The Cost Of Maltreating Nature

The paper is dedicated to the ecological study of Doris Lessing's first novel, The Grass Is Singing (1950), which indicates the author's strong concern for the inferior beings like the black natives, the'Mother'Earth represented by the farm in the novel, and the female protagonist Mary Turner. In the novel, Doris Lessing successfully presents to readers a picture: how mankind tyrannizes nature in a series of ways including the deterioration of Charlie's once dark good land, the maltreatment of the black natives by the white people, and the prejudice of men against women. As we all know that mankind is a part of the nature, and all beings within the ecosystem are dependent upon each other. Human, endowed with a reasoning mind, should hold an ecological holistic view and ecological justice toward other creatures in the nature. All beings are created equally in the nature. Each ecological niche plays a significant role in maintaining the eco-balance. As in the novel, driven by the passion for more material profits, Charlie intervenes in Dick's farm, and finally his intervention precipitates the tragedy.The paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter I mainly introduces Doris Lessing's life experience and her first work, The Grass Is Singing, published in 1950. And also in the part, some literature reviews are provided concerning The Grass Is Singing. Chapter II centers on the main ecological ideas like ecological holism,"Gaia Hypothesis"and the ecological justice.Chapter III analyses man's unjust treatment of the nature with the combination of the text and ecological ideas. In The Grass Is Singing, Charlie is a white settler on the African veldt. His sole aim of farming is to make a lot of money. Stirred by this purpose in life, Charlie accelerates his pace in exploiting the nature, and never thinks of fertilizing his farm land that has enriched him. His anthropocentrism, utilitarianism and the increasing passion for more material gains are studied as the root of his unjust treatment of the nature.Chapter IV studies the inequality in the mankind's world with the ecological approach. In the paper, there are mainly two phenomena which are studied: one is men's suppression of women, and the other is the whites'prejudices against the blacks.Chapter V elaborates nature's revenge on mankind. In the paper, both Moses'murder of Mary and the bush's avenge on mankind are symbolic of nature's revenge on mankind's anthropocentrism in men's relationship with the nature.The last part is a conclusion of the paper. Ecologically, man should treat other living beings equally, and revere the life of other beings. Otherwise, man will be punished by nature and ruin with nature together, just as the author says at the end of the novel that the bush avenges itself.