Anti-Anthropocentrism: Ecological and Artistic Implications of Birds inThomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess of the d’Urbervilles
- February 19, 2021
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: IJRSI, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VIII, Issue I, January 2021 | ISSN 2321–2705
Eric Ngea Ntam, PhD
Department of Bilingual Letters, Faculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, University of Maroua
Abstract:- When Hardy declared insects, dogs, and birds as God’s humble creatures and his guests in his poem, “An August Midnight”, his aim was certainly to dissuade human beings from indiscriminately destroying the creatures; for they are ecological beings just as humans and equally serve as an imaginative influence. From Thomas J. Lyon’s ecocritical discourse explicated in “A Taxonomy of Nature Writing,” this paper views birds in the two novels not as mere symbols, as many critics have considered them, but as beings through which the feelings and conditions of characters, events, as well as the setting are juxtaposed to portrayan interwoven connection between the entire ecosystem. The paper asserts that apart from belonging to the Great Chain of Being as humans, birds are endowed with perceptive skills from which Thomas Hardy draws inspiration for his narrative. In other words, birds are viewed in both novels to reveal the beauty of arts; such beauty which is embellished with and identifiable in the physical environment as well as Hardy’s creative and linguistic expression.
Key Words: anthropocentrism, artistic implication, ecology, imaginative influence
Introduction
Thomas Hardy’s interest in nature, animals and birds has attracted a lot of attention. As one whose altruism was geared towards safeguarding humanity and natural beings alike (Pinion, 8,Schweik, 62-3, and Tomalin, 376), Hardy’s love for birds influenced him to capture many of them in his novels. In her MA Dissertation entitled “Bird Imagery in Hardy’s Novels,” Sharon C. Gerson looks bird in the novels from three perspectives, showing how they portray human character, reveal the relationship between humankind and nature, and how a human being can be trapped because he has no free will (12).Gerson underlines that her study is
