The Ecological Thought In The Works Of John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck (1902-1968), one of the most important American authorities in the20thcentury,is the winner of Nobel Prize literature in1962. His works mainly explore ethnic, social, cultural, politicaland environmental issues of global concerned. With the development of the western literary theory,Steinbeck’s researchers constantly use new theories from a new angle to interpret his works. As a realisticwriter, Steinbeck is keen to discover the human consciousness of the survival of the natural environment offear and love. He loves nature, so he outrages human behavior of devastating the natural environment; Heis in awe of nature, so he faces up to the cruel laws of nature. He spent all his life in writing of humansurvival stories, describing its survival in the past, now and in the future. As an American writer, he knewthat the main culture of America is material and he observantly found the unharmonious between peopleand nature, between objects and spirits, and between science and technology. And then he examined theexistence of human and explored the future of mankind.This paper analyzes the works of Steinbeck in different periods with the theory of ecologicalcriticism and reads the recurrent ecological philosophy of his works. In his works this philosophy reflectspolitical, cultural, economic and environmental problems of human society and the contradiction betweenscience and human. The article is divided into three parts: introduction, text, and conclusion.The introduction analyzes the present situation of the research on Steinbeck at home and abroad,the author thinks that there are still shortcomings in his studies. Using the ecological perspective tore-examine Steinbeck’s works has certain practical significance, which can unearth ecological implicationin his works and is a wake-up call to contemporary society into environmental crisis.The body is divided into three chapters, the first chapter mainly introduces the origin and thedevelopment of ecocriticism, and the origin between Steinbeck and ecological criticism. First of all, thepaper summarizes the development of ecological criticism from ecological holism to environmental justice,and analyzes ecological holism and environmental justice implications. Secondly, through Steinbeck’schildhood experiences, and friendship between he and the marine biologist Edward Ricketts, as well as theinfluence of Transcendentalism, it illustrates the relationship between Steinbeck and the ecologicalcriticism, and puts forward the research significance of the ecological thought. The second chapter is divided into four parts, mainly analyzing the organisms of Steinbeck’sworks in1930s.The first part takes To a God Unknown (1933), Tortilla Flat (1935) and other works forexample, mainly excavating his philosophy pursuit of natural awe and ecological holism of his early works.The second part mainly analyzes the works of Steinbeck’s land ethic and the reflection of the community oflife philosophy. The third part takes the The Grapes of Wrath (1939) as an example to analyze the ethicalphilosophy thoughts in his works in detail, and study his research on the science and art criticism andreflection. The fourth part combines the realistic characteristics of Steinbeck’s writing to analyze hiscriticism of reality from the ecological perspective.The third chapter is divided into three parts, mainly analyzing Steinbeck’s works after1930s ofecological holism and environmental justice thoughts. The first part takes Cannery Row (1945) and ThePearl(1945)as a analytic target, to explore the theme of the combination between ecology and morality andthe ecological and moral binding motif. The second part mainly analyzes the East of Eden (1952) and TheWinter of Our Discontent (1961), in order to explore their spiritual ecology and construction. The third part,by analyzing his two non-fiction works Travel with Charley and in Search of America(1962)"the UnitedStates of America and Americans (1966), discusses how to embody the environmental justice thoughts.The conclusion part summarizes the ecological thoughts in Steinbeck’s works, which conductsthe research on its practical significance and cultural significance, and summarizes the thoughts ofcontradiction. Through the research on Steinbeck’s works from the perspective of ecology, the reader willfind himself integrate good and evil in society and nature, ethics and morality, human nature of ethicsintegration basing on ecological holism, to build a harmonious world.