ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS

A comparative analysis of works in American literature reveals the evolving ecological attitudes of society as illustrated through the perceptions and values of characters in regards to the natural environment. Applying an ecocritical approach, elements from each work are examined in three categories to chart the evolution of ecological attitude; environmental imagination, biodiversity, and eco-cultural habitat. Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Sea-Wolf by Jack London, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel are compared using the ecocritical model. Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf present an anthropomorphic view of the human/nature interaction with sea creatures representing a resource for exploitation to fulfill the needs of man. These novels present a human-centric perspective. The attitudes shift with The Old Man and the Sea presenting a more biocentric perspective as the old man views nature in a kinship perspective. Life of Pi evolves further as the main character creates a symbiotic relationship with nature in order to survive.

Introduction

Climate change, global warming, deforestation, and species extinction are current topics of conversation and media propagation. The common denominators in all of these conversations are the environment and man’s ecological philosophy and interaction with the environment and the flora and fauna covering the earth. The natural environment is used as a backdrop in works of prose, the painted cloth behind the actors that provide context and ambiance. Oceans cover a significant portion of the earth providing the backdrop for many of the greatest stories ever written. The diverse species inhabiting the world’s oceans are integral to many of these stories and participate in the plot as both major and minor characters. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate for the reader the use of the sea as the background setting for four stories comparing the author’s perspective on the natural environment through the characters’ perspectives and attitudes towards the ocean and demonstrate the evolving environmental perspective of society through the characters’ interactions with the animals and other natural elements.

Societal attitudes towards the natural environment evolved from a dominator model persistent in the 19th century to an attitude of indifference or denial of climate issues in the present day as illustrated through these novels. The analysis will proceed in the order of publication as listed in Table 1.

Title of the Work	Author	Year of Publication
Moby Dick	Herman Melville	1851
The Sea-Wolf	Jack London	1904
The Old Man and the Sea	Ernest Hemingway	1952
Life of Pi	Yann Martel	2001

Table : List of Works for Analysis

Each of these novels takes place on the sea and examines human interaction with the natural environment and specifically with one or more animal species. An analysis of the ecological attitudes of the characters suggests an evolutionary shift of societal attitudes and values regarding the environment in the direction of creating beneficial relationships with nature.

Theoretical Framework/Approach

Nature writing in America began with the works of eighteenth-century writers like Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Twentieth-century writers like Rachel Carson and John Muir continued in the path of nature writing but with the intent of portraying nature as necessary to human survival. Works like Carson’s Silent Spring helped spawn the environmental movement and awakened a sense of ecological awareness within the population. While the publication of Silent Spring in 1962 is credited with generating the environmental movement in the United States, an examination of nature writing prior to Carson’s work portrays an ecological awareness within the American culture corresponding to the overall cultural attitudes towards nature at the time. A comparative analysis of novels by American authors presents evidence of the changing ecological attitudes of the American populace. Examination of the cultural perspectives on the natural environment will be analyzed and compared through the lens of ecocritical literary theory.

The ecocritical perspective provides a framework for the reader to look at a work or body of work considering the role of the environment or natural resources in the plot or setting of the story. One of the interesting aspects of an ecocritical study is the relationship between literature and the science of ecology. As explained by Australian philosopher John Passmore in his work Man’s Responsibility for Nature (1974),

Problems in ecology . . . are properly scientific issues, to be resolved by the formulation and testing of hypotheses in ecological experiments, while ecological problems are features of our society, arising out of our dealings with nature, from which we should like to free ourselves, and which we do not regard as inevitable consequences of what is good in that society. (qtd. in Garrard, 5)

Passmore makes a clear distinction between problems in ecology, requiring a scientific resolution, and ecological problems, requiring a societal resolution. The ecocritical literary model focuses the evaluation lens on the ecological problems while including scientific study and hypotheses of interrelated problems in ecology. Analyzing these works reveals the changing attitudes of society towards the environment and highlights the ecological problems of each time period.

The works themselves are not considered nature writing in the same perspective as Thoreau’s Walden or Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Nature writing is considered a specific genre of literature focusing primarily on the environment. Scott Slovic, professor of English at the University of Idaho and ecocritical writer, distinguishes nature writing into two categories, rhapsodic and jeremiad, in his 1996 work Epistemology and Politics in American Nature Writing, “nature writing texts may be characterized as either ‘rhapsodic’ celebration of natural beauty and wildness, or jeremiad, the ‘warning or critique’ that challenges the reader to political action and self reform” (Garrard, 89). By this definition, Thoreau’s Walden would be categorized as rhapsodic nature writing due to the celebratory voice describing living in nature. In contrast, Carson’s Silent Spring is jeremiad due to the warning tone of the work. Four works under analysis here do not fit under either category. Moby Dick, The Sea-Wolf, The Old Man and the Sea, and Life of Pi all contain elements of nature but the main focus of each story is not the celebration of natural beauty or a political warning, the stories each tell a story of human and environmental interaction independent of the type of nature writing described by Slovic. The ecocritical model of literary criticism allows scholars to apply ecological criticism to both nature writing and non-nature writing works.

The ecocritical model analyzes literature with an ecological focus as explained by Glotfelty in the introduction to her 1996 ecocritical reader: “ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the environment” (Glotfelty, xviii). The ecocriticism model is an earth-centered approach to the study of literature, “Ecocriticism, then, remembers the earth by rendering an account of the indebtedness of culture to nature” (Rigby, 154). The comparative analysis of the four works of literature will examine the relationship between man and nature as represented by the different species portrayed as antagonists for the main characters and the treatment of the sea as the backdrop for each narrative.

Ecocriticism is a relatively new field for literary studies, the first ecocritical works examining ecological awareness in literature beginning in the 1970s. The publication of Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm’s The Ecocriticism Reader in 1996 launched ecocriticism into the spotlight as an alternate form of literary study. The establishment of the Association for the study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) in 1992 began the process of networking professionals examining the link between nature writing and environmentalism. In 2009, ASLE launched the annual publication of a professional journal, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment in partnership with Oxford University Press created a forum for publishing peer-reviewed works in ecocriticism.

The comparative analysis presented in this paper is unique in that it brings together four works from different time periods seeking to document a possible connection and progression of ecological awareness showing the rise of biocentric and ecologically aware works in the modern-day. The progression documented in the literary study may also parallel the cultural progression of ecological awareness observed with the advent of the environmental and green movements of the late twentieth century.

