quest for identity in nature.The flood will be discussed from the biblical perspective,which displaces from the story of "Noah's Ark".Then,Eliot's hope for seeking a way to return pastoral life in the industrialized world will be demonstrated in the next part of the thesis.Finally,George Eliot's basic ecological ideas on the relation of man and nature presented in Mill will be stated out in the conclusion part.The novel not only reveals the degradation of nature,but also exposes Eliot's anxiety of industrialized English society.Therefore,to read Mill from the perspective of ecocriticism helps us to seek the possibility of solutions to ecological problems and get a new understanding of the relationship between nature,society and man,which has a realistic meaning in the 21^st century.