The Glass Palace By Amitav Ghosh

The Glass Palace By Amitav Ghosh
The Glass Palace
Amitav Ghosh explores different storytelling forms and complicates the picture of pre– and
postcolonial South Asian identity in his fourth novel The Glass Palace1. His ambitious epic tells "the
stories of a cast of characters, royal working – clogs, and bourgeois Indians, Bengalis, and Burmese
– as they grapple with their sense of place and self while violent historical events reshape twentieth
century Burma and India2".
Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace is an evocation of the recent past of the glorious culture and
eventual of Burma along with the gradual erosion of its social structure as well as economic self–
sufficiency. The novel cuts across three generations of Indians who make Burma their home and
leaves it under the onslaught of Japanese invasion. It is a curious fact that the past or the prospects
of the Burma never occupied the attention of the world, not because of its economic deprivation or
primitive mode of living, but due to its geographical obscurity. The policy of Britain is nothing short
of looting by forcing the king into exile and taking charge of the country. In a matter of few decades
Burma, the golden land which boasts of complete literacy and freedom from ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
'The Glass palace,' he said suddenly, 'That's what I'll call it. . . '
Why?
'It was a favourite phrase of my mother's,' he said. (531–32)
It is symbolic of both the dwindled glory of Burma as well as the resistance movement against
military dictatorship. In both these conditions the visual idiom makes the period of transition and the
reliving of history, from writer's perspective, a graphic
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...

Literature : A New Realm Of Understanding Of Human Nature...
Literature is a term used to describe written and sometimes spoken material, writing that possesses
literary merit and Language that foregrounds Literariness, as opposed to ordinary. The term derived
from Latin Literatura meaning writing formed with letters, although contemporary definitions
include texts that are spoken or sung. Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or
non–fiction and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major
forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often categorized according to
historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations.
Literature is one of the fine arts that employ language as a medium of expression. It is a mirror and
interpretation of life. Indo–English Literature has witnessed various themes like freedom struggle,
Gandhism, east–west encounter. In the modern Indo–English Literature opens a new realm of
understanding of human nature and behavior. It helps to observe an individual in terms of his
responses and reaction to other human beings, they imitates life. There is a vital relationship
between life and Literature. It is a mode of amplifying Indian English Literature is just about a
century old and is said to have began with the colonization of Indians by the British people in the
nineteenth century. It is frequently referred to as Indo–Anglican literature. This production comes
under the broader realm of Post Colonial

The Hungry Tide Essay
Chenrong Li
Professor John Peterson
ENG 380
12 Dec. 2016
The Hungry Tide: A Desired Utopia of Political Ecology In The Hungry Tide, Amitav Ghosh
explores the ecosystem of the Sundarbans, varying narration between third person and first person
perspectives, primarily through the main characters Piya, Kanai, and Fokir. The story traces the
transformation of these three main characters from disengaged spectators to invested insiders.
However, each of them perceives the biome of tide country through quite different lenses and their
experiential and educational backgrounds are significantly diverse. Because of the individuated
points of view and differential knowledge and power, conflicts emerge. This essay will interpret the
desired ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In order to address the conflict between the rights of local people and the Bengal tiger, a
conservation project was issued in 1973, turning a large proportion of the Sundarbans into a refuge.
It is in this context that the story takes place, and through this context that Ghosh evaluates the
extent to which such a utopian ideal is possible. Among the three main characters, Piya is a Bengali–
American cetologist who travels to the tideland in order to find and research the Irrawaddy and
Orcaella dolphins that are native to the region. Piya was born in Calcutta and moved to Seattle with
her parents when she was one–year–old. Her father believed that, in order to better assimilate into
U.S. culture, the family should sever its ties to India. Therefore, growing up in a family whose
children are not allowed to access their own language, Piya can only speak English. Being the
emblem of the conservation politics that has heavily influenced the Sundarban Islands, Piya tries to
appreciate the country's unique culture and its people, but is impeded by her own morals and the
characteristics which come from being an American citizen. This can be elucidated by Piya's
confrontation with the villagers who kill and burn a tiger alive inside a mud hut in retribution of
their deceased villagers and livestock that were slaughtered by the creature. Although Piya's
attempts to stop this attack are failed, her stance is evident–people are not

The Hungry Tide By Amitav Ghosh
It is no wonder that how advanced the world may be, there are still a number of human beings, who
struggle a lot for their survival; These are the human beings, who are pushed to the margins for the
reasons unknown to them, these are the human beings, who are denied a secured place in the world
for the mistakes which are not committed by them. These are marginalized people and just like
them, their history too is marginalized. Being neglected by the mainstream history, this marginalized
history, sometimes has to transform itself and settle in fiction in order to come into light.
Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide giving its way to full length discussions on various globally
concerned concepts is definitely a thoughtful attempt of providing ... Show more content on
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Hence, the first wave of migration consisted large number of upper–caste Hindus and the second
wave of migration consisted of large number of low–caste Hindus. When the upper–caste Hindus
migrated, it was easy for them to get support and shelter. They were able to find a safe haven in the
homes of their affluent friends and relatives. But that was not case with the low–caste refugees.
Unable to find any shelter and support, these Dalit refugees squatted on public and private land.
Ghosh's The Hungry Tide takes this part of the history as its source and tactfully presents the
repercussions of the partition of Bengal, its consequent refugee problem and how the low caste Dalit
refugees were persecuted under the name of conservation of Environment.
Amitav Ghosh presents us Sundarbans which is also known as the tide country, with its complex
topography and endangered flora and fauna. This UNESCO world heritage site which comprises the
delta region of Padma, Meghna and Brahmaputra river basins, is a unique forest, with its stubborn
coastal mangroves. Sundarbans is home to numerous threatened and endangered species of animals,
birds and reptiles. A part of Sundarbans is a Reserve area for the famous Royal Bengal Tigers and its
brackish water serves as home for the endangered Orcaella too. Such an ecologically rich yet
sensitive area is under heavy toll, as it offers

