A Study Of At Fault From The Perspective Of Land Ethic

American classic writer Kate Chopin(1850-1904)is famous for her female writing.Her land ethic writing deserves attention as well.This thesis selects her novel At Fault(1890)as the research object,which focuses on the changes of Place-Du-Bois after the Civil War.From the perspective of Land Ethic by Aldo Leopold(1887-1948),it discusses the ecological relationship between every layer of the plantation and the sawmill with the structure of the “Land Pyramid.”It finds that Chopin not only pays attention to the land ethical crises of the plantation and the sawmill,but also suggests the way to solve them.Firstly,it can be found that the land community of the plantation is impacted in At Fault.The industrial invasion shakes the ecological balance between the land,servants and planter Thérèse.The occupation of land destroys the original natural ecological layout of the plantation.The emergence of northern civilization represented by David not only impacts greatly on Thérèse’s southern traditional values,but also reveals the fact that some black servants accept the values of whites.Chopin describes the land ethical crisis in the process of industrial development including land resources encroachment and flood.Secondly,the land community of the sawmill is destroyed that can be analyzed.There are many crises between forests,workers and the factory owner David,which are mainly demonstrated by the malignant incidents.Forests are cut down wantonly.Jo(?)int burns sawmill to the ground.And Grégoire shoots Jo(?)int.Chopin not only exposes the land ecological crisis,but also shows the racial discrimination among workers in the community.Finally,this thesis finds out the ways of building a harmonious relationship in the land community.On the one hand,it is necessary to reconstruct the ecological consciousness,which is reflected in the change of David’s ecological view and Thérèse’s attitude towards industry.On the other hand,reconstructing human ethics is indispensable,which can be seen from the tragedy of Fanny.Besides,Chopin’s lack of proper racial consciousness is revealed when she deals with the relationship between whites and non-whites in this novel.But she has made some changes in some of her later works.In short,the land ethical consciousness embodied in At Fault can provide enlightenment for the establishment of values and radical attitude in line with the land ethic in American society and the harmonious development of global ecology.