ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE NOVELS OF AMITAV GHOSH

Abstract

Man’s egocentric mentality and rational thinking have thrown the entire environment and its surroundings into disarray. Human actions, technological advancement, and industrial development are the causes of environmental extermination. Wars, revolutions, social, cultural, and political crises, among other things, have been documented in literature from all around the world. Global climate change, deforestation, ozone layer degradation, groundwater depletion, loss of species, population expansion, acid rain, and other ongoing environmental issues are delineated in literature. Many Indian writers have created awareness about the environment in their novels in the most realistic way. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Gosh, Fire on the Mountains, by Anita Desai, Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai are some that reveal Nature as both a demolisher and a conservator of life. Among the Indian Ecocritics, Amitav Ghosh’s contribution is significant since his novels portray the various landscapes of India. He advocates a sustainable advancement of humankind. In this world each and every living organisms has the rights to survive and has to protect its own existence. Thus, the novelist gives voice for the rights of the environment, women, animals, and entire humankind in his novels.