The Eco-Critical Analysis Of House Made Of Dawn

N. Scott Momaday is a famous American Indian. After his novel House Made of Dawn receiving the Pulitzer Prize, his works begin to gain public attention. Up till now, the researches on this novel are mostly about searching for identity, and cultural conflicts between American white and American Indians. Of course, there are studies on this novel from the perspectives of narrative strategies, character images and post-colonialism. However, this novel maintains a plenty of ecocritical thoughts and deserves readers to meditate.As the environment is deteriorating, human beings begin to realize the importance of protecting the environment, which gives birth to ecocriticism. Ecocriticism studies the relationship among human beings, the nature and the spirituality. It aims at arousing human beings’ ecological awareness by manifesting the bad consequences that human beings bring to the nature and themselves because they are harming the environment. It attempts to make human beings realize their dependent and inseparable relationship with the nature and then introspect their attitude towards the nature. The eco-critical analysis of Momaday’s House Made of Dawn not only helps people to set up the proper attitude towards the nature, but also is a guidance to help people find peace in the nature.This thesis includes five chapters. Chapter One introduces the life of Momaday and the plot of the novel House Made of Dawn. It narrates the current studies on Momaday and the novel House Made of Dawn at home and abroad, and the creative points of this thesis. Chapter Two mentions the development of ecocriticism and explains the center ideas of ecocriticism. Chapter Three discusses the human-nature relationship and compares American white’s attitude towards the nature with that of American Indians. In this chapter, the thoughts of American white to conquer the nature and the thoughts of American Indians to respect the nature form a sharp contrast. Also, this chapter illustrates American white’s anthropocentric idea and American Indians’ eco-holistic idea. Chapter Four illustrates protagonist Abel’s journey to find his identity from spiritual ecology aspect. It explains how Abel runs away from Indian reservation and struggles in Los Angeles after he is set free, and at last goes back to Indian reservation and finds his own identity and peace. Chapter Five concludes the ecological thoughts in the novel and appeals human beings to reconsider the human-nature relationship.