About Author and Novel :-
Amitav Ghosh, an acclaimed Indian-born author renowned for his literary works exploring history, migration, and globalization, has once again captivated readers with his 2019 novel, "Gun Island." This compelling narrative follows the journey of Deen Datta, a rare-book dealer from Kolkata, as he embarks on a quest to Venice, seeking answers to a mysterious legend surrounding the goddess of snakes and firearms.
As Deen's journey unfolds, he encounters a diverse array of characters whose paths cross his own, challenging his beliefs and forcing him to confront the undeniable impact of climate change on our world. Ghosh's masterful storytelling weaves together rich, evocative language with a profound exploration of environmental themes, creating a literary tapestry that resonates deeply with readers.
"Gun Island" is a must-read for fans of Ghosh's work and for anyone seeking a thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between fiction and environmental activism. With its atmospheric writing and powerful messages, this novel cements Ghosh's position as one of the most prominent voices in contemporary English-language fiction, addressing the pressing issues of our time with unparalleled eloquence and insight.
Crisis of Climate and Immigration in
'Gun Island'
Environmental Degradation in the Sundarbans:
The novel Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh highlights the pressing ecological issues facing the Sundarbans mangrove region in the Bay of Bengal. The protagonist, a book dealer named Dinanath Datta, visits the region and learns about the threat of rising sea levels due to climate change that is endangering the legendary shrine of Manasa Devi and the local folklore. The Sundarbans is described as a fragile frontier where commerce and wilderness clash. The formation of dead zones in the water due to agricultural runoff, pollution from a refinery, and fossil fuel emissions is exacerbating the environmental degradation.
A character named Pia, monitoring dolphins in the region, explains how the dead zones are rapidly expanding due to chemical fertilizer residues. The rivers are being polluted by agricultural pollutants and chemicals dumped by an influential refinery group. The novel portrays the conflict between unbridled urbanization, profit motives, and the preservation of the unique natural ecosystem of the Sundarbans. It underscores the threat of climate change and environmental pollution to this ecologically vulnerable region and the risk of losing its rich cultural heritage forever to rising seas.
In the Sundarbans, water contamination and existing dead zones result in the death of fish, crabs, dolphins, and other marine life from both rivers and the sea. It ruins the livelihoods of the poor who earn a living through fishing or crab collecting. The "vicious circle of poverty" theory argues that as the poor in developing countries depend heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods, a vicious cycle of poverty - environmental degradation - poverty is created. In Amitav Ghosh's novel Gun Island, we see how the detrimental impacts of anthropogenic water pollution deteriorate the condition of poverty-stricken indigenous people by ruining their professions and forcing them to migrate elsewhere to survive. This climate-induced human displacement from the Sundarbans in contemporary times resembles that of the Gun Merchant in the ancient legend used in the text, who fled his homeland to save his life from the destructive forces of climate change symbolized by the fury and revenge of the Goddess Manasa whom the Merchant disrespected.
Climate-Induced Human Displacement:
Cinta, an Italian historian in the novel, offers a pragmatic interpretation of the ancient legendary story of the Gun Merchant. The parallel journey of the climate-driven migrants of the past (the Gun Merchant) and the present (the underprivileged from the Sundarbans) elucidates that the legend is "an apocryphal record of a real journey to Venice". According to Cinta, the Merchant's "homeland, in eastern India, is struck by drought and floods brought on by the climatic disturbances of the Little Ice Age; he loses everything including his family, and decides to go overseas to recoup his fortune". Pia despondently describes the present environmental condition of the Sundarbans and the world, "We're in a new world. No one knows where they belong any more, neither humans nor animals". The narrative authentically informs the reader that outcomes of anthropogenic environmental devastations like global warming, sea-level rise, and water pollution pose an existential threat to all living beings during the climate apocalypse.
The narrative depicts how the Bhola Cyclone of 1970 devastated the coastal areas of the Sundarbans and the inland area called Lusibari. Villages were demolished by powerful storm surges, leaving only bare skeletons of trees and dead bodies floating everywhere, "half-eaten by wild animals". The hamlets were robbed of inhabitants by the cyclone. The situation worsened with the immigration of refugees and people from East Pakistan, escaping political mayhem, social unrest, and trauma of massacre, aggravating the dire predicament of the indigenous people where there was already lack of freshwater, food, and healthcare. The precariousness of Nature and life in this coastal region held local people back from development, rendering them deprived and socially marginalized.
