Canaille Reforestation: Deciphering Class Relations in Safe Guarding Ecology in Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees

Abstract

This paper aims to uncover the exploitation of the common people by the capitalist class even in the sphere of ecology. In spirit, corporatist groups are accused of ecological imbalance, but are exculpated in action. Both in literature and reality, the efforts of the ordinary man in protecting nature is eulogised while the damage done by the capitalist is neglected. Though the efforts of these common people are commendable, they are highlighted for hidden motives. The perpetrator of destruction, the capitalist, is never seen in the picture. He suffers economical setbacks but never cares about ecology while the agriculturalist class and working class, who are hit hard by natural and man-made disasters, continue their efforts to pacify nature. Thus continues the chain of exploitation and preservation. The paper employs Marxian concepts of capital and ecology with emphasis on the ideas proposed by Engels and Marx.