Moby Dick was first published in 1851. Although it is known as one of the greatest American novels today, people did not comprehend the writing strategy and writing style in the Melville’s age. The book was an epic sea-story, detailed describing the whale species and narrating the voyage adventure on the ship Pequod by a wandering sailor Ishmael. On this ship, Ahab was the captain. Gradually, Ishmael learned that the purpose of this voyage only had one, which was to help Captain Ahab to hunt a white whale called Moby Dick. During the previous whaling voyage of Ahab, it bit off his leg at the knee. Actually, it was a journey for revenge. Ahab was so crazy to chase all the white whale. With the help of the careful calculation and remorseless chasing, finally, they encountered the white whale and had a massively fight with it. At the end of the story, they all died on the ocean except Ishmael. 

1.2 William Cuthbert Faulkner and The Bear

William Faulkner was born in 1897 and died in 1962. He was one of the most influential and controversial American authors in the 20th century. Faulkner wrote novels, short stories, and screenplays. He made his mark by his novels and short stories set in the fictional “Yoknapatawpha County”.

In his school’s study, William Faulkner was excellent, but he dropped out of high school when he was 15 years old. He liked to listen to stories which were told by elders, including the stories about the war and his great-grandfather. He was so interested in the history of Mississippi that he learned it on his own time.

From the early 1920s to the outbreak of World War II, Faulkner published 13 novels and many short stories. In 1950, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of fifty- two for “his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel”. Faulkner’s most celebrated novels including The Sound and the Fury (1929), As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936).

The Bear is a story about hunting. It told a story about the growth of the protagonist young Isaac McCaslin in the shooting. Under the tutelage of his part-Indian spiritual mentor Sam Fathers, Isaac killed his first buck, was anointed in its blood, became a qualified hunter, and saw the bear, Old Ben. During the ritual of bear hunting, Isaac understood the truth of nature, which helped him see the sins of his ancestors. Time went by, more and more people wanted to shoot the bear. With the help of the dog Lion, hunters shot the bear together. At the same time, Sam was hurt without warning and died several days later. At the end of the story, the forest had been sold.

1.3 The Research Method and Structure of This Thesis

Ecology includes three aspects: natural ecology, social ecology and spiritual ecology (Lu Shuyuan, 2006). From the perspective of ecocriticism, this thesis will compare Moby Dick and The Bear from three kinds of relationship: nature and human, a person and others, and human and self. 

Both Moby Dick and The Bear were hunting novels, and Melville and Faulkner also narrated similar pairs of protagonists, Ahab and Moby Dick, and Isaac and Old Ben. Moby Dick and Old Ben were representatives of nature. Their stories reflected the different relationship between human and nature. In addition, the authors also described the relationship between the main characters and their companions, such as the crews and Sam, demonstrating the social ecology. Similarly, the two protagonists also experienced their own spiritual journey during the hunting. 

Although these two books had many similarities, their heroes had different ecological ideas and attitudes towards nature, fellows and self, which caused different fates and endings. Through the comparison between the relationship between men and nature, men and men, men and self, it implies the importance of establishing a friendly relation with nature. 

There are six chapters in this thesis. Chapter one is the introduction part, in which a brief introduction of these two books is made; besides this part also presents the research method, the value and the outline of this thesis. Chapter two introduces the development of ecocriticism in America, including the main idea, the previous and relative researches at home and abroad, and the significance of the comparison between two books from the perspective of ecocriticism. Chapter three concentrates on the analysis of the different attitudes Ahab and Isaac hold towards nature. Chapter four analyzes the different interpersonal relationship reflected in these two books. Chapter five studies the relation between human and self. The last chapter is the conclusion. It summarizes the main points this thesis has discussed and brings out the implications of the studies. 生态批评视角下《白鲸》与《熊》的比较研究(3):http://www.chuibin.com/yingyu/lunwen_206561.html