The Power of Literary Discourse in Creating Ecological Awareness: First Light by Robert Russell Sassor

Abstract

While the need to move studies on climate change beyond scientific research and to raise awareness about the issue in society is increasing, there is a need for mechanisms that bring discourses about climate change to the public’s knowledge. In recent days, when nature is gradually disappearing into the hands of man, it has become necessary to develop a new way of communicating with nature and natural resources. As Sassor expressed, art is more than a one-way communication tool and it is one of the most effective ways for people to shape their environmental awareness. Getting people to experience this through short stories is possible. Since short stories are literary discourses that can be read in one sitting, they are a more suitable genre for people in the hustle and bustle of the postmodern world. In this study, Robert Russel Sassor’s short story First Light has been analyzed through a discourse-centered approach. Based on the collocated words around the motifs of ‘death/suicide, regret, longing for the past, nature, sexual identity distortion, and loneliness’ it is observed that Sassor’s concerns about the deterioration of the ecological balance as well as the distortion of sexual identity in the individual come to the fore.