“Drive your plow over the bones of dead” and the condition of non-human animals

Abstract

The present article aimed to study the presence of sentocentric ethics and abolitionism animal in a literary book. For that, we read some philosophers on this subject, notably Sonia Felipe and Peter Singer. First, we made a brief presentation of the thoughts of some philosophers about animal suffering, bringing to the end of this part the contributions of the philosophers already mentioned. Then, we gave a presentation of the book Drive your plow over the bones of the dead, read by the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, a book that was translated in Portuguese by Olga Baginska-Shinzato. In the light of the studied theory, we analyzed the character Dusheiko, protagonist of the novel, to see how her discourses and attitudes dialogue with the abolitionist stance propose by the authors studied. It’s necessaire, at this moment, to talk about the animal issue in the most diverse scientific areas. Within literary studies, however, these discussions needs a more copious critical fortune. The present article is justified, then, insofar as it intends to collaborate with the framework of reflections on this subject. In the clash of speeches and thoughts in the book, we conclude that the thinking of the people can be considered anthropocentric. Janina Dusheiko’s ideological positioning, on the other hand, is determined by sentientism and biocentrism, according to the reflections of the theorists such as Sônia T. Felipe. Dusheiko believes that mistreating animals, making them suffer, is a crime, it means being a speciesist.