Analysis Of The Circle Of Reason By Amitav Ghosh
The Novels of Amitav Ghosh: A Perspective Study
Synopsis
Deepa Bavanasi Indo–Anglian literature forms an integral part of English and it has attained a
distinct place in the literary landscape in the literary landscape of India. It is a synthesis of two great
literary traditions–Indian and Anglian. It is an offshoot of colonial rule and in more or less a
synthesis of two great cultural traditions. For the past two decades it has grown from strength to
strength and acquired a new change and life with the emergence of talented second generation of
writers who are at home in English language more than the native speakers. Among the second
generation of writers may be included Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Shashi
Tharoor, Shashi ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The Glass Palace is an evocation of the recent post of the glorious culture and eventual of Burma
along with gradual erosion of its social structure as well as economic self–sufficiency. The novel
cuts across three generations of Indians who make Burma their home and leaves it under the on
slaught of Japanese invasion. It is curious fact that the past or the prospects of Burma never
occupied the attention of the world because of its geographical obscurity. This novel is about the rise
and fall of imperial powers in the 20th century. It is a masterful novel of love, war and family and
presents with a band of memorable characters, spread across Burma, Malaya and India, and across
three generations, before the door to Burma closes behind them, and the glittering light of that
civilization seems extinguished. The novel, Sea of Poppies set in the backdrop of the 19th century
opium wars, depicts the East India Company's imperial desires. At the heart of this epic saga is a
vast ship, the 'Ibis'. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean to the Mauritius
Islands. As to the people on board, there are a motley array of sailors and stow ways, coolies and
convicts. As they sail down the Hooghly and into the sea, their old family ties are washed away, and
they view themselves as ship–brothers, who will build

Ernest Hemingway Comparative Essay
Ernest Hemmingway and Amitav Ghosh, both having completely different writing styles and ideas,
seem to have an underlying similarity in how they view leadership and heroism. The Old Man and
the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway and Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh both show internal battles and
undeniable fate within characters throughout each novel. In The Old Man and the Sea Hemmingway
uses Santiago, the old Cuban fisherman, to represent internal transformation, renewed life, triumph,
and defeat. Ghosh also represents similar struggles in Sea of Poppies through one of his most
prominent characters Deeti. Hemmingway and Ghosh seek to first surpass and overcome internal
struggle, secondly show leadership through the toughest situations, and lastly the ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
With all the characters from Sea of Poppies Deeti stood out once again. Her actualization of what
was happening between her family, the opium, and the ship makes her separable from all others. She
knew her fate, but did not let it define her. She saw everything as it was which gave her the upper
hand in many situations. One situation in particular is when Deeti had suspicion that her mother–in–
law drugged her with opium on the night of her wedding. She became pregnant even though her
husband was ostensibly not able to have children. Hukam wearing a mask of lies would not confess,
Deeti stated, "She would have liked to believe him, but looking at his enervated and listless limbs
she found it hard to imagine that he had been capable of any great exertion the night before" (Ghosh
78). She knew something was wrong, and with her intuition and a bit of revenge she finally figured
the mystery from her wedding night. With the knowledge and awareness of what was done to her it
opened her eyes to a world and life she did not want to be apart of. Deeti's self actualization is what
essentially turned things around for her. Comparable to Deeti Santiago begins realizing the
actualization of life as well. He knows he is too old to go out to sea, but continues to do what he set
out to do. His realization after losing the Marlin makes Santiago stronger, but also a bit broken. He
had been at sea for almost 84 days before

What Is Ecocriticism?
"Just as feminist criticism examines language and literature from a gender–conscious perspective,
and Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production and economic class to its reading
texts, ecocriticism takes an earth–centered approach to literary studies." Cheryll Glotfelty (xviii)
Man is a part of this earth as the plants and animals are. Man is considered to be the only literary
creature on the earth and here the superiority of human minds arise and forget that he is the only part
of this physical surrounding. It has no doubt that we, Human Beings, depend on Nature for our
survival. The human culture directly or indirectly connected to the physical world. This intimate
relationship between human and non–human worlds has ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Cheryll Glotfelty, one of the forerunners of Ecocriticism defines Ecocriticism as, "the study of the
relationship between literature and the physical environment" (xviii). According to Glotfelty,
William Ruckert introduces the term Ecocriticism in his essay Literature and Ecology: An
Experiment in Ecocriticism in 1978, where he means by the term "the application of ecology and
ecological concepts to the study of literature"(xx). After this, lots of other terms like ecopoetics,
environmental literary criticism and green cultural studies were circulating in the literary world.
Ecocriticism means how nature is presented in literature. Cheryll Glotfelty states for ecocriticism,
"As a critical stance, it has one foot in literature and the other on land; as theoretical discourse, it
negotiates between human and the non–human."(xix). Ecocriticism is a swiftly mounting area of
research which shelters wide range of texts and theories and studies the relationship between man
and nature. In the literary texts, through the nature imagery, man–woman relationship, culture,
tourism, gender construct etc. the issues of environment has been studied which have wider
meanings than what is actually exhibited in their literal expressions. William Howarth observes in
Some Principles of Ecocriticism, "Since ecology studies the relations between species and habitats,
ecocriticism must see its complicity in what it

Is the Theft Act Applicable?
Statement of Jurisdiction
Subject to s. 61 (1) (c) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act Petitioner seeks review of the
acquittal of defendant based on the judgment of Judge Phalange QC in the previous trial case.
Pursuant to s.52 (1) the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to hear and determine, in accordance with
the rules of court, appeals from any judgment or order of the High Court or a judge thereof.
Questions Presented
(a) Could the finger bone be considered property for the purposes of the Theft Act?
(b) Should consent have any relevance when dealing with appropriation for the purposes of the
Theft Act?
(c) Can the objective and subjective approach to dishonesty be applied in order to determine
liability?
Statement of the Case
Sir Indiana Bones was charged under s.3 of the Barbados Theft Act 1992. He visited the residence of
Dame Dudi and persuaded her to give him the finger bone of St. Andrew out of her collection of
religious relics. Shortly after he was arrested and charged for theft of the finger bone of St. Andrew
belonging to Dame Dudi. In her defence, Mrs. Dudi alluded that she only handed the relic to Sir
Indiana in "a moment of madness". At the first court of instance Sir Indiana's conviction was
acquitted on the grounds that the subject matter of the offence did not fall within the definition of
'property' as expressed in the 1992 Act due to the common law rule relating to corpses; a person may
not have appropriated the property when it is received as a

