Hello everyone,
This blog is in response to the task assigned by professor Dilip Barad sir as part of a thinking activity. This task is about the novel Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh. So in this blog I am going to answer the questions given to the task.
Who is Amitav Ghosh:-
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer. He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honour. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and South Asia. He has written historical fiction and also written non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change.
Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honours, by the President of India. In 2010 he was a joint winner, along with Margaret Atwood of a Dan David prize, and 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019 Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.
Introduction of the 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 Sadagar, translated “The Gun Merchant,” and Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes.
In Gun Island, Ghosh portrays the displacement and migration of humans and how difficult life is for those who need to leave their countries and families behind: in particular, this crucial topic and its various implications are displayed by the story of Tipu and Rafi.
Q-1) How does this novel develop your understanding of a rather new genre known as 'cli-fi'?
Climate fiction, or cli-fi, is a form of speculative fiction that features a changed or changing climate as a major plot device. People have been unwittingly writing cli-fi stories and novels for decades, though the term came into heavy usage in the past 10 or so years. The genre frequently includes science fiction and dystopian or utopian themes, imagining the potential futures based on how humanity responds to the impacts of climate change. Rationales for the genre typically assume knowledge of anthropogenic effects on the human-altered climate as opposed to weather and disaster more generally although broader definitions exist. Technologies such as climate engineering or climate adaptation practices often feature prominently in works exploring their impacts on society.
Gun island is sequel to The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. The novel Gun island opens with the character Dinanath who came to Calcutta to spend his vacation. When he went to meet Nilima Bose and came to know about the story of Mansa devi, when he visited the shrine he got a new way of life. Amitav Ghosh put Deen in place of a Gun merchant of the Seventeenth century. In the novel Deen follows the steps of Gun Merchant and find many new facts of Nature and connection between past and present.
In the novel there are many characters who tried to escape from nature but somehow they got into trouble through nature. Characters like Tipu and Rafi who decided to migrate because they don't have enough opportunity in Sunderbans but somehow they get involved in trouble related to nature. In the novel there is reference to Bhola cyclone, the worst cyclone Sundarbans have ever faced. Through the character of Piya, Ghosh points out that the chemical fertilisers that humans are using can reduce the oxygen level of the water. The small organisms in the different water bodies cannot survive with low oxygen. Hence, mass number of water organisms would die and also the whole areas would affect the ocean, that becomes "Oceanic dead zones". Because of raising temperature of Earth, insects find difficult to adapt with the climate conditions. Bark beetles are insects which are lived by eating the leaves of the trees. But, in the mountain areas, those kinds of beetles are rare, which even eat up the whole tree for survival. That generates "a long drought" and "a huge wildfire".
In the novel there are many references of natural calamities like, flood in Sundarbans and Venice, Wildfire in Los Angeles, Climate change. Like Rafi and Tipu, there is another young pair attempting to escape from their original place-Bilal and Kabir. Bilal is the friend of Rafi. One and the other are working in the same spot in Venice. Because of the family circumstances, Bilal leaves Bangladesh along with Kabir. They get the Emirates with the help of relatives. Similar to Rafi and Tipu, they are also under the guidance of dalal; they are given instructions all the time.
Indeed, Gun Island acknowledges that there might still be hope for a better tomorrow. Ghosh writes, “The possibility of our deliverance lies not in the future but in the past, in a mystery beyond memory.”
Q-2)How does Amitav Ghosh use the myth of Manasa Devi to create the myth of Gun Merchant ('Bonduki Sadagar') and initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking?
Novel begins with Dinanath Datta, Novel narrated through his eyes. Myth of Gun Merchant explored by Dinanath. Amitav Ghosh is interested in how the story is told and it’s passed through one generation to another generation. In Bengal there are many stories about merchants. Story of Chand Sadagar is similar to the story of Mansa Devi.
In the novel to tell the story of Chand Sadagar Amitav Ghosh uses the myth of Mansa Devi through the character of Deen. So story of Chand Sadagar is like,
Chand Sadagar's son Lakhindar got Snake bite on the very first night of Marriage and the wife of Lakhindar Behula fought with Yamraj for her husband and she got her husband back.
