生态批评视阈下《愤怒的葡萄》解读.doc

A Study of The Grapes of Wrath from the Perspective of Ecocriticism 生态批评视阈下《愤怒的葡萄》解读 By Zhao Kang Nanyang Institute of Technology July, 20Abstract John Steinbeck (1902-1968), one of the most important novelists of contemporary American literature, who wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories, is best remembered for The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a novel widely considered to be a 20th-century classic, the impact of which has been compared to that of Harriet Beecher Stowe s Uncle Toms Cabin, profoundly committed to social progress. This novel is widely studied from many perspectives, including the influence of the Biblical factors in the book, the narrative structure of the novel, the symbolical meaning of the novel, the poetic language of the novel and so on. It was only in 2006 that Mr. Hu Tianfu published his thesis which says that The Grapes of Wrath is a great book of ecoliterature and it has rich ecoideas. Since then, there have been some articles interpreting the novel from the angle of ecocriticism. In my idea, these articles have not touched the issues of socioecology. So, my thesis is trying to reread the great novel from the prospect of natural ecology and social ecology. This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to John Steinbeck and the background and gist of The Grapes of Wrath. Then it is the literature review. Last, it goes into an overview of ecocriticism. The second chapter focuses on the description of nature in The Grapes of Wrath and analyzes the relationship between nature and man and the causes and roots leading to the natural unbalance by viewing the relationship between man and nature . We can feel nature everywhere in The Grapes of Wrath where nature not only is active and interesting, but also functions as an independent existence which is full of life, anger, and hope. In Steinbeck’s eyes, nature is dynamic but not static. It i