Eco-criticism is generally defined as an approach that serves to redefine and scrutinize the relation of literature and the manner in which it defines or treats the surrounding environment (Clark and Douglas). ‘Green Literatures’ has come to the foreground since 1970s (Moore). In literature, eco-criticism is used to decode and analyze the presentation of man in connection with the surrounding environment. The two novels that shall be discussed in this project are Patrick White’s Voss and Tim Winton’s Dirt Music. A post-colonial eco-critic approach shall be employed to analyze the two novels. Through the two novels, this project will establish the importance of the wilderness myth in the Australian narratives. Wilderness has always formed an integral part in the mindset of the Australian citizens as well as in the narratives of Australia. Post-colonial eco-criticism endeavors to collate the two disparate ideologies related to the relation of human beings and nature in literary enterprises (Huggan and Tiffin). This dissertation shall also endeavor to collate the two approaches of Post-colonialism and eco-criticism by considering the views of important eco-critics. While the colonizers or the settlers wanted to transform the wilderness into a place of habitation, the aboriginals strived to never partake of their natural geography (Dubey). Needless to say, an eco-critic reading of the novels will reveal that the settlers are prioritized as championing the ecological sensitive and stewardship of the Wilderness. A similar kind of conflict can be seen in both the novels. Little do the settlers realize that the wilderness is a part of their internal structure that cannot be controlled or tamed. Consequently, an eco-critic reading of the texts will present the fact that the novels prioritize the settlers as championed in terms of the ecological sensitive and stewards of the wilderness. The journey and colonial expeditions of the settlers are reflective of their stereotypical representation of their stewards of the wilderness.
Patrick White pen-portrays this aspect through his novel, Voss. This novel encompasses the theme of the relationship of human beings and environment. The myth of wilderness is clearly incorporated in the text to depict the intrinsic connection of the wilderness and the aboriginals in the Australian narratives. Historical records reveal the fact that Australia has always been the home to settler colonies (Belich). Though there is a constant sense of tussle between the civilized life and the “Bush”, both are dependent on each other (Clark). In addition to this, Tim Winton’s Dirt Music can also be analyzed in terms of eco-criticism because it depicts the hostile relationship between the poacher and the hostile environment that surrounds him. Dirt Music also depicts the protagonist’s journey into the vast wilderness of the unknown landscapes (Carmody). Pen portraying the relation between the landscape and mindscape, Winton’s Dirt Music provides an insight into the concept of the wilderness (Harris). Winton’s Dirt Music can also be read in Post-colonial terms because it portrays the influence that the poacher exerts on the environment. The two novels can be read in post-colonial terms as they pen-portray the manner in which the human beings exert their influence on the surrounding environment.
Several eco-critics have tried to work upon various texts in literature. Though there have been widespread acknowledgement of the method of eco-criticism in analyzing the texts of literature, not much focus has been laid on the environmental issues and concerns in every literary text (Huggan and Tiffin). These eco-critics also propagate the view that settlers disrupt the normal functioning of the environment by capturing the resources that are available in a particular area. In addition to this, the settlers also try to infringe upon the protected territory of the wilderness and the aboriginals. Further, broad fields of post-colonialism, eco-criticism and environmentalism needs to be collated to study literature (DeLoughrey and Handley). These critics propound the view that literary eco-criticism has a global reach. This can be seen in the case of the two above-mentioned novels. Be it the desert area in Voss or the hostile landscape of the island in Dirt Music, these wilderness is directly reflective of the mindscapes of entire humanity and the aboriginals. Australian narratives have an intrinsic connection with the nature and the natural (Xiang). He goes on to analyze white’s Voss in terms of Eco criticism where he mentions that White’s hero Voss, suffers tragic loss and devastation when he attempted to conquer the aspects of Nature. In this novel, the wilderness including the aboriginals are presented as the unconquerable masters of Nature. The vast desert landscape is reflective of the inner physic structure of the protagonist. This reflects the prioritization of the settlers as the stewards of the wilderness because their inner psyche is reflective of the wilderness. It reflects the sheer lack of emotions and intelligence.
Critics such as Birns criticize the projection of the wilderness in the novels. Voss and his endeavors at the wilderness can also be considered as a kind of visionary failure (Birns).
Winton’s Dirt Music projects the intrinsic relation of settlers and the wilderness (Crane). The two novels depict the chief idea by inculcating the two approaches of post-colonial eco-criticism. The characters are presented in a manner that makes them akin to the surrounding natural environment. A closer reading of the text will depict that Fox and Georgie are closely related to the environmental attributes.
The project strives to depict the importance of the wilderness myth in the Australian narratives and strives to depict the role of the outback and settlers in the wilderness of Australia. The project is based on the rationale that wilderness forms a crucial role in the Australian narratives because the wilderness is directly symptomatic of the aboriginals and the internal thought-process of the mortals who surround the wilderness. The project is chiefly based on the rationale that the post-colonial eco-critic approach helps in identifying the role of the outback and settlers in relation to the conditions of the environmental and natural conditions. The rationale of the project is to bring out the dilemmas and ironies in the portraiture of the aboriginals as the master of the outback. The project is also based on the rationale that eco-criticism and the novels strive to prioritize the settlers as champions of the wilderness.
