An Ecological Study In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

As the founder of American critical realism literature and one of the most influential people in America,Mark Twain is known for his humorous and satirical style of writing.His masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been highly valued by critics for child development,slavery and national identity,which have resulted in such themes as growth,racial equality and national identity.The lack of a systematic and in-depth exploration of the relationship between man and nature constitutes the origin and the value of this study.In terms of the theoretical perspective relevant to this study,the fast development of Western material civilization inevitably brought about a crisis of survival,and the trend of(natural)ecology gradually became popular and spread to the humanities and social fields,forming typical branches such as human ecology,social ecology and cultural ecology.In 1978,the American critic William Rueckert first proposed the important concept of “ecocriticism”,thus introducing ecological vision into the practice of literary criticism.The Chinese scholar Lu Shuyuan divided ecology into three aspects: “natural ecology”,“social ecology” and “spiritual ecology”,thus forming the ecological triad of nature,society and spirituality.This has created a new horizon for ecological research and provided the theoretical basis for this study.The main study of this thesis follows the logic of the ecological triad and is divided into three chapters.The first chapter explores the ecological view of nature in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.This chapter focuses on the three natural illustrations in the novel,namely “The Scene When Rainstorm Comes on Mississippi”,“The Navigation When Fog Comes on Mississippi” and “The Scenery of Daybreak on Mississippi”,and analyses the connotations and symbolic meanings of the landscape depicted in them.The environmental crisis highlighted by the “The Scene When Rainstorm Comes on Mississippi” is nature’s warning against “anthropocentrism”,the“The Navigation When Fog Comes on Mississippi” is a symbol of the deterioration of the natural environment and the confused relationship between man and nature in an industrial society,and the “The Scenery of Daybreak on Mississippi” shows the necessary way to improve the spiritual world of human beings.The second chapter focuses on the socio-ecological perspective of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the first half of the nineteenth century.The story in the novel happened under the background of the industrial revolution,rampant slavery and foreign colonial expansion.This chapter firstly explores the distortions in social relations hidden by cruelty to animals,abused lynchings and human slaughter.Secondly,it focuses on the plight of black slaves,highlighting the racist practices of white supremacists who disdained,hated and rejected the black community.Finally,it takes the American imperialist invaders symbolized by the King as an example,revealing the violent appropriation of homeland and the cultural imperialism underpinning their deceptive performances.The third chapter is concerned with the spiritual-ecological view of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Taking Tom,Huck and Jim as examples,this chapter sketches the spiritual ecology of different social classes in the United States.Tom is a symbol of “anthropocentrism”,using interests as a criterion for value judgement.Huck,on the other hand,is a man with a back-to-nature attitude and philosophy of living,which directly lead to his psychological characteristics of high plasticity and rapid growth.Jim represents the harmonious development of man and nature and pursues a rather primitive view.Ultimately,Huck achieves to grow spiritually and returns to nature and at the same time becomes spiritually independent under Jim’s guidance.The study found that Mark Twain,through the ecological writing of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,completed a three-tier conceptual construction of natural,social and spiritual ecology.Despite the inevitable commercialist vision under industrial revolution and the imprint of demanding from nature,the author exposed the paradoxical relationship between man and nature in the mid-nineteenth century through his eulogy of nature and his concern for alienation.By demonstrating his forward-looking ecological concern,Mark Twain had a profound impact on the shaping of ecological consciousness in America and the contemplation of sustainable human development.