همایش رویکردهای میان رشته ای به آموزش زبان، ادبیات و مطالعات ترجمه

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صفحه اصلی / پنجمین همایش رویکردهای میان رشته ای به آموزش زبان، ادبیات و مطالعات ترجمه

Ecophobia in Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch

نویسندگان :

Hesam Azhir¹ Hale Zargarzadeh²

1- دانشگاه ارومیه 2- دانشگاه ارومیه

کلمات کلیدی :

Monique Roffey،Simon C. Estok،Ecophobia،Gothic Nature،Irrational Fear of Nature،Aycayia،EcoGothic

چکیده :

Drawing on the concept of “ecophobia,” coined by Simon C. Estok, this article aims to examine Monique Roffey’s The Mermaid of Black Conch (2020) to explore signs of ecophobia within the story by focusing on Aycayia and Arcadia’s interactions with the Gothicized nature. Aycayia, a transformable hybrid woman-fish, has lived on Black Conch Island for thousands of years. As one of the island’s earliest inhabitants, she faces the story's Gothic elements and acts as a Gothic element within the storyline. On the other hand, Arcadia is a wealthy British descend woman. Although her family never owned enslaved people, they have profited from the slave trade. This article investigates how Gothic nature invokes ecophobia through the presence of Aycayia and the characters’ encounters with Gothic elements -such as storms, old mansions, and the rainforest. We argue that the Gothic representation of nature in Roffey’s text evokes the repressed irrational fear of nature or ecophobia in characters. The findings indicate that the fish storms, tornados, the rainforest, and even the very figure of Aycayia as a mermaid conjure up fear within characters. Further examination shows that the fear portrayed in the novel fits the description of ecophobia as Estok theorizes.