For the students of English literature.

1. EXPLOITATION OF MOTHER NATURE: A POSTCOLONIAL ECOCRITICAL
STUDY OF HOW BEAUTIFUL WE WERE BY IMBOLO MBUE
 By
 Rab Nawaz

2. Background of the study
The earth can be said as a giant storehouse of useful materials.
Basic material is the support for physical needs such as food
factory and furniture warehouse, usually taken from trees. Good
social relations between human and earth can be seen as the non-
physical needs, like the source of inspiration, work of art and the
educational center. That is why human life extremely depends on
nature. Ecosystem goods and services have been exploited by
humans to support their lives.

3. Imbolo Mbue wrote this book quite presciently. She has detailed the
struggles of environmental degradation and extractivism and its social
impact on communities, in an otherworldly but deeply authentic way. This is
a work of ingenuity and Mbue is a masterly storyteller. Everyone is excited
to see what the future holds for Mbue as she charges different social
phenomena contexts with extraordinary literary fashion.
 The story of a small African village that has the misfortune of being on a
rich oil field being developed by an American oil company, Pentex. The
villagers mourn the early deaths of their children, the polluted river and
smoke filled air. Their grievances are ignored by the oil company and the
government, so they attempt to fight back. The novel covers many years and
multiple generations who fight a losing battle. The story is told in first
person from the perspective of several villagers.

4. Research Objectives
The objectives of the study are to:
Examine the exploitation of nature as depicted in the text;
Explore how human struggles to get back the harmonious relationship
with nature
Analyze how has literacy itself affected humankind's relationship to the
natural world

5. Research Questions
The study is expected to answer the following questions:
1.How is the exploitation of nature depicted in How Beautiful We Were by
Imbolo Mbue?
2.How does human struggle to get back the harmonious relationship with
nature?
3.How has literacy itself affected humankind's relationship to the natural
world?

6. The Significance of the Study
1. Practically, by reading the analysis conducted in this study the readers
may add their knowledge on some more matters related to the environmental
issues, especially related to Africa. The readers are expected to understand the
important meaning of ecosystem for humans and the importance of preserving
the balance of nature. Also, the readers are encouraged to be aware of the
importance of our awareness toward natural environment.
2. Academically, the readers are expected to know more about the
ecocriticism that may be useful in learning literature in faculty.

7. Statement of the Purpose:
Among other problems identified in the story, human-nature relationship is
the most interesting topic for the researcher to analyze. In the story, the human
-nature relationship is portrayed as a bad relationship in which human starts
destroying the nature to gain the economic income. In order to limit the
discussion, the researcher chooses the problem of ecosystem of the community
in Kosawa, fictitious village in the Africa. This topic is worth discussing since
it reflects the reality where human ignores the importance of ecosystem in their
surroundings. This research aims to take a contribution to solve environmental
problems by encouraging the readers to preserve nature.

8. Literature Review
Over the last two decades, there has been a growing interest in Afro-
American literature and culture. This excludes influences other than Afro-
American studies and ecocriticism. This, however, is a branch of
postcolonial ecocriticism, or black geography.
 Ferrari (2020) talks about the ideology of African Americans and its
relationship to the environment developed along with other racist
stereotypes and myths. A common misconception is that blacks do not care
about nature and are indifferent to the environment. This feeling stems from
the traumatic and compulsive relationship between African Americans and
nature during slavery. However, black people have a deep, close, and
historical connection with their environment. Their stories have not been
told, and their views on the environment have not been taken into
consideration.

9. Iheka (2015) examines creative and foresight ecological issues such as Niger-
Delta oil pollution and the dumping of hazardous waste in African rivers. He
leads African environmental literary studies and fills a gap in conventional
ecocriticism that otherwise ignores Africa's environmental challenges. Literary
works from Africa regularly make a speciality of the effects of environmental
issues on human beings. In contrast, they explore the entanglements of human
beings and nonhumans. He contributes to the growing corpus of ecological
analyses in African literary criticism. He works to develop interdisciplinary ties
between the arts and sciences. Postcolonial ecocritics such as Rob Nixon have
emphasised the need for communication between ecocriticism and
postcolonialism.

10. Methodology Theoretical Framework
 This is a qualitative study that focuses on the textual analysis of the selected literary
text. How Beautiful We Were written by Imbolo Mbue talks about the story of an
African village that has been exploited by colonial and capital interests. It has been
spoiled by oil company just for capital and income. The book represents the human
exploitation of nature and shows its problem and solution. To analyze the novel, I
use ecocriticism theory. Specifically, I use Garrad’s concepts of ecocriticism. Despite
many concepts of ecocriticism Garrad offers, I only use the concept of pollution and
position since the focus of this research is the destructive exploitation of nature
which plays an important role in spoiling the ecosystem.

