An Interpretation Of The Falls From The Perspective Of Ecological Ethics

Joyce Carol Oates is one of prolific writer in the American literary world,who is constantly trying to innovate,and is always at the forefront of literary creation.She has a strong sense of social responsibility and is good at using her works to expose Americans’ plight of survival and spiritual confusion.The novel The Falls in 2004 is another example of Oates’ s works which focuses on human survival.With Niagara Falls as the background,the writer interweaves fictional emotional stories with an environmental scandal in American history,ruthlessly exposing the ecological crisis brought by industrialization to the earth and the resulting ecological justice movement.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,the thesis is divided into four chapters.Chapter One elaborates the imbalanced relationship between human and nature.In The Falls,Oates exposes the conflicts between nature and industrialization and the contradictions between human health and economic benefit.In the pursuit of economic benefit,the development of industry has seriously polluted the environment,which poses a serious threat to human health.Oates tries to convey to the world that anthropocentrism is the root cause of nature and human tragedy.Only by taking ecology as the center and respecting nature can we maintain the sustainable development and protect the interests of the whole ecosystem.Chapter Two exhibits deteriorated human-society relationship.In The Falls,Oates explores the inequality between men and women and alienated relationship between humans.In the patriarchal society,the relationships between men and women,upper class and lower class,friends,and family members are all seriously alienated,and the tragedy of natural ecological environment is repeated in the social ecological environment.Oates tries to convey the idea that to build an ideal ecological society,humans should not only respect nature,but also respect others.Chapter Three depicts distorted human-self relationship.In The Falls,Oates exposes the self-isolation of human beings,distortion and mechanization of human nature.If human-nature relationship is out of balance,the relationship between human and society,human and self will be inevitably affected and distorted,the whole ecosystem will be deteriorated afterwords.Oates tries to convey that human beings should be fully aware thatonly by developing harmoniously in these three aspects can the whole ecosystem be balanced and human beings live safely and happily.Chapter Four describes the pursuit of ecological justice.In The Falls,ecological injustice led to a “Love Canal” lawsuit represented by Nina and Dirk to pursue ecological justice.From the aspects of Nina and Dirk’s struggle for ecological justice and the reinstated “Love Canal” lawsuit,Oates discloses the connection between the ecological problems of American society and class and politics in the late 20 th century.She not only focuses on ecology,but also extends her attention to the relationship between low-income groups and privileged groups in the ecological context.The ecological justice thought of Oates also highlights the realistic characteristics of her novels.The conclusion is drawn from the above four chapters.The Falls contains human-nature,human-society,human-self three aspects of ecological thoughts.The ending of The Falls indicates Oates’ s concern about the ecological crisis and the witness of the ecological justice movement.Meanwhile,she also inspires people to uphold justice bravely in the face of ecological crisis.Only by guaranteeing the harmonious coexistence of human and nature,can we achieve social harmony and self-harmony.The ecological interpretation of this work not only can stimulate the readers to pay more attention to the ecological crisis,but also has stronger practical significance for the environmental crisis today.