Literature Review

Lawrence Buell, Professor of English at Harvard University, is one of the leading writers in the emerging field of ecocriticism. He has authored two books that have helped to define many of the concepts in the field; The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture (1996) and Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond (2001). Buell argues in his second work about the importance of “environmental imagination,” a term he coined in his first book, and quotes from sociologist Ulrich Beck’s essay on politics “the success of all environmentalist efforts finally hinges not on ‘some highly developed technology, or some arcane new science’ but on ‘a state of mind’: on attitudes, feelings, images, narratives” (Writing for an Endangered World, 1). As Buell asserts, the importance of environmental imagination is critical to the success of environmentalist efforts. The philosophy of environmental imagination encourages social reform and places the burden of change on society. Solving ecological problems is a societal responsibility, not a scientific requirement.

Environmental imagination advocates for a change in societal perspective and values. For an environmental movement to be successful, people not technology determine success or failure. Environmental imagination is a state of mind when people focus more clearly on the ecological problems of society. Connecting to the ideas of Passmore, ecological problems are societal; they are the recognition and acknowledgment of ecological problems. Environmental imagination offers the vision to solve these issues on the societal level. Environmental imagination offers a further distinction between the scientific problems of ecology and the societal ecological problems.

Buell explains his reasoning for writing the second book in his introductory paragraph, “written in the conviction that environmental crisis is not merely one of economic resources, public health, and political gridlock” (Writing for an Endangered World, 1). According to Buell, “environmental crisis involves a crisis of the imagination the amelioration of which depends on finding better ways of imaging nature and humanity’s relation to it” (The Environmental Imagination, 2). The proposed amelioration of the environmental crisis, as asserted by Richard N. L. Andrews, involves “a coherent vision of the common environmental good that is sufficiently compelling to generate sustained public support” (qtd. in Buell, Writing for an Endangered World, 1). Buell asserts a serious environmental crisis is upon us and in his first work rates the crisis on the level of an apocalyptic event underlying the importance of environmental imagination to the survival of the planet, “The role of imagination is central to the project; for the rhetoric of apocalypticism implies that the fate of the world hinges on the arousal of the imagination to a sense of crisis” (The Environmental Imagination, 285). Linking ecological problems with politics, science, and societal values is critical to the arousal of environmental imagination. Information that feeds the imagination will not only come from political and scientific sources but from studies of literature using the ecocritical model. Analyzing literature through ecocriticism allows readers to see trends and shifting perspectives across time and gauges the current attitudes towards the environmental crisis.

The field of ecocriticism provides an avenue of education and discovery linking the human experience with the natural world. As Buell observed, “I continue to believe that reorientation of human attention and values according to a stronger ethic of care for the nonhuman environment would make the world a better place, for humans as well as for nonhumans” (Writing for an Endangered World, 6). Buell’s belief in a better world with the shifting of human attention and values calls forth the question of what is the current state of the human to nonhuman environment, or nature, relationship. The question is answered through the comparative analysis, namely the evolution of human attention to the nonhuman environment.

What relationship does man share with Nature? Melville compares the actions of men versus the creation of Nature determining that Nature is more dangerous and forbidding than anything man can construct; “For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God” (Melville, 143). Moby Dick is one of the best-known works of fiction set upon the high seas. The plot of the book centers on the conflict between Captain Ahab and Moby Dick. According to Jeffrey Folks, a prominent author on American literature, Melville’s work is a tale of morality with the main theme being, “the miraculous goodness of life and the consequent responsibility of men to care for it” (Folks, 134).

Buell views Moby Dick in the historical perspective as a treatise on global capitalism as championed by the American entrepreneurial spirit, “it is the first canonical work of Anglophone literature to anatomize an extractive industry of global scope” (Writing for an Endangered World, 205). Ecocritical studies like those by Elizabeth Schulz (2000) and Wil Gesler (2004) focus on the human/non-human interaction and the relationship of Moby Dick with Captain Ahab. Schulz introduced her article acknowledging the importance of Moby Dick in the lexicon of American literature but citing the contradictory use of its imagery by environmentalist groups. Moby Dick is both seen as “an active defender of the world’s oceans” and “the perpetuation of an irresponsible and illegal slaughter of whales” (Schulz, 97). Moby Dick is included in the ecocritical studies as an early American example of ecological writing. Without intent to do so, Melville created a work of environmental influence. The struggle between Captain Ahab and Moby Dick highlights an attitude of human society bent of progress at all costs without thought to the welfare of future generations.

Folks provides a more sinister interpretation of Melville’s work exposes the base nature of human beings, “all human beings are blind cannibals, murderers, and degenerates and, thus, that the impulse toward betterment and virtue of any sort is sheer hypocrisy” (Folks, 135). The violent image of cannibalism is representative of the invasion and domination of indigenous cultures by American and European civilizations. Rather than a simplistic tale of morality touting the goodness of life, Moby Dick is a tale of exploitation of nature at the hands of a Western civilization familiar with dominating other cultures.

The name of Ahab’s ship, the Pequod, refers to an extinct tribe, further stressing the Western domination interpretation (Folks 137). These distinctions of Western domination as illustrated by Folks offer the baseline reference for the comparative analysis. Moby Dick is a story of domination specifically human domination of nature. While Folks is blunt in his analysis of the base nature of humans, the interpretation fits within the scope of the human versus nature struggle. Melville wrote an anthropomorphic tale of nature providing the resources coveted by human civilization and the human struggle of dominance over nature to control and exploit said resources.

Jack London’s work, The Sea-Wolf, is similar to the interpretation of Moby Dick in the conflict set up between man and animal, the exploitation of nature’s resources. The late nineteenth century began to see a shift in the animal and human interactions as depicted in literature moving away from the anthropomorphic version of the animalistic struggle as demonstrated in Moby Dick. Though literature was beginning to shift at the time London was writing, his work continued in a more masculine, struggle against nature vein, “a ‘masculinist’ naturalist code (London) versus a ‘sentimentalist’ naturist code” (Buell, The Environmental Imagination, 199).

Buell commented on the nature of London’s attitude that produced both The Sea-Wolf and The Call of the Wild and the nature of how London portrayed the conflict, “the spectacle of men and beasts reduced to elemental combat where the strong beat the weak by realizing their animal natures” (Writing for an Endangered World, 149). Buell acknowledges that in London’s The Sea-Wolf, and in Moby Dick by virtue of the similarity of how man and animal are depicted, that the triumph of man over animal is due to the humans realizing their own animal nature.

