Hello readers...
This blog is the part of my thinking activity in the Google classroom. This thinking activity is assigned by our professor Dilip Barad sir.
In this blog i would like to talk about the one interesting and famous novel " Gun Island" by Amitav Ghosh.
Firstly let's throw some light on the author:-
Amitav Ghosh (born 11 July 1956)is an Indian writer and the winner of the 54th Jnanpith award, India’s highest literary honor, best known for his work in English fiction. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and Southeast Asia.
About Novel:-
Gun Island describes the quest of Deen, a scholar and collector of rare books, who returns from New York, his city of domicile, to the Sunderbans in West Bengal to unravel the mystery and legend of a seventeenth-century merchant, Bonduki Sada-gar, translated “The Gun Merchant,” and his persecution by Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes. In a talk held in New Delhi after the release of the novel, Ghosh stated that the merchant “was a trope for trade.” The merchant and the goddess dramatize “the conflict between profit and the world.” In the novel, the goddess pursues the merchant to make him aware of other realities like the animal world: “Humans—driven, as was the Merchant, by the quest of profit—would recognize no restraint in relation to other living things.”
Sir gave us some questions for our better thinking so I ponder that answers here:-
1. How does Amitav Ghosh use the myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking?
Ghosh uses the myth of Manasa Devi and wants to tell us that Gun Merchant changes the places because of climate change and during that journey he realises the problem of migration. The whole story is about the pilgrimage of Gun merchant as well as of Dinanath. Both characters and the events are connected with each other. It is a kind of similar story.
Gun Island concentrates on an anthropocentric world of political tumult, social prejudices, economic inequality, utilitarian attitude towards Nature, pollution of water resources, climatic disasters, and increasing human displacement.The text serves as a small window that gives the readers a glimpse into how undocumented migrants moving through irregular channels to find work get trapped
in servitude and exploitation. The refugees of the Blue Boat come to know, while illegally
changing countries, how several influential countries are surreptitiously linked with
oppressive practices executed by various agents and traffickers in modern times.
The text depicts that during illegal migration many migrants get killed by border security forces or other government armed forces. However, despite all hazards, a huge number of illegal migrants arrive at their desired places, but sometimes a few of them are compelled to retreat when they are caught. It is a surreal tale that captures the apocalyptic visions of environmental degradation and a desperate human struggle for existence in the wake of climate disaster. The illegal border-crossing of people of the Sundarbans clarifies why “environmental migration is widely viewed as one of the most dramatic consequences of climate change” (Gemenne,2012, p. 238).
Ghosh blends ancient myths and legends with the tales of adventurous escapism of illegal migrants from various developing countries in the present to bring out the perennial saga of human migration ensuing from global climate breakdown. The self-willed yet socio-politically or environmentally enforced illegal migrations from diverse developing countries in the time of globalization also imply a kind of renunciation of the past domination of the authoritative colonizing countries in controlling the human movement across countries. The social conflicts in Italy centered on the Blue
Boat become symbolic of the world acknowledging the ever-present refugee crisis
which rapidly increases in the era of anthropogenic climate chang.
2. How does Amitav Ghosh make use of the 'etymology' of common words to sustain mystery and suspense in the narrative?
Amitav Ghosh very significantly used this ‘etymology’ of common words to sustain mystery and Suspense in the narrative.
In the book, we came to know the name of some places like The Land of Palm Sugar Candy, Land of Kerchief Island of Chains, and Finally The Gun Island.
So here The Land of Palm Sugar Candy means “Land of Palm Sugar Candy” was Taal-misrir-desh. Desh is “country” in Bengali, and taal is a kind of palm tree that produces a sugary syrup which is used to make all kinds of sweets including a crystallized candy. I translated the phrase as “palm sugar candy” because the Bengali word for “sugar candy” is misri.’ “Misr” is but the Arabic word for Egypt. So here ‘ The Land of Palm Sugar candy’ means Egypt.
‘The Land of Kerchieves? In the legend it was called Rumaali-desh. In Bengali rumaal is a handkerchief . . .’‘On the outskirts of Istanbul, where the Turks built their first stronghold in Europe. Rumeli comes from “Rum”, “Rome” – which is how Constantinople, the Byzantine “Rome”, was known in Arabic and Persian. The Rumaali of Gun merchant’s story is probably just a corruption of some version of “Rum” – does it not make sense that the Gun Merchant and Captain Ilyas would have gone from Egypt to Turkey.
The Land of Chains. In Bangla, it means ‘Shikol-dwip.’ ‘the Arabic name for Sicily is “Siqillia” – the resemblance to shikol.
The Gun Island:- Banduki dwip, Getto in Venice where Gun factory was there. So in this way Amitav Ghose Unfolded the mystery of The Gun Island. Here Gun Island means Venice where our Banduki Sadagar was gone.
3. What are your views on the use of myth and history in the novel Gun Island to draw the attention of the reader towards contemporary issues like climate change and migration?
Ghosh used the myth of Mansa devi for the issue of climate change. He used the myth of Manasa Devi and the way it was told it seems the story was not myth but history. But what is important is Ghosh wants to draw attention to these serious problems of climate change and migration. Amitav Ghose is Ecologist and with help of Mystery and history, he drew attention to this kind of issue. So many people migrated from #Sunderban because of floods and sinking.
4. Is there any connection between 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'?
Yes there is the connection between ‘The Great Derangement and ‘ The Gun Island. Gun Island is the answers of those queries which are remain in The Great Deregment’.
“Both these books deal with the significant issues of the current moment that are the unexpected changes in weather conditions in the environment and human migration. The extremity of temperature and flood had made people abandon their homeland and migrate to other places. Amitav Ghosh presents in both these books the incompetence of the present generation to grasp the scale of climate change in the spheres of Literature, History and Politics. He is really conscious of the environmental destruction that the world faces today, and the condition of impossibility to retain the ecological balance of the environment. “ ( Keerthy Gopinadh, Varsha K. )
This both books are connected very significantly enhanced with each other.
Thank you...
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