論文摘要
野草在唱歌是2007年諾貝爾文學獎得主萊莘的第一本處女作。背景設定在五零年代的非洲辛巴威，主要牽扯到了種族、性別以及後殖民論述等議題。隨著九零年代初期逐漸興起的生態主義，人們逐漸反省到人類與自然的關係。也延伸到關注文本中如何去刻畫、描述甚至是論述自然。此篇論文針對了野草在唱歌中，鮮少被關注到的人物和自然的關係提出探討。尤其小說中殖民主義的背景，更是突顯了西方殖民者對於殖民地自然環境的宰割與侵略。
生態主義跳脫出以閱讀文本時，人類為唯一的關注焦點，希冀在閱讀或書寫文本的同時，理解並展現人類所一直輕忽的自然環境書寫，以及人類與自然的權力關係等。
本篇論文更沿襲生態女性主義的論點，指出西方文化中的種種壓迫，比如對不同種族、女性、甚至自然環境等弱勢族群的壓迫，均源自於二元對立的思考模式。在人類/自然的二元對立關係中，人類與自然分別被賦予了不同的本質與價值，同時合法化了人類對自然的掌控與利用。此篇論文更以種族壓迫的議題，支持此生態女性主義對於西方文化中，二元對立思考模式的批評。本篇論文主要探討的是在這本小說中，人類與自然的疏離關係。因為人類/自然的二元關係，使得人類和自然是對立以及疏離的。為了要鞏固人類為中心的思考模式與統治的權利，人類否認身為自然環境中的一份子，並且刻意保持、甚至強調，人類與自然的差異性。野草在唱歌的殖民背景，更是強化此了差異性，殖民地的自然環境代表了深不可測的黑暗與恐懼。因此，殖民主義更是加深了西方殖民者，在面對殖民地時的自然環境時的疏離感。小說中，最被認為成功的殖民者---Charlie Slatter為例，他所認為的殖民地自然環境，只被視為是僅僅供他任意開發的自然資源。因為對於殖民地自然環境沒有深刻的歸屬感，使得殖民者在對待殖民地自然環境的態度上，是非常殘酷與破壞性的。
本篇論文以三個章節來探討萊莘在這本小說中所呈現的人類與自然的疏離感與歸屬感。第一章追朔並試圖理解西方文化中，人類與自然的疏離關係。第二章以書中兩位角色分別說明人類與自然的疏離感與歸屬感決定了人類與自然的關係。第三章分析主要女主角Mary，對於不論是自然亦或是不同種族的黑人，內心中最深沉的宰制慾望。萊莘強而有力的刻畫了Mary身處自然環境中所無法對自然掌控的無力感，以及Mary在最後的具有啟發性靈的幻影，可視為Mary對於人類在自然中的限制，對於人類在自然中所需要的謙卑的理解。 萊莘在小說的最後，揭示了人類對大自然宰制慾望的毀滅性。人類在試圖解決當代自然環境的危機時，也應同時在尋回和大自然之間，共存共生的緊密關係。

Abstract
The Colonizers’ Alienation from Nature in Lessing’s The Grass Is Singing
The issue of the human relation to the natural world in the colonial context of The Grass Is Singing has rarely been examined. The flowering of ecocriticism since the 1990s has highlighted the issue of the human relation to nature in literary texts. In the context of ecocriticism, Lessing’s first novel, The Grass Is Singing shows that the colonial power has a great influence on the human relationship with nature. The western colonizers could hardly have a deep attachment to the colonized natural environment. Their lack of a sense of belonging results in the careless exploitation and destruction of the natural world. In this paper, I aim to examine the human relationship with the natural world in The Grass Is Singing. Due to colonialism, the sense of alienation from the natural world of the western colonizers is intensified. The western colonizers do not feel like a part of the colonized natural world. I attempt to search for the cause of the western alienation from the natural world and to examine these characters’ relationship with nature in this novel. In this paper, I mainly adopt the viewpoint of ecofeminism. Ecofeminism maintains that the dualistic conception of the world justifies various oppressions in western culture. The westerners’ domination over other races and the natural world is derived from the same logic of dualism. The anthropocentrism and Eurocentrism of the white colonizers distinguish the colonized people and the natural world as the inferior other. These dualistic concepts legitimize the careless exploitation of the colonized people and the natural environment. In the first chapter, I mainly investigate the causes of the western alienation from the natural world. In Chapter Two, I focus on two of the main characters’ relationship with nature, especially their contrasting attitudes towards the colonized land. Chapter Three deals with Mary’s frustration from her strong will of domination over the natural world and her final vision about the power of nature. Through these discussions of human alienation from the natural world, I want to explore the possibility of re-constructing the human relationship with nature.

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