外语毕业论文-秘密花园

1、从秘密花园看伯内特的生态意识摘要：自工业革命以来，物质文明得到极速发展，但随之而来的环境问题也越来越严重。特别在当今社会，环境问题已成为一个威胁人类生存发展的重大问题，迫切需要得到解决。在这种社会背景下，文学领域也掀起了一场生态批评之风。在英语儿童文学里，秘密花园是公认的无年龄界限的精品，也是一部打通雅俗之间界限的文学作品，既入严肃文学的殿堂，也是流行市场的赢家。在英国它被收入牛津世界经典丛书。论文旨在从生态批评的角度来研究弗朗西斯霍奇森伯内特在秘密花园中对自然的描写及该作品中所包含的生态意识。论文首先对生态批评的理论作出概述，随后对文本作具体的分析来探索伯内特对人与自然的关系的看法。关键词：

2、秘密花园；生态意识；人与自然的关系revelation of frances hodgson burnettseco-consciousness in the secret gardenabstractthe central task of this paper is to explore how nature is described by frances hodgson burnet and what her ecological attitude toward nature contains in her workthe secret garden. through this study

3、, we hope to gain a view of burnetts eco-consciousness from an eco-critical perspective and a better understanding of burnett who concerns more about the harmony, mutual benefit and equality between man and nature rather than mans mastery over other forms of life. it begins with a primary study of t

4、he eco-critical theory and then turns to the analysis of several representative characters to reveal the ecological theme in this novel. the literary analyses of this paper all centers on the relationship between man and nature.key words: the secret garden; eco-consciousness; relationship between ma

5、n and natureacknowledgementsfirst and foremost, i wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, lecturer wu ling. without his guidance, support and encouragement throughout the process, this thesis would never have become a reality. then i would like to thank all the teachers of english dep

6、artment at sichuan international studies university (sisu). their instructions and guidance have made my four years at this university a truly rewarding experience. my special gratitude also goes to my classmates for their care in my life and for their insightful ideas in my learning. last but not t

7、he least, i would also like to sincerely thank my parents and grandparents for getting me here and keeping me going all the years.contents中文摘要.iabstract.iiacknowledgements.iiiintroduction.1i. a brief introduction to eco-criticism3a. ecology3b. eco-criticism.4c. the significance of eco-criticism in l

8、iterary criticism.4ii. eco-criticism and burnetts the secret garden.6a. burnetts emotional ties with nature.6b. nature in the secret garden6c. eco-consciousness in the secret garden.71. the relationship between man and nature.72. anthropocentric consciousness and eco-centrism.12conclusion.15 notes.1

9、7bibliography.20revelation of frances hodgson burnetts eco-consciousness in the secret gardenintroductionsince being first published in the us in 1911, the secret garden by frances hodgson burnett has been a great sensation. the popular novel has not only drawn much attention from the readers and cr

10、itics, but also has been used as teaching material in primary greads and high schools. although it is a childrens work, the secret garden has attracted a large amount of adult readers. it is not only a simple work for children, but a volume of worlds classic published by oxford university press. the

11、refore, the prominence of this book arouses my interest to explore this work. this work of frances hodgson burnett has been interpreted from a wide variety of critical perspectives. among these explorations, there are some papers that focus mainly on the relationship between man and nature. these pa

12、pers reveal the theme vividly and originally. however, these authors do not apply the theory of eco-criticism to their papers, thus revealing the theme to be incomplete. they revealed only the mutual benefit relationship between man and nature. actually, burnetts eco-consciousness contains far more

13、than that, for it also covers mutuality, harmony and equality. therefore it is necessary for us to explore burnetts eco-consciousness from a new literary critical perspectiveeco-criticism, which is particularly suitable for literary criticism in the context of globally environmental deterioration an

14、d establishing our harmonious society. therefore, the main task of this paper is to explore burnetts eco-consciousness, which is of great significance in view of the current environmental situation and human beings future, deeply and completely, from a new perspectiveeco-criticism.this thesis is div

15、ided into four parts. the first part is an introduction which states the purpose, main task of this paper, and the structure of this paper. in the second part, the author generally explains the literary theory of eco-criticism on which the study is based. in the third part, the paper reveals the rel

16、ationship between man and nature in this novel in order to gain a better understanding of burnetts eco-consciousness. her thoughts of the mutuality and equality between man and nature illustrate what modern environmental movements suggest and support. finally, the conclusion gives a summary of this

17、thesis. a brief introduction to eco-criticism a. ecology the ecological concept dates back to the romanticism era in the 18th or the 19th century, in which keats, byron, and shelly were the outstanding representatives. they were active and tried very hard to have their ecological concept accepted. t

