Ecocriticism: A study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment in prodigal summer and flight behaviour By Barbara Kingsolver and The Jungle and The Oil By Upton Sinclai̇r

A duality-based epistemology raises human to a more specific status by separating it from the universe and, takes it to the top of nature hierarchically with the Cartesian thought. The place of the human in nature will be examined in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Oil! and Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer and Flight Behavior. It will be examined in the light of postmodernism how these two authors discuss the subjects such as ecological equilibrium, deep ecology, environmental concern, ecofeminism, capitalism, and socialism in their works. In the early ages of literature, in his work The State, Plato argues that the world of thought proceeded from the cave civilization and it is still defended as a quite logical theory in the conditions of the 21st century. In the Middle Ages, Thomas More refused to follow this cave civilization, so-called having blinders on the desires, by creating a utopian world in which people have everything they want. It is the society itself making them worthless and excluded just as what constitutes all sociological values is the individuals of the society. By the quotations from works by different authors, it will be supported how the religion is exploited and how the women's rights are abused. It will be discussed in detail how postmodernism is reflected in literature and social life and how it differs from modern society. It will be implied how "The American Dream", one of the greatest symbols of capitalism, is placed in the postmodern literature.