ECO-CRITICISM
Ecocriticism
is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of
view where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm
possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental
situation. Ecocriticism was officially heralded by the publication of two
seminal works, both published in the mid-1990s: The Ecocriticism Reader, edited
by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm, and The Environmental Imagination, by
Lawrence Buell.
Ecocriticism
is the study of representations of nature in literary works and of the
relationship between literature and the environment.
Ecocriticism
as an academic discipline began in earnest in the 1990s, although its roots go
back to the late 1970s. Because it is a new area of study, scholars are still
engaged in defining the scope and aims of the subject. Cheryll Glotfelty, one
of the pioneers in the field, has defined ecocriticism as “the study of the
relationship between literature and the physical environment,” and Laurence
Buell says that this study must be “conducted in a spirit of commitment to
environmentalist praxis.” David Mazel declares it is the analysis of literature
“as though nature mattered.” This study, it is argued, cannot be performed
without a keen understanding of the environmental crises of modern times and
thus must inform personal and political actions; it is, in a sense, a form of
activism. Many critics also emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the
enquiry, which is informed by ecological science, politics, ethics, women's
studies, Native American studies, and history, among other academic fields. The
term “ecocriticism” was coined in 1978 by William Rueckert in his essay
“Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism.” Interest in the study
of nature writing and with reading literature with a focus on “green” issues
grew through the 1980s, and by the early 1990s ecocriticism had emerged as a
recognizable discipline within literature departments of American universities.
While
ecocritics study literature written throughout history and analyze its
relationship to the environment, most scholarship has focused on American and
British literature from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The nineteenth
century especially saw a number of developments in literature that ecocritics
view as significant.
SYNOPSIS
Carson’s
first chapter is where she derives the title of her book. She describes a
community, in which all the elements of the natural world, including humans,
work together, where people are able to enjoy the sound of birds and the growth
of spring. Suddenly, chemical poisons are introduced and spring is silenced.
There are no more birds to sing in spring. She ends the chapter on the note
that this description is constructed out of a composite of many different
cities and that it is the inevitable result of the irresponsible use of
chemical poisons for insect control.
Carson’s
second chapter begins the book’s goal of informing the reader of the nature of
chemical poisons and how they affect the process of the world.
In chapter 3,
Carson describes in detail all the different kinds of chemical poisons;
especially those used as insecticides. She explains how these poisons affect
animals and birds by depositing themselves in fatty tissues where they are
magnified. People and animals are poisoned over a long period of time. Poison
passes through the food chain. All kinds of diseases ensue: liver disease,
hepatitis, cancer and among others. Death is a common result.
In chapter 4,
Carson begins a systematic examination of all the elements of the environment
so as to show the reader how each element is affected by insecticides. She
begins in chapter 4 with water, explaining how water pollution happens from the
use of insecticides on the earth. Chemicals are washed into bodies of water and
they even seep into ground water--the source of public water supplies. Once in
the water, chemicals combine with other chemicals that have also been washed
into the water. No one knows the likely results of the combination of chemicals
or the natural chemical changes that happen to any chemical when it is released
into the world.
Chapter 5 describes the soil. It describes how soil is made out
of the bodies of living creatures and how multiple living creatures live in the
earth, creating new earth every day. Insecticides kill this multitudinous life
and insecticides remain in the soil for years after their use.
Chapter 6
describes plants as weed killers affect them. Carson documents the huge bird
kills caused by weed killers. Weeds are killed by utility companies so they can
run their lines and by highway departments to keep the highways clear. It’s
very possible to kill unwanted plants in more responsible ways, ways that don’t
threaten the ecosystem of the area.
Chapter 7
begins a new section of the book on the affects of massive spraying campaigns.
It is called "Needless Havoc" and describes the massive spraying
operations, their ineffectiveness in killing target insects, and the horrible
record of the massive killing of non-targeted birds and animals. One campaign
against the Japanese beetle in the Midwest ignored the fact that the eastern
states had successfully controlled the beetle with natural enemies of the
beetle. In the Midwest, massive spraying occurred, killing huge numbers of
wildlife: birds and animals. Carson notes that there is very little funding for
natural controls of insects.
Chapter 8 is devoted to the fact that birds are
killed en mass with any spray operation since birds eat insects and worms. She
focuses on the fight against Dutch elm disease with DDT. Birds were killed in
massive numbers and the DDT didn’t stop Dutch elm disease for any significant
period of time. Alternative solutions would have been simple and cheaper.
Chapter 9 is devoted to the massive killing of salmon when forestry officials
wanted to kill the spruce budworm that was threatening forests. All river life
was affected. Even the salmon that weren’t killed were affected since their
food was killed. Alternatives would have controlled the spruce budworm more
effectively: natural parasites of the insect could have been introduced and
natural diseases of the insect could have been introduced.
Chapter 10 describes
the campaign against the gypsy moth with massive spraying from airplanes of
insecticides. Authorities even included cities, even though the gypsy moth is a
forest dweller. People were sprayed as they went about their lives innocent of
what was happening to them. Dairy farms and vegetable farms were wiped out,
their produce rendered unfit for human consumption.
Chapter 11 extends the
problem of massive uses of insecticides to individual use of them. Every person
on earth has some DDT residue in his or her body. Insecticides contaminate
everyone.
Chapter 12
introduces another section of the book, that which deals with the affects of
chemical poisons on the human body. Chapter 12 informs the reader of the
make-up of the human body--its ecology, as Carson terms it, which is upset over
a period of time of repeated poisonings.
Chapter 13 describes the cells are the
focus of this chapter. Through radiation and chemical poisoning, the natural process
of cell oxidation is damaged and cells become cancerous. Scientists have also
traced mutations to this kind of damage, including Down’s Syndrome.
Chapter 14
is devoted to the research linking cancer and insecticide poisoning.
Chapter 15
begins the last section of the book, that devoted to a careful description of
insects, especially as they are so quick to develop resistance to insecticides.
Carson explains that nature already has insect controls in place. Scientists
should work with these natural controls to deal with pest insects. Only two per
cent of entomologists are in this line of research.
Chapter 16 describes the
dangers of insects developing resistance to insecticides. Because insecticides
don’t just kill the target insect, but also its natural predator, when the
target insect develops a resistance and returns, it has no natural check on its
growth. This problem becomes most serious with disease-carrying insects.
Carson ends
on a conclusion chapter which is devoted to the description of alternative
methods of insect control. To control insects, we can introduce their natural
enemies, introduce their natural diseases, and introduce parasites that will
kill them. We can also sterilize them. Carson describes several campaigns in
which these methods have worked rapidly, safely, and cheaply.
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