Solar Storms (Literary Contexts of the Novel)

Question 1

What does ecocriticism seek to do?

Answer 1

examine the connection between literature and the environment

Question 2

What are the two principles that are most critical to our contemporary understanding of ecocriticism?

Answer 2

1. its activist nature that seeks the equitable distribution of resources as well as equitable disposal of them
2. the social sciences’ commitment to legal and policy change to protect people and resources

Question 3

The focus of the environmental justice movement answered what problematic issue of early environmentalism?

Answer 3

most representatives of those earlier movements were white males who tended to overlook the effects of environmental issues on marginalized communities, including Native Americans, women, and people of color

Question 4

What was the name of Toni Morrison’s literary work that was focused on by ecocritics to combat the prominence of white males in the environmental justice movement overlooking the effects of environmental issues on marginalized communities?

Answer 4

“The Bluest Eye” (1970)

Question 5

What was the name of Leslie Marmon Silko’s literary work that was focused on by ecocritics to combat the prominence of white males in the environmental justice movement overlooking the effects of environmental issues on marginalized communities?

Answer 5

“Ceremony” (1977)

Question 6

By what time period were women and black communities being included in the environmental justice movement?

Answer 6

mid-1990s

Question 7

What was the name of the foundational work authored by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm that outlined the beginnings of ecocriticism from its early iterations in nature writing through second-wave developments that included social justice issues, ecology, and literature?

Answer 7

“The Ecocriticism Reader”

Question 8

Who authored “Turtle Island”, which advocated for cultural shifts away from Anthropocentricism?

Answer 8

Gary Synder

Question 9

While first wave ecocriticism focused on defining and describing a tradition of nature writing, what did second wave developments in ecocriticism include?

Answer 9

social justice issues, ecology, and literature
- deals more critically with matters of race, class, gender, and sexuality

Question 10

Is Lawrence Buell, author of the 2005 book “The Future of Environmental Criticism” a first or second wave ecocritic?

Answer 10

second wave
- argued that environmental studies should include both traditional notions of nature along with urban spaces

Question 11

Who coined the term “ecofeminism” in 1974?

Answer 11

French feminist theorist Francois d’Eaubonne

Question 12

take in this sentence:

Answer 12

Ecofeminism can be defined as a “philosophy that emphasizes the way both women and nature are treated by male-centered society, examining the effect of gender categories in order to demonstrate the ways in which social norms exert unjust dominance over women and nature”

Question 13

Using an ecofeminist lens, how might you, as a reader, interpret the government and BEEVCO company’s perception of the land, in comparison to the female protagonists’ of the story?

Answer 13

the government and BEEVCO company see the land as a resource for development and profits whereas the female protagonists see it as a resource that should be protected and preserved for animals and future generations

Question 14

What are the two main examples does the resource guide use to demonstrate an ecofeminist lens?

Answer 14

1. How the government and BEEVCO company perceive the land as a resource for development
2. How the BEEVCO employees lose respect for Tulik as an elder and tribal leader because he can comfort baby Aurora