The project tries to investigate into the use of the eco-critic approach to establish the importance of the myth of wilderness and the role of the outback and settler in relation to the wilderness. The aboriginals belonging to Australia have not moved beyond the territory of Australia. They remain in the margins of Australia (Crosby). It also tries to investigate into the prioritization of the settlers as the stewards of the wilderness who are entrusted with the task of conquering and taking care of the wilderness. While the novel of Winton presents a sympathetic portrayal of the outback and aboriginals, the novel of Patrick White does not employ the sympathetic attitude towards the aboriginals. In White’s Voss, the aboriginals are presented as hostile mortals who were disrupting the expeditions of Voss and his party (Wolfe). In Patrick White’s Voss, the central protagonist endeavors to communicate and tame the aboriginals by objectifying and erasing their individual identities. The protagonist, Voss thinks that he has been endowed with the power to comprehend the wilderness and the aboriginals. In the novel, Voss, Voss exhibits a contemptuous attitude towards the aboriginals (Dodeman and Raimbault).
An eco-critic approach to study the two novels, namely, Voss and Dirt Music will reveal the presentation of certain intimate and intricate connections that are shared between the environment and the mortals, especially between the settlers and the stewardship of the environment. A post-colonial eco-critic approach can also unearth the manner in which the mortals with colonial and imperial aspirations wreak havoc on the natural landscapes. The authors employ some thought-provoking symbols, metaphors and images to depict this connection. Further, the novels also employ symbols and images that eco-critically define the role of the outback and aboriginals as the protector of the wilderness. Tim Winton endeavors to establish and reinforce the deep ecological sense of connection between the Australian residents or settlers and the various landscapes (Mccreden).
In Voss, Patrick White uses certain poignant images and symbols to reiterate the power of the Aboriginal and wilderness myth. While Voss was examining the Aboriginal drawings, the native, Jackie points towards the strongly negative images of the snakes and kangaroo (Dodeman and Raimbault). These stands as the symbol for the impending doom and acts as a warning sign for the protagonist. In addition to these, Patrick White also employs irony in the presentation of the outback and settlers. The vast desert landscape with its dry, bleak and perilous features does not fail to dissuade Voss. Instead, like a true imperialist, he continues in the journey into the wilderness, only to lose his life (Wolfe). In addition to this, it is also seen that Patrick White had tried to incorporate irony in the presentation of the character of Voss. Voss is warned by Boyle to not to trust the aboriginals but Voss, on the other hand, exhibits a kind of sheer confidence (White). This is indeed ironical because at the end, Voss gets martyred at the place of the Aboriginals (Xiang). Not only this, but Voss can be read as a metaphorical character representing a Christ-like figure who considers himself as God (Rakshit). The aboriginals perceive his death as a kind of martyrdom that is symbolized by the fall of the comet. An eco-critic reading of the novel will depict the manner in which Voss’s death compels him to get intermingled with the soil and natural environment that is shared by the Aboriginals in Australia (Grogan, Bridget). The blood of Voss gets mixed with the surrounding wilderness of Australia (Dubey) which is symptomatic of the intrinsic presence of the wildernesss in the lives of the settlers and aboriginals. The very idea of Voss getting killed by the aboriginals caters in marginalizing and stereotyping the natives.
In Tim Winton’s Dirt Music, an eco-critic approach reveals certain poignant images and symbols are used to communicate the intrinsic relation of man and the environment. The heroine, Georgie, experiences the wilderness that is represented and symbolized by the surrounding island (Winton). The island is symbolic of the engulfing wilderness. Fox’s journey into the undiscovered and remote wilderness of Australia is a symbolic representation of his deliberate effort to forget the past traumas (Gadzina). His journey leads to his contact with the islands and aboriginals whose music assists him in relieving the wounds. The music is also a symbol of the wilderness that is intricately related to the inner structure of the characters. The music becomes a symbolic representation of the land and the human beings living on it (Harris). The music in the very title of the novel acts as a space for negotiations and the features of the islands directly reflect the temperament of the central characters (Crane).
