الفهرس 
Ecology and Its Related Literary and Critical Terms: A Theoretical BackgroundOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Environment is a highly loose and extended term that encompasses living and
non-living organisms that naturally exist on Earth. The process influencing the
distribution and abundance of organisms, the interactions among organisms, and the
interactions between organisms and the environment are collectively called ecology.
Many phenomena and changes have been emerging and appearing day after day on
a large scale as a result of the unreasonable interaction between man and his
surroundings. These changes affected the Earth and its climate, geology, and
biodiversity. Over the past century, human massive interventions have left
dangerous impacts on ecology, forming a new distorted ecosystem hit by natural
disasters such as earthquakes, viruses, volcanoes, hurricanes, floods, tornados, and
windstorms.
The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One “Ecology and Its Related
Literary and Critical Terms: A Theoretical Background” argues the origin of the
word ecology and its different definitions. It also discusses how the word has become
a common theme in all fields and aspects of life. Moreover, the chapter highlights
how ecocriticism has become one of the most significant studies in literature and
how it has been applied to tackle the thesis from an interdisciplinary approach to
analyze the reality of ecological concerns according to the vision of Margaret
Atwood throughout her MaddAddam trilogy that consists of Oryx and Crake, The
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Year of The Flood, and MaddAddam. Moreover, this Chapter argues the different
definitions of ecocriticism, ecofeminism, and ecofiction.
As literature is well- known for reflecting contemporary real-life issues, it
cannot not have remained isolated from the theme of ecology which inspires writers
to depict man as a part of the ecosystem, but he exploited nature to serve his needs.
Despite the admiration of the evolutionary progress achieved, human has recently
become under severe attack due to the destruction that he has made, especially over
the last two centuries. Consequently, many writers see humans, or rather human
destructiveness, as the real plague on the planet and offer visions of utopia placed in
the post-apocalyptic era. Fiction has been giving due attention to the ecosystem for
many years through what is called ecofiction which is interested in the relationship
between nature and literature. In Jim Dwyer’s book where the Wild Books Are: A
Field Guide to Ecofiction, Mike Vasey defines ecofiction as:
Stories set in fictional landscapes that capture the essence of natural
ecosystems …. (They) can build around human relationships to these
ecosystems or leave out humans together. The story itself, however,
takes the reader into the natural world and brings it alive. … Ideally,
the landscape and ecosystems-whether fantasy or real- should be as
realistic as possible and plot constraints should accord with ecological
principles. (3)
Thus, ecology has so many definitions due to its comprehensiveness and
diversity of its elements, it is the natural system that forms the earth and its
components. Ecology focuses on the study of whole systems, and it became more
analytical, quantitative, and experimental over time. The discipline has become
widely accepted and ecosystem concepts are now used in many environmental
sciences. There are many definitions of the term ecosystem, but the most notable is
that of Mathew who finds linkages between the ecological components (2004: 168):
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Ecosystems are communities of plants and animals within a particular
physical environment which is linked by a flow of materials through
the non-living (abiotic) as well as the living (biotic) sections of the
system. Thus, the ecosystem can range in size from the whole earth to
a DROP of water although, in current practice, the term ecosystem is
generally used for units below the size and biomes.
