Term of Award
Spring 2025
Degree Name
Master of Arts in English (M.A.)
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (open access)
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Department
Department of English
Committee Chair
Olivia Carr Edenfield
Committee Member 1
Bradley Edwards
Committee Member 2
Joe Pellegrino
Abstract
With the rising concern about negative human treatment of the Earth, studies in the Gothic—a genre which always invites conversation about concerns and anxieties—have recently expanded to include the ecogothic. This critical framework at its core combines the Gothic with ecocriticism and invites conversation about the human impact on the natural landscape and its creatures. The American Gothic is already a genre that discusses guilt and remorse regarding the nation’s colonization of Indigenous people and role in slavery; however, the conversation about American emotions can be expanded to include ecogothic guilt. This sentiment is especially true when considering the ecogothic animals and monsters present in American texts. The Orchard Keeper (1965) by Cormac McCarthy and The Only Good Indians (2020) by Stephen Graham Jones are both novels that are deeply concerned with their characters’ treatment of the American landscape and nature. In The Orchard Keeper, this detail is emphasized by Ather Ownby’s interactions with wild cats. Though the cat that stalks his farm is an ordinary panther, his imagination makes the cat into an ecogothic monster, the legendary Wampus Cat that haunts his dreams. The Only Good Indians is similarly haunted by an ecogothic monster as Elk Head Woman, the spirit of an elk, stalks and hunts the four Indigenous men—Ricky, Lewis, Gabe, and Cassidy—who ten years prior had unfairly killed her, her herd, and her unborn calf. Though the guilty men are her main targets, her vengeance spills over to others associated with the men such as Gabe’s daughter, Denorah. Although Gabe is not able to accept his guilt, Denorah does, showing remorse for her father’s action and ending the generational violence and guilt. Closely examining these two ecogothic monsters reveals the guilt and remorse that characters feel regarding the landscape and natural life that they have harmed.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Michaela, "Centuries of a Heavy Conscience: American Ecogothic in Cormac McCarthy’s The Orchard Keeper and Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2889.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/2889
Research Data and Supplementary Material
No
