摘 要

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Literature review 1

1.3 Research purpose 3

2. The Theory on Ecocriticism 4

2.1 Definition 4

2.2 Origin and development 4

2.3 Contents and values 5

3. Analysis of Characters in Moby Dick from the Perspective of Ecocriticism 7

3.1 Analysis on Ahab 7

3.1.1 Intrepidity but illiberality 7

3.1.2 Extreme anthropocentrism 8

3.2 Analysis on Starbuck 9

3.2.1 Rationality on a human-centered basis 9

3.2.2 Idea of economic ethics 10

3.3 Analysis on Ishmael 10

3.3.1 Thoughtfulness and wiseness 11

3.3.2 Reverence for nature 11

4. Revelation of Characters in Moby Dick 13

4.1 Ahab’s death: to abandon anthropocentrism 13

4.2 Starbuck’s tragedy: to review western industrial civilization 14

4.3 Ishmael’s survival: to keep the harmony between man and nature 15

5. Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgments

After six months, I have finally completed my thesis through my hard-working. I thought it would be easy for me, but I did not expect that the process of writing the thesis was so hard. Here I do not want to lose the chance to express my deep gratitude to those who have helped me in my thesis writing.

First of all, I would like to appreciate my supervisor, Ms. Zhang. She gave me a lot of good suggestions. During the time when I prepared the paper, she read the literatures which I needed for the paper and offered me lots of professional advice. When I had questions, she was willing to take time to help me out.

My sincere gratitude also goes to my teacher, Hu Aihua, who taught us the course of An Introduction to Thesis Writing for English majors. In her class, I learned the paper writing standards and format requirements. Ms. Hu’s detailed explanation benefits us a lot.

Lastly，I want to thank myself for not giving up. The time spent on doing research is worthwhile. I have gained the quality of serious persistence.

Abstract

Moby Dick is a famous work of the American novelist, Herman Melville. In the middle and late 20^th century, the theory of ecocriticism which studied the relationship between man and nature began to prevail. Gradually, its influence spread to literature. Since Moby Dick, with ocean as its theme, contains rich ecological thoughts, to analyze the work from the perspective of ecocriticism becomes inevitable.

Focusing on the theory of ecocriticism, this paper analyzes the three characters in the novel and gets the revelation of them from their different endings. First of all, the author analyzes the characteristics and ecological idea of the three characters in Moby Dick from the perspective of ecocriticism. Intrepid but illiberal captain Ahab holds the extreme anthropocentrism; Starbuck is rational, but on a human-centered basis, whose proposition is that nature has only economic value; thoughtful and wise Ishmael believes that man should have the reverence for nature. Based on the analysis above and combined with the ending of the characters, the author obtains the enlightenment from the three protagonists. Ahab’s death warns us to abandon anthropocentrism; Starbuck’s tragedy alerts us to the necessity of reviewing western industrial civilization; Ishmael’s survival tells us to keep the harmony between man and nature.

All in all, to research the revelation of characters from the perspective of ecocriticism is of modern value. It allows people to examine and reflect on their ecological ideas, which can promote the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature.

Keywords: Moby Dick; ecocriticism; revelation of characters

中文摘要

《白鲸》是美国小说家赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的著名作品。20世纪中后期，研究人与自然关系的生态批评理论开始盛行，其影响渐渐蔓延到文学领域。由于以海洋为主题的作品《白鲸》包含着丰富的生态思想，因此从生态批评角度分析《白鲸》这部小说成为一种趋势。

本文以生态批评理论为核心，分析《白鲸》中三大主角的性格及生态理念，通过其结局得出人物启示。首先，作者从生态批评角度分析了《白鲸》中主要人物的性格及生态观念。勇猛但偏激的亚哈船长持有的是极端的人类中心主义；斯达巴克是理性的，但他的理性是以人类为中心的，自然只有经济价值是他的主张；具有思考性且智慧的以实玛利则认为人类要敬畏自然。然后，基于以上的分析再结合人物的结局，作者得出三位主角的人物启示。亚哈船长的灭亡告诫我们要摒弃人类中心主义；斯达巴克的悲剧警醒我们反思西方工业文明的必要性；以实玛利的幸存告诉我们要维持人与自然的和谐关系。

