Linda Hogan's Mean Spirit In The Perspective Of Environmental Justice

Linda Hogan, a contemporary Chickasaw woman writer who has been focusing on Native American culture and social problems, is widely considered to be one of the most prolific and outstanding figures in the ongoing Native American Literary Renaissance. Mean Spirit is her first novel and also her magnum opus. It was the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the year of its publication. As a Native American writer, Hogan has paid close attention to the environmental justice which concerns the crucial connections between social injustice issues and environmental crisis from the beginning of her writing career till now.This thesis tends to interpret Hogan's Mean Spirit from the perspective of environmental justice. It structurally falls into four parts apart from the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction presents a brief assessment of Linda Hogan's achievements and her novel Mean Spirit and the previous studies on this novel, gives an overview of environmental justice and discusses the feasibility of studying Mean Spirit from this perspective.Chapter one mainly discusses how Hogan becomes a writer in pursuit of environmental justice. The life experience as a marginalized Indian woman offers her first-hand materials about social injustice and environmental damage suffered by Native Americans, and spurs her desire to use pen as weapon to denounce environmental injustice and fight for justice for her Indian fellows. The theme of environmental justice is demonstrated in all of her important works including Mean Spirit, Solar Storms and Power.Chapter two analyzes how Osage Indians treat natural world. Hogan invites us to see a harmonious and peaceful town before the coming of the white. Hogan offers alternative ways to get along with the land and other creatures—caretaking and keeping intimacy. Under Osage Indians'meticulous care, Watona is a piece of thriving, vibrant land and ecosystem here is integrated and balance. Through Book of Horse, Hogan summarizes Osage Indians'views on the natural world and the whole ecosystem.Chapter three applies environmental justice theory to illustrate physical and spiritual crisis suffered by Osage Indians due to the large-scale oil exploitation and irresponsible abuse of land resources. Through depiction of scarred land, over-grazed pasture, endangered animals and burned forest, Hogan accuses social injustice of damaging local environment and violating people's well-being. Destruction of local environment also brings about spiritual crisis for Osage Indians who have strong place-attachment to their homeland and spiritual attachment to local animals.Chapter four points out that Hogan illustrates her contemporary Indian people with the idea of how to survive under the environmental injustice crisis in the novel. Hogan suggests that resistance relying on collective action is an indispensable way to realize environmental justice. Retrieving lost tradition and spirituality will heal their spiritual wounds, rebuild their faith, and give their hope for living on. Hogan also puts forward that leaving one's tribal land is not a sign of giving up, but a wise strategy of"retreating in order to advance". They leave only for continuation, for restoration and for thriving again.The last part is conclusion: Mean Spirit contains profound ideas about environmental justice. Through depiction of the Osage Indians in living crisis resulted from oil exploitation and land development done by the white, Hogan shows us how environmental injustice impacts Indian Territory in a deteriorating way and explores the crucial connections between social injustice and environmental crisis. This enlightens us to examine environmental crisis from the perspective of environmental justice. Only liberating marginalized people from the yoke of environmental injustice and equalizing the right to share health environment and natural resources, can people prevent wanton damage to environment fundamentally, and ultimately realize a"safe, healthy and sustainable"environment.