An Analysis Of Life Of Pi From The Perspective Of Deep Ecology

Since it was published in year of2001, Life of Pi has won a series of prizes and earned a high praise. Although it has been acclaimed in the world, the studies of this novel are relatively insufficient. It didn’t attract much attention of critics until Director Ang Lee adapted it into a film with the same name in2012. This film Life of Pi has aroused a heated discussion on the film and also drew people’s attention to the original novel. Reviewers have interpreted the film and the original works from different perspectives. At present, both at home and abroad the studies about Life of Pi are mainly simple book reviews and film reviews which are focusing on the truth, faith, metaphor, theme of the story, etc. As for the ecological consciousness in the novel, commentators just skim over in their reviews. The study of the novel from the perspective of ecology is very rare.Since1960s, man has gradually become aware of the increasing seriousness of the ecological problems and the survival crisis. Ecological thinking and Ecological understanding has become the universally accepted way of thinking. It is theoretical and practical significant to interpret the novel from the ecological perspective. Ecocriticism aims to explore the relationship between literature and nature and advocates man’s return to nature and the harmony between man and nature. Deep Ecology is an important subsection of ecocriticism and has two ultimate norms, Self-realization and Biocentric Equality. Based on the theory of ecocriticism, especially Deep Ecology, this thesis attempts to analyze the ecological consciousness embodied in Life of Pi from the perspective of alienation and return to nature. In light of Deep Ecology, this thesis examines man’s alienated behaviors from point of man’s alienation from nature, man’s alienation from society (others) and man’s alienation from self. And it probes the root cause of man’s alienation—anthropocentrism. Guided by the Deep Ecology, it explores the way of return to nature. That is return to identification with the self, return to identification with society (others) and return to identification with nature.This thesis is divided into the following five parts:The first part is an introduction, including some basic information of the author Yann Martel’s life experience and his literary achievements as well as an overview of Life of Pi, and the purpose of the study.The second part is literature review which is made up of two aspects:a brief review on life ofPi both at home and abroad and the theoretical basis of this thesis, including the theory of ecocriticism and Deep Ecology. At end of this part, there is a tentative summary of this entire part.The third part applies the theory of ecocriticism, especially Deep Ecology, from the perspective of the man-nature, man-society (others) and man-self relationship, to respectively analyze man’s alienation from nature, man’s alienation from society (others) and man’s alienation from self. It reflects that there are conflicts emerging in man-and-nature, man-and-society (others) and man-and-self relationship. These three types of relationships have become imbalanced and disharmonious. Moreover, these there types of alienation are interrelated. Man’s alienation from nature leads to man’s alienation from society (others). The former two give rise to man’s alienation from self. At end of this part, it probes the root cause of man’s alienation. It is the worldwide view of anthropocentrism that is strongly opposed by Deep Ecology.The forth part, guided by the Deep Ecology, explores the way of return to nature. Return to nature is thought to be the most efficient way to solve all the problems of man’s alienation. The "nature" does not only refer to the natural environment or natural scenery, but also means the harmonious social relation and the unsophisticated spiritual world. In the novel, Martel provides us three specific ways of return to nature:return to identification with the self, return to identification with society (others) and return to identification with nature. These three ways offer a practical guide for man to achieve the balance between man and nature, man and society (others) as well as man and self.The last part makes a conclusion of the entire thesis. This thesis carries out an ecological reading of this novel by means of textual analysis and reflects that Life of Pi is brimmed with ecological consciousness. Through the depiction of the relationship between man and nature, society (others) as well as self, Martel criticizes man’s alienated behaviors and presents the way for man’s return—return to nature. It expresses Martel’s wish for a harmony between man and nature, society (others) as well as self.