What Nutmeg Can Tell Us About Nafta
I did not get anything out of my first reading of Amitav Ghosh's "What Nutmeg Can Tell Us About
Nafta." A couple of gaps in knowledge stood out to me as I read the article. I have only a vague idea
of what monopolies and tariffs are and how they work. The abstract concept of trading and how it
presumably benefits your own nation's economy is still something I do not fully understand. More
confusing was the fact that "drastic measures, like the uprooting of millions of trees and the
destruction of warehoused supplies, failed to prevent the [Dutch East India Company's] collapse in
the late 18th century" (Ghosh, 2); I do not intuitively understand how destroying all your goods to
salvage your company could help. Even the title was problematic; I had no idea what "Nafta" was.
Without knowing what Nafta was, I had no idea what nutmeg could tell me about it. Thus, Ghosh's
article was insignificant to me until I read an article on CNN Money titled "NAFTA: What it is, and
why Trump hates it." ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
While NAFTA increased trade across the borders of these countries, it also created tension and strife
both within and between these nations. With this working definition of NAFTA, I realized that while
a more thorough understanding of how monopolies and trade work would allow for a deeper
appreciation of how the economic principles governing society, I could still conclude that "What
Nutmeg Can Tell Us About Nafta" was actually a commentary on mankind's destructively selfish

Their Eyes Were Watching God Comparative Essay
Texts are often written to reflect on the world and to vocalise concerns from different eras in time.
While some texts have become severely outdated due to the rapidly changing nature of modern
culture, readers are still acknowledging these concerns, developing their own moral views and
utilising them in present day. Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies and Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes
Were Watching God follow complex characters that recognise and rebel against their restrictive
communities and search for a better future for themselves. Ghosh and Hurston both use their novels
to provoke readers to assess the values of modern society by exploring the expectations of women
from different cultural and religious backgrounds and the impact of a rigid ... Show more content on
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Men, like in many ancient and modern societies, had a higher importance than women and were
considered more useful as they were stronger to handle manual labour. The Hindu scriptures dictate
that while men and women have different responsibilities and roles within the community, they
should both be treated with equal respect. However in reality, this was not always the case. Sea of
Poppies addresses this issue with Deeti, the wife of a veteran and the mother of a daughter, Kabutri.
Deeti is raped by her brother in law, Chandan, on her wedding night due to her husband's infertility
and is continuously harassed by him. With the quote "You need a son, to give you a helping hand.
You're not barren, after all . . . " (Ghosh, pg. 11), his prejudice against women as well as his
pervasive tendencies towards women emphasise the attitudes of people in mid 19th century India,
especially men, that tended to denigrate the role of women. Although Sea of Poppies and Their Eyes
were Watching God are set in different cultures, they both portray the privation of women and the
damaging effects it can have on an individual. Through the incorporation of accurate historical
context, the audience is able to evaluate the treatment of women and men in the modern

Inequality In Shakespeare
In Shakespeare's view ever since creation of God man is regarded as the supreme being on the
planet, next only to God, the paragon of animals, a strange piece of work. His interest in the
universe is considered paramount although discoveries of modern science have brought about a
great change. Some people consider him divine and his suffering and primordial fall from heaven
have aroused protest and rebellion. Most of literature written in the world so far sings of man's joys
and sorrows rise and fall in the world. Voices are raised against segregation and differentiation at
various points. Of late interests of woman and her welfare have drawn international attention and a
feminist chore is audible worldwide. Rebellion against tradition, established ... Show more content
God has bifurcated sex into male and female whereas man has named in the sex and the fair sex or
the superior and the inferior or the first and the second sex. The gender inequality has created
unlawful male authority over women. The chief tasks of women were childbearing, rearing, and to
satiate every desire of their husbands. This confinement of women made them mere servants of the
superior sex. Education is one big question that haunts Amitav Ghosh. According to Amitav Ghosh
education is memorization of facts at one level. It is a tool to get a livelihood. It sharpens human
sensitivities. It kindles social consciousness in children. Education uplifts living standards of Indian
masses and save them from nightmarish depths of poverty, ignorance and disease. Thus we find that
through the women characters of his novel Sea of Poppies Ghosh wants to focuses on the evils of
Indian society or the falls conception of Indian society about women. All women characters in Sea
of Poppies show the real sufferings of women either by their family or by their society. All the
human sufferings are the impediments on their way of

Anthropocene Ecological Issues
Imagine a dying world, where organisms and resources are rapidly vanishing and the life–sustaining
environment converts into a danger zone for its inhabitants. Imagination is not required for creating
such a world because humans are currently constructing one. As a result of human activities, Earth
has been transformed and a new geological age called "the Anthropocene" has been seriously
proposed. The Anthropocene will witness the necessity for all walks of life to face numerous, new
challenges as climate conditions deteriorate and resources deplete. In order to confront the
ecological problems brought by the Anthropocene, communities must be resilient and this resilience
must rely on collective decision–making and frugality. Moreover, there ... Show more content on
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There is an emphasis on the individual seen all throughout various mediums of today's society and
this egocentric view stems from "the idea of freedom, which is central not only to contemporary
politics but also to the humanities, the arts, and literature" (Ghosh 119). The concept of freedom is
attractive as it gives power and a sense of control to the individual. With freedom comes a sense of
hope and possibilities, but as ecologist Garrett Hardin argues this concept is dangerous in the
"complex, crowded, [and] changeable world" as it separates people from one another and their
environment (1245). As humans "have become more complexy interrelated, [they] have also
become more 'distant' from one another and [from the] environmental problems (Ostrom et al. 281).
This separation of humans from one another will pose a problem as humans must unite to combat
the challenges of the Anthropocene. There must be a change from thinking of freedom in an
individualistic sense because "man is dependent upon other organisms both for the immediate means
of survival and for maintaining habitat conditions under which survival is possible" (Crosby 1186).
Society must embrace a collective freedom where individuals understand "how their actions affect
each other" and the environment, and can make independent decisions that will promote the benefit
of all as well as themselves (Ostrom et al.

Theme Of The Village By The Sea By Anita Desai
1978: Anita won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.
1980: Was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for 'Clear Light of Day'.
1984: She was again shortlisted for Booker Prize for 'Fasting, Feasting'.
2003: Received Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature..
Even before the likes of Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, and Arundhati Roy ushered in new
possibilities for Indian–English writers and paved way for their recognition in the global map, there
was Anita Desai, one of India's foremost writers. Indian novelist, short–story writer and children's
author, Anita Desai is indeed a name to reckon with in the field of literature. Winner of the Sahitya
Akademi Award and Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, Desai has authored as many as sixteen ...
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Hari, the liveliest of all characters in the novel is a exasperated and infuriated little boy when we
first see him. He is in a seemingly atrocious situation. There are several complications weighing him
down. He has become the sole breadwinner of the family at such tender age. He does everything he
can do to keep the home fire burning. Hari break bunches of coconuts, fishes along the shallow sea,
works in the arid field. He knows that one day he has to shoulder the responsibility of giving his
sisters in marriage which will amount to an unbearable sum of money. To the top of all these his
mother is in a condition that needs urgent medical treatment.
Their father has suspended to earn any money, but the worst is he has been in the habit of living
sharma9 on debt. Finally , unable to withstand the strain , he runs away to Bombay in utter
desperation.
After this turning point of his life, he learns to adapt , and he becomes quite good at that. Sri
Krishna Eating House restaurant owner, Jagu, pities upon him and welcomes him to work in

