“Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment”(Glotfelty 1996).   At its most basic level, ecocriticism is the intersection of literature, culture and the environment.  It asks us to examine ourselves and consider the ways in which we interact with the world around us (Brizee 2015).  Ecocriticism examines literature through an ecological lens the same way contemporary feminists such as Anita Sarkeesian examine video games and movies through a feminist lens. Just as Sarkeesian examines how women are portrayed in various forms of pop culture, the focus for ecocritics “is the way that wilderness is represented in literature and popular culture” (Brizee 2015). 

Due to the emerging environmental crisis, Ecocriticism gained popularity in the 80s and 90s.  Scholars believed it was the duty of the humanities and the natural sciences to raise awareness for this cause in order to invent solutions (Brizee 2015).  Beginning as the study of literature about nature, it focused on the works of authors such as Henry David Thoreau, who wrote about the wilderness and the beauty of nature. It was more of a celebration of nature than the more activist approach to ecocriticism we see today. The current wave of ecocriticism is less concerned with the sublimity of nature, and more interested in “breaking down of some of the long-standing distinctions between the human and the non-human”(Brizee 2015). This wave also questions the idea that humans live separate from nature and includes urban areas as part of nature. The more activist approach also examines issues of race, class, gender and ecojustice, which concerns the plight of the poor and the other usual victims of pollution. (Brizee 2015).

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood embodies this new approach in every way. Set in a world decimated by climate change, the dystopian novel also explores issues such as sexploitation, corporate greed and the detrimental way we use nature as an everlasting resource for human consumption. It illustrates the disharmonious relationship between humans and nature and warns of the dangers of unhindered technology and aspiration (Bhalla 2014). Atwood also examines ecojustice issues such as the societal inequalities that disproportionately expose the poor and unprivileged to pollution and disease.

Works cited

1. Bhalla, Ambika, Bhangu, J.P.K. and Singh, Manmohan. “Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake: An Ecocritical Approach” International Journal of Research, November 2014, edupediapublications.org
2. Brizee, Allen et al. “Ecocriticism (1960-present)” Purdue Online Writing Lab, Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2015,  https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/13/
3. Glotfelty, Cheryll and Fromm, Harold. “The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology”, 1996

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, galvanism is a term used to refer to the electric current which is produced as a result of chemical action. Galvanism is a phenomenon that occurs where there is connection between current or a conductor of electricity with another substance. As the interaction between a conducting medium with a source capable of producing current electricity is possible, we also see that the reaction of living thing based on the contact with an external source generates movement in an animal especially in a state of death. For instance according to the theory propounded by “Galvani” who was the first person to discover this phenomenon when he experimented on a dead frog, he discovered a movement in the body of the dead frog when there was a lightning outside the laboratory (Christian et al., 2009).

Galvanism is however linked with electricity and magnetism in that there are fields that surrounds these phenomenon which serves as a medium through which they generates the needed reaction (Houston, 1905). Fishes in the ocean are able to thrive because all that is needed is supplied them through the environment created for them in water. Oxygen and other needed gases are circulated because of the conducive environment in water. In the same way, the phenomenon of galvanism requires a certain field that supports the movement which is made possible via chemical action. We often hear of galvanized iron used in the roofing of houses. This is to achieve the possibility of protecting the surface of the iron due to contact with moisture and other atmospheric substances that are corrosive in nature (Benjamin, 1988). There can only be one thing responsible for this process of galvanism which is the chemical reaction that is taking place from time to time between substances either through direct or induced (indirect) contact.

The good example of where the term “galvanism” is used in literature is in the book titled “Frankentein”, the 1818 edition by Mary Shelley. In the book though fictitious, the process of galvanism was used by Victor to reanimate a female version of the monster, the process which he did not complete (Frankeistein; pp. 202, see chap. 20).  We can see the relationship between the work of Victor in creating a monster to galvanism in this statement, “I sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and the moon was just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient light from my employment.” The work of Victor depended on the light from outside to the creation of the monster inside the laboratory. This supports the definition that, “galvanism is a reaction that takes place when there is a spark of current in contact with such substances though might not be direct contact according Galvani in the eighteenth century”

REFERENCES

Cajavilca, Christian, Joseph Varon, and George L. Sternbach­. “Luigi Galvani and the Foundations of Electrophysiology.” Resuscitation, vol. 80, no. 2, 2009., pp. 159-162doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2008.09.020.

Edwin James Houston, “Electricity in Everyday Life”, Chapter XXII. P. F. Collier & Son, 1905.

“Galvanism.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 May 2018.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Frankenstein: the 1818 Text. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

Technological advancement has a link with the countries that are dominated by the effect of globalization knowing fully well the implications it has on the skilled and unskilled labor intensive of these countries’ trade and commerce (Cline 1997).  For example in some countries that are well versed with the trend in new technological discoveries within the last few decades, we see the way businesses are being transacted as a result of the global market conducive for their businesses to thrive. Some countries prefer to import goods from other countries as a result of their global market quite favorable due to the effect it has on their own economic systems and policies e.g. clothes manufactured in China are imported by the United States to share trade or business agreement with them in the long-run. In order to control and regulate trading and to ensure security of the economy, some countries are making effort to avoid the threats of globalized economy for instance the United States of America (Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Annual Report 2010). In some countries especially in Africa being low income countries, it becomes imperative for many of them to sign memorandum of understanding or bilateral trade agreement with other European countries or Asian countries that will foster their own economy. This will also be effective in allowing free flow of people from these low income African countries to serve as labor force in these other large economy. In a nutshell globalization offers ease of trade between low incomes, middle income and high income economy in that procedures which encourages trade are put in place by these stakeholders.

