LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 26:6 June 2026
ISSN 1930-2940

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         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.

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Roots and Realms: An Eco-Conscious Journey Through Childhood in Bibhuthibhushan Bandyopadhyay's Pather Panchali and Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer

Prasanthi Gade, M.A, PGCTE.
Dr. Nageswara Rao Gude, M.A., M.Phil., PGDCA, CELTA, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper highlights how nature can act as a 'green shield' for the child characters Opu and Durga in Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, protecting them from the two terrible things in the world, poverty and loneliness. It further differentiates how the child characters Lowell and Crystal, in Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, who are not in proximity to nature but in propinquity to modern electronic gadgets, lost the shield of nature and are compelled to confront the bitter social evils of society. This paper also emphasizes that children who are raised in nature's cradle can become future stewards of the Earth.

Keywords:Loneliness, Poverty, Children, Proximity, Nature, electronic gadgets.

Introduction

Homo sapiens, the modern human species, evolved and spent nearly their entire 120,000-year existence in the savannahs and woodlands. Our ancestors' long, sorrowful separation from nature began when they were able to live in permanent settlements and increase their population more quickly through the domestication of animals and plants (Manning 2004). However, children continued to have close contact with nature up until quite recently. The majority of children two centuries ago spent their days on or near fields, farms, or the untamed wilderness that surrounded them.

Children's lives today are very different. Today's children rarely get the chance to play freely outside or spend much time in nature. Many reasons have caused their physical boundaries to shrink. Children's safety, pollution, insect-borne diseases and most importantly, modern gadgets are prominent among them (Francis 1991, Kyttä 2004). However, research links children's reduced exposure to nature to significant trends in childhood health, such as elevated levels of depression and increased incidence of cognitive disabilities, obesity, and diabetes (Louv, 2005; Wals, 1994, Kellert, 2002, 2005).

According to many studies, humans have nature-based genetic coding and instincts as a result of our evolution in the natural world. Children are born with an innate sense of relatedness to nature, which is known as biophilia (Kellert and Wilson) or affiliation with nature, and it is important to nurture this tendency from an early age (Barrows 1995, Lewis 1996, Nelson 1993). When children have little or no interaction with the natural world, their development is thought to be a socialisation process that helps them learn to regard themselves as distinct from and not a part of the environment (Phenice and Griffore 2003, Sobel 1996).

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

Prasanthi Gade, M.A, PGCTE.
Research scholar, Department of EOFL
Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research
Vadlamudi, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India, 522213
prasanthi.gade@gmail.com
&

Dr. Nageswara Rao Gude, M.A., M.Phil., PGDCA, CELTA, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of EOFL
Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research
Vadlamudi, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India, 522213
gnr_sh@vignan.ac.in

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