Spiritual Dilemma And Ecological Regression

Margaret Atwood is one of the most influential Canadian women writers.The rich masterpieces established her enduring status in Canadian and international literary world,and she is known as the “Queen of Canadian Literature”.Atwood has won the Giller Prize and quickly gained widespread attention from both domestic and international academic circles when Alias Grace was published in 1996.The novel Alias Grace reinterprets a sensational Canadian historical murder.Atwood reveals social conditions such as race,sex and class contradictions in the 1840 s with a large amount of historical and social details.This novel reflects Atwood's consistent theme of paying attention to women's survival and destiny.By combining the text with social historical background,Atwood portrays the anxious and oppressive environment of the nineteenth century meticulously,and reflects the weakness and despair of Grace in such a cruel environment,expressing profound reflections on that era.So far,most scholars study the works from the perspective of feminism.Taking Lu Shuyuan's spiritual ecology theory as a framework and adopting qualitative analysis as the method,this thesis aims to analyze the spiritual ecology of the heroine Grace in the novel.Lu Shuyuan defines spiritual ecology as “This is a discipline that studies the interrelationship between the spiritual subject(mainly human)and the environment in which he lives(including the natural environment,social environment,and cultural environment).On the one hand,it involves the healthy growth of the spiritual subject,on the other hand,it relates to the balance,stability and evolution of an ecosystem under the coordination of spiritual variables”.Based on the theory,this thesis will discuss the performance of Grace's spiritual ecological alienation from three aspects: spiritual vacuum,incompetence of behavior and alienation of existence.At the same time,this thesis will deeply analyze the factors that cause her mental dilemma.Fortunately,Grace completes the regression of spiritual ecology finally by returning to nature,integrating into society and reconciling with herself.In this age of materialism,spiritual ecology has a profound impact on human beings.The harmony between the spiritual ecological environment and the inner world of human beings helps to maintain a healthy mental state.Therefore,the study of Alias Grace from the perspective of spiritual ecology has very important theoretical and practical significance.