Since the ecological humanities study is an interdisciplinary field that offers
a sound understanding of human-based causes for social, economic, scientific, and
environmental changes, the literary works try, through a critical eye, to study how
this relationship affects the ecology. Hence, a new literary approach has stemmed,
namely “ecocriticism”. It is the study of literary texts, in the light of an ecological
theory, focusing on the position of the environment, nature, place, land, or life within
literary works, by theorizing, analyzing, reading, deliberating, and studying to know
the vision of writers towards the environment, especially after the emergence of
movements, associations, organizations, and clubs calling for caring about the
environment, after the exacerbation of the pollution phenomenon globally on land,
sea, and air. Today, many parts of the universe witness multi-dimensional ecological
crises, extending to the natural, economic, political, cultural, religious, and the whole
social levels. Ecological problems such as water contamination, air pollution, solid
and hazardous waste, soil degradation, deforestation, climate change and loss of
biodiversity do not recognize political borders and pose major threats to human
safety, health, and productivity. Ecocriticism is the study of literature and the
environment from an interdisciplinary approach, where literature scholars analyze
the literary texts that depict ecological concerns and argue the various ways literature
treats the subject of nature. O. J. Joycee and Evangeline Manickam in an article
titled, from Ego-centered to Eco-centered Humanism: A Wilburian Perspective in
The Atlantic Literary Review, opine as follows:
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Ecocriticism anticipates a response to the need for a humanistic
understanding of the natural world in an age of environmental
destruction. The war-ravaged Twentieth Century catapulted attention
to the environment and since then there has been no dearth of theories
and movements. Our understanding of nature is at odds with another,
and there is no definitive way to judge which one is better… Nature
is, therefore, an idea that takes on different meanings in different
cultural contexts. (75)
Margaret Atwood uses the genre of speculative science fiction to delineate the
subject of ecological sadness within the Anthropocene in her trilogy of Oryx and
Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam, the subject of this thesis. In this
sense, she accurately construes various effects of sadness that most of us feel in
confronting the harm caused by people on the ecosystem. Atwood wants the reader
to think about the costs of the unchecked technological progress and human shortsightedness.
Issues such as animal abuse, corrupt society, genetically modified human race,
oppression of women, social inequality, pollution, giving birth to a new species of
human beings, bioengineering in a world ruled by technocrats, and dominated by
capitalistic interests, and misuse of natural resources are among the discussions that
are highlighted in the three novels. This thesis analyzes the trilogy through a literary
interdisciplinary approach to ecocriticism for example but not limited, ecofeminism,
wilderness, psychological, sociological, cultural, gender, and mythological
approaches through literary devices to help understand and interpret the world in
new ways such as symbolism, personification, dichotomy.
In her MaddAddam trilogy, Atwood raises concerns about the ecosystem
such as global warming, pollution, depletion of natural resources, and
bioengineering. The trilogy comes as a warning against the directions taken and the
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choices made in relation to the ecosystem. She sheds light on the relationship
between humanity and its natural environment. Both Oryx& Crake and The Year of
the Flood envision a world of fundamental environmental catastrophe. Throughout
the MaddAddam trilogy, Atwood portrays how living beings and non-livings deal
with their surrounding natural environment. She gives due attention to the role of
human beings and science in devastating the universe and how they have turned
human life into a materialistic one. She portrayed the anxiety that the world has
reached due to the excessive consumption of the ecosystem.
Chapter Two “Capitalism and Genetic Engineering: Ecological Damage in
Oryx and Crake” discusses how Margaret Atwood portrays the human condition in
her dystopian novel Oryx and Crake during the global pandemic. Furthermore, it
seeks to demonstrate how corporate greed, the influence of scientific arrogance, and
defective human nature do not only bring environmental catastrophe but also the
annihilation of humanity. She investigates the society where the free market has
caused widespread anarchy. Massive businesses that operate under a technocracy
have decimated towns, national governments, and the ecosystem.
It highlights the drastic consequences of corporate capitalism and genetic
engineering innovations, and their impacts after a man-made pandemic swept the
homo sapiens as a race. The novel tackles genetic manipulation, pollution,
exploitation of natural resources, and abuse of the ecosystem. It sets alarm bells
ringing against the current human practices toward the ecosystem, causing
ecological disasters. The earth’s inhabitants become entrapped between the hammer
of scientists, capitalists, and corporates on one side and the anvil of the ecological
anger reaction of climate change on the other side.
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Throughout her Oryx and Crake, Atwood generates a scenario that is driven
by the current practices of global economic interests and advanced technology. Yet,
she believes that humans still have solutions to face such drastic challenges. She
attracts the reader to a narrative that alternates between two different storylines; the
post-apocalyptic narrative line that is intertwined with one that relates events from a
nearer future, all of them leading up to the ecological devastation. This destruction
of the world shows the possible aftermath of human greed on Earth.