The Pros And Cons Of Trans-National Displacement
Ever since the advent of the civilization, the movement of people around international boundaries
germinated new notions that vigour new movements and standards into the researches of social
sciences and humanities. The historical events like war, colonialism or globalization are now
deemed as the major ideological forces that is reshaping international relationships, community
relations and the individuals place in them, a plethora of new key words have emerged. As people
integrate into new host societies and re–define their identities in alien environments, cultural
relativism and acculturation have re–emerged as analytical way of understanding contemporary
processes of flows of people across international boundaries. While trans–national ... Show more
In Ghosh's first novel, The Circle of Reason, the diasporic characters constantly negotiates between
both time and space i.e. history and geography. The novel set off the characters through a succession
of homelands–into that third space where boundaries are distorted and cultures collided, disabling
perplexities and complexities in their circumstances. The novel presents the nomadism of the
characters, sequence of inexorable changes in the form of the communities that they develop at
different times and different

The Old Man And The Sea
Ernest Hemmingway and Amitav Ghosh, both having completely different writing styles and ideas,
seem to have an underlying similarity in how they view leadership and heroism. The Old Man and
the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway and Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh both show internal battles and
undeniable fate within characters throughout each novel. In The Old Man and the Sea Hemmingway
uses Santiago, the old Cuban fisherman, to represent internal transformation, renewed life, triumph,
and defeat. Ghosh also represents similar struggles through one of the most prominent characters,
Deeti. Hemmingway and Ghosh seek to first surpass and overcome internal struggle, secondly show
leadership through the toughest situations, and lastly the realization of life itself. Though many
different things can be deciphered through each novel, both try to take the reader through a journey
of tranquility and distress making each character the leaders and heroes that we see them as. These
novels, seemingly nothing alike, both have similar conflicting issues that make them similar.
Overcoming internal struggle is what both novels surround themselves in. Starting from the
beginning in The Old Man and the Sea Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, set sail an uncertain
fishing trip of a lifetime. Internally batting his age, and health it seemed predestined that he would
leave in defeat. Manolin, Santiago's beloved friend and protégé, saw Santiago as confident, strong,
and a fearless leader. Idolizing Santiago

In an Antique Land Essay
In Amitav Ghosh's, "In an Antique Land", the author compares his life with that of a slave named
Bomma. He reveals that both men live in antique lands, foreign to their culture and surrounded by
very different people. Ghosh also relates the book to Percy Bysshe Shelly's poem Ozymandias, a
piece on mankind's hubris and the insignificance of the individual. Ghosh effectively juxtaposes
Bomma's life with his own as he tries to find himself and unlock the slaves past through the ancient
papers of the Cairo Geniza. Through historical details and antidotes, the author proves how a place
can be both antique and contemporary. The title of the book comes from not only Ghosh's study of
the history of the Middle East, but his observation on ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
His religion is a constant reminder of how he is an outcast yet he is also judging the culture he feels
is criticizing him. He sees them as outdated and disapproving while they see him as unusual and
mysterious. He is criticized for his religion and customs, and the children mock him in disbelief for
being Hindu. One little boy comments on his amazement with this foreign culture:
"You mean," he said in rising disbelief, "there are people in your country who are not circumcised?"
In Arabic the word "circumcise" derives from a root that means
"to purify"; to say of someone that they are "uncircumcised" is more or less to call them impure.
"Yes," I answered, "yes, many people in my country are
‘impure'." I had no alternative; I was trapped by language." (62)
This is just one example of how Ghosh is treated as an outcast in the small town of no one of the
small religion. He does not fully understand the language or culture that surrounds him, which
causes even further confusion among the parties. This relates back to Shelly's poem because both the
visitor and the "ancient" are being observed and criticized.
While Ghosh realizes that the town will never respect why he worships cows or burns the dead, he
desperately tries to analyze the town he lives in. As he buries his head in letters from Ben Yiju, he
slowly puts together the relationship between

Badal Sircar Analysis
Badal Sircar is one of the influential Bengali dramatists of the twenty first century. He was born in
Calcutta and most of his plays revolve around Calcutta. In most of his plays he has recorded the
turbulent period of Calcutta in 1960–70s. Sircar used the real space (Calcutta), the existing city
rather than the fictional space. Calcutta is considered to be one of the largest cities in India. Even
though the city seems to be economically well developed, most of the people suffer from poverty
and overcrowding. Sircar's letter to Richard Schechner, the founder of performance studies,
describes the 'city of alien culture'. He also opines that Calcutta is a city, both most loved and hated
intensely. Keywords: Calcutta, turbulent period, fictional space, overcrowding and alien culture.
Badal Sircar is one of the influential Bengali dramatists of the twenty first century. He was born in
Calcutta and most of his plays revolve around Calcutta. In most of his plays he has recorded the
turbulent period of Calcutta in 1960–70s. Sircar used the real space (Calcutta), the existing city
rather than the fictional space. Calcutta is considered to be one of the largest cities in India. Even
though the city seems to be economically well developed, most of the people suffer from poverty
and overcrowding. Sircar's letter to Richard Schechner, the founder of performance studies,
describes the 'city of alien culture'. He also opines that Calcutta is a city, both most loved and hated

The Pastoral And Wilderness Story Template Essay
One difference between the pastoral and wilderness story template is seen through the protagonists.
In the pastoral story template, the protagonist is usually accompanied by a person of the opposite
gender or simply a group of people. However, in the wilderness story template, the main character is
a man who is traveling alone. The next difference is seen on the type of animals presented in each
story template. Domesticated animals such as sheep's, cows and dogs are associated with the
pastoral template. On the other hand, wild animals like birds, rabbits, and grizzly bears are linked to
the wilderness template. To add on, the third important difference is seen in the physical landscape
of a pastoral and wilderness template. In the pastoral template, a landscape is enclosed usually to
retain domesticated animals. Furthermore, this particular land is shaped and improved by humanity.
The wilderness story template is presented in an open space that is untouched by humans. A
wilderness template offers an opportunity to escape reality and truly feel relaxed. John Muir's, My
First Summer in the Sierra, offers both a pastoral and wilderness story template. When Muir joins
shepherds to the Sierra Nevada he is fulfilling the typical pastoral template. The fact that he is
accompanied by shepherds and is navigating domesticated animals (sheep) demonstrates that the
template is pastoral. When Muir separates from the shepherds and takes a hike by himself, the
template changes to the

