ECOCRITICAL EXAMINATION OF MAY IFEOMA NWOYE’S OIL CEMETERY

Abstract

This paper titled “Ecocritical Examination of May Ifeoma Nwoye’s Oil Cemetery” explores the ecocritical perspective as envisaged in May Ifeoma Nwoye’s Oil Cemetery. Ecocriticism is a worldwide emergent movement which came into existence as a reaction to man’s (anthropocentric) attitude of dominating nature. The paper adopts the ecocritical theory in order to interpret the hazards brought upon the natural environment as a result of oil exploration activities and the resultant effects on human lives. The paper therefore looks at the environmental problems of oil spillage, pipeline vandalization, gas flaring, land degradation, destruction of marine life, diseases and untimely deaths resulting from the process of oil drilling by the multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta area, as captured in Oil Cemetery. The author creates a protagonist, Rita, who remains resolute and determined to seek redress and liberate her people from the oppression and exploitation brought upon her community by the oil companies. Through a series of persistent protests, dialogues and intervention of the Freedom Bench, sanity is restored. This leads to peace and development in the area, as social amenities hitherto denied the communities by the oil companies are provided. With peace comes economic development at the wider; communal and national levels.