Oryx and Crake tackles the alteration and depletion of natural resources
because of capitalism, corporate misuse of scientific advancement, overpopulation,
social inequality, government abuse of power, global warming, bioengineering, and
biotechnology, and their consequences on the ecosystem in general and society in
specific. It begins with the worldwide annihilation of the whole human race, and the
survival of only one human and a few ”dehumanized” individuals made by a young
brilliant scientist. It uncovers two interwoven timelines and reviews both the events
that cause and those that happen after a bioengineered plague has annihilated nearly
all of humankind. It follows the life of Jimmy who, after the plague, has named
himself Snowman, alternating between pre- and post-apocalypse times. The first
timeline represents the post-apocalyptic present-tense narrative that follows
Snowman’s quests after the inhabitants of the earth have been wiped out by a massive
deadly epidemic. The second timeline follows Jimmy (Snowman’s name before the
plague) and describes how crackers, the plague, and Snowman’s existence
originated. The post-apocalyptic world represents the novel’s current time, and each
chapter of the novel moves back and forth between Snowman’s current experiences
and memories of his life before the apocalypse when he was named Jimmy. Through
Jimmy’s tormented memories, the readers realize how the end of the citizenry came
from a virus made by Crake who is not only the one to be blamed for such destruction
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but also the citizens for their loyalty to corporates which neglect the
ethical and biological concerns.
This chapter investigates how Oryx and Crake sheds light on the impact of
capitalism, genetic engineering, commodification, overconsumption,
instrumentalism, and technological advancement and what might happen in our
future if their bad effects are left uncurbed and not eliminated from people’s life. It
argues how they have been contributing to various forms of extinction of ecosystem
organisms and affecting the survival of the ecosystem and our humanitarian instinct
life, using posthumanist ecocritical theories. It questions the survival of humankind
amid ecological destruction and pandemic viruses.
By the end of the novel, Atwood sends the readers a powerful message about
nature. Despite human science, technology, greed, control, domination, and
capitalism, nature will certainly overcome humanity and defy his arrogance and ego.
At the end of the novel, the Crakers seem to turn more to worshipping arts, religion,
and origin. Crake’s scheme is revealed to be a failure and his experiments end up
failing since his creatures Crakers express their interest in gods, material
possessions, art, love, emotions, and monogamous marriage. So, in order to prevent
a dystopian present, Crake invents a similarly dystopian future.
Since women are the most vulnerable creature to the impacts of ecological
deterioration, Chapter Three “Ecofeminism in The Year of The Flood” reviews how
Atwood has brilliantly connected the domination of the ecosystem and the
oppression of women by discussing The Year of The Flood through the ecofeminist
critical approach. It tackles the origin of ecofeminism as a critical theory, the concept
of ecofeminism, its main thoughts and ideas, and how Margaret Atwood has been
affected by ecofeminism thoughts while writing her novel The Year of The Flood.
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The Year of the Flood (2009) is seen very largely through the eyes of
powerless women, whose individual characters, temperaments, and emotions are
vivid and memorable. Atwood explores the postfeminist world of the pre-plague
society at its tyrannical extreme, from the viewpoints of two women (Toby and Ren).
Toby the main protagonist, works at Secret Burgers, a chain of restaurants selling
burgers that contain secret animal protein from rats and cats. She is a victim of the
corpocratic order.
Since Margaret Atwood believes that women’s rights and ecological issues are
very interconnected, she could not give due attention to one of them and neglect the
other. Thus, in The Year of The Flood, the reader navigates the theme of the
ecological crisis from the perspective of ecofeminist criticism. This chapter aims to
investigate how Atwood has skillfully merged her ecological anxiety and feminist
concern together in order to identify the eco-feminist interpretation of thought and
ideology embodied in the book by examining the eco-feminist elements that Atwood
has employed, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Moreover, it highlights the
ecofeminist critical approach in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Year of The Flood,
which is basically a practical application of the key critical ecofeminist tenets.