The Themes Of Passion In Radha Krishna's The Circle Of Reason
The second section Rajas: Passion starts with Alu's arrival in al–Ghazira, a fictitious country in the
Middle East with its interesting blend of luck seekers from diverse nations. Radha Krishna aptly
opines, "Rajas has an outward movement... Rajas is impurity which leads to activity" (Radha
Krishna, 1996: 317). Balram depicts Passion as "springing from the simple and the everyday" (50).
Alu, the central character in The Circle of Reason migrates from Bengal to a Gulf country al–
Ghazira and to El–oued, Algeria in search of safety and shelter. He is forced into exile by events
beyond his control. Sengupta rightly remarks, "The Circle of Reason might give the feeling that it is
a picaresque novel set in the contemporary milieu. It does have an unheroic ... Show more content
Prasad opines "his quest is not for the understanding of the life after but for knowledge of the cause
of the ills of society, the life present" (Prasad, 1990: 103). Alu speaks about "cleanliness and dirt and
the Infinitely Small" (235) and about Louis Pasteur. He believes that there is a need to give a call for
a war against money. Here readers are reminiscent of Balram's School: a communistic system where
in all salaries are pooled and nobody makes a profit beyond the immediate need. All the Ras people
come together in Alu's mission to wage a war against money. Nevertheless after the initial
pronouncement to cleanse the society, of the germ called "money". He proclaims that the enemy of
mankind is money, "which travels on every man and on every woman, silently preparing for their
defeat, turning one against the other" (281). Alu's plan is accepted by Abu Fahl, Prof.Samuel, Hajj
Fahmy and other Ras people with fabulous zeal. They get started to purify the society by pouring
carbolic acid. They take away money from all and record the money in account books and
accordingly create a money–free society and force the shop owners to change their shops into public
property. Finally they all go to the Star to obtain the sewing machines which prove to be their fate.
Alu and Ras people nearly succeed in this peculiar trial against germs and money. However, the
local government cruelly puts an end to

Qualities Of Publi Binodini Dasi
new space for herself and also for other female actors during the conventional period of nineteenth
century. She was also known as Noti Binodini particularly at the performance domain. Binodini,
who was born to a prostitute, belongs to the first generation of actress family of the Bengal public
theatre. She made her debut at the age of eleven in a one–line performance as Draupadi's hand
maiden at Great National Theatre in Calcutta in 1874 under the guidelines, Girish Chandra Ghosh,
who is the founder of the theatre. Within a short span of the time, she was recognised as a talented
star. The paper depicts categorically about the characters she performed during twelve years of her
acting career. Apart from that, it talks how the characters she performed are comparable to her
personal life. The paper also talks about categorically how she was deceived by the chief
coordinator of the theatre, with whom she lived. The main aim of this paper is to dig out the virtuous
noble qualities of women actresses, though they are propagated as impure personalities in this male
dominated society.
Key words: actress, performance, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In those days the ladies from upper–caste families were not allowed to act on stage. Theatre
directors used to cast women from red light areas. This was a legacy to the Indian performing arts as
a whole, where, since ages, the only theatre artists used to be the prostitutes. Binodini was one
among such actor, who came from red light area of Kolkata as a prostitute. However her exceptional
talent helped her stand out among all and be one of the major Bengali thespians of her time. She had
started her career as an actress at the tender age of twelve and by the time she retired, she was 23
years old. Theatre lovers remembered her name for the ages to

The Transcendent Dimension Of Ecology Essay
The Transcendent Dimension of Ecology in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide
Dr. R. Badhridevanath,
Assist. Prof. English & IQAC Coordinator,
Vivekanandha College of Arts and Sciences for Women (Autnomous)
Elayampalayam
Tamilnadu bathridevanath@gmail.com &
Charles Godwin,
Asst. Prof. of English,
Akash Degree College,
Bangalore.
Charlesgodwin.k@gmail.com
Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment. The
word 'Eco' and 'Critic' is derived from the Greek word 'Oikos' and 'Kritic'. The relationship is that
literature is the reflection of life and this life entirely depends upon nature. Without nature there is
no life, without life there is no literature. So literature and nature are inter–relatedn to each other.
Ecocriticism celebrates nature to certain extent. But its pivotal aim is to make people aware of the
importance of nature in an extreme situation of eco–crisis.
Ecocriticism or green studies both terms are used to denote a critical approach which began in U.S.A
during 1980's and in the U.K during 1990's. It is still an emerging moment or an updating theory,
which is feathering its wings in new colours. William Rueckert first termed the coin Ecocriticism in
the year 1978, in his essay 'Literature and Ecology– an experiment in ecocriticism'. Ecocriticism as
it now extent in U.S.A, takes its literary bearings from three major 19th century American writers
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) and

Nationalism In The Shadow Lines, By Amitav Ghosh
The Shadow Lines is a novel written by Amitav Ghosh. In this novel he talks about the main
purpose and meaning of political freedom in modern world and the influence of Nationalism. The
Shadow Lines are the borders drawn across the nations dividing its people and places which
sometimes lead to violence. Nationalism is an ideology, it is a sentiment that people have regarding
their nation, and it is part of a cultures and a movement that focuses on nation. It is formed of a
collection of movements that were part of the Nationalism itself. In the novel, The Shadow Lines the
author tries to give the idea of Nationalism to its readers and even raise a question regarding the
same. The emergence of Nationalism is also seen in the character ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
For Tham'ma nation is one such thing that is directly linked with one's personal identity. She still
lives in her past that is all illusionary, and she still had that feeling of nationhood embedded in her
deeply. Being a furious militant nationalist herself, she gets worried about her uncle who was
abandoned and left without a thing and was dying in a country which was not his own. This thing
made it clear that she do cares about her blood relations and even for the people whom she had a
problem with in the beginning. She is even ready to forgive and forget her bitter past and want to
accept the life as it is, keeping aside the family feud which started a long back. In order to get her
freedom Tham'ma wanted to act like a terrorists, they fascinated her a lot. Her search for freedom is
linked with her search for nation and in that she wants to find herself as well and is even ready to on
any extent for it. Another character Ila, who is Tridib's cousin has never really lived in India and has
grew up in different parts of the world and so she does not really understands the true meaning of
nationhood. Tham'ma is a true nationalist at heart when she gives away her fond necklace given by
her husband to raise the war fund in 1965. She herself takes a rescue mission to go to Dhaka and
bring back her old uncle, Jethamoshai to India. When she was ready to leave we see how eager she
was to see the border between India and East

