House Made Of Dawn In Ecological Perspective

Momaday is the forefather of American Indian writers. He has remarkableachievements in fiction, poetry, painting and so on. House Made of Dawn is one of hismasterpieces. It is the first novel written by an American Indian writer to win thePulitzer Prize for fiction. After its publication in1968, House Made of Dawn has wonwide academic attention. At the same time many critics have analyzed it from differentangles, aiming at discussing the American Indian’s survival, the persistence of nativeculture and so on. At the age of the severe ecological crisis, some critics have beendigging out the ecological connotation of this novel through ecocritical perspective.However, it needs further exploring in a specific way. From the perspective ofecocriticism, this thesis tries to make an explanation of the complex relationshipbetween human, nature and race, lightening the deep ecological wisdom of AmericanIndians.This thesis tries to give an analysis of this novel on the base of ecological holism.At first, it introduces the idea of harmony between American Indians and nature,referring to their religious belief, oral tradition and their ecological living environment.Then, this thesis discusses the racial harmony between the white and American Indiansin this novel. Although there is so much difference between the white and AmericanIndians because of their different value systems, Momaday pursues a harmonious racial development by shaping some typical characters. With the development of the plot ofthis novel, Momaday expresses his idea to deal with the racial problems according tothe interest of the organic whole so that both of them can gain full development in everyaspect. The idea of racial harmony is also included in the ecological holism. It has muchto do with the harmonious relationship between human and nature. That is to say, theharmony among people does good to that between human and nature or vice versa. Atlast, it narrates Abel’s return to nature which is regarded as the physical and spiritualhomeland for American Indians. Abel becomes disappointed as a result of his departurefrom his homeland and nature. Abel’s spiritual diseases are cured by returning to naturewhere human and nature, the white and American Indians have a harmoniousrelationship. It’s like a paradise for American Indians. What’s more, the AmericanIndian’s ecological life style is introduced, calling for returning to nature.By analyzing Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, the ecological connotation inAmerican Indian’s life can be seen, pointing out that human is part of nature and shouldhave a harmonious relationship with other parts in it. There is a mutual improvementamong human, nature and race. From Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, this thesisdraws a paradise in which human and nature have a harmonious relationship with eachother.