11. The Definition and Principles of Ecocriticism
 Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical
environment. Ecocriticism then can be understood as the literary discipline which
takes the earth as the main topic and examines it through its representation in the text.
The relationship between man and the physical world will be the most prominent
theme in the study of ecocriticism. Ecocriticism scrutinizes how human affects nature
or is affected by nature in shaping their culture. This scrutiny then leads to the
connection between humans and non-humans. it can be understood that ecocriticism
studies the role of nature, assigns the value of nature and reveals the relationship
between humans and nature in the text. The environmental problems depicted in the
text are usually considered as the impact of human activity.

12. Concepts of Ecocriticism
There are some big concepts of ecocriticism, such as pollution, position, dwelling, apocalypse, animals
and the earth. 1) Pollution
Garrad (2004: 6) defines pollution as an ecological problem because it tells a normative
claim that refers to something in an excessive amount existing in the wrong place. He
further asserts that pollution does not name a substance or class of substance.
2) Position
Cornucopia deals with the economic conditions related to the presence of the
natural resources. It is stated that human welfare has increased along with population,
economic growth and technological progress.

13. Environmentalism, Garrad (2004: 18) refers environmentalism to any movements which try to
save the nature by promoting the green lifestyle, like recycling bottle and buying organic food. Here, it is also
mentioned that they try to reduce pollution or contamination of such particular area, mainly in developing
countries, by promoting, for instance, the family-planning campaign. Deep ecology views the nature as
the victim of the growth of human population, both in developing or developed countries. 4.
Ecofeminism often refers to the logic domination that women have been associated with nature, the
material, the emotional, and the particular, while men have been associated with culture, nonmaterial, the
rational, and the abstract. Social Ecology and Eco-Marxism Social ecology and eco-marxism tell
that the causes of environmental problems are not merely the anthropocentric attitudes, but also the system
of domination or exploitation of humans by other humans (Garrad, 2004: 28). Eco Marxist mostly identifies
the class conflict as the key political issue, but social ecology opposes the power relations that are seen to be
afflicting all kinds of society. Heideggerian Eco philosophy

14. Textual Analysis
Example: 01
We should have known the end was near. We inhaled, waited, exhaled. We
remembered those who had died from diseases with neither names nor cures— our
siblings and cousins and friends who had perished from the poison in the water and the
poison in the air and the poisoned food growing from the land that lost its purity the day
Pexton came drilling. (Mbue, 2021, p. 06)
The researcher talks about the condition of the people and how they live in the
poison in the water, poison in the air, and poison in the land. For the drilling for the sake
of oil, Pexton destroys their environment and they have difficulty in breathing and
eating food. Pexton spoils the water, air and land and it kills many children in the
village. Their children are dying as a result of toxins in the water, air, and food.

15. Example: 02
Our mothers and fathers wanted him to offer specifics on exactly when our
air and water and land would be clean again. “Do you know how many children we’ve
buried?” a father shouted. Woja Beki called for a meeting and invited the top
supervisors at Gardens. Our parents begged the supervisors to take some water from the
well, examine it, and tell them if it was the cause of the deaths. The supervisors,
offering few words, took the water with them. (Mbue, 2021, p. 16)
Example: 03
I promised myself after the massacre that I would acquire knowledge and
turn it into a machete that would destroy all those who treat us like vermin. I badly
wanted to grow up so that I could protect Kosawa and ensure that children of the future
never suffer as we did. Knowledge, I believed, would give Kosawa power. (Mbue,
2021, p. 75)

16. Discussion / Findings of the Study
 The environment provides freedom for human life that humans utilize to satisfy their
expectations.
 The researcher found that the exploitation of nature in the story is portrayed in
different ways.
 They do not take attention, in the starting days. But when children are dying from
drinking toxic water then they think about the reason for the death.
 Mbue's novel, How Beautiful We Were (2021), is an excellent literary piece that
conveys an accurate knowledge of the importance of nature. This tale is the battle of
the young protagonist to save nature.
 Character is the most important literary element in conveying human-nature
interaction to readers. Thula confronts several challenges in her drive to restore
nature.
 After completing her education, Thula comes to her village. In this discussion, the
researcher found that Thula takes conversations with representatives of government
or Pexton.

17. References:
 Cunningham, William P., Mary Ann Cunningham & Barbara Woodsworth.2007. Environmental Science, A
Global Concern Ninth Edition. New York: Mc. Graw Hill
 Garrad, Greg.2004. Ecocriticism. London: Routledge
 George, Jean Craighead.1972. Julie. New York: Harper Collins Publishers
 Ferrari, Carolyn. (2020, June 30). On Black Women’s Ecologies: AAIHS.
 Glotfelty, Cheryll.1996. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks In Literary Ecology. London: The University Of
Georgia Press.
 Iheka, C. N. (2015). African literature and the environment: A study in postcolonial ecocriticism. Michigan
State University. English.
 Krippendorff, K.1980. Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Beverly Hills: Sage.
 Mbue, I. (2021). How Beautiful We Were. Random House.

18. THANK YOU