Title: Agency of Thing and Perspective Transformation: A Study on the “Material Turn” Ecological Poetics in Flight Behavior

Abstract: The “material turn” represented by “flat ontology” holds that the thing has its own agency and is independent of human beings, and there is no ontological difference between them, so it requires human beings to imagine the being of things correctly. In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Flight Behavior, the author traces the protagonist Dellarobia’s evolving perception of the monarch butterflies’ extraordinary migration. From initially viewing it as “divine revelation” to gradually recognizing its intrinsic value and material agency, the narrative demonstrates her shift from anthropocentric perspective to non-anthropocentric one, ultimately forming an ecological perspective of equality with all things. This transformation of perspective is essentially a process through which material properties move from being concealed to being manifested. This interpretation of the cognitive perspective transformation reveals how Dellarobia achieves dual awakening of personal subjectivity and ecological consciousness, which also helps to deconstruct the anthropocentric mindset, promotes the repositioning of the relationship between human and nature, and embodies the concept of harmonious coexistence advocated by the ecological poetics of “material turn.”

Keywords: Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior, material turn, ecological perspective, thingness

Authors: Weisheng Tang, Professor, School of Foreign Studies, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China; Qi Ai, School of Foreign Studies, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2026.02.001