Charles Darwin published his treatise on the evolution of man, The Descent of Man, in 1871. The concept of evolution soon spilled over into other fields of study, influencing studies in psychology as well as works of literature. Lee Clark Mitchell, professor of English and author of works on American literature, connected the concepts of evolution with London’s The Sea-Wolf, which he names as London’s “most accomplished novel” (Mitchell, 317). Mitchell describes the work as an allegorical tale of evolution described through the description of the body postures of the main characters. The narrative contains many descriptions of characters falling down or getting back up to a standing position, using body posture as not only a descriptive element but as an illustrator of the allegory, “Rising to an upright position is everywhere both test and sign of an ability to transcend one’s animal past and achieve human preeminence” (Mitchell, 317-318). London’s works challenge the protagonist not only against a primary antagonist but also against the wilds of nature.

Professor of Humanities and English Earle Labor identified four symbolic wilderness types characterized within the novels of Jack London. These four types represent different aspects of nature; the White Silence or the northern wilderness used in The Call of the Wild (1903), Melanesia or the jungles of the tropics used in the short story collection South Sea Tales (1913), Polynesia or the benevolent but defenseless lands of the islands prime for exploitation through commercialism used in the short story Shin Bones (1918), and the Valley of the Moon or the forests of the American West used in White Fang (1906). These four symbolic wilderness types represent London’s representation of the struggle of humans versus the natural world. The Sea-Wolf (1904) conforms to the symbolic wilderness of Polynesia, a tale of commercial exploitation coupled with a Darwinian exploration of the human character under extreme conditions.

Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea likewise is analyzed and interpreted by literary scholars both in and out of the ecocritical movement. Scholars like Alexander Hollenberg, professor of storytelling and narrative at Sheridan College, examine the role of the environment in the narrativity of the novella, specifically examining the background elements like the sea and a warbler that come to the foreground giving respite from the central struggle between the old man and the great fish. Other scholars like Gregory Stephens and Janice Cools (2013), from St. Petersburg College, and Eric Waggoner (1998), from Arizona State University, center on the primary struggle of the narrative.

One of the standard interpretations of the conflict present between Santiago, the old man, and the great fish in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, is the oppositional relationship of Nature versus humanity in a competitive struggle. Waggoner takes a different perspective on the classic tale, interpreting the competitive struggle from a Taoist perspective rather than the more traditional Christian perspective. Waggoner departs from the traditional, examining Hemingway’s work against a comparison of Taoist philosophical texts by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu and the classic work, the I Ching. The stated goal of Waggoner’s interpretation is to demonstrate “that striking similarities occur between The Old Man and the Sea and several Taoist texts as regards interpretation of (and placement in) the natural world” (Waggoner, 89). Hemingway was not an adherent to Eastern philosophy or religion and even specifically stated in a letter that the novel was simplistic, lacking in secrets or symbolism.

Viewing Hemingway’s work through the lens of the Taoist philosophy brings to light three areas of similarities though the author confirms that Hemingway did not write the novel with these Taoist principles in mind. The first is balance, represented in Taoism by the yin-yang symbol. The main protagonist, Santiago, exudes a dualistic perspective in regards to the sea and the conflict with the great fish, demonstrating the balance symbolized by the yin-yang symbol. On one hand, Santiago lives by the sea and holds a connection to the sea and its inhabitants through a lifetime of working as a fisherman. Included in that connection with the sea is the opposing need to hunt and kill fish for survival.

Santiago exhibits a connection with the natural world and wildlife that inhabit the slice of ocean on which Santiago continuously struggles with the fish. The Taoist principle of a “connection between inner and outer landscapes . . . being-at-one with one’s immediate surroundings” (Waggoner, 93) is illustrated through Santiago’s inner monologue and his conversations with the wildlife that surrounds him on the ocean, “a turtle’s heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered . . . I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs” (Hemingway, 16). Waggoner claims that Santiago’s reflections, like those on the turtle’s heart, show “not so much a direct reference to Taoist thought as an embodiment of it” (Waggoner, 96).

Another interpretation of the conflict presented in Hemingway’s novel is the competitive nature of species with Santiago and the great fish in competition with one another for survival. The Old Man and the Sea could be viewed as the story of an underdog, plagued by bad luck for eighty plus days, overcoming the competition and emerging victorious, a representation of the fighter code, a theme consistent with Hemingway’s other novels. According to Wittkowski, “confrontation and victory in competitive sport serve here as the model, the ideal, and ultimately the metaphor” (qtd. in Waggoner, 94). The competitive struggle metaphor bares resemblance to the symbolic writings of London’s humans versus the symbolic wilderness. The struggle of Santiago against the great fish becomes a metaphor of the human struggle against nature to prove Darwinian dominance.

A third interpretation of The Old Man and the Sea depicts Santiago as a Christ-figure, weaving the Christian themes of sin to salvation into the narrative. Although Santiago is depicted as an individual taught religious practice as evidenced by his saying of Hail Marys and Our Fathers while pursuing the fish, Wittkowski notes that Santiago is connected to the sea not the physical Christian realm of churches. The old man practices his rituals while at sea outside of the religious rituals inherent in the Christian religion.

Scholars like June Dwyer, professor at Manhattan College, and Jennifer McDonell, a senior lecturer at the University of New England, concentrate on the study of the human/animal relationship in literature. Both argue that a biocentric view of the human/nature relationship is becoming more prevalent in modern literature. Dwyer asserts that early adventure literature like London’s The Sea-Wolf employed a shipwreck narrative as a means for testing the resolve of the main character without reference to problems in ecology. Martel’s Life of Pi utilizes the shipwreck narrative but focuses on the human and animal relationship of the survivors, addressing the ecological attitudes as part of the narrative, “it provides a new paradigm, reversing the trend toward human dominance over animals” (Dwyer, 10). Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf contain narratives consistent with the human dominance over animal paradigm.

Dwyer argues that Life of Pi not only presents a paradigm shift in the human/animal relationship as documented in works of literature, the narrative also presents ecological attitudes woven into the story; “It presents instead a Darwinian . . . an ecological story line, which means that the human protagonist has emotional, moral, and intellectual interest in the animal in question” (Dwyer, 15). Pi certainly displays attitudes towards Richard Parker extending beyond the human dominance model, realizing the tiger is critical to his survival. Describing the narrative of Life of Pi as Darwinian underscores an important distinction presented through the analysis of these four works; analysis evidences an evolution of attitudes from Moby Dick to Life of Pi concerning the human dominance over animal perspective.