18、hey proposed that the world is an organic body, and called on people to liberate nature and themselves from existing oppression and persecution, dreaming of a life circle in which nature and people live in harmony. 1in fact, ecology originated from the environmental protection movement, which was la

19、unched long ago, as seen by the trees embrace movement in india s mountainous areas of the seventies of the 20th century, and in the forest movement by brazilian rubber collectors, or in the kenyan womens trees plantation movement. however, ecology is different from environmentalism, which attempts

20、to change the relationships between human and nature, as well as relevant political policy.2 “ecology emerged in the late 20th century as one of the most important aspects of biology.”3 the word ecology was invented by a german zoologist, ernst haeckel, who defined it as “the comprehensive science o

21、f the relationship of the organism to the environment.” 4the base for modern ecology was laid from the following the natural history of greece, the early work of plant and animal physiologists, botanists, etc. ecology, related to the environment, provides the scientific frame-work upon which conserv

22、ation programs or pollution monitoring schemes can be set up. generally-speaking, ecology scholars divide ecology into two types: deep ecology and shallow ecology. deep ecology was first presented in 1973 by the philosopher arne naess from norway. the main difference of the two types is their differ

23、ent primary concerns. shallow ecology addresses anthropocentrism, which is a human-centered world outlook, while deep ecology pays more attention to biology or ecology, recognizing that nature has value apart from its usefulness to humans, that is of eco-centrism.5 b. eco-criticismin the nineties of

24、 the 20th century, eco-criticism was applied to analyzing literature in america. in the middle of the 20th century, serious ecological crises broke out both in nature and human societies. these crises made people think about the western culture. under these circumstances, eco-criticism grew. it begi

25、ns with nature as the starting point, and brings literary criticism to the natural perspective. with eco-centrism theories, eco-criticism aims to explore the relationship between literature and environment, as feminism-criticism aims to explore the relationship between language and literature, with

26、gender-consciousness, and marxism-criticism introduces the consciousness of production, economy and classes to literary research.6 eco-criticism refers to how nature is described and treated, as well as the theme of this work whether contains eco-consciousness and the status of people in the nature.

27、7 the mainstream of eco-criticism is in america. here, eco-criticism has experienced three stages. the first stage explains how nature and environment should be treated as expressed in literature; with the second stage, further research is made in literary development, achievements, strategies and s

28、o on, thus natural factors long ignored are given special attention ; in the third stage, scholars try to construct ecological thought for systematic promotion of relative theories.8 c. the significance of eco-criticism in literary criticismeco-criticism can be used as the basis for a particular lit

29、erary research, from the perspective of the essence of the life and the earth, which supports all human beings. it connects literary research with a human beings survival on the earth and is different from the various kinds of literary criticism, which only focus on human beings. the eco-criticism s

30、trengthens literary study, as it brings vigor to english teaching research, and enhances the environmental protection movement by the force and influence of literature. 9 in a word, eco-criticism is of great literary value. therefore, it is necessary and meaningful to study the famous american child

31、rens work, the secret garden, from the eco-critical perspective. eco-criticism and burnetts the secret gardena. burnetts emotional ties with naturetrances burnett (nov24, 1849oct 29, 1924) was born in england. she immigrated with her family to the state of tennessee, usa in 1865, and became an ameri

32、can in 1905. since the age of 18, she had published stories in magazines to earn money to help support the family. her first best-seller was that lass os lowries published when she was 28, with much of the materials from her life in english coalmines. however, it was her works for children that made

33、 her well-known. the secret garden, first published in 1911, made burnett undoubtedly one of the most important writers of the century.10burnett liked plants from childhood and was engaged in gardening after her divorce. there were several gardens with fences around her house in britain, one of whic

34、h was her outdoor study place, in which she wrote every day. in 1909, when she was decorating her garden at her home in long island, she was inspired to write the secret garden. we can not deny the connection between her work and the authors emotional ties with nature. thus, this paper focuses on ex

35、ploring the authors eco-consciousness in the secret garden.b. nature in the secret gardenthe description of landscapes is vividly shown as if they were beautiful paintings and cheerful songs. actually, the author has a passion for the natural world, including plants and animals. nature is the theme

36、in this novel. the author draws a wonderful painting of the moor, which is covered with growing things, as smellings sweet. particularly, in spring and summer when the gorse, the broom and the heather are in flower, with a lot of fresh air and cool blue sky, the moor is a paradise for insects, anima

37、ls, and children. how beautiful it is! “i wouldnt live away from the moor for anything.”11 another fascinating painting drawn by burnett is the secret garden. “it was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine.”12 the garden is full of vigor, with trees swinging sprays and litt

