A Return To Nature And Self

The initiation of ecocriticism is related to the two global serious crises at present:one is the increasingly worsening natural ecological crisis; the other is the human spiritual ecological crisis. Ecological crisis is essentially the crisis between human and nature. The dichotomy and estrangement between man and nature will finally bring about man’s alienation and estrangement from self. Ecocriticism advocates the spiritual return to nature to experience the life of land in the sense of cultural ecology. The American Indians treat nature with reverence and coexist with nature in perfect harmony. There is something to learn from the Indian’s simple view of nature and their ecological wisdom in the time of ecological crisis. Therefore, it is of realistic significance to interpret N. Scott Momaday’s Ho use Made of Dawn from the perspective of ecocriticism.Born and brought up in the Indian reservation, Momaday is widely recognized as one of the most successful contemporary Native American literary figures. Deeply influenced by his Indian tradition and culture, his writings typically concern man’s relationship with nature. In1969, Momaday’s novel House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which initiated what has come to be called a Native American Renaissance of literature. Since then, a lot of literary critics and scholars abroad and in China have researched this novel from many perspectives. Armed with ecocriticism, this thesis will explore the ecological thoughts in the novel and analyze the relationship between man and nature from the perspective of natural ecology and spiritual ecology, thus revealing the close connection between nature and self.This thesis falls into five parts.The first chapter will present a general introduction to Momaday’s life and works, with a general explanation of ecological elements from his life. The next is the introduction to Momaday’s House Made of Dawn. Then the purpose and significance of the thesis will be presented in the end.The second chapter is the literary review which will introduce the research achievements from critics abroad and at home about Momaday’s House Made of Dawn. Then a short discuss is made about the Indian’s cultural identity, Indian’s cultural tradition, nature, earth, and man’s relationship with nature conveyed in the novel.The third chapter will be a brief introduction to ecocriticism. It will discuss the background and the development of ecocriticism as well as the main ideas of the representative ecocritics abroad and at home with a focus on ecological holism and the trichotomy of ecocriticism, namely, natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology. At the same time it points out that the relationship between man and nature is the major field of ecocriticism.The fourth chapter analyzes the ecological thoughts in Momaday’s House Made of Dawn based on ecocriticism. Part one analyses the origin of Momaday’s ecological thoughts:his life experiences and the tradition of American Indian culture. Part two reveals Momaday’s natural ecology by analyzing Indian’s harmonious interaction with the natural world in the novel. On the other hand, Part two attempts to interpret Momaday’s spiritual ecology. This part analyzes the life experiences and the sufferings of the main characters in the novel to show man’s relationship with nature:nature is man’s spiritual homeland; returning to nature is a return to self.In the end, the thesis will get the conclusion that in the context of the present increasingly worsening ecological crisis, mankind will have to take account of the American Indian’s ecological wisdom of their coexistence and symbiosis with nature as well as the perfect harmony between man and nature. Man’s real balanced and harmonious development will be achieved only if put in the proper order in the natural community ideologically. Returning to nature and self, communing with nature will lead to Mankind’s wholesome development.