Narrating environmental futures: Language, ecology, and identity in “Half Past Human”

Lee, Zhe Lin (2025) Narrating environmental futures: Language, ecology, and identity in “Half Past Human”. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

This study analyses the ecological narratives in T.J. Bass’ “Half Past Human” through Stibbe’s (2015, 2020) ecolinguistic concepts of identity, erasure, and salience. It examines how language shapes the representation of human and non-human elements, and how these representations reflect human-environment interactions. The analysis reveals the dichotomy between two different human identities: the Nebishes, depicted as hive insects and cogs in a machine, prioritise productivity and obedience; and the Buckeyes, framed as feral and pest-like, are the equivalent of animals in the setting. This linguistic framing contributes to a dominant eco-destructive worldview in which ecological elements are valued only for their utility to the Hive and to the humans. This perspective is further reinforced through the salience of machines, the erasure of flora and food, and cultural practices like hunting Buckeyes. By exaggerating the eco-destructive tendencies of the nebbishes, Bass constructs a cautionary narrative that highlights the consequences of exploitative and asymbiotic human-environment relationships. The study concludes that “Half Past Human” utilizes linguistic strategies to depict an eco-destructive worldview and thus deliver an eco-beneficial message, demonstrating that science fiction can serve as a medium for ecological critique.

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