HELON HABILA’S OIL ON WATER AND CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS THROUGH THE FIRST-WAVE ECOCRITICISM LENS

Abstract

This paper is an ecocritical examination of Helon Habila's Oil on Water and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus through the first-wave ecocriticism lens. First-wave ecocriticism is a strand of ecocriticism - the literary study of nature - that explores nature in its pristiness, human harmony with nature and nature conservation in literature. The paper is a content analysis of the novels at the levels of the ecology. In Oil on Water, it is realised that despite the serious theme of ecological despoliation and oil war, there exists a pleasant relationship between some major characters in the novel and the natural environment. This is in respect to the characters' attempt at nature conservation, appreciation of the beauty of nature and belief in its healing and redeeming powers. In Purple Hibiscus, it is revealed that the author shows her ecological sensibility by giving her text the title of an ecological element. The major characters in the novel exhibit their ecological consciousness by propagating and adoring the ecology. The paper concludes that the novels have captured reasonably the beauty of nature, attachment to place and ecological sensibility which fits into the philosophy of first-wave ecocriticism.