Dwyer acknowledges the trend of American literature portraying a human dominance model however examination of the literature shows the trend began its shift before Life of Pi was published. The comparative analysis of the four novels uncovers an earlier shift as evidenced by the attitudes presented in The Old Man and the Sea. By broadening the examination of works to include earlier works of American literature, the trend of a shifting paradigm is readily observed. Beginning with Moby Dick, one of the core features of the storyline is the dominance of man over animals illustrated through Ahab’s obsession with Moby Dick. Similar attitudes are observed in The Sea-Wolf with a Darwinian look at the nature of humans and our similarities to animals. Further shifting of the paradigm is seen in The Old Man and the Sea as Santiago acknowledges the kinship he holds with the creatures of the ocean, addressing the great fish as a brother. While it is depicted in Life of Pi a mutually beneficial relationship forming between Pi and Richard Parker, the shifting paradigm of human-animal relationships does not begin in the early twenty-first century with the publication of Life of Pi but can be perceived as a continual trend through American literature of the ocean.

Research Design/Methodology

The comparative analysis of these four works shows an evolution of attitudes from the mid-eighteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Analysis of the works in the ecocritical model will center on the answering of ecological questions concerning the setting and the human-animal interaction presented in the novel. The questions are divided into three categories, environmental imagination, biodiversity, and eco-cultural habitat.

The ecocriticism model centers on the convergence of ecology and literature. Ecology is defined as “the science that studies the relationship between living organisms (biotic component) and their physical environment (abiotic component)” (Tosic, 45). The base view of ecology also represents the anthropocentric perspective of the human role within the environment, that man holds the central role within the ecosystem. The anthropocentric perspective of ecology is characterized by viewing nature as existing to provide resources for humans.

Another view of ecology was offered by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess termed deep ecology, a biocentric philosophy that views humans as part of the natural ecosystem but in a less central role. The importance of nature as a whole takes precedence to the needs of man, “deep ecology emphasizes the role of the individual who is invited to behave as a citizen of the World and Earth and to take responsibility for it” (Tosic, 45). Comparing works of literature from an ecological standpoint allows for the transformation of society to a better understanding of the human role within the Earth’s ecosystem, a role emphasized through Naess’ concept of Deep Ecology. The information in each of the three major categories will be examined under the lens of anthropocentric versus biocentric focus within the ecocritical framework to illustrate the shifting ecological viewpoint through a time progression.

Environmental Imagination

Literature and nonfiction nature writing presents the reader with images of the environment creating assumptions and interpretations based on the written work. The rise of ecocriticism as a model for literary critique is aligned with the perceived environmental crisis highlighted by Rachel Carson’s work and the rise of the environmental and green movements in American culture. Environmental imagination plays a role in the representation of the environmental crisis. The environmental imagination category of the study will focus on the following questions analyzing the representation of nature in each of the literary works.

1. What is the attitude of man to nature as represented through the attitudes of the characters towards the ocean?
2. What is the role of the ocean in the story?

Biodiversity

The second major category centers on the concept of biological diversity commonly referred to as biodiversity. The term biodiversity refers to the number of organisms within an ecosystem. From the deep ecology point of view, humans are one of many organisms within the Earth’s ecosystem and hold a responsibility of protection to other organisms within the system. Extinction is a real condition facing many of the animal species in the current ecosystem. Exploitation of resources and urban expansion creates conditions of irreparable harm to other organisms, threatening the survival of individual species and the disruption of the ecosystem itself. As noted by Jones in the Collins Dictionary of Environmental Science (1990), “for every one species which becomes extinct, approximately 30 other dependent species move into the ‘at risk’ category “ (qtd. in Tosic, 48). Richard Brewer, the author of The Science of Ecology (1994), noted the correlation between biodiversity and the stability of the ecosystem or community. In literature, the attitudes of the human characters and the value appointed to other organisms within the ecosystem or the system itself relate to biodiversity as examined through the following questions.

1. What is the role of fauna in the story and what value is placed on the animals?
2. What is the attitude of man to animal and how does this attitude inform the interactions?

Eco-cultural Habitat

The third major category for the study is the philosophy of eco-cultural habitat. The eco-cultural habitat denotes a change in human attitude and a broadening of understanding about the environment; it “is a combination of the physical and social, individual and global” (Tosic, 48). This category is a coming together of the previous two concepts to show a possible transformation of human opinion toward the global ecosystem. Comparison of attitudes as presented in each of the novels will show an evolution of an anthropomorphic perspective in Moby Dick to a biocentric perspective in Life of Pi through answering the following questions.

1. How does the human-animal interaction presented in the works illustrate societal attitudes towards the environment?
2. How does scientific research inform the study of literature as represented by these works?

Each of the four works will be examined with these questions and the results compared and evaluated to determine the level of attitudinal evolution that may have occurred with the anthropocentric versus biocentric debate. The study will illustrate the role of literature in communicating the societal attitudes towards the environment outlined in the three categories explained above, environmental imagination, biodiversity, and eco-cultural habitat.

For this purpose, the four works were chosen to represent attitudes at 50-year intervals as a cross-section comparison of the evolution of American cultural attitudes towards the environment. One of the weaknesses of the study is the reliance on only one work per time period. While inferences of societal attitudes may be assumed, a more detailed analysis of works representing each time period would be necessary for an in-depth study of American cultural attitudes.

Findings/Results/Discussion

Environmental Imagination

What relationship does man share with Nature? Melville compares the actions of men versus the creation of Nature determining that Nature is more dangerous and forbidding than anything man can construct; “For what are the comprehensible terrors of man compared with the interlinked terrors and wonders of God” (Melville, 143). This begins the study of the evolution of the human attitude towards nature as portrayed in major works of fiction. The ecocritical perspective allows a deeper analysis of the works by studying the interactions of man with the environment as examples of ecological attitudes.

1. What is the attitude of man to nature as represented through the attitudes of the characters towards the ocean?
2. What is the role of the ocean in the story?

The opening paragraph of Melville’s Moby Dick introduces the reader to the narrator, Ishmael, and begins to establish his personal philosophy regarding the ocean, “whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses . . . requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street . . . I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can” (Melville, 27). Being upon the ocean is medicinal for the narrator, a respite from the stress of life. The ocean represents escape, which for Ishmael is on par with escape through death.

The motif of the ocean as escape initiated in the first paragraphs of the work is continued through other descriptions of the ocean. Ishmael later describes the ocean as the Pequod begins its voyage as “the wide and endless waters, only bounded by the far-off unseen Eastern Continents” (Melville, 138). The openness of the open, the feelings attained through entering its waters represents freedom and new possibilities for the narrator. The ocean serves as the background setting of the novel while the human versus animal narrative takes forefront on the stage. However, the concept of water and its relation to human society is discussed at the beginning of the book.

Ishmael extols the benefits of water and the draw felt by humans to be near water, “nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. Them must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in” (Melville, 28). According to the narrator, men are inextricably drawn to the water, “there is magic in it [water]” (Melville, 28). The attitude towards water and thus the ocean in general, demonstrated through the narrator’s meditation on the subject, suggest great regard and high value placed on the ocean. The waters of the ocean also hold the other critical element of the plot; the white whale Moby Dick inhabits the waters.