And the story of Gun Merchant is also similar to this, Mansa Devi told Gun Merchant to be devotee of her and made shrine but he is not ready to become and calamities came and he thinks this all sent by Mansa Devi so he decided to go the where Mansa Devi don't able to find him and kind of Island and the Island is Gun Island. There also Mansa Devi find him and he had to face torture a lot and then Mansa Devi again ask him to be Worshipper and he get ready and decide to make shrine of her in Sundarban.
Nilima told Deen to visit the Shrine. Incident of mobile phone when Deen switched on his mobile phone there is a call from Italy - Cinta's call is there and she is worried about a research paper and she is a historian. She had a dream when she was at the airport. She had a dream like- 20-25 years back when they visited some place there and she remembered that one place they visited and forgot the name but she had a habit to note down everything and remember the incident and there is a dream of the Shrine of Mansa Devi going on. And then Dinanath decided to visit Mansa Devi.
Along with that there is reference to Tipu - Tipu is very good in technology. When Dinanath visited the Shrine he observed symbols and then Rafi came who was also not aware about the story of Mansa Devi then Dinanath told him the story of Mansa Devi. Dinanath thinks that this is the shrine of Mansa Devi so definitely somewhere Snake should be present and Rafi find Snake just after Dinanath. And the Cobra attack on Tip. Tipu starts speaking unconsciously that Rani (Dolphin) is in Danger. And Rani died also.
Now Dinanath came back from the shrine and get call from Los Angeles about one conference which Cinta was also attending. While travelling Dinanath observed fire in Los Angeles through aeroplane. Where he also found that two kites were fighting for serpents.
In the seminar two species discussed thoroughly about snakes. Now Cinta and Dinanath are together in LA. Where they talked about Myth or fairytale of Mansa Devi. Cinta talked about three places-
Gun island
Land of Palm sugar candy
Land of Kerchieves
Island of Chains
Cinta is a historian so she gave an idea of this place through history.
1)- Gun Island
There are many meanings of the word Gun. But in Venetian it means Bundugey- foundry of weapons. And the foundry of weapons called Ghetto. Ghetto means foundry and in Venice there is a place of foundry. Island within Island.
It is possible that a Gun merchant comes to Venice and he has nothing to do with Gun but it's the place of foundry. Gun Island might be Venice and Gun Merchant travelled to Venice and it has nothing to do with Gun of Banduk.
Character of Rafi who works in one construction site of Venice. One lady who takes care of everyone - name Lubna khala Bangladeshi lady.
So basically Gun Merchant or Bonduki Sadagar means - 'A merchant who visited Venice'.
Gun island is after the book The Great Derangement. This is divided into three parts
Stories
Histories
Politics
In the novel there are three major reason for migration of people,
War and Natural Disaster
Religious Migration
Climate Refugees
In the novel for Natural calamities - Lubna Khala migrates. For Communal violence Bilal and Kabir and for poverty Tipu and Rafi. For socio economic conditions Palash.
3) Is there any connection between The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'? Generate fan literature with the help of ChatGPT. (Promt: Generate micro fiction on Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island; Generate poem on Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island etc)
Yes, there is a connection between "The Great Derangement" and "Gun Island". "The Great Derangement" is a book written by Indian author Amitav Ghosh, while "Gun Island" is also a novel written by the same author. Both books explore the themes of climate change, migration, and the environment. In "Gun Island", the main character embarks on a journey from Venice to Los Angeles, exploring the impact of climate change on the world and the human race, while "The Great Derangement" takes a broader look at the failure of modern society to respond effectively to the crisis of climate change. "The Great Derangement" is a work of non-fiction that examines the ways in which literature, culture, and politics have failed to fully grasp the scale and urgency of the environmental crisis, while "Gun Island" is a work of fiction that uses the story of a rare-book dealer's journey to explore the relationship between humans and nature. Both books reflect Amitav Ghosh's concerns about the environment and the consequences of human actions on the planet. They also demonstrate his belief in the power of storytelling to raise awareness about important social and political issues. Overall, both "The Great Derangement" and "Gun Island" are important works that offer unique perspectives on the urgent issue of climate change and its impact on the world.
Thank you!!!
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