Examples Of Boundaries And Boundaries In The Shadow Lines
Borders and Boundaries in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines:
A Postcolonial Study
"The Shadow lines" is an award winning novel by Amitav Ghosh. The historical events like the
Swadeshi Movement, Second World War, partition of India and communal riots of 1963–64 which
took place in Calcutta and Dhaka are all mentioned. The concept of boundaries is an important one
for the postcolonial world writer's .This novel discusses these lines across cultures and boundaries
and tries to study them. These borders and boundaries not only divided the people but also relocated
them from their own country. The story is told in first person narrative and all the events are
described in a retrospective manner of about two decades .Because of the borders, borderlines,
nation and nationhood there is a certain degree of nuances which is created inside the human mind
which is also discussed in his novel. The plot of the novel centres ... Show more content on
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He used his contents of recollections very efficiently. The issue of identity is also one of the
problems discussed by Amitav Ghosh. The concept of borders and how the life of people changed
and what are the effects of partition on them. He discussed the concept of partition by different point
of views through his different characters. Through this work he questioned the concept of borders
and according to him they are just done for the political purposes and they are just arbitrary. These
borders further enhance the trouble by creating differences among people and that affects their
mutual relationship. Amitav Ghosh through his work tries to explain that these borders have the
same effect on people on both the sides of the borders. Both the sides suffer the same violence. He
want to unify people and through The Shadow Lines he want to explain that unity is one of the
biggest asset that every nation should possess and have good relations with the neighbouring

Themes Of Ecocriticism In Literature
Eco–criticism is a branch of literature that examines the connection between ecology and it's
relationship between the literary texts . By the words of Cheryll Glotfelty defines eco–criticism as
'Simply defined, eco–criticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical
environment.' Eco–criticism is the term that examines the green studies in various literary texts.
Eco–criticism examines a particular piece of literary work from an ecological perspective than the
author's point of view. Literature not only deals with human life but also it has a vast ground for
nature and green studies. Eco–critical studies isn't a cake walk, it must have a keen ... Show more
Eco–critical studies probe into the relationship between the writer's texts and nature. Eco–criticism
is an ecological approach towards literary studies. The word Eco is the short form of ecology.
Ecological studies probe into the attitude of humans towards nature. It ventures to traverse the
different aspects of the environment in literary texts and conceptual discourse. In Indian fictions
some authors use ecological concept as the centre and some takes it as secondary. 'Ecocritical
readings of canonical texts, the, begin by adding a different perspective, and are not limited to works
self–evidently about nature'(Barry 250). In Indian fiction there are not many novels that deal with
the theme of ecocriticism. So in that concern, the dissertation concentrates on Amitav Ghosh's novel
The Hungry Tide in an eco–critical perspective. The story has been developed by the Sundarbans
region in India that acts as a backbone of the story. The novel brings how the connection between
human and nature is not just interdependent but

The Hungry Tide Analysis
Nature in The Hungry Tide Nature and literature have constantly shared an intimate relationship as
demonstrated in the creations of artists and writers across generations in all societies of the world.
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh is a novel about individuals of his Motherland and the nation
itself, beautiful, different, and mythical India. The writer exemplifies brilliant nature, individuals,
customs and even issues with tremendous love and respect.The ecological issues turn out to be
increasingly apparent, while the specialists do their best to overlook them. It is not only the
legislature at blame, but the citizens as well. The primary reason is obliviousness. The Hungry Tide,
develops nature by utilizing interlacing legends, experience, myths and history to uncover human
association with the non–human world. It likewise makes an endeavor to discover his cognizant
engagement with the regular world that attracts our thinking to the tragedy of the global
environment.The novel manufactures a noticeable worry about the survival of a balanced
environment like the sundarbans and it also records The situation of the misplaced refugees in their
bountiful surroundings to guarantee their survival.The Hungry Tide steps into the environmental
conflict with a plea for moderation. The Hungry Tide pleas for the acknowledgement and
understanding of the predicament of the poor by environmentalists and of animals and nature by
human rights groups. Ghosh accomplishes this by utilizing

The Hungry Tide, By Amitav Ghosh
Nature cannot be separated from humanity. This may seem obvious as humans are a part of the
natural world, but too many times people often overlook this fact of their existence. Most likely this
is a result of movements such as the Industrial Revolution which has brought man from the natural
environment to an artificial environment. In the beginning, and even now, this has been seen as a
luxury and a testimony to the power of mankind. It seems as if man has outsmarted nature.
However, we are only now beginning to see the true effects of this seeming victory, as climate
change becomes a more threatening and inescapable force. In the novel The Hungry Tide, author,
Amitav Ghosh, uses a cross between narration and environmentalism as a ... Show more content on
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In this description, the sun and tide become personified in the active voice. This is not true
personification because Ghosh still uses the pronoun "it" to describe both of the natural elements.
However, the use of the active voice creates a sense of personification because it gives a feeling of
action to objects we do not normally think to act. By doing this, the author forces the reader to
acknowledge that all of nature is alive and active in somewhat similar ways as humans. Even the
nature of objects like the sun and a river are alive despite their lack of biology. Their life does not
come from cells but from the movement and patterns of their cycles, like the cycle of the sunrise in
the morning and the sunset in the evening.
The difference between the life of nature and the life of human beings, and other biological creatures
exist in time. Compared to the lifespan of the natural world, humanity's lifespan as a whole is a tiny
speck. Nature existed before humanity and can go on existing even after the end of humanity. In an
article on climate change, written by Chakrabrty, he uses the words "finitude of humanity" to
describe this possibility of nature living on without humans. This possibility is ever increasing as
climate change continues to threaten human's very existence by

