An Ecocritical Reading Of Refuge: An Unnatural History Of Family And Place

Terry Tempest Williams is a contemporary American author, naturalist andenvironmental activist. Williams was born and brought up near the Bear River MigratoryBird Refuge in Utah. Her writing is deeply influenced by both her inborn intimacy withnature and experiences from women’s physical and spiritual suffering caused by the NevadaTest Site’s atomic radiation.In1991, the publication of her book Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Placewas focused on one of the classic pieces in American nature writing. On the one hand,Williams tells the story about the Great Salt Lake’s constant rising leading to flooding thewetlands serving as a migratory birds’ refuge in Utah. On the other hand, it describes thestory about her family members fighting against cancer owing to living “downwind” from thenuclear test site. In the novel, the author ingeniously combines nature’s damage and women’scancer together. Hence, my thesis attempts to interpret the classical literary book from theecocriticism perspective. Meanwhile, it manifests Williams’s profound reflection about therelationship between human beings and nature, men and women, which will make the readersa better understanding of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place from a newangle.Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis consists of three chapters.The introduction first gives a brief summary of Terry Tempest Williams and Refuge: AnUnnatural History of Family and Place’s status in American literature, the main idea of thenovel, then the current studies on it both at home and abroad. Last but not least, it interpretsthe concept of ecocriticism and its core notion: a famous American environmentalethicist---Holmes Rolston’s “Value of Nature” and Norwegian philosopher---Arne Naess’s“Deep Ecology”.Chapter One presents the value manifested in the novel. Based on Rolston’s theory,nature has the instrumental value, the intrinsic value and the systemic value, which areinterwoven and equal to each other in significance. The instrumental value reflects that natureprovides human and nonhuman world with all kinds of resources. The intrinsic value demonstrates animal behaviors and beautiful natural sceneries. The systemic value describesthat nature is an everlasting value-created system.Chapter Two focuses on human’s mistreatment of nature. Nature is sacred. However,nature is suffering from being aggravated. The over-exploitation of the Great Salt Lake bringsabout its rising, causes the salinization of the wetlands of the Bear River Bird Refuge andresults in the decrease of the variety and quantity of birds to a large extent, even extinction inthe end. In this world, human beings cannot survive without nature. Therefore, protectingnature means protecting ourselves.Chapter Three explores that in patriarchal society, women are considered to beattachment to men. Mormon culture respects authority and reserves obedience. Facing thenuclear tests, women have to endure silently, leading to the occurrence of cancer.Consequently, women should fight for themselves, love nature and blend into nature.The conclusion illustrates that human beings should abandon the concept of patriarchyand anthropocentrism, get close to nature and melt into nature. Only in this way, can weconstruct a harmonious society, solve present ecological crisis and live in a peaceful world.