“A Relative to All That Is”: The Eco-Hero in Western American Literature

T IM P O L A N D Radford University “ARelative toAllThatIs”:TheEco-Heroin WesternAmericanLiterature The late mythologistJoseph Campbell stated that “the most vital, most critical function of a mythology ... is to foster the centering and unfolding of the individual in integrity, in accord with . . . himself his culture ..., the universe”and “that awesome ultimate mysterywhich is both beyond and within himself and all things” (Masks 6). And according to Campbell, the ultimate success ofthe hero is based on how effectively and fully he is able to center himself in that “integrity.”The achievement of this centering, in multiple literatures and mythologies from diverse eras and cultures, is commonly reached after the hero undergoes a series of trials that occur throughout Campbell’s tripartite paradigm of the heroicjourney. That paradigm, much discussed and for some time a useful instrument for examining the mythical in literary texts, can be synopsized as such: 1) the hero, for any of a variety of reasons, departs the homeland or the known world and undertakes his journey; 2) is tried and tested throughout thejourney, thus undergoing an initiation; and 3) returns to the homeland or the known world, altered and increased, with a “boon” for the community. As previously stated, what is “most critical”for assessing the hero’s success, and most critical for my purposes here, is not the quality of the hero’sjourney but the quality of the hero’s Selfupon return from hisjourney—whether or not, as Campbell says, his “realization has been of a certain depth and import” (Masks 4) sufficient to situate him in “integrity.” The heroic Self that will result from the “successful” hero-journey is not the egocentric, isolated personality that, due to the hero’saccom­ plishments, stands above and apart from the community it serves. The heroic Selfis thatwhich achieves, through the hero’saccomplishments, atonement (as Campbell emphasizes it, “at-one-ment”) with its origins and in relation to the community it serves. Self-interest is dissolved, and 196 WesternAmerican Literature the separate, egocentric self is annihilated and replaced by a mythic, relational Self. Such a Self is situated in “integrity,” and, as Campbell demonstrates in The Hero with a ThousandFaces, the hero focuses not on “his personal fate, but the fate of mankind, of life as a whole, the atom and all the solar systems” (234), delivering him to a point at which he “gives up completely all attachment to his personal limitations, idiosyn­ crasies, hopes and fears, no longer resists the self-annihilation that is prerequisite to rebirth in the realization of truth, and so becomes ripe, at last, for the great at-one-ment” (237). This inclusive, relational, and mythic heroic Selfis the principal accomplishment ofthe hero’sjourney and the actual boon that he offers his community. To a certain extent, Campbell remains a bit too Eurocentric, phallocentric and anthropocentric for his paradigm to be as inclusive and effective as it could be. However, I would suggest that a synthesis of Campbell’simage of the heroic Selfwith the image of the relational Self emergent in deep ecology, or ecosophy as it is referred to here, produces a thoroughly inclusive, relational, and mythic heroic Self that is the central trait and boon ofwhat I will call the eco-hero. Ecosophy, anticipated by Aldo Leopold, defined and clarified by Arne Naess, and discussed at great length by Bill Devall, George Sessions and many others, need not be explained in detail here. Suffice it to say that, unlike mainstream ecological perspectives focusing on the preser­ vation of resources and natural beauty for the use and pleasure of the human community, ecosophy is an ontological perspective that rejects the traditional Western view of “man-in-environment.”It favors a world view that situates humanity “in integrity,” that perceives humanity as part of, not separate from, all living forms, that sees humanity in relation to the ecosphere, not upon it. In addition to the central concept of existence as relational rather than individual, ecosophy recognizes all components of the ecosphere as having intrinsic value for their own sake. This stance, accordingly, seeks and nurtures diversity and com­ plexity and fights against all forms of pollution, class hierarchy, and outside threats...