Scobie's Alienation And Destruction In The Heart Of The Matter From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Western countries' science and technology in the 20 th century were developing rather rapidly,and their economic level also kept rising.However,to contrast with this prosperity,their social and political situation retained accelerating instability.Meanwhile,the collapse of the theological belief,the rampant colonialism and the world wars have exacerbated the ecological predicament of mankind.Graham Greene,a British writer,who has always been concerned about the suffering and salvation of human soul,has presented the emptiness and confusion of the human spiritual world through his works with profound thoughts,appealing to people for reflecting on their action and getting out of their ecological predicament with courage.As the representative work of Greene's novel,The Heart of the Matter focuses on Scobie,the protagonist's psychological process of alienation and destruction in a delicate and penetrating way.Under the three perspectives of natural ecology,social ecology and spiritual ecology,this thesis compares and analyzes Scobie's different thoughts and behaviors with people who live on the West African islands in order to contemplate the roots of the current ecological predicament,arousing people's respect for ecological laws,and realizing self-salvation through harmonious coexistence with ecology.The thesis first analyzes the novel's ecological thoughts from the perspective of the unbalanced relationships between the hero and the natural and social ecology,and explores the related factors that lead to Scobie's self-alienation.Secondly,from the angle of spiritual ecology,it studies the imbalance of Scobie's spiritual world and stresses Greene's opinion on salvation and enjoyment,compassion and responsibility,belief and desire,nostalgia and circulation.Finally,it focuses on Scobie's alienation and destruction,highlighting the author's concern and anxiety about human's ecological predicament in modern society.The conclusion notices that the phenomena of ecological predicament and selfalienation presented in The Heart of the Matter are also warnings nowadays.No salvationcan be completed once and for all,and there is still a long way to get to its destination.Only by respecting nature and ecology can human beings achieve harmonious coexistence with nature,society and their spiritual ecology.