Interpretation Of The Return Of The Native From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Thomas Hardy is regarded as both a major novelist and a prominent poet duringthe transitional period of the19thcentury to the20thcentury. He is most famous for his“Novels of Characters and Environment”, which gains him worldwide reputation. TheReturn of the Native is a representative one of this series.The Return of the Native is regarded as Hardy’s first tragic novel in which thecharacters’ fates are closely related to the natural environment. As a nature-lover,Thomas Hardy frequently expresses his deep concern towards nature in this novel andappeals to construct a harmonious relationship between man and nature. His ecologicalthoughts embodied in The Return of the Native are in accordance with the ideas ofecocriticism. To put it briefly, ecocriticism is a newly-emerged literary criticismconcerning the relationship between man and nature in literary works. The intrinsicvalue of nature and ecological holism are its core concepts. This theory argues for theintrinsic value of nature, regards both man and nature as the indispensable componentsof the whole ecological system, maintaining that both enjoy the same rights and havethe same status. Namely, man and nature are integrated together in one eco-system.Thus, one cannot separate himself from the natural environment.This thesis is to employ the theory of ecocriticism to interpret The Return of theNative. Besides the Introduction and Conclusion parts, the main body of this thesisfalls into four chapters. In the first chapter, the thesis sorts out previous studies of thisnovel both at home and abroad. The second chapter gives an overview of the theory ofecocriticism as the theoretical basis of this thesis. The third chapter focuses on thedisharmonious aspects as represented in the novel and brings out the ecologicalthoughts embodied within. In the light of ecological holism, the last chapter mainlydeals with text analysis with emphasis on the detailed depictions of the harmoniousnatural world, wherein man and nature fuse into one.In The Return of the Native, nature is full of vigor, vitality and mysteries. Itpossesses intrinsic values, independent from human wills. In Hardy’s writing, all the natural things are human-like figures and have important symbolic meanings. EgdonHeath is depicted as possessing a kind of mysterious power, manipulating thecharacter’s fate. Besides, the relationship between man and nature as demonstrated inthe novel has its deep historical background. The invasion of industrialization not onlydisharmonizes the man-nature relationship but also distorts the man-man relationship.The characters in the novel who alienate themselves from nature end up with tragedywhile those who can keep a harmonious relationship with nature finally get a happyending. In a sense, the characters’ different lots in life can be seen as a kind ofmetaphorical expression of the relationship between man and nature.In an age of increasing outbreaks of serious ecological crisis, great importanceshould be attached to the relationship between man and nature. Thus, by interpretingThe Return of the Native from the perspective of ecocriticism, this thesis aims toexplore the ecological consciousness embodied in the novel and hopes to call on aholistic view in dealing with man-and-nature relationship.