An Eco-ethical Interpretation Of We Were The Mulvaneys

Joyce Carol Oates(1938-) is a famous American realistic writer of the day. She has created nearly a hundred works of various genres since 1963, among which the novel We Were the Mulvaneys dominates the best-seller list of the New York Times in the year when it was published. It is also selected by the Oprah’s Book Club. The novel is rich in content relating to nature, animals, human, violence, family, marriage and art, and skillful in narration. Oates probes into the human-nature relation by presenting a picture of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nonhuman entities, and further discusses the human relations in the eco-ethical context, which embodies her profound and unique eco-ethical thinking.In face of the continuing ecological problems and increasing human-nature alienation, eco-ethics provides the most direct spiritual resource.Eco-ethics expands the ethical relations from human-human and human-society to nature. Meanwhile, it brings nature and all the existences in nature into human’s moral consideration, which makes human regain a sense of the ecosystem and reconsider his role in it. Through analyzing the woman-nature relation, eco-feminism, as an indispensable part of the eco-ethic theories reveals that patriarchal world view and dualistic way of thinking are the sources of the oppression existing in relations between human-nature and human-human. Combining the eco-ethical theories with Oates’ s eco-ethical views, the thesis tries to dissect the novel in order to explore its eco-ethical connotations.The thesis is divided into six parts. The introductory part summarizes Oates’ s literary achievements and her works, the research status on Oates and the purpose and significance of the study.The first chapter outlines the theoretical framework by introducing the relative theories of non-anthropocentric eco-ethics.The second chapter probes into the formation of Oates’ s green eco-ethical thoughts and discusses its influences on her novel. It deems that Oates’ s life experiences and external factors, such as Thoreau’s eco-ethical thoughts and environmental movement, contribute to her eco-ethical views.The third chapter demonstrates the harmonious relations between the Mulvaneys and the natural world, through which it explores the eco-ethical consciousness possessed by the characters and reveals the connotation of eco-ethics containing in the novel.The fourth chapter analyzes the human relations from the perspective of eco-feminism. Corinne, the mother finds herself by returning to nature. Marianne, the daughter realizes her self-salvation by devoting herself to rescuing animals. Oates draws out the way of self-realization and subjectivity for women. Moreover, through Michael’s experience, she points out that human’s alienation from nature will reduce him to the victim of the ecological crisis.The last part summarizes the thesis. It points out that the Mulvaneys’ reunion implies Oates’ s optimistic attitudes towards the human-nature and human relations. Based on the analysis, the thesis concludes that the novel We Were the Mulvaneys reveals the truth that human and nature are inseparably intertwined. It helps people to reexamine the relationship between human and non-human relation and realize the harmony among all things on the earth.