38、le creeping leaves. here and there are touches or splashes of gold and purple and white and the trees are showing pink and snow as the plum-tree is snow-white with blossoms attracting bees and cherry-trees whose buds were pink. all of this awakens the readers affection toward the nature, and reflect

39、 the authors emotional ties with the nature. she leads the readers to the scenery, and in this way tries to awaken peoples eco-consciousness. in her eyes, all species have equal rights. the landscape is a background where characters are living and working. at the same time, it represents mans spirit

40、. in her novel, people find not only numerous descriptions of nature, but also of many characters who are as simple as nature itself. c. eco-consciousness in the secret garden1. the relationship between man and naturein the secret garden, the natural world has the function of enhancing life. burnett

41、 goes further than this, by suggesting that closeness to the natural world can promote physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health. we can explore it by the relationship between man and nature in the novel. throughout the secret garden, both climate and landscape are presented as having

42、 a critical influence upon ones health and well-being. in other words, one can only be truly healthy by being in harmony with ones environment. when mary arrives in misselthwaite, she is like the secret garden neglected for ten years with a death-like appearance, but possessing the potential and the

43、 ability to recover in a suitable environment. “her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in india and had always been ill in one way or another.”13 in india she was always too hot and languid and weak to care much about anything.14 “in india skies were hot and blazing”1

44、5, so she does not do any outdoor activities. at that period of time, she was ill, bad-tempered, and selfish. no one liked her and really cared about her, nor did she then. “when she was a sickly, fretful, ugly little baby she was kept out of the way, and when she became a sickly, fretful, toddling

45、thing she was kept out of the way also.”16 “by the time she was six years old she was as tyrannical and selfish a little pig as ever lived.”17 she was a little girl “no one was fond of”.18 she was on the opposite side of the environment that surrounded her. by contrast with the sickness and listless

46、ness in india, misselthwaite in fact is full of health and life, which are best reflected in the friendly sowerby family. marys obedient native ayah, her servant, is replaced by the frank, lively, and loving but firm martha. the cold fresh air on the moor replaces the unhealthy heat and dampness of

47、india, and soon mary begins to be engaged in good english pastimes like skipping rope and gardening and eating food showing a good appetite. so, by a series of subtle and convincing steps, the abandoned and anti-social mary gradually adapt to the new environment and benefits from a harmonious natura

48、l environment. “she was stirring her slow blood and making herself stronger by fighting with the wind which swept down from the moor.”19 “but after a few days spent almost entirely out of doors, she wakened one morning knowing what is was to be hungry, and when she sat down to her breakfast she did

49、not glance disdainfully at her porridge and push it away, but took up her spoon and began to eat it and went on eating it until her bowl was empty.”20first of all marys outdoor time in misselthwaite brings vigor to her. at first, mary spends each day like the others: she awakens, eats breakfast, and

50、 then stares at the moor out of the window. she eventually realizes that she must go out, or she will do nothing. “she did not know that this was the best thing she could have done. she did not know that when she began to walk quickly or even run along the paths and down the avenue, she was stirring

51、 her slow blood and making herself stronger by fighting with the wind which swept down from the moor.”21 her time out of doors begins to cause a change in her: she slowly begins to grow stronger and healthier. “she had run in the wind until her blood had grown warm; she had been healthily hungry for

52、 the first time in her life.”22marys imagination, which had been inactive during her time in india, is awakened by her exploration of the manor and her search for the secret garden in the cool fresh air. the moors influence began to change mary: she becomes more and more interested in the world arou

53、nd her, especially the secret garden that had been ordered locked. for ten years nobody had entered it, except the robin, a lovely red breasted bird. “this gave her so much to think of that she began to be quite interested and feel that she was not sorry that she had come to misselthwaite manor. the

54、 fact was that the fresh wind from the moor had begun to blow the cobwebs out of her young brain and to waken her up a little.”23a wild creature also awakens her imagination. when the robin sings in order to make friends with mary, she is deeply moved, since she has no friends in the world. “even a

55、disagreeable little girl may be lonely.”24 the friendliness of the robin helps mary recognize that she is lonely and alleviates her loneliness. marys feeling is awakened by a wild creature, the robin“not at all like birds in india”.with her health, imagination and character improved, mary more and m

56、ore takes interest in the new land, in the girl and her beneficial surroundings are in great harmony and mutuality.where there is harmony, there is mutual benefit. in the novel, human beings and nature are presented as being in a direct mutual beneficial relationship. on the other hand, man with car

57、e can make natural surroundings more lively and beautiful, seen when mary searches for and finds the secret garden that is gray and full of dead branches and leaves. however, mary still believes that no matter how lifeless something appears, the presence of life will allow it to grow into something beautiful. all it needs is the care to help it to grow. with this hope, mary with dickon begins to look after the secret garden and makes its beauty and vigor return