Stories have been a part and parcel of mankind’s...
Stories have been a part and parcel of mankind's collective consciousness and social culture since
the dawn of man's awareness. They have served as guidelines and a means of ingraining and
maintaining values, norms, mores and in innumerable cases defined the precepts for acceptable
behavior for men, women and children within a community. Many of them are based in pre–history
(myth) and history while still others are based on and are a reflection of contemporary civilization
and yet others are set in distinctly futuristic time lines. Some are passed on for generations,
becoming interwoven into the cultural fabric of a civilization; for example The 'Mahabharata' and
'Ramayana' epics of the sub–continent, define its cultural ethos as well as ... Show more content on
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After the 6th century A.D, they were replaced by codex. Come the mid–fifteenth century, the
invention of the Gutenberg printing press by Johannes Gutenberg and subsequently the steam
powered rotary press in the nineteenth–century, ensured the immortality of stories in the form of
books and paperbacks. The technological advancements of the twentieth century and the
proliferation of publishing houses enabled the story to capture a person's imagination like never
before. Whereas, in the days of Yore, the story had to rely on word of mouth, stage and theater
artists to reach a wider audience; now through the medium of books and paperbacks, it could reach a
far greater and greatly dispersed humanity. As the spread and reach of stories increased, so did their
mesmerizing influence on man. Books and paperbacks ensured the hitherto unknown writer, author,
poet, sage, thinker and philosopher to emerge from the pit of anonymity and catapult him/her to the
forefront of mass consciousness, commercial success and fame. The invention of the camera, the
movie reel and projector, as well as further development in the art of dramatization and acting,
facilitated the expansion of the stories' arc of influence, through actors and script writers as the
principal medium. After all, what is an actor if not a story teller? The invention of movies has
literally made the story come

Amitav Ghosh the Hungry Tide and the Interesting Narrative...
Both The Hungry Tide and The Interesting Narrative Of Olaudah Equiano are tales of sociological
hardships combined with a life bound to the sea. The ocean plays a significant role in the text
offering disempowerment to some whilst empowering others. In The Interesting Narrative the slave
trade was in full swing and a capitalist attitude heavily dominates the text, whilst in The Hungry
Tide capitalism plays a smaller role and the humanitarian backdrop of the story is a more central
theme. In this essay I will draw into focus the various ways in which the ocean is represented as
empowering and disempowering to the lives of characters looking at them as they develop through
the text and contrasting their empowerment against that of others. ... Show more content on
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To attempt to leave the island would likely result in death and the most fearful disempowerment
possible. Hywel Dix argues that 'with no money, power, or political influence, they are simply
treated as objects to be shunted from one location to another.'[9] Dix is here arguing that the weak
become weaker at the hands of a greater force, which is exactly what happens to the settlers. The
ocean is therefore seen as disempowering at the hands of the powerful government forces. This use
of the ocean as a way of the strong disempowering the weak is also seen in The Interesting
Narrative. In the same way the ocean is used to imprison the settler's, the Africans find themselves
similarly imprisoned by it on board their ship. Equiano makes a direct reference to his ship as being
like a prison; 'I was ready to curse the tide that bore us, the gale that wafted my prison.'[10] The
ocean is much like the police controlled perimeter that keeps them captive with the looming threat
of death for those who attempt to escape. Gilbert C. Klingel supports this notion of the ocean as
being like that of a prison; 'it is a prison without bars or cells, the only walls are the lines of
gleaming surf.'[11] Much like the settlers, Equiano is powerless to resist and is therefore kept
captive by the ocean. In exactly the same way

The Calcutta Chromosome Character Analysis
In The Calcutta Chromosome, Ghosh provides a multi–pronged exploration of the issue of identity.
In this novel, he is concerned with the contrast between the Western and Eastern cultural mind set of
the people, the economic and political vulnerability of women minorities and other marginalized
people. He is concerned with identity at its most basic level that is a whole human being replicated
from a single sample of DNA. The malarial protozoan is self–replicating when it has exhausted its
food source. When it has devoured a blood cell, it dies and its offspring's flood out into the blood
stream. Most of them also die into the point, uptight search for a new host. But a few of them
manage to insert themselves into other blood cells. When an ... Show more content on
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He claims to be the only expert on the Ronald Ross story in the world. The one and only aim of
Murugan's life is to observe and bring out the medical history of Malaria to the world. We could see
how Ghosh had given recognition to the less known and less fortunate people. Everyone in this
world gives priority to success. It became a fate that real talented ones were not noticed by the
society mostly. Murugan's had guts to disagree things though the crowd accepts and believes it
completely. Murugan could stand alone to prove the fact without depending anyone but himself.
Thomas Grey's words suit Murugan's character in this novel. Thomas Grey says, Let not Ambition
mock their useful toil, Their homely joys and destiny obscure; Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful
smile The short and simple annals of the poor.... Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid some heart
once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, or waked to
ecstasy the living

Characteristics Of Ila
Another young and one of the most important diasporic characters in the text is Ila. Ila appears in
the text as perpetually locked in the present although a materially elite, cosmopolitan who, is not
able to transcend the "shadow lines" even on a circumambulate tour of the world. In a way both the
narrator and Ila can be seen as diasporic. Since, both of them are dislocated from their native land,
to the other side of the globe but in separate respects. While, for Ila the different countries she has
travelled to and their memories are equally insignificant, the narrator is capable of traveling through
the agency of his imagination in the allegorical sense. As the narrator is of the view that "a place
does not merely exist, that it has to be ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Malathi notes in "Nation as identity in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines" that Benedict Anderson
has provided a penetrating remark on the nation. He says, "The nation is an imagined political
community. It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of
their fellow members meet them or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of
their communion." (Malathi, 303) The formation of a nation state is a bipartite procedure involving
from one point of view a blending together in spite of apparent dissimilarities among those situated
inside the territory and a creation of alienness on those located outside the border. Tha'mma's feeble,
aged Jethamoshai ,who was the sole reason for Tha'mma'a visit to Dhaka provides an illuminating
remark on the the absurdity and illogicality of borders and boundaries that form a nation. He says,
"Once you start moving you never stop. That's what I told my sons when they took the trains. I said:
I don't believe in this India–Shindia. It's all very well,you're going away now, but suppose when you
get there they decide to drawanother line somewhere? What will you do then? Where will you move
to?" (SL 211) The simple question brings to fore the problem of identity faced by any displaced
person and the sheer nonsensicality in the efforts of drawing borders and dividing

