An Analysis Of The Characters In Light In August From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Light in August is one of William Faulkner's famous novels.As soon as it's published,it has outstanding attraction in the literary criticism world.This work surpasses William Faulkner's previous works both in the theme and plots.Scholars home and abroad mainly discuss the themes of Christianity,race problems,creative techniques and characterization from the perspectives of archetypal criticism,existentialism and cultural criticism.But if they are carefully read,readers will find that there are a lot of eco-related descriptions in the work.Therefore,this thesis intends to analyze the characters in this work from the perspective of ecocriticism,and show the crisis world brought by ecological imbalance.It also aims to find out the social and cultural roots of ecological imbalance,then reveal the hope of ecological harmony implied by the work.This thesis is mainly inspired by the ecocriticism thought.It elucidates the analyses of three main characters in the novel: Joe Christmas,Lena Grove and Joanna Burden.Its target is to reveal their crisis relationship between man and society,and the relationship between man and nature in order to study Light in August with ecocriticism.This thesis consists of three parts:introduction,main body and conclusion.The main contents are as follows: The first part is introduction.This part mainly presents the brief summary and the conclusion to the previous research perspectives of light in August,and points out the significance of this work from the perspective of ecocriticism.The second part is the main body,which consists of three parts: the first chapter mainly analyses the character of Joe Christmas.Joe Christmas is in pursuit of his true identity through his whole life.His tragedy is not only the race problem,but also the result of ecological imbalance if he is analyzed from the perspective of ecocriticism.It can be found that the deep root of his tragedy is the ecological imbalance.Ecological imbalance causes his spiritual alienation,as well as the alienation of interpersonal relationships.The second chapter analyzes the character of Joanna Burden and discusses the relationship between ecological criticism and ecofeminism.Ecological criticism and ecofeminism are two of the newest literary criticisms born in the context of ecological crisis.The former is opposed to anthropocentrism,while the latter objects to two theories,namely,anthropocentrism and male chauvinism.Both of these criticisms are full of vigor and vitality with the concern of ecological problems and the concern of the survival prospects of all mankind.To analyze Joanna Burden from the perspective of ecofeminism,readers will find that her tragedy is not only because of the abnormal impact of her family's male chauvinism on her,but also because of her inability to integrate with the environment.The third chapter discusses the protagonist Lena Grove from the ecological holism.Ecological holism emphasizes the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.What it opposes is anthropocentrism.Ecological holism holds that: in the whole ecosystem,man and nature are the two subsystems of the ecosystem.They are parallel relations,instead of human being above the nature.Ecological holism advocates the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.Lena Grove is officially given this task by the writer.She can not only keep the harmony between man and nature,but also keep the harmony between people and society.Although the novel is about the ecological imbalance of the crisis world,Lena Grove embodies the hope of ecological harmony in Light in August.