A Study Of The Falls From The Perspective Of Eco-criticism

Joyce Carol Oates is a famous American contemporary female writer.She is a prolific writer,whose novels combine the realism,naturalism to modernism,postmodernism writing techniques.She absorbs nutrition from history,philosophy,psychology,and popular culture and devotes to present subject matters such as history,politics,medicine,murder,and rape,etc.As a famous writer with a deep sense of social responsibility,Oates has paid attention to the ecological problems of American modern society.In addition to exposing the relationship between human and nature,Oates explores the relationship between people in terms of ecology under the influence of her personal experience,society,literature and creative context.The Falls,published in 2004,is another masterpiece that embodies Oates' concern for human survival and display of her exquisite writing artistry.The novel takes the heroine's emotional story as the main clue,and it also makes a near-panoramic description to the Niagara Falls area from the 1950 s to the 1970 s.The author weaves the fictional sentimental story with the real historical event.With the intermixed use of an environmental scandal in the history of the United States,she ruthlessly reveals the ecological crisis brought about by industrialization and expresses her concerns about the imbalance of ecology.Oates hopes to influence the reader through the writing,in order to make them realize the educational function of the novel and find solution to solve the problems.This paper makes a systematic and comprehensive analysis and interpretation of The Falls by combining with the theory of ecocriticism,from perspective of natural ecological crisis,social ecological problems and spiritual ecological predicament in the text.The introduction to this paper consists of the following parts: introduction to Oates,an introduction to The Falls,literature review,and thesis statement.The first chapter is mainly the theoretical foundation,including an overview of ecocriticism,the three major levels of ecocriticism: natural ecology,social ecology,spiritual ecology,and ecological views of Oates.The second chapter tells of the natural ecological crisis disclosed in The Falls,from current status of nature to the ecological situation and the natural crisis in The Falls,which describes the ecological problems of the Niagara Falls and the ecological description of the “Love Canal” and the revenge of nature on humankind and so on.The third chapter focuses social ecological problems exhibited in The Falls.It analyzes social relationship between the main characters and the political corruption in The Falls and the ecological injustice in the society.The fourth chapter exposes spiritual ecological predicament reflected in The Falls,which includes the spiritual alienation and the spiritual vacuum in The Falls.In modern industrial society,people are not only alienated from the environment of nature,but also alienated from the whole society and their inner world;the spirit is universal vacuum.The last chapter is conclusion.The Falls reveals three types of crises: natural ecological crisis,social ecological problems and spiritual ecological predicament.By describing American society's ecological problems by the author,this paper attempts to change the traditional values of mankind's treatment of nature,so that people should respect nature and protect the environment,and to promote harmonious relationship between human and nature.