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Chapter Four The Ecological Interpretation of The Maine Woods

Thoreau passed away more than 150 years ago. But he left behind a great deal of spiritual legacy. Thoreau’s reverence for life in the nature and his unique view towards the relationship between man and nature makes his natural ecological thoughts very significant and meaningful in the noisy world which is full of ecological environmental problems.In the twenty-first century, people are accelerating to pillage the nature. Thus the ecological crisis which was predicted by Thoreau about 150 years ago is getting more serious. Humans seem to be lost in the process of industrialization. The Maine Woods contains most of Thoreau’s ecological ideas which can help people find the right direction. As man is always part of nature, returning to nature is the proper way to communicate with our Mother Nature. If the harmonious relationship can be rebuilt by man, the natural beauty and peace will be back to the nature and the society again. Then our generations will benefit from this.Thoreau’s works embody the thinking of the relationship between man and nature. In The Maine Woods, Thoreau elaborated on the relationship between man and nature, and man and spirit in The Maine Woods, expressing the thought of the relationship between man and nature and the ecological transcendentalist outlook.As a result, it is applicable to use the theories of ecocriticism to interpretate the The Maine Woods.
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Conclusion

In the twenty-first century which is full of enterprising people, Thoreau’s The Maine Woods obviously has realistic significance. In the last few years, people generally regard the career success as a ruler to measure the values of one’s life. And with the social growth, people hold the materialism as their core value in modern time. So it causes main ecological crisis worldwide which threaten all the living things. This has taught us a lesson. Thoreau and his natural works seem to be destined immortal in the literature history. With the rising of ecological crisis, the significance of Thoreau’s study is more practical and more necessary for us nowadays.As the new field of literary criticism, ecocriticism holds the belief that man is part of nature, all the creatures are born equal, and this is opposite to the views that anthropocentrism holds. From the perspective of ecocriticism, this thesis makes an analysis on Thoreau’s ecological thoughts in The Maine Woods. Thoreau really pursues the essence of life, and he considers the harmonious relationship in coexisting way. Here for Thoreau, The Maine Woods is the symbol of the whole nature, because he takes the nature as the holistic one. Everyone who is living in nature is equal to each other and should live in harmony with each other. Only humans are close to nature, can people recognize themselves both in mental and physical to reach the self-reliance eventually. All the living beings can exist with their inherent value in such a diversity nature. So Thoreau insists that the plants, animals, rivers and others, they are all as equal as our human beings. In addition, T