Disaster and Hope in the Comic Universe of 'Gardening in the Tropics'

<p>In this paper, I explore ideas of dominion and how Western canon has helped propagate ideas of human domination of the natural world. Using Joseph W. Meeker’s <em>The Comedy of Survival, </em>I trace a line from the advent of the literary tragedy to the climate crisis. To contrast, I use his idea of comedy as the antidote to domination — a way of thinking that might inspire collaboration with the natural world. I will explore the comic with, predominately, Olive Senior’s <em>Gardening in the Tropics</em>, alongside Jamaica Kincaid’s gardening studies and Mona Lisa Saloy’s essay on environmental destruction. To conclude, I consider how the comic style might help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis, if humanity — specifically the small percentage of folks who do the bulk of the consuming — should choose to adopt this mindset. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Mosher, Molly

Contributors dc:contributor

• Emily Raboteau
• Vaclav Paris

• tragedy
• comedy
• poetry
• ecocriticism
• the Caribbean
• disaster
• Caribbean Languages and Societies
• English Language and Literature

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/909

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-1963