总而言之，从生态批评角度探寻人物启示具有现代价值，可以让人们审视反思自己的生态观念，从而促进人与自然的和谐共生发展。

关键词：《白鲸》；生态批评；人物启示

Introduction

1.1 Research background

Since the industrial revolution, science and technology have endued human beings with great power, which can be used to transform nature. The unrestricted use of this power by human beings has caused profound ecological crisis on a global scale. The main manifestation of global crisis is the ecological imbalance caused by the sharp decrease of biodiversity. As a member of the ecosystem, human survival and prosperity depend on the sustainable stability of the ecosystem. Once the biodiversity is fundamentally destroyed, the ecological balance will be broken and mankind will be doomed to extinction.

Stepping into the 21st century, global ecological crisis becomes a serious problem. Human has to deal with it. Many ecological researchers try to figure out the causes when they are confronted with the crisis. And the crisis also influences the field of literature. Some scholars start the work of studying on works which are about relationship between human and nature. With its rich imagery, complex content and deep thought, Moby Dick contains a number of themes, including American spirit, religious thought and so on. However, the relation between humanity and nature is always a main theme. Moby Dick, as the most representative work in the field of exploring the relationship between human and nature, has great practical significance in studying its ecological thought and ecological enlightenment (Wang Yufeng amp; Xie Guoli, 2017) [1]. Therefore, it becomes one of the main works they have studied. Those studies, for the sake of ecological research, are mainly limited to the exploration of the dialectical relationship between human beings and nature. To a certain extent, their insufficient discussions and studies leave followers chances to do researches in this direction in depth.

Literature review

In Moby Dick, the three main characters have different traits. And they have their own attitudes towards nature. Many scholars study them and try to find out what the writer tries to tell us through those three totally distinct men. Ahab is a man of strong will or the self-salvation spirit that Emerson espoused (Hu Tiesheng amp; Chang Hong, 2008) [2]. Ahab is clearly a member of the human society. But he considers himself a member of the animal kingdom. Instead of using the rationality of human society, he deals with the conflict with the whale from the standpoint of animals and the survival rules of the animal kingdom (Guo Haiping, 2009) [3]. Starbuck kills whales as a means of making a living, also as a profession. He believes that nature exists only in its economic value, or in the material wealth, and that is what the nature can bring to mankind (Guo Haiping, 2009) [3]. Ishmael is a wise and sane man. He can positively examine the ethical relationship between man and nature from an open and multi-dimensional perspective with a careful observation and a rational attitude (Wang Yufeng amp; Xie Guoli, 2017) [1].

There are many other aspects in which people can do a research, such as the symbolism of the Pequod and the whale Moby Dick. Pequod was originally a race of native Americans known for their bravery, but after European colonialists took over the Americas, the race was slaughtered in an unprecedented and tragic manner and was finally wiped out by the whites (Liu Xuehua, 2010) [4]. Melville named the ship after the exterminated race, foreshadowing its final extermination.

The Pequod can be regarded as a typical example of human action under the mode of anthropocentric thinking (Du Xiaofei, 2011) [5]. Whaling was a pillar industry in the country and helped America to boom its economy. Americans alone killed more than 13,000 whales a year off the northwest coast (Shen Hong, 2010) [6]. The enormous profits of whaling made it at the time a completely prosperous business. But behind this boom is the relentless destruction of nature by whaling. The whaling voyage of the Pequod symbolized the aggression and plunder of capitalist industrial civilization to nature in the 19^th century, and its final demise symbolized the fate of human conquest of nature. In a sense, the Pequod is a symbol of American society at that time and the human condition, which are trying to conquer the nature.

The symbolic meaning of the whale Moby Dick is very rich, mainly in three aspects: capitalist system, the power of god and the nature (Chen Qiuhong, 1997) [7]. Moby Dick symbolizes the nature with great mysterious power, and its resistance to the whalers symbolizes the resistance of nature to human condition.