Throughout the novel, Atwood connects between women and nature and intertwines
parallels between the exploitation of nature and women. In order to show how
Atwood’s The Year of the Flood applies the ecofeminist concepts, the researcher
discusses the origin of ecofeminism as a critical theory, the concept of ecofeminism,
its main thoughts and ideas, and how Margaret Atwood has been affected by the
ecofeminism thoughts while writing her novel The Year of The Flood.
According to ecofeminists, the common link between women’s oppression and
ecological degradation is domination. Ecofeminism is a critical theory that brings
together political theory and practices into a single approach to explain and
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transform the current system of domination and violence by focusing on the critique
of patriarchy and the overexploitation of nature. Margaret Atwood’s reality in The
Year of The Flood is reflected throughout the concept of patriarchal cultures, causing
the collapse of society and degradation of the ecosystem. The ecofeminism
movement emerged to avoid the imperfections of earlier waves of feminism and give
proper consideration to the fact that women and the non-human environment are
both oppressed.
Based on the third volume of the trilogy MaddAddam, Chapter Four
“Transhumanism and Posthumanism in the World of MAddAddam” argues how
scientific progress can create another shape of humanism that differs from that
instinct. It discusses how scientists instill many enhancements in humanism till
humanity has transformed into another biological shape. After the pandemic has
swept all humanity but a few, posthumans began to spread and inhabit the earth. It
portrays a new brave world where a new posthuman is created. The trilogy ends up
by imposing many questions, including: will the new ecosystem be rebuilt once
again after the extinction of humanity and the collapse of the whole ecosystem? Is
there a possibility of coexistence between original humanism and posthumanism?
Will humans change their attitude toward the ecosystem and become keener on
protecting the ecosystem or will remain arrogant, giving a deaf ear to the anger of
the ecosystem?
The term ”humanism” has taken many definitions and changed throughout the
successive intellectual movements. Generally, the term focuses on human- beings
and their freedom, autonomy, and progress. According to humanism, humanity is
responsible for the enhancement and development of individuals, promotes the
concept of equality for all human beings, democracy, free expression, progressive
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policies, and human rights, and emphasizes the relationship between humans and the
world. In the 20th century, humanist movements began to emerge with non-religious
interests and centered on human reason and science rather than supernatural sources.
Many humanists have claimed that humans are distinguished by their
ingenuity in thinking from animals. One of the common traditional views around
humanism is that humans respond to reason while animals respond only to stimuli
and sensory feelings. Any viewpoint that distinguishes humans from other kinds of
life is known as humanism. This is typically founded on the idea that humans have
unique ability or quality that distinguishes them from all other forms of life, such as
reason, intelligence, consciousness, rationality, autonomy, humor, etc.
During the second decade of the 21st century, literary and cultural
criticism has delved into a new world to explore other domains such as
transhumanism, posthumanism, ecocriticism, and other related approaches. A
wide variety of non-human creatures, objects, and forces are gradually
emerging. Ecocriticism began to get interested in how literature can be
dedicated to the preservation of other neglected objects surrounding humans.
Non-human objects and creatures, ranging from animals to androids, are more
prevalent in critical analyses. This complicates the human’s view of the cosmos
by eliminating the individual subject and bringing down the comfortable
categories through which they have interpreted their existence.
Chapter Four “Transhumanism and Posthumanism in the World of
MAddAddam” discusses the potential scenario of technology and scientific progress
to liberate humans from their biological drawbacks by applying scientific and
technological innovations, and how transhumanism seeks to liberate humans from
the adverse effects of the existing humanist concepts by doubting their false
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assumptions about humans, leading to trials of going beyond humanism throughout
the MaddAddam. This chapter investigates how Margaret Atwood tries to follow
the development of humanism that has been altered by technological enhancements
while writing MaddAddam, the third volume of the trilogy.