Thesis (M.A.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This thesis examines Rob Nixon{u2019}s concept of 2slow violence3 in three selected plays: Henrik Ibsen{u2019}s An Enemy of the People (1882), Wakako Yamauchi{u2019}s And the Soul Shall Dance (1977), and August Wilson{u2019}s Fences (1985) through the theoretical framework of ecocriticism. It aims at revealing how the poor and ethnic communities are exposed to 2slow violence3 and the disastrous consequences of 2slow violence3 on them.2Slow violence3 refers to the violence which occurs gradually and invisibly. It has disastrous impacts, like the immediate violence, but since it occurs gradually, it is not paid much attention by the media and the government. Ecocriticism is concerned with the relationship between humans and their environment. It focuses on the environment in literary texts. The ecocritical approach is employed in this thesis to examine the three environmental causes of 2slow violence3: environmental degradation, racism, and marginalization. This thesis is divided into three chapters; each chapter deals with one of the three causes of 2slow violence3. Chapter one sheds light on environmental degradation in Ibsen{u2019}s An Enemy of the People and Yamauchi{u2019}s And the Soul Shall Dance. It demonstrates the causes of environmental degradation and its destructive impacts on the health and well-being of the Norwegian townspeople and the Japanese Americans in the two selected plays. Chapter two is concerned with environmental racism experienced by the low-income and ethnic communities in Ibsen{u2019}s An Enemy of the People and Wilson{u2019}s Fences. It examines the hierarchy of power structure and the corrupt environmental laws as being the main causes of environmental racism. It also highlights its destructive consequences experienced by Dr. Stockmann and Troy{u2019}s family in the two selected plays

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