Inhabitants live a storm-tossed and cyclone-ravaged life of incessant struggle, forced to adapt to frequently changing climatic conditions. Horen, a fisherman, stopped fishing as his trawlers and boats capsized in Aila Cyclone in 2009. Farmers left as soil became uncultivable due to saltwater intrusion from extreme weather and sea-level rise. According to Ghosh et al. (2015), "sea level rise owing to global warming, anthropogenic drivers, and land subsidence eventually affects the mangrove forest and vulnerable coastal communities". The resolute young people take the bold decision of moving abroad, albeit illegally, to earn money for an improved life. The number of traffickers increases after each cyclone, exploiting the crisis to trap the poor, sending women to brothels and able-bodied men to worksites.
Tipu, a local Sundarbans boy, explains to Dinanath that climate change and resultant cyclones are pertinent causes behind the exodus, as the dirt-poor and illiterate cannot survive if they don't move out. According to Last et al. (1998), "climate change and sea-level rise are likely to make some places uninhabitable, leading to major increases in migration". The poor cannot bribe forest guards to collect forest products, and high soil and water salinity make cultivation and fishing unsuitable, forcing migration. As Katha Kartiki (2011) remarks, "as climate change affects resource availability and reshapes boundaries, communities will migrate to access natural resources and livelihoods, likely driving conflict over limited resources and national borders". Gun Island showcases how climatological alterations and ecological damage cease the abundance of the mangrove region's natural resources, ruining Sundarbans' poor livelihoods and leading to conspicuous mass migrations.
The novel Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh poignantly depicts how the internet age and globalization have created new avenues for human smuggling operations to exploit the dreams of underprivileged people seeking better lives abroad. While digital technology provides access to information that spurs illegal migration by exposing the poor to tantalizing images of prosperous foreign lands, it also enables the unchecked growth of trafficking networks - the largest clandestine industry eclipsing even the drug trade. Characters like Tipu and Rafi from the remote Sundarbans region, who gain tech access from childhood, get lured by online visions into pursuing treacherous illegal journeys facilitated by smugglers. Theiråtireat innocence and hope for opportunities steadily dissipates as they face the brutal realities of being confined, abused, extorted, and nearly killed while crossing borders. From dreaming of a dignified future, they become dehumanized refugees, social outcasts stripped of identity, at the mercy of global immigration politics that reduces them to exploited resources in audacious human conveyors plying the underbelly of globalization.
Both Tipu and Rafi come from the Sundarbans region, but unlike Rafi, Tipu does not suffer from poverty as he enjoys a luxurious life even in his remote village. Pia provides Tipu and his mother Moyna with all sorts of comforts since Tipu's father, who worked for Pia, died while saving her life. So Tipu has not been forced to illegally migrate to earn money unlike other illegal migrants from the Sundarbans. Instead, he willingly chooses to flee his place for job opportunities in a prosperous foreign city, which he fails to get in Kolkata due to prevailing social bias and marginalization of the natives of the Sundarbans.
The narrative informs the reader that the indigenous people of this mangrove area are looked down upon in Kolkata due to their financial weakness and lack of progress. When Tipu's schoolmates in Kolkata learn that he is from the Sundarbans, they consider him a Dalit and start humiliating him, saying that only whores and servants come from his place. Moreover, his classmates from influential families ensure his expulsion because Tipu beats a boy for his insulting remarks about the Sundarbans. Tipu illegally crosses the national border with forged papers, lying to his family about his job and present location.
Socio-Political Dynamics of Migration:
While tracking Tipu's journey, Pia, who is also Tipu's legal guardian, contacts an NGO that deals with refugees and migrants. A member of the NGO informs Pia that Tipu's story is quite common in the present global context because "over the last couple of years there had been a huge increase in reports of teenage boys and young men leaving home without informing their families." After searching Tipu's bag, Pia learns about his growing obsession for Venice and anticipates that he will end up there.
The narrative highlights the harsh realities and brutalities faced by illegal migrants and refugees, such as torture, deportation, detention, and falling prey to transnational organized crime. The biblical place Sinai becomes a perilous place for illegal migrants and refugees, and a hub for the trade in human organs. The narrative informs the reader that "the connection house was cunningly designed: the refugees' dungeon-like cells were below ground and difficult to detect." The place is full of smugglers who demand money from refugees, and if they are unable to pay, they are even robbed of their organs, which are sold to Europeans.
Ghosh depicts the harsh realities and brutalities meted towards refugees in the present, which are comparable to the slave trade in the past. According to Gisella, Cinta's niece and a documentary filmmaker, the traffickers have connections everywhere, like the criminal underworld, the highest political and judicial places, the police, and even European governments.
The narrative offers insight into the strategies of the newly elected right-wing government in Venice, putting off illegal migration or the refugee crisis, which is the biggest political concern in Europe. Gisella starts working on a documentary about the recent wave of humans crossing into Italy, as there has been an influx of illegal immigrants across the mountains, from the far sides of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. Besides, there are thousands of refugees crossing the sea in boats from Egypt and Libya. Some of them have been rescued, while many die.
