From Conflict To Harmony

Nowadays,human beings are facing unprecedented environmental crisis,which threatens the development of human society.More and more attention has been called to prevent the environment from getting worse and to quest for a proper way for human beings to get along well with ecosystem.Under this tendency,this thesis is to apply ecocriticism to a representative work in discussing human-nature relationship,in the hope of finding out the scientific concept concerning the human-nature relationship.Herman Melville is best remembered as the creator of his masterpiece Moby-Dick, which is based on Melville's detailed knowledge of the sea,ships and experiences of being a sailor on whaling ships.The whole story is told through a seafarer Ishmael's retrospective narration.The central story is the conflict between Pequod Captain Ahab and Moby Dick,a white whale that once tears off one of Ahab's legs.During the voyage Ahab drives himself and his crew in a desperate search for his enemy over the sea. Finally,Moby Dick rams the ship and kills Ahab and all of the crew except Ishmael.Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment.This approach focuses on animadverting anthropocentrism and Christian humanism which praises human beings as the center of the universe.In Moby-Dick,Melville has woven the Pequod crew of different races and beliefs together.By analyzing the connection and contrast of their actions and fates in front of nature,this thesis is to summarize the proper way that human beings and nature interact.The relationship between human beings and nature is not opposite but harmonious. We can neither break the natural law nor fight against nature for our purpose.Instead, human beings should hold ecological holism and get along with nature well.However,there are still some human activities destroying the balance of ecosystem and nature is seeking revenge upon us in his way.This thesis hopes to call the attention of our society and arouse people's reconsideration of what should be done to keep the balance between human activities and ecosystem.Based on ecological holism,this thesis puts forward ecosocialism and a series of measures to ensure China's development in a sustainable way.