On Ecological Thoughts In Amy Tan' Saving Fish From Drowning

Ecocriticism is a new but vigorous literary critical theory. Coming out in 1960s, it is grabbing the forefront of literary field. Studying the relationship between nature and man, its basic thought is to apply ecological concepts into literary criticism. Besides focusing on classic nature writings, ecocriticm expands itself into a wider range. Any literary works or studies that contribute to raise eco-consciousness are welcome to join in ecocriticism. A major task of ecocritcs is to try to interpret both classic and new literary works from the perspective of ecocriticism.Amy Tan is a famous Chinese-American woman writer whose works have usually focused on mother-daughter relationship and Chinese-American women's pursuit of self-identity in a hostile environment. Her major works include The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Kitchen God's Wife, etc. Her latest work, Saving Fish from Drowning, came out in 2005. It tells a group of American tourists'journey to Burma and provides lots of natural scenery description. As a new novel, studies and researches on it are not abundant. Some learners study it from the perspectives of mother-daughter relationship and multi-themes. However, few have read it by using ecocritical theory.This thesis tries to analyse Saving Fish from Drowning from the perspective of ecocriticism and to explore Amy Tan's thoughts on ecology by close readings of the text. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction of ecocriticism and current studies on Amy Tan and Saving Fish from Drowning. Chapter 2 illustrates nature-man relationship depicted in the novel. By presenting both harmony and conflict, this part demonstrates how nature is perceived by us. Chapter 3 compares different lives between the eleven tourists and Karen tribe in No Name Place to see how people from society are alienated from nature. In Chapter 4, a critical reflection on human civilization is conducted, revealing how the relationship among human community is changed and what kind of side effects civilization brings us. Chapter 5 is a conclusion part which summarizes the ecological thoughts conveyed in the novel. By studying on this novel from the concept of ecocriticism, the paper aims to provide certian inspirational ideas to broaden the interpretations of this novel and to raise people's awareness to ecology protection.