Gisella seeks Dinanath's help as a translator for her documentary, as the refugees are mostly from the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. She informs him that in Italy and Europe, immigration and the refugee crisis are two current topics of socio-political discussion. She also updates Dinanath,
"Our new right-wing government came to power because they promised to be tough on migration."
The narrative draws attention to the uncertain lives of the homeless and the negative stereotypes and biases against migrants, who are often made scapegoats for social ills. The refugees of the Blue Boat, who are victims of xenophobia and hostility, violate the rules of international immigration. The Blue Boat is anticipated to be from Egypt, and the refugees are Eritreans, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Sudanese, and some Bengalis from India or Bangladesh.
Gisella feels the need for a documentary to investigate the mass movement from the perspective of human rights as well as from a socio-political angle, echoing the concerns of people worldwide about the reasons, feelings, and hopes of the migrants. According to Fozlul Hoque Choudhury or Palash, a Bangladeshi immigrant in the text, the human rights activists of Italy decide to stand by the refugees of the Blue Boat, sending their boats to deal with the right-wing activists who aim at driving the refugees back.
Palash observes that the Blue Boat becomes symbolic of various socio-ecological problems such as climate change, social inequality, capitalistic policies, corruption, the arms trade, the oil industry, and the world's callousness towards the afflicted refugees. The protagonist encourages Piya to "put a human face on" the anonymous refugees of the Blue Boat by throwing light on their displaced lives and struggle, as they have lost their identities. The refugees are characterized by heterogeneity, as they are from diverse countries, cultures, and backgrounds, and they have different reasons for migrating arising from various socio-political factors.
Exploitation of Illegal Migration:
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Dinanath finds similarities between the suffering of the illegal migrants on the Blue Boat and the indentured workers from the Indian subcontinent and Africa who were transported to the New World to work on plantations as part of the Atlantic slave trade. The narrative states that "then, as now, trafficking in human beings had been an immensely lucrative form of commerce", highlighting the shared afflictions during migration. However, there is a fundamental difference in the mode of migration. The system of indentured labor, like chattel slavery, was controlled and directed by European imperial powers. The coolies and working-class were often unaware of their destination and the laws governing their lives, becoming slaves to serve the Empire's economic and commercial purposes. In contrast, the present-day migrants like Rafi, Tipu, and others in Venice deliberately planned to migrate illegally. The narrative notes that
"the world had changed too much, too fast; the systems that were in control now did not obey any human master; they followed their own imperatives, inscrutable as demons".
Economic Implications and Labor Dynamics:
Cinta remarks that 21st-century Italians depend on the labor of immigrants who have left their own countries and clean dirty places in Italy to earn a living. The narrative states, "Bengalis have been settling in the Veneto for a long time. Earlier they came to work in the shipyards of Mestre and Marghera. But now many more have come and in Venice they do everything- they make pizzas for the tourists, they clean the hotels, they even play the accordion at street corners". This highlights how undocumented migrants cater to the global supply chain's demand for cheap labor due to their illegal status.
Western countries are marked by multiculturalism and transculturalism due to legal immigration, like Dinanath and Pia earning their livelihood abroad and experiencing cross-cultural enrichment. However, many illegal immigrants and refugees like those on the Blue Boat represent an "overturning of a century-old project that had been essential to the shaping of Europe". Some, like Rafi and his fellow undocumented migrants, successfully reach Venice and find jobs without the foreign government's knowledge.
Parallelism between Sundarbans and Venice:
Ghosh subtly juxtaposes Venice and the Sundarbans. Dinanath notes the Venetian landscape's resemblance to the Bengal countryside and the Sundarbans. Rafi also finds similarities between Venice and the Sundarbans in terms of climate-induced flooding, crabs in the water, and collapsing embankments. Dinanath and Cinta suffer from the climatological flood in Venice, with Dinanath shocked at being "so utterly alone and helpless, so completely at the mercy of the earth". This parallel between the Sundarbans and Venice highlights how the climate crisis is not confined to one region but is ever-pervasive, as portrayed through the disastrous wildfire in Los Angeles, illustrating how the earth is gradually becoming uninhabitable due to anthropogenic global warming.
Conclusion -
References -
Clark, Alex. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh review – climate and culture in crisis.” The Guardian, 5 June 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/05/gun-island-amitav-ghosh-review.
Amitav Ghosh - Reading and Conversation on Gun Island. Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures, 2019, https://youtu.be/pixQalTh0xQ.
Francis, Ashna. “(PDF) Gun Island: A Tale of Myth, Migration and Climate Change.” 2021, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354938252_Gun_Island_A_Tale_of_Myth_Migration_and_Climate_Change. Accessed 25 April 2024.
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