The role of the ocean in Melville’s work is a means to the desired end, the death of Moby Dick to slate the revenge-fueled mind of Captain Ahab. Ishmael describes the role of the ocean as “the great flood-gates of the wonder-world swung open” as a means to pursue “endless processions of the whale, and, mid most of them all, one grand hooded phantom, like a snow hill in the air” (Melville, 32). The ocean not only presents the reader with the backdrop for the action of the book but also plays the role of transportation, allowing the characters to interact and collide in conflict.

While Ishmael may regale the reader with the benefits of the ocean and the endless opportunities presented by its wide-open access to the world, travel on the ocean can be met with hindrances, Nature denying the freedom of the individual to wander and discover. Ishmael compares the dangers of ocean voyage with thinking too deeply about one’s situation. The sailor Bulkington, who Ishmael first interacted with in New Bedford is at the helm during a heavy storm, the short chapter is Bulkington’s epitaph littered with references to the danger of Nature, “Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shores” (Melville, 140). Again the narrator compares the ocean to the granting of independence but cautions against Nature, a force that conspires to deny the independence of the individual. The distinction between the ocean and Nature as a separate entity is integral to understanding the dichotomy created by the narrator. While the ocean is part of Nature, Nature is seen as distinct and in conflict with the independence of the individual, further adding to the argument that Nature needs to be overcome and conquered by man.

The distinction of the ocean and Nature as separate entities propagated by Melville was shared by Humphrey Van Weyden, Jack London’s narrator in The Sea-Wolf (1904). As Weyden embarks on a ferry journey across the San Francisco Bay, on a fairly new and “safe craft,” he shares this observation, “the danger lay in the heavy fog which blanketed the bay, and of which, as a landsman, I had little apprehension” (London, 1). Weyden was correct in the danger not being from the sea but the dense fog concealed boat pilots from seeing each other until it was too late and the ferry Weyden was a passenger on was struck and sunk leaving the narrator afloat in a tide rushing out to the open sea. However, the narrator’s attitude toward the sea changed as the length of time Weyden was stranded in the ocean, kept afloat by a life preserver, “small waves, with spiteful foaming crests, continually broke over me and into my mouth, sending me off into more strangling paroxysms” (London, 6). Eventually rescued and pulled aboard the seal-hunting ship Ghost, the role of the ocean in London’s story begins with setting the stage for the plot, playing the part of the deliverer of the narrator from the safety of the San Francisco Bay to the deck of Ghost and the next step in the adventurous plot.

London uses the sea and the weather as an indicator of the mood of the characters or specific scenes in the novel. One of the emotional points of the novel comes when Weyden is finally resigned to spending an indeterminate amount of time aboard the Ghost against his wishes. As the ship moves farther away from the coast of the western United States, Weyden’s hopes for passage off the Ghost and back towards San Francisco are raised at the sight of a schooner heading towards port. His hope is useless as he is detained as a prisoner by the actions of Captain Larsen who belittles his claims and the schooner passes by. This was Weyden’s last hope and then resigns himself to the role of the cabin boy. Just as the schooner is sighted by Weyden, London’s description of the current ocean and weather conditions set the stage for the drama of hope and resignation felt by the narrator, “The wind had been momentarily increasing, and the sun, after a few angry gleams, had disappeared. The sea had turned a dull leaden gray and grown rougher, and was now tossing whitecaps to the sky” (London, 17). The sun momentarily shining represents the hope felt momentarily by Weyden but as the schooner approaches and Wolf Larsen asserts control of the situation to keep Weyden on board the Ghost, the weather changes to mirror the lost hope of the narrator.

In Life of Pi, Martel also uses the imagery of nature within the background elements to convey or mirror the feelings of the major characters. When Pi and his family embark on their ill-fated ocean voyage, the mood is excited and filled with hope, which is portrayed through the natural elements as well, “I waved goodbye to India. The sun was shining, the breeze was steady, and seagulls shrieked in the air above us. I was terribly excited” (Martel, 91). The temperament of the weather and the waves of the ocean allow the author to reinforce feelings the characters are experiencing. The mood of the ocean and the weather changes at any time even outside of the emotions of the characters, driving the storyline forward as seen with the shipwreck in both The Sea-Wolf and Life of Pi.

Hemingway portrayed the sea differently, describing her using feminine terms and associating both benefits and possible dangers in the same personality. Described through the musings of Santiago, “the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman” (Hemingway, 13). Like Melville, Hemingway views the sea as a positive force with the ability to grant favors to benefit man. However, where Melville saw the sea and Nature as two distinct forces, Hemingway imagines the sea as a feminine personality capable of both good or ill.

In the course of the struggle described by Hemingway, Santiago experiences a visit from a warbler, the effect of which removes the focus of the reader from the main plotline. Santiago’s interactions with the warbler encourage the old man to continue his struggle and provides the reader another glimpse into Santiago’s ecological attitude, “stay at my house if you like, bird . . . I am sorry I cannot hoist the sail and take you in . . . But I am with a friend” (Hemingway, 25). Santiago’s conversation with the bird, an element of the background until that moment, provides a glimpse into the human/animal relationship presented by Santiago. This scene also serves as a vehicle to bring the background forward as an environmental notice of the bigger picture. Hollenberg described this scene and the purpose of it when he stated, “As the bird briefly transitions from the background into the foreground and back again, the reader comes to recognize that nature is neither an empty space nor something merely to be worked upon and worked over” (Hollenberg, 27). The recognition of nature in the larger scheme of the plot allows the reader to connect with nature through the narrative. Martel used a similar scene to convey the complexity of nature.

Adjusting to the conditions of life upon the sea with a Bengal tiger as his only companion, Pi has a moment of wonder after being distracted by a splash in the water. Pi gazes into the depths of the ocean and for a moment, the background elements come to the center of the narrative allowing the reader to recognize nature as a complex system, not a vast, empty space inhabited only by Pi and Richard Parker, “With just one glance I discovered that the sea is a city. Just below me, all around, unsuspected by me, were highways, boulevards, streets and roundabouts bustling with submarine traffic” (Martel, 174). Within just a few paragraphs, the narrative transforms the ocean into a teeming, busy underwater world. The reader is allowed the space from the main storyline to consider the background element of the ocean in a new light, nature as a living ecosystem.

Biodiversity

1. What is the role of fauna in the story and what value is placed on the animals?
2. What is the attitude of man to animal and how does this attitude inform the interactions?

