Abstract
This paper embarks on a comparative analysis of environmental symbolism in Richard Powers' Pulitzer Prize-winning Novelthe Overstory and Rachel Heng's critically acclaimed work The Great Reclamation, exploring how these narratives employ arboreal and terraqueous tropes to underscore the intricate relationships between humans and the natural world. Building on existing ecocritical discourse, this study reveals that both novels deploy symbolism to subvert anthropocentric narratives, instead positing a biocentric worldview that underscores the agency and interconnectedness of nonhuman entities. Through a close reading of the texts, this research identifies and examines key symbols, including the ancient trees of The Overstory and the reclaimed landscapes of The Great Reclamation, demonstrating how these symbols mediate the human-nature interface and gesture toward a regenerative environmental ethos. Employing a qualitative, comparative case study approach, this investigation reveals that both novels mobilize environmental symbolism to catalyze ecological consciousness and complicate notions of stewardship, custodianship, and responsibility. The findings suggest that these narratives offer powerful counter-narratives to environmental degradation and climate crisis, underscoring the imperative of reevaluating humanity's relationship with the earth. This study concludes that The Overstory and The Great Reclamation contribute significantly to the literary environmentalism movement, offering vital insights into the symbolic and material dimensions of human-environment interactions.
Keywords: Ecocriticism, Environmental Symbolism, Biocentrism, Anthropocentrism, Ecopoetics, Environmental Humanities
