Human toward nature in Chingiz Aitmatov’s White Steamship

This study examines the significant role of different attitudes toward nature in Chingiz Aitmatov’s novella. As it is argued, the close connection between a strong feeling of tribal identity and a veneration of nature is the result of totemic beliefs of Ded Momun and his grandson. In accordance with Irena Maryniak’s comments on the Aitmatov’s novella, Momun’s decision of killing the deer and the boy’s final suicide are explained as a clash between totemic vision of Momun and animist beliefs of the boy. The illness of the boy, first analyzed as a sign of his shamanist vocation is then argued to be a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. It is concluded that the main opposition in Aitmatov’s work is, in fact, the opposition between adults and children, which is parallel to the opposition between good and evil.211-22221122