We cannot but say that while the advantages of globalization are numerous, its disadvantages are also within the reach of people. The advantages are that it improves the efficiency of the global economy through the availability of advanced technology and the presence of human and capital resources (Cline 1997). World Health Organization puts adequate funds out every year to combat certain ailments and they gather data yearly that measures the state of health of low income countries. The reason being that through the tool of globalized economy, they are able to have access to adequate funds that assist in reaching the world as long as they are aware of the benefit it will bring to their own economy in the long-run. World Bank and International Monetary Fund loan quite a number of countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and other Africa countries money to facilitate their trade. In 1993, the then administrative leader, Ibrahim Babangida borrowed a huge amount from IMF to clear the outstanding debt and reinstate the foreign reserves of Nigeria. However, local environment suffer from this globalization in that it creates security threat in the long run (Rodrick, 1997).

The literary piece that contains the effect of globalization from what has been explained can be seen in the United States National Intelligence Council (Global Trends 2015 Report; page 7). The literary piece has in it procedures for the growth of the United States of America (page 12-13). Globalization as a tool of technological advancements helps us to harness these potentials into creating an environment through measures and regulations that will ensure less toxicity in the environment. Hence globalization and toxic disclosure are enmeshed.

References:

Cline, William R., Trade and Income Distribution (Washington: Institute for International Economics). 1997

Coats, A.W., The Post-1945 Internationalization of Economics (Durham, N.C. and London: Duke University Press). 1997

Rodrick, Dani , Has Globalization Gone Too Far? (Washington: Institute for International Economics). 1997

United States National Intelligence Council Global Trends 2015, p. 7, 12 & 13 December 2000.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; 2010 Letter from the President Annual Report 2010

The term abject, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as several meanings: “sunk to or existing in a low state or condition; very bad or severe; cast down in spirit; expressing or offered in a humble and often ingratiating spirit”. It may also be a human reaction of horror, despair, or disgust. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “abject” is used as a term to describe a severe repulsion.

There are two phrases in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the term “abject” is used:

“But the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below” (Stevenson, 1886).

While Stevenson doesn’t say what exactly Utterson saw at the window, we assume that Dr. Jekyll is beginning to form into Mr. Hyde, and therefore the two men are horrified and disgusted, up to the point where they are frozen.

“But his love of me is wonderful; I go further: I, who sicken and freeze at the mere thought of him, when I recall the abjection and passion of this attachment, and when I know how he fears my power to cut him off by suicide, I find it in my heart to pity him” (Stevenson, 1886).

In this phrase, the term “abjection” is used to show that Dr. Jekyll is purely disgusted by Mr. Hyde’s powerful attachment to himself. While this repulsion and horror is present, Dr. Jekyll still pities his second ego.

Citations:

“Abject.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abject.

Publishing, Balberry. “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Grades 9–1) York Notes.” Chapter Seven: Incident at the Window The Language of Horror Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Grades 9–1), York Notes, www.yorknotes.com/gcse/english-literature/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-2017/study/plot-and-action/00080400_chapter-seven-incident-at-the-window.

Stevenson, Robert L. “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson.” The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson : chapter10, ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848dj/chapter10.html.

“Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the subgenre of Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance or happiness.”  

“The circumstances that gave birth to Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818) read like something from a Gothic story in themselves. Mary’s unconventional life up to the summer of 1816 (when she was still only 18), along with the company in which she found herself in June of that year – and even the unusual weather conditions at the time – all contributed to the book’s genesis. The vital spark that gave the novel life however was Lord Byron’s suggestion one evening at the Villa Diodati, as candlelight flickered within the house and lightning flashed across the surface of the lake outside, that those present should turn their hands to the writing of ghost stories.” 

“The weather in the summer of 1816 was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in April 1815 sent clouds of volcanic ash billowing into the upper atmosphere.”  

“‘The year without a summer’, as 1816 became known, provided the perfect backdrop to the telling of bleak, macabre and doom-laden Gothic tales.” 

Within the novel of Frankenstein, Shelley writes on the gloomy and dark weather of the year 1816 where the eruption of mount Tambora blocked the sun’s rays from hitting earth’s surface. That was the same year that Victor created the monster, and as the story is told we investigate the gothic imagery that Shelley uses to show us the horrors and dangers that each character encountered throughout their tales.   

Some terms that relate to Gothic could be Allegory which portrays a different hidden meaning that a story originally shows. In the case of Frankenstein and the term Gothic, allegory can relate because the gothic imagery Shelley uses by creating a storm every time Victor encounters his creation, can show a different hidden meaning proving that it was not just the stormy weather that Europe encountered that year, instead it goes deeper and shows us as the reader the feelings that Victor comes across when experiencing the chaos between creator and creation. 

Works Cited: 

Buzwell, Greg. 2014, https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/mary-shelley-frankenstein-and-the-villa-diodati. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.