A Comparison Of Attitudes Toward Nature Reflected In The Works Of Ernest Hemingway And Jack London

With the rapid economic and technical development across the world, more and more people are concerned about environmental issues. Ecocriticism came into being in the last century as a kind of literary criticism. In brief, it studies the relationship between nature and literature. Hemingway and Jack London are the famous ecological writers in American literature in the period from the end of the 19th century to the 20th century. They wrote many famous novels which attracted many readers all over the world. The thesis mainly makes an ecological analysis on and a comparison between the Call of the Wild, White Fang and Sea wolf written by Jack London and Big Two-Hearted River, Green Hills of Africa and the Old Man and the Sea written by Hemingway. The thesis is expected to compare their attitudes toward nature in two aspects.In their works, we find that their family and society background makes them develop their interests in taking adventure in the natural and non-human world. As we know, their attitudes toward nature include two parts: anthropocentrism and anti- anthropocentrism. In Hemingway's novels, his love for fishing and hunting manifests his anthropocentrism. He thinks that man is the king of nature and can control the nature. In some novels of Jack London, he shows men are cruel to the animals and regard the animals as tools in the rigorous environment. In the aspect of anti-anthropocentrism, they both return to the natural and non-human world to show their love and respecting for nature. The harmonious relationship between man and animals can show us the ecological holism which is advocated by London. While Hemingway in some of his works expresses his self-reflections on destroying the natural world, in order to awaken the ecological consciousness of people.Though they describe the natural world in the different ways, they have the same essence in their attitudes toward nature. It is obvious that we human beings aren't the king of the nature and we should keep the harmonious relationship with our ecosphere. Surely studying their attitudes toward nature could lead us rethink about our behaviors towards nature.