Linda Hogan’s People Of The Whale From The Perspective Of Environmental Justice

Linda Hogan is the most famous Native American writer. She is a prolific author. Among her works, People of the Whale is her important novel. After its publication, it is concerned by the critics. In this book, she expresses views of women, nature, Native cultural tradition, survival and animal protection. This paper attempts to analyze this book and its related issues from the perspective of Environmental Justice. It has interpreted Linda Hogan’s views of ecology and environmental values. It has the realistic significance.Hogan’s deep love for animals, plants and nature are wholly transmitted through her musical words. Her view of nature is quite different from white writers. Hogan was involved in Environmental Justice Movement, known as the second wave of Ecocriticism, and witnesses the political events about ecological crisis. According to the principles of Environmental Justice, Linda Hogan is fighting against the environmental injustice. There is a contradiction that native people have to lose their cultural traditions and need to survival. The problems can’t be solved because the pressure from westerners. Ecological Crisis was made by westerners for hunting game. Native people are not responsible for it. From her stories we know more about the collective Trauma and pains of modern native people. They are still struggling for the survival. They criticize westerners’racism and domination on "The Other" for anthropocentrism. Westerners started the war at all costs and plundered the land and "resources" and kill the animals and people as well. But it is the cultural genocide in nature. Because of westerner’s slaughter and cheating, they were compelled to move far from their motherlands and lose themselves. During the process of searching for the lost cultural tradition, they suffer from lingering about going back or not. Finally, through the way of cultural preservation, they find identities as people of the whale and got the spiritual revival.As an ecofeminist, Hogan is different from the whites, she believes in equality of races, wants to return to Nature. She uses her works to protest against Ecological crisis and cruel wars caused by westerners who just did that for self-satisfaction.From People of the Whale, we know about interracial harmony between man and nature. They can help each other. The protagonists were entangled with conflicts between the whaling tradition and modern life. They feel confused and painful during the process of searching for self-identity, family bonds and love. Because of Hogan’s long term of study on different native tribes’ traditional cultures which are originated from the worship to animals and ceremony, she creates a magic world full of the mystery and myth.In this book, Hogan expresses her ecological ideas. The entire novel emphasizes the healing power that comes from a re-connection of humans to their environmental landscape. People of the Whale implies the reconciliation between man and her tribal lands not only the individual person’s reinitiating into organic world but also the possibility for consequential change for the entire human race.We believe in equality of animals and humans. According to her writing purpose, she wants to mend the broken connection between humans and the rest through her nature writings. Indigenous culture is not barbaric any more. Nowadays, more and more people reconsider the relations between races, humans and nature. we think both man and nature are interdependent. The world needs interracial harmony. So, to solve the problems, we should care for these people and the endangered animals.