Moby Dick is one of the best-known works of fiction set upon the high seas. The societal attitudes of resource exploitation and ecological dominance are presented through the interactions of Captain Ahab and the men of the Pequod with whales of the ocean and the retrospective narration of Ishmael. Ishmael records his impressions of Ahab’s feelings towards Moby Dick as a demonized personification of the world’s evil, “all that most maddens and torments . . . all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick” (Melville, 226). The demonization of Moby Dick through similar descriptions reveals an attitude of animosity tinged with the desire to dominate. Moby Dick becomes a symbol for the human need to dominate and control the elements of nature.

In chapter twenty-four of Moby Dick, Ishmael advocates for the whaling business, extolling the contributions and necessity of whale hunters in mapping the globe and opening distant lands to colonization, “If American and European men-of-war now peacefully ride in once savage harbours, let them fire salutes to the honour and the glory of the whale-ship, which originally showed them the way, and first interpreted between them and the savages” (Melville, 144). Besides explaining the societal benefits received from the whaling industry, he also lists the resources accrued from the whales in terms of resources, “for almost all tapers, lamps, and candles that burn round the globe, burn, as before so many shrines, to our glory” (Melville, 143). The chapter is dedicated to praising the business of the whale hunter with Ishmael going so far as to declare his time on the whaleship as tantamount to studying at the best colleges in the country, “here I prospectively ascribe all the honour and the glory to whaling; for a whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard” (Melville, 146). Ishmael’s propaganda extolling the benefits and honor of the whaling business contrast with the demonization of Moby Dick to create the dramatic tension driving the novel to its conclusion.

Building on the idea of the resources gained through the hunting and killing of the whale creating shrines to glorify the occupation of the whale hunter, the narrator’s description of the ship, the Pequod, further illustrates the attitude of humans to nature. The Pequod is described as a ship decorated through their craft, “She was a thing of trophies. A cannibal of a craft, tricking herself forth in the chased bones of her enemies” (Melville, 102). The use of whale teeth and bones desecrates the memory of the animal and the description of the cannibalistic nature of the decoration informs the resource exploitations attitude of the whale hunters. The narrator also uses the descriptor of enemies to classify the whale hunters’ disdain of their prey. The whales are seen as barriers impeding the collection of resources that need to be overcome.

If whaling is a noble and honorable profession, then what is the whalers’ attitude toward his quarry? The missing piece to the puzzle is contained in one of the questions that serve to create an internal dialogue for the narrator, “Whaling not respectable” (Melville, 146). With the comparison of whaling to imperialism, Ishmael contends, “the whale himself has never figured in any grand imposing way” (Melville, 146). The attitude towards the whale is established early on in the novel with Ishmael attending the church service of Father Mapple. Before the service begins, Ishmael observes three memorials to lost sailors, two of which were lost at sea due to whaling mishaps. The attitude towards the whale is portrayed in the third memorial, “to the memory of Captain Ezekial Hardy, who in the bows of his boat was killed by a Sperm Whale on the coast of Japan” (Melville, 64). The inclusion of the Christian religious services coupled with the whaling business adds credence to the business of the whalers through divine providence.

The primarily Christian America of the nineteenth century believed in the Holy Bible and the story of the Earth’s creation at the hands of God. God created the world and all of the animals including the human race which He gave divine permission to dominate and control nature, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (King James Bible, Genesis 1:28). The scene of Ishmael attending the Christian religious service adds a religious sanction to the domination and subduing of whales. The religious aspect also increases the tension between the sailors and Moby Dick with the Ishmael describing the whale as a demon.

The domination and subjugation of nature for the benefit of the human race is also portrayed through the narration of London’s character Weyden in The Sea-Wolf. After their ship, Ghost, reaches the seal hunting grounds, Weyden discusses the purpose of the seal hunt and acknowledges the ecological wastefulness of the venture, “And north we travelled with it, ravaging and destroying, flinging the naked carcasses to the shark and salting down the skins so that they might later adorn the fair shoulders of the women of the cities” (London, 102). The description of the seal hunting business by Weyden parallels the description of the whaling business by Ishmael. The purpose of the seal hunt is to provide decorative clothing for the women in urban cities, a commercial enterprise exploiting the natural world for the benefit and profit of human society.

When London’s narrator Weyden first glimpses the intimidating personage of the Ghost’s captain Wolf Larsen, his description of the man compares the strength exuded by the captain’s presence to the strength of a wild animal, “it was a strength we are wont to associate with things primitive, with wild animals, and the creatures we imagine our tree-dwelling prototypes to have been – a strength savage, ferocious, alive in itself” (London, 12). The comparison of Captain Larsen to an animal displays a characteristically anthropocentric perspective on the scene, communicating the primal nature of animals as a base nature, below the nature of the human species.

The description of Wolf Larsen also directly references the ideas presented by Darwin’s theories. Mitchell argues the description of characters’ body positions is allegorical to Darwinian evolution. The image of presented by London through Humphrey’s description of Larsen directly references evolution as described I Darwin’s The Descent of Man, “the correspondence in general structure, in the minute structure of the tissues, in chemical composition and in constitution, between man and the higher animals, especially the anthropomorphous apes, is extremely close” (Darwin, 29). By using such a description, London simultaneously reminds the reader of our relationship with the animal kingdom while also reasserting human ascendancy above our animal relatives.

Hemingway’s protagonist in The Old Man and the Sea displays a differing attitude towards the animals in the novel when compared to Melville and London’s characters. The old man, Santiago, views the relationship between himself and nature in a more equitable system. A connection was forged with the great fish through the struggle related in the novella, culminating in the capture of the great fish and the attack of the sharks as Santiago attempts to return to his homeport. The connection Santiago feels is described during the shark attack as the sharks attempt to feed on the marlin, “He did not like to look at the fish anymore since he had been mutilated. When the fish had been hit it was as though he himself were hit” (Hemingway, 47). Not only is the assertion that Santiago had felt the shark attack as keenly as the marlin, but the old man also uses the male pronoun ‘he’ to describe the fish, applying human detail and respectful speech patterns in reference to the great fish.

All of the previous works have attributed a measure of human characteristics to the animal characters within each story and Martel’s Life of Pi is no different, however, the level of intensity has increased. In Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf, animals were portrayed with a modicum of human characteristics but the underlying message was anthropomorphic, humans still held a level of superiority above the animal kingdom. An evolution of the attitude is presented in Hemingway’s work with Santiago sharing a kinship relationship with the great fish. Martel’s description of the Sloth and Pi’s attitude towards this creature displays further evolution with the description of Pi’s mind-set of respect and awe in regards to the sloth, “I am not one given to projecting human traits and emotions onto animals, but many a time during that month in Brazil, looking up at sloths in repose I felt I was in the presence of upside-down yogis deep in meditation or hermits deep in prayer, wise beings whose intense imaginative lives were beyond the reach of my scientific probing” (Martel, 5). The recollection of Pi of his time spent studying the sloths in Brazil set the stage for his subsequent dealings with the other animal beings within the story, like the tiger dubbed Richard Parker.

