Example Of Ecocriticism In Literature

1. Introduction

When mentioning the term ecology, enormous rainforests, wild rivers, wide fields, and all the greenery and natural surroundings are the first things that come to one’s mind. However, according to the definition of Oxford dictionary, ecology is “the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings”. This definition is of a huge importance for those who want to emerge into the studies of ecocriticism, and for those who want to deal with an ecocritical reading of a literary work. The notion that organisms, their relations to one another and to their physical surroundings is crucial when it comes to ecology explains the fact why, when starting with the analysis in this way, one must include not just natural ecology, but also social and spiritual. In literature, it is not just about human behaviour among each other, or their relationship with their natural surroundings, but also about

“The first thing to see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line—that was the woods on t’other side; you couldn’t make nothing else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened up away off, and warn’t black any more, but gray; you could see little dark spots drifting along ever so far away—trading scows, and such things; and long black streaks— rafts; sometimes you could hear a sweep screaking; or jumbled up voices, it was so still, and sounds come so far; and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there’s a snag there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way; and you see the mist curl up off of the water, and the east reddens up, and the river, and you make out a log-cabin in the edge of the woods, away on the bank on t’other side of the river, being a woodyard, likely, and piled by them cheats so you can throw a dog through it anywheres;” (Twain