LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 20:11 November 2020
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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From Rooted to Uprooted: An Environmental Apocalypse in
Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies

Aliya Shahnoor Ameen

Sea of Poppies
Courtesy: www.amazon.com

Abstract

Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies entails the issue of displacement to the level of environmental degradation. Any dislocation or displacement involves vulnerability of ecosystem. This paper will try to show how the British settlement in Sea of Poppies, by causing the rooted native uprooted from their own place, gives way to environmental disaster. Ghosh shows in Sea of Poppies how the pre-colonial pristine pastoral remains untainted for a long time until the occupation of the British settlers. This settlement destroys natural vegetation of the place to such an extent that the lives of the farmers become unbearable. The land is losing its fertility. The indigenous crops are uprooted only to produce non-native products. The local people are forced to become displaced. The capitalist mentality induces the non-native to drive away the native from their rooted place. More importantly, Ghosh also shows that British exploitation has resulted in the crime against humanity, forced displacement, impoverishment of people, animals and their environment. It has also created ‘either/or’ situations in contexts of land and resource shortage or degradation. The women, in particular, are shown as the most vulnerable. Even the colonizers are uprooted in order to be settled in an alien land. So are their animals and crops only to be acclimatized in a foreign land. So this paper will try to focus on the adverse effects of displacement on the ecosystem in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies.

Keywords: Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, migration, displacement, dislocation, imperial rulers, capitalism.

Amitav Ghosh in Sea of Poppies introduces us to a wide variety of displacement and dislocation. If it is observed broadly, first the migration of colonial masters takes place to the colonized areas and then the natives are evicted to migrate to other colonized areas to promote capitalism and new form of slavery. It is a two-way traffic. This paper will demonstrate how degradation of environment, caused by human activity, is responsible for migration. There are socio political and socio economic reasons behind displacement and migration. So, the paper will look into whether the environment is affected by migration/settlement and also whether the environmental problems are responsible for migration. Therefore, the hypothesis of the paper is that the environment is affected by migration and environmental problems are responsible for migration. Precisely, opium cultivation and consumption caused the environment and the people to face long term catastrophe.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Aliya Shahnoor Ameen
Assistant Professor and Chair
Department of English, Southeast University
Dhaka, Bangladesh
PhD Researcher, Department of English, Dhaka University
aliyashahnoor@gmail.com
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