Despite the fact that White presents the wilderness as an integral part, he does not refrain from presenting the wilderness and aboriginals as the stereotypical wild and untamable force. In Tim Winton’s Dirt Music, the aboriginals are presented as human beings who organize protests fro their voices to be heard and they are even seen communicating over the radio (Winton). Despite the sympathetic portrayals, these novels serve to marginalize the aboriginals as the representatives and caretakers of the vast wilderness. White’s Voss includes the pen-portrayal of a desert landscape that can be connected to the inner mindscape of the central characters of Voss and Laura. There is an intrinsic connection between the barren landscape and the mindscape of man, which is also barren and infertile. This novel also inculcates the idea of the importance of the wilderness in the Australian narratives. The wilderness symbolized by the desert is symptomatic of the wilderness that has entrapped the minds of the human beings. Nevertheless, the problem arises with the fact that this wilderness is interconnected with the aboriginals. The outback and the aboriginals are presented as impersonations of the wilderness who cannot be tamed. Voss’s attempt to tame the desert landscape stands as a symbol for his attempt to tame the aboriginals and the original wilderness inherent in the geography of Australian landscapes. Voss decides to cross the desert without taking into consideration the power of the wilderness. Voss’s journey and death acts like a warning sign for all the wanderers to not to challenge the wilderness and the aboriginals (Wolfe). Patrick White does not endeavor to present a natural death of Voss. Instead, Voss’s death is seen as an extension of the heinous attribute of the wilderness and the Aboriginals. The desire of the settlers to act as the stewards of the wilderness is reflected in this section.
In a similar fashion, Tim Winton’s Dirt Music presents the relentless struggle of the poacher against the hostile environment. The stereotypical representation in the novel results from the fact that Winton repeats the similar cultural tropes (Gadzina). The hostile environment of the island is symptomatic of the wilderness that is present throughout the narrative. Like Voss, his struggles are futile. It can be said that the explicit and implicit wilderness is considered as hostile and detrimental. The problem lies in the fact that though the wilderness is presented as playing an integral part in the lives of the characters, it is not considered as a positive force. Georgie’s temperament and attitude towards the aboriginals makes Tim Winton’s Dirt Music a problematic text because it cannot stop the marginalization and stereotyping of the wilderness and the aboriginals. The aboriginals might have progressed, but the intrinsic yet dormant desire of Fox to establish a colony at the wilderness makes this text problematic (Crane). Had the central character not exhibited the dormant traits of ‘settling’, this novel would not have served to marginalize the aboriginals.
The projects aims to delve deeper into the incorporation and importance of the wilderness myth in the narratives of Patrick White and Tim Winton. This project also aims to decode the inculcation of the myth in relation to the role of the outback and settler through the perspective of eco-criticism. The research also aims to look at the problematic portrayal of the aboriginals through the lens of eco-criticism.
RQ1) Does the inculcation of the myth of wilderness in relation to the outback and settlers and aboriginals from an important area in the two novels of Voss and Dirt Music?
RQ2) How are the aboriginals represented in a stereotypical manner as the sanctified version of the wilderness in the two novels of Voss and Dirt Music?
RQ3) How can the two distinct literary approaches of Post-Colonialism and eco-criticism be amalgamated to approach at a proper and enhanced reading of the relation of the outback and aboriginals in the two above-mentioned texts?
The following study is extremely significant because it strives to investigate and reinforce the role of the outback and settlers or aboriginals in relation to the surrounding wilderness that is emblematic of the external wilderness and internal violent psychic wilderness of the human beings. In addition to this, tis project stands as a significant one because it also endeavors to analyze and decode the representation of the outback and settlers in terms of eco-criticism. This study is quite significant because it endeavors to present an in-depth analysis of the portraiture of the wilderness in post-colonial eco-critic terms. The idea of wilderness conjures up images that are directly in opposition to the images of civilization (Crane). It can be the representative of imagined or real places. The study strives to uphold the intricate connection shared between the wilderness and the settlers. Needless to say, the idea of wilderness extends to certain areas of Australia and Canada (Crane). This study upholds and justifies the fact that wilderness is a palpable entity in the landscapes and narratives of Australia. In addition to this, this study also strives to re-interpret the problematic representation of the aboriginals in relation to the wilderness. An eco-critic approach is employed to investigate into the problems. The study also proposes to discuss about the sympathetic approach of Winton in portraying the aboriginals that only serves the purpose of further marginalizing them as the emblems of the untamable wilderness. It is extremely significant to study and learn from the futile pursuit of man in controlling the forces of Nature, especially the wilderness. Voss is presented as an explorer who travels to Australia to explore and tame the wilderness (Abraham). The same can be seen in Tim Winton’s Dirt Music where the central character Fox is seen journeying into the unknown outback and wilderness of the Arcadian Pilbara (Carmody). This study is significant because it tries to project this failure through the two novels of Voss and Dirt Music. Further, this is significant because it by analyzing the two texts, this study will try to establish the prioritization of the settlers as the champions of the ecological sensitive and natural stewardship of the Wilderness.
Conclusion:
After taking into consideration the above-discussed points, the project can arrive at possible conclusions. It can be said that the two novels present an intrinsic connection between the Wilderness, the aboriginals and the settlers. An eco-critic reading of the two novels will unearth the fact that they prioritize the settlers as championing the ecological sensitive and natural stewardship of the Wilderness. It can also be concluded that by marginalizing the aboriginals and prioritizing the settlers as the stewards of the physical and mythical wilderness, White’s Voss and Winton’s Dirt Music portray the subtle nuances.
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