English Studies | Journals | Books and Articles

The IUP Journal of English Studies

An Ecocritical Analysis of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

Article Details

Pub. Date	: Sep, 2022
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES060922
Author Name	: Madhu Murthy K
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 07

Price

Download

Abstract

Ecocriticism, as a literary theory, has gained prominence since the last decade of the twentieth century. It is a direct offspring of the movements that started to protect the environment from pollution and indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources. Ecocriticism mainly focuses on exploring human-nature relationship and its portrayal in literature. Glotfelty (1996) defines ecocriticism as "the study of relationship between literature and physical environment." Initially, the term ecocritical study was applied to the works of British Romantics and American nature writers. Later, it has become a multidisciplinary approach. In this paper, ecocritical analysis is used to evaluate Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926. The novel mainly deals with the sterile life of American expatriates in France, who had lost faith in all values of life due to the World War I. The protagonist of the novel, Jake Barnes is wounded in the war and is unable to consummate his love. So, he proceeds to the lap of nature in Spain for rejuvenating himself. Through the novel, Hemingway contrasts life in France and Spain to bring out the role of nature in making his protagonist recuperate physically, psychologically and emotionally, which are the main attributes of ecocriticism.

Introduction

Ecocriticism, as a literary theory, has gained prominence since the last decade of the twentieth century. The capital technology, which has its origin in the Industrial Revolution that began in Europe during mid-nineteenth century, was able to put its stranglehold on the entire world gradually for the next hundred years. It was followed by Communication Revolution, which has transformed the world into a global village, thereby taking capital technology to every nook and corner. Eventually, this has resulted in environmental pollution, threatening the very existence life on the earth. For a very long time, literature has been alive to this irrevocable damage, sending warning signals to the tech-driven world, about the mass destruction our planet will be subjected to in the future. In fact, ecocriticism is an outcome of the rapacious nature of human beings against Nature, caused by their indiscriminate exploitation of its natural resource. It is also known