An Ecology and Eco-Criticism in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide

Abstract

In recent times, literary writers have been drawn to the hitherto ignored strong interactive relationship between humans and nature. This relationship throws light upon the study of ecology and eco-critical reading. Now, literary writers focus upon the major environmental issues in their writing to highlight the problems of ecosystem. Amitav Ghosh is one of them. His novel The Hungry Tide is set in the Sundarbans meaning “Beautiful forest” which comprises of more than ten thousand square kilometers, the tide country- narrates the history of the forced evaluation of refugees from the island of Morichjhapi. Environmentalism and Destabilisation are some of the predominant themes in the novel. In this novel the physical environment is a representation of an active force that connects the plant, animal and human life together and one is affected by the other directly or it indirectly. The goal of my paper is to attempt an ecological analysis and the eco-critical reading of Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.