Eco Criticism In The Circle Of Reason By Amitav Ghosh
Introduction
The relationship between nature and literature is unique. It is observed that nature remains chief
source of inspiration for many great writers. Today, the intimate relationship between the natural and
social world is being analyzed and emphasized in all departments of knowledge and development.
Moreover, the 20th century witness the development of critical response towards environment. At
the result, the term Eco criticism comes in currency. Interest in the study of nature writing and in
reading literature with a focus on "green" issues grew through the 1980's and by the early 1990's
Eco criticism has emerged as a recognizable discipline within the literature departments of the
American Universities. Eco criticism has captured the attention of many scholars over the last three
decades. Eco criticism by and large is concerned with relationship between humans and the
landscape. Early theories in literary studies focus on issues of class, race, gender, region as
important criteria of critical analysis. The late twentieth century has woken up to a new threat:
ecological disaster. Eco criticism is the result of this new consciousness, that very soon, there will be
nothing beautiful in nature to discourse about ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The nature and its impact on the writer can be seen through this novel. Ghosh‟s eccentric vision is
evident in all his works as he envisions the world as a composite, interconnected whole. In The
Circle of Reason, the protagonist, Nachiketa Bosealias Alu, flees across places, countries and
continents to show cross cultural connections and to build transnational ecologies of love and
understanding. Ecological concepts of entropy and symbiosis can be used to show how vibrant
societies which are open to cultural interaction flourish while those which close the doors generate
negative energy and are likely to perish. Ghosh does precisely that in his

Deeti-The Metaphors In The Sea Of Poppies By Amitav Ghosh
ABSTRACT
This paper titled, "DEETI – the metaphor in Amitav Ghosh's The Sea of Poppies", focuses on how
the author, Amitav Ghosh, uses the character Deeti as a metaphor. Amitav Ghosh is a Serious
historical and Fictional writer born in Calcutta in a Bengali family. His Father, Shailendra Chandra
Ghosh a Military officer. Wife Deborah Baker, The author of Laura Riding biography In Extremis:
The Life of Laura Riding (1993) and a senior editor at Little, Brown and Company. Ghosh became a
faculty at Queens College, New York as Distinguished Professor in Comparative literature, also
became a visiting professor at Harvard University. He came back to India, later he published the Ibis
Trilogy. Sea of Poppies(2008), River of Smoke(2011), and Flood of Fire (2015). He was awarded
the Padma Shri by The Indian Government and Elected as the Royal Society of Literature in 2009
and named a ford foundation Art of Challenge Fellow in 2015. In many ... Show more content on
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The Sea of Poppies brings out gender identity, social identity, ethnic identity and national identity.
Each of the characters in the novel creates a connect of their past with the present. The memories,
desires, and new associations take them towards their destination. The novel uses metaphor as a tool
to bring out the suffering and pain of an individual. Ghosh here uses the character Deeti as a
metaphor to show his views about the life of a woman in the 19th century. The author weaves the
lives of the imaginative characters into the historical events to bring out hidden truths. Using
imagination, the author re–invents history and sheds light on the lives of the ordinary people. He
uses metaphor to project the idea of freedom, individual independence and a need for identity. The
ship Ibis and the Character Deeti are metaphors of the vehicle of transformation and the transformer,

Theme Of Narrative In The Glass Palace
The use of the device of the narrator and the narrating stance is termed by Genette as narrative
voice. A narrative cannot influence the reader consciously or unconsciously if there is not the
fascination of story and story– telling. According to Kenon there are three basic aspects of narrative
fiction: story, text and narration. Todorov holds that each different way the fabula is told presents a
different sjuzet. Thus it becomes clear that the act of narrating is important rather than the story.
There has been extensive experimentation done in this aspect of narrative voice and the novel has
witnessed a lot of significant structural changes. Narrative, the element of the story was intact in the
... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
He shows subjugated Burma and the attitude towards India and the Indians is starkly different from
the treatment of the Burmese people. Though Raj Kumar, an Indian born, is there at the centre of the
novel, but far from being a flawless character. He is the representative of those Indians who amassed
wealth and attained power as they benefited through the British colonization. It is a fact that British
colonized both India and Burma, but in Burma it were the Burmese who are the oppressed and
exploited while the Indians as well as people from other countries were given much chances to
flourish. One of such stories is that of Raj Kumar's story of success. Through memories and stream
of consciousness of Raj Kumar and other such characters Ghosh depicts how colonialism is a
process where people and values are always compromised. There is another important narrative
technique used by Ghosh. It is the manner in which focus shifts between one country and another.
All the major characters are distributed by Ghosh over to Burma, Indian and Malaysia and then
knitting them together by presenting them as character focalizers. The strand used by him is 'history'
not 'love', used as the motif that irradiates the first section. Through the enormous screen that he
creates over the stage of South Asia, he enacts a shadow play with characters that focalize and bring
alive the colonial history of

The Importance Of Western Hegemony In An Antique Land
What exactly is western hegemony? This question can be easily answered with a couple of minutes
using google. To save your time though I will answer it for you. Hegemony is defined as, "the
social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group" (Merriam–
Webster). Western hegemony is the west exerting hegemony on the east. This has been an ongoing
theme for some time now. The west is considered more advanced or better than other countries. This
is in the heads of the people of the east at all times as they compare themselves to the west. In An
Antique Land is a book written by an Indian writer, Amitav Ghosh, in the year of 1992. The book
has two main stories throughout it. This provides for a very interesting read. It goes back and forth
between Ghosh and his anthropological adventure in Egypt and in ancient documents covering Ben
Yuji and his slave Bomma that were alive in the 12th century. Ghosh switches the views usually
through different chapters and it is easy to follow from where he left off from each side. Ghosh lives
with Islamic Egyptians and studies them and how they live while learning more about their view of
the west and its hegemony. This book is full of evidence of western hegemony on the account of
Amitav Ghosh and his acquaintances while he is in Egypt. He expresses many different scenes in the
book that display Egyptian view's of the western culture and military power. With their view comes
all sorts of misconceptions and

Indian Author Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh is a world renowned Indian author and novelist known for his works in English
language. His writings often shows an amalgamation of cultures through the use of various
languages. He has received numerous awards for his works and was also awarded the Padma Shri
bythe Government of India. His writings are unique and contributed a lot to Indian Writing In
English. The Shadow Lines, is one of such writings, a highly innovative novel which was published
in the year 1988. It received the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award in 1989. The novel is set
against the backdrop of historical events like Swadeshi movement, Second World War, Partition of
India and Communal Riots of 1963–64 in Dhaka and Calcutta.
The novel follows the life of a young boy growing up in Calcutta and later on in Delhi and London.
The novel has various themes such as nationalism, freedom, violence. Memory and conflict between
'illusion' and 'reality'. Illusion means false notion and reality means truth. In the novel The Shadow
Lines, 'shadow' stands for illusion' and 'lines' stand for reality. This theme is represented through
various characters of the novel.
Thamma, the narrator's grandmother wanted to reunite her family by bringing Jethamoshi, her uncle
back to Calcutta, so she plans to