Pi’s dealings with animal species began well before his college career, commencing with his childhood experiences of being raised within the confines of the Pondicherry Zoo. Pi’s earlier recollections of his childhood contradict his statement of not being prone to projecting human characteristics onto the animals. As a child, the zoo was Pi’s adventure grounds and the animals his playmates. He records his early interactions with the animals, “I may have anthropomorphized the animals till they spoke fluent English . . . I quite deliberately dressed wild animals in tame costumes of my imagination” (Martel, 34). The anthropomorphizing of animals seems to be a product of human development, the childhood exercise of imagination, creating adventures and worlds to inhabit. The tendency is to imagine the animals as playmates, equals within the boundaries of imaginative play. With maturity, the separation of animal and human world in the minds of the human species becomes pronounced as indicated by the stories in all four volumes discussed. Attitudes affect the human-animal interactions and the feelings of responsibility or kinship between our species. From the resource exploitive attitudes portrayed in Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf to the kinship displayed in The Old Man and the Sea and the Life of Pi, the evolution of ecological attitude provides insight into the future need to create a symbiotic relationship between humans and the natural world for the long term survival of all.

Eco-cultural Habitat

1. How does the human-animal interaction presented in the works illustrate societal attitudes towards the environment?

Martel’s narrator Pi, in his discussion about animal freedom and zoos, identifies the most dangerous predator found in the world’s zoos, “We commonly say in the trade that the most dangerous animal in a zoo is Man. In a general way we mean how our species’ excessive predatoriness has made the entire planet our prey” (Martel, 29). Pi’s observation as a commonly held belief introduces the reader to the final section of this discussion, the eco-cultural habitat. This section deals with the ecological attitudes of society towards the natural world.

The philosophical concept of the most dangerous predator epitomizes the justification given by Ishmael in Moby Dick and Weyden in The Sea-Wolf of the purposes of the whaling and seal hunting businesses respectively. Each of these works describes an environmentally exploitive commercial enterprise, killing animals for the benefit of human society. With the publication of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, the ecological attitude begins to shift towards creating a mutually beneficial relationship between human society and the natural world.

The ecological attitude begins to shift in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea with Santiago taking a more competitive approach in his struggle against the great fish and speaking philosophically to the fish as to a brother or companion, “You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater . . . or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who” (Hemingway, 42). The admission of Santiago of not caring who wins the struggle elevates the great fish from an obstacle or an enemy to an equal. Santiago viewed himself and the fish as equal in a relationship, illustrating a shift in attitude from Melville’s view of the whales as resources and enemies to equals within an ecosystem.

The final work in the study, Martel’s Life of Pi, continues the ecological attitudinal evolution and highlights the relationship between the main character and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The two form a symbiotic relationship and survive due to the bonds shared. Pi developed a working relationship with Richard Parker but retained a measure of fear and respect, “I was still scared of Richard Parker, but only when it was necessary. His simple presence no longer strained me” (Martel, 222).

The foundational principles for a relationship between Pi and Richard Parker arose through Pi’s childhood home, the Pondicherry Zoo, “To me, it was paradise on earth. I have nothing but the fondest memories of growing up in a zoo. I lived the life of a prince” (Martel, 14). Spending the impressionable years of childhood within a zoo created a sense of comfort when dealing with animals others would consider wild, “It was after school that I discovered in a leisurely way what it’s like to have an elephant search your clothes in the friendly hope of finding a hidden nut, or an orang-utan pick through your hair for tick snacks” (Martel, 15). For all of the freedom enjoyed by PI as a child in the zoo, his father sought to introduce Pi and his brother to the reality of working with wild animals in a zoo environment, that they are not tamed or domesticated but retain elements of the wild personality. Pi’s father created an object lesson to teach the boys to respect the animals in the zoo by using the zoo’s tiger, Richard Parker.

The description of the Pondicherry Zoo becomes a jumping-off point for a discussion of animal freedom in the wild and the living conditions of animals within the confines of the zoo. One commonly held viewpoint is that zoos are representative of prisons, denying freedom to the prisoners and negatively impacting the well being of the creature, “Being denied its ‘freedom’ for too long, the animal becomes a shadow of itself, its spirit broken” (Martel, 16). Martel’s narrator disagrees with this point and cites his own experience of living in a zoo as evidence that zoos as prison is a false notion. In fact, according to Pi, animals adapt to the zoo environment and thrive due to many of its base needs being provided, “One might even argue that if an animal could choose with intelligence, it would opt for living in a zoo, since the major difference between a zoo and the wild is the absence of parasites and enemies and the abundance of food” (Martel, 18). Within this context, human responsibility towards the animal species is blurred; do humans protect the wild environment and leave animals to fend for themselves, or do humans step in, providing some of the basic needs, allowing the animals to flourish? Delving deeper, the responsibility of humans to nature is in preservation.

The United States National Park system provides a model for creating zoos for more than animals. The goal of the National Park system is “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations” (Organic Act of 1916). As illustrated through the discussion of animal freedom and the zoo environment, a working relationship between humans and nature, with the humans feeling a sense of responsibility towards the livelihood of the natural world, creates a more productive and symbiotic bond between the two parties.

The symbiotic relationship illustrated through the interactions of Pi and Richard Parker in Martel’s work offer society a view of the possibilities when we work with nature instead of against it. Understandably, nature is wild, just as Richard Parker is still a tiger by nature, but the creation of a relationship allowed for the survival of both human and animal. One of the tasks necessary to ensure the survival of Pi and Richard Parker was for Pi to become the hunter and gatherer; Pi provided the tools necessary for survival, food and fresh water. While this role gave Pi power, it also allowed for his survival against the threat of death by tiger, “I brought him food and I brought him fresh water . . . It conferred power upon me. Proof: I remained alive day after day, week after week. Proof: he did not attack me, even when I was asleep on the tarpaulin. Proof: I am here to tell you this story” (Martel, 223). Life of Pi not only provides the philosophical basis for creating a mutually beneficial relationship with nature, but the experiences of Pi confirm the success of such a venture. The narrative provides hope for creating and succeeding in reintegrating human society into the greater Earth ecosystem.

Societal attitudes towards animals, however, remain consistent with the picture painted by the media. Dwyer commented on this phenomenon citing a New York Times article about the Bronx zoo where rather than portraying the positive contact of human and animal as espoused by one of the zookeepers, “the reporter seems more interested in noting her [the zookeeper’s] courage, while at the same time minimizing the tiger’s fierceness in her presence by likening them to domestic cats” (Dwyer, 19). The reporter’s attitude presents another example of the continuance of the human domination model over nature. The need for human dominance over the powers of nature, as illustrated by Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf, continues in mainstream society.

Dwyer calls for patience while acknowledging the struggle of change in the human condition, “the environmental critic needs to remember that the very long tradition of treating animals as slaves or lesser humans will need time to change” (Dwyer, 20). This sentiment is echoed in the final pages of Life of Pi as Pi recounts his ordeal to the representatives of the Japanese Maritime Department investigating the sinking of the cargo ship Tsimtsum. Pi relates two different stories of his ordeal at sea following the sinking of the ship with two different casts of characters, one animal and one human. He first recounts the story as presented in the narrative of the book, with animals, specifically Richard Parker, featured as the antagonist. The Japanese men do not believe this version of events and question Pi as to the reality of the tale. Pi responds with an answer that highlights the attitude of society in wanting stories to make sense with animals and humans represented as is socially acceptable, “You want a story that won’t surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won’t make you see higher or further or differently” (Martel, 302). The reader is left to wonder which version of the story is the correct version, while the Japanese representatives admit the animal version is more interesting. From an ecological perspective, the attitudes expressed by the Japanese officials mirror the societal norms and values of the human and animal relationship. Attitudes may be evolving as asserted by Dwyer but the underlying belief of human superiority over nature still exists.

1. How does scientific research inform the study of literature as represented by these works?

Analyzing these four works allows for the study of human-animal interaction and the effect of the types of interactions on the survival of the individual species. One of the tenets of ecocriticism is the combining of literature and environmental studies. One of the concepts highlighted through Martel’s Life of Pi narrative is the scientific principle of dynamic mutual adaptation. A study by Kirill Istomin, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, and Mark Dwyer, from the Institute of Pastoral and Agropastoral Studies, Haramaya University, on reindeer herding pastoralism explores the concept of dynamic mutual adaptation and highlights the symbiotic relationship of survival between the nomadic herder and the reindeer. The study shows that “by modifying their behavior to adapt to herders’ actions, the reindeer create the necessity for the herders to adapt their actions to that modified behavior, which, in turn, produces a new modification in animal behavior” (Istomin and Dwyer, 620). Moby Dick presents a story of ecological dominance and the exploitation of resources for the benefit of man against the destruction of the whale. The stories evolve to the Life of Pi with a presentation of a tale of dynamic mutual adaptation between man and tiger.

Another recent study by Michael Soule, James Estes, Joel Berger, and Carlos Martinez Del Rio, from the University of Wyoming, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, examined the link between species exit from an ecosystem and the degradation or simplification of said ecosystem. The study specifically examined the role of species interaction in ecosystems, identifying keystone and non-keystone species. A keystone species is defined as a species having strong interactions within the ecosystem. The researchers examined several ecosystems to present their case for changes in legislation. Their stated purpose is “to argue that goals embodied in laws and policies that apply to the conservation of biodiversity should include the protection of ecological interactions” (Soule, Estes, Berger, and Del Rio, 1239). Wolves were identified as a keystone species in the United States. With the removal of wolves from the ecosystem, most through the interference of humans, elk, deer, and moose have grown in number without the predation of wolves causing vegetative degradation, endangering the natural ecosystems of the areas.

Conclusion

The human species is not separate from but integrated within the ecosystem of Nature. Literature reflects this relationship, in the authors’ depictions of nature through the role of nature and the attitudes of man to nature within the subtext of the story. Ecocritical literary theory is a relatively new few of literary criticism exploring the relationship of man to nature with an ecological perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate an evolution of perspective on the natural environment as shown through the characters’ perspectives and attitudes towards the ocean. Three main areas were analyzed each comprised of specific questions addressing the interactions and attitudes of humans to nature; environmental imagination, biodiversity, and eco-cultural habitat.

Environmental imagination examined the role of the ocean in each of the stories and the general attitude of characters towards the natural environment. The role of the ocean in the story evolved from a means of transportation to take the characters to a destination to uncover desired resources, whales, as depicted in Moby Dick to a more integral part of the story as in Life of Pi where the ocean is a provider of resources necessary for the survival of Pi and Richard Parker. The ocean in each of the stories is the representation of the natural environment and its depiction expresses an attitude towards nature. The importance of this representation is one of the basic tenets of the ecocritical movement, “Ecocriticism, then, remembers the earth by rendering an account of the indebtedness of culture to nature” (Rigby, 154). As societal attitudes towards nature evolve, as represented in its works of literature, social change may occur further integrating humans into the Earth’s ecosystem.

Biodiversity examines the role of animals in each of the stories and the characters’ attitudes towards creatures from the animal kingdom. In Moby Dick and The Sea-Wolf, animals were seen as resources to be exploited for the benefit of society. Attitudes evolved with Hemingway and his protagonist’s attitude of brotherhood and kinship towards the great fish. Martel created a story centered on the necessary relationship between human and animal, their survival hinging on a symbiotic relationship with each other. Comparison of the four novels demonstrates a definite switch from an anthropomorphic attitude where humans are the center of the universe to a more biocentric attitude where humans are integrated into an ecosystem.

The eco-cultural habitat section addresses the questions of societal attitudes and scientific studies that focus on similar ecological issues as described in works of literature. Comparison of the novels, as already stated, illustrate an evolution of ideas from human-centered and dominated attitudes present in Moby Dick to biocentric, nature integrated ideas in Life of Pi. Recent scientific studies support the conclusion that the integration of humans with the Earth’s ecosystem present benefits to the species and the natural world. Istomin and Dwyer’s 2010 study on reindeer herding pastoralism explores the concept of dynamic mutual adaptation. Dynamic mutual adaptation allows for the survival of the nomadic herder and the reindeer by creating a symbiotic relationship, which modifies the behavior of each group for the mutual benefit of both. The dynamic mutual adaptive behavior described by Istomin and Dwyer corresponds with Martel’s description of the relationship formed by Pi and Richard Parker allowing for their survival at sea.

The evolution of societal attitudes towards the natural environment is illustrated through the comparison of these four works. Though not specifically written in the genre of nature writing, the authors captured the attitudes of environmentalism present in their society. Application of the ecocritical model reveals the “ecological problems” of society, rendering a description and uncovering of the societal attitudes that will either solve the problems or cause a further rift with the natural environment.

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