A Study Of The Ecological Thought In Leslie Marmon Siiko's Works

Leslie Marmon Silko(1948—)is one of the outstanding representatives of contemporary Native American Literary Renaissance who has won many awards.She won a National Endowment for Arts award,an award from Chicago Review in 1974,MacArthur Genius Award in 1981 and Lifetime Achievement Award for Native American Writer in 1991.She has published three novels Ceremony,Almanac of the Dead and Gardens in the Dunes,and poem collection Laguna Women as well as story collection Storyteller.In 2010,she published a memoir entitled The-Turquoise Ledge:A Memoir.In abroad,Silko is an important research focus,especially in Native American Literature studies.Scholars did research on her from various subjects.For example,Silko is one of the well-discussed Native American writers on the key journal "Studies in American Indian Literatures" in America within a decade.However,she is ignored in domestic research.At present,there are about 67 articles published in different journals and only 3 PhD dissertations which focus on Silko in China.At home and abroad,the relevant studies on Silko are focus upon post-colonialism,eco-criticism,feminism and cultural studies,etc."Anthropocentrism" worldview leads to the alienation between man and nature.Human's pragmatism and utilitarianism lifestyle has caused a series of ecological problems,such as natural disasters and environmental pollution,and thus the global ecological crisis happens.Ecocriticism arises at this historic moment The rise and development of ecolcriticism in the latter half of the 20th century provides a new perspective for literary research.As the rise and development of Ecocriticism,interdisciplinary become its main feature.The theory of postcolonial ecocriticism,Ecofeminism,Ecological localism emerage in succession,and provide a broader view for literary study.American Indians are known as the "son of nature",and they heritage the ecological wisdom of their ancestors from generations to generations.They follow the perfect existing state of harmony between human and nature,and the balance 'between all things.They uphold the belief that everything in the universe is connected to each other,and mutual benefit exists.They practice the view of ecological holism and all things have spirits.They believe the harmonious concept that man is an integral part of nature.Based on this,do the research on native American authors Silko by using Ecocriticism theory can not only enrich the study of native American literature,but also can have a deeper understanding of the Ecocriticism thought of American Indians.So,this thesis has great significance.Based on the existing research achievements at home and abroad,and by using ecocriticism theory and comparative research method,this dissertation analyzes Silko's ecological thought in her Ceremony,Almanac of the Dead,Gardens in the Dunes and The Turquoise Ledge:A Memoir on the basis of close reading and combined with the characteristics of Native American Literature as well as Indian's history and culture.This dissertation tries to summarize the unique perspective,development and evolution of Silko's ecological thoughts which are revealed in her literary works.Expecting to enrich the research achievements on Silko in domestic and international academic circles,this dissertation also aims to pass her ecological thought and Indian's ecological wisdom to all human beings,and tries to reflect the cultural roots of contemporary ecological crisis,thus,awakening the ecological consciousness of mankind.This is the practical significance and value of this thesis.This paper consists of three parts:introduction,body and conclusion.The body part has three chapters and each chapter corresponds to one of Silko's literary works,which is constructed according to different ecocriticism theories.Introduction part illustrates the research object,content and general framework of the paper.First,this paper reviews the history,development and current situation of ecocriticism as well as the definition,characteristics and development of Native American literature.Then,the introduction part also introduces the literary creation of Silko.The research status of Silko at home and abroad is also mentioned in this section.Besides,this part points out the research purposes,significance,research methods and innovation of this paper.Chapter one focuses on the postcolonial ecocriticism thought in Silko's Almanac of the Dead.Postcolonial ecocriticism pay attention to the study of postcolonial environmental criticism and postcolonial animal criticism.It shows great concern to the issue of development,environmental justice,and the relationship between human and animals.Silko expresses the devastating impact on Indians by internal colonialism.In the novel,a recurring theme is resistance.Indians' pursuit of justice of development,environmental justice and social justice are important means to resist the internal colonial oppression.At the same time,by presenting different viewpoints on land and animals in Indian culture and white culture,Silko emphasizes the political functions of land and animals.Both of them are moderate ways to oppose colonialism.Silko points out that themes of pursuing justice,concerning land and animals in Native American Literature have positive effects in enhancing the anti-colonial consciousness and deconstructing the colonial discourse,thus,reflects her postcolonial ecocriticism thought.Chapter two explores the theory of ecofeminism in Silko's Ceremony and Gardens in the Dunes.Existing research achievements interpret Ceremony from different angles at home and abroad,including home quest themes,ecological holism,feminist perspective,etc.This paper is different,and tries to analyze "female" images from two levels,including the goddness and tribal women.This paper summarizes females' high status in Silko's works and in Indian's traditions.Take the reserve situation in patriarchy culture,Silko breaks the binary opposition between the two genders and shows the broad mind of native writers.Meanwhile,it also highlights Silko's Ecofeminist concept of pursuing the harmony between man and nature and the harmony between two genders.This chapter also illustrates gardens of different styles which combine elements such as nature,females,cultures and ecology together in Silko's Gardens in the Dunes.All these elements are powers of resistance to the ativities that destroy nature and ecology by colonists and also awaken female consciousness.Ecofeminism emphasizes the unity of nature and women,and focuses or changes the unreasonable relationships in natural life and social life.In this novel,Silko considers gardens as metaphors of nature and culture.Based on nature,she seeks the roots of ancient European culture and the "goddess civilization".In this way,she constructs a bridge which is across the ocean and traces the cultural roots of contemporary ecological crisis.At the same time,she reassumes females' core position in Indian culture and ancient European culture.Under the influence of these two cultures,white women Hatties's female consciousness awakens.She breaks away with the patriarchal culture and reshapes her female identity.Facing contemporary ecological crisis,Silko's expression of feminism is in consistent with the ideas of ecofeminism theory.Chapter three analyzes the theory of ecological holism in Silko's works.Ecological holism hold the belief that human's behaviours should based on the whole interest of ecology and focuses on the coexistence and sustainable development of ecological community.American Indians formed their unique ecological holism theory in the harmonious stay with nature generations after generations that has great importance in dealing with current ecological crisis.Take The Turquoise Ledge:A Memoir as an example,this chapter points out Silko's ecological thoughts which is revealed in her literary text by theories of ecological holism,ecological localism,and eco-cosmopolitanism firstly.As a native writer,and based on her unique cultural and aesthetic perspective,it reflects Silko's focus on the ecology of the place she lives and also follows the trend of globalization in the background of contemporary ecological crisis.In her works,Silko's ecological views and focuses connect local and globalization together,which reflect the broadness of her ecological thoughts and a strong sense of responsibility.Then,this chapter analyses the theory of ecological holism in Silko's Ceremony.In Ceremony,Silko focuses on "water" image.This paper explores the symbolism and connotation of "water" image.The drought in the novel is the destructive effect of "water",which symbolizes the imbalance of human nature and the spiritual ecology.With the guidance of Indian "goddess" and the help of tribal women,Tayo gradually recovers from the state of mental imbalance when "water"image occurs.At this point,the creative power of "water" and "female" reveals.By linking "water" and "female" images with natural ecology,social ecology and spiritual ecology,Silko expresses her unique ecological holism theory.In addition,Silko's literary creation is influenced by transcendentalism,so the similarities and differences of ecological thought between Thoreau and Silko is compared in this chapter.The purpose is to realize the communication and exchanges of their ecological thoughts.In conclusion part,this paper compares the ecological thought between Silko and other Native American Authors very briefly.And then summarizes Silko's unique ecological thought and its evolution.Through literary works with strong political sense,Silko shows her sense of crisis by exploring human bengs's destruction to entironment in the process of industrialization and development from broder point of view;she also pays special attention to the important function of culture.In her works,she traces back to the ecological thought in European culture and Indian culture,and tries to explore their contemporary value in order to find ways to solve contemporary ecological crisis.Besides,Silko's unique ecological thought also gives expression to her awareness of globalization.In her writing,she connects "place" where she lives and the "globe" in a broder sense.And call on to establish community in the world.Silko conveys strong postcolonial ecocriticism,ecofeminism and ecological holism thought in her literary works.In her expression of ecological thought,she fouses more on the integration of different cultures,and the global consciousness is obviously enhanced.She tries to explore the social and cultural roots of ecological crisis instead of criticizing anthropocentrism.All the above are evlutions of Silko's ecological thought.This part further confirms the significance and value of this paper.The ecological thoughts expressed in Silko's literary works not only are inheritance of Indian's ecological wisdom,but also are salvation of human's spirit and ecological consciousness.In addition,the conclusion of this paper also points out that under the background of global ecological crisis,more and more contemporary writers express their ecological thoughts through literary creation which marks ecological literature has become an important trend in the development of contemporary literature,and it also carries writers' social responsibilities.Besides,the shortage of this research is mentioned in this part,and leaves an open space to the comparative study of Oriental literature and Western literature by using ecological theory.For example,the comparative study of Silko and TaoYuanming.It is hoped that this subject can have a intensive study in the future.