Beyond Anthropocentrism: A Deep-Ecological Exploration of Temsula Ao's 'Laburnum for My Head'

Arne Dekke Eide Naess, the Norwegian philosopher and environmentalist, verbalised the intrinsic value of each environmental entity, setting forth the claim that the nonhuman world has an equal right to live and grow as the human world does. His coining of the term Deep Ecology strictly focused on the non-anthropocentric view of ecology. Nature, with all the nonhuman elements, is always seen from a much-favoured anthropocentric eye only to fulfil the demands of the human world, limiting humans from the self-realisation that they both share equal status and are to support each other in thriving and growing. This paper offers a deep-ecological exploration of Temsula Ao’s short story ‘Laburnum for My Head’ through the environmental philosophy of Arne Naess. It studies the laburnum tree not as something that is used to beautify the garden or as something that serves human needs, but as a tree which is a living entity. The paper argues that the protagonist Lentina’s relationship with the laburnum reflects Næss’s principle of the inherent worth of nonhuman life, claiming the significance possessed by nonhuman life independent of human utility. It also divulges the interconnectedness of men, earth, and social worlds, thereby challenging the belief that human existence is separate from the larger ecological system. Naess’s ecological self of human identification with the nonhuman world explores Lentina’s desire to be buried beneath the laburnum as a counter to the socially determined self, thereby aligning with Naess’s Deep Ecology questioning anthropocentric assumptions about human identity, death, and permanence. The paper thus claims ‘Laburnum for My Head’ is a deep-ecological analysis of human dominance, affirming human existence as a part of the greater ecological world.