The Depiction of The Exploitation of Nature through Literature: A Case Study of Margaret Atwood’s surfacing

Abstract

During the last few decades the nature has undergone various kinds of threats and issues as a result of the excessive human interventions. Ecocriticism is concerned with the relationship between the environment and human beings and it also describes how the connection between man and nature is depicted in literature. Ecocriticism helps to protect the rights of nature and also promotes a better understanding of nature and its problems. Ecocriticism has a significant role in literature because it aims to present how the writers concern about the environmental crisis through their writings. Literature tries to generate a positive approach towards the environment and to build a society with strong environmental attitudes. The relationship between literature and nature has been radiated through various writers and their writings. Many writers discuss the connections between man and nature through literature. The development and the industrialization pave the way to change the attitude of man towards nature. This paper is an attempt to analyse the relationship between the nature issues and the literature through the eyes of Margaret Atwood’s novel Surfacing. This novel points out the human interaction with nature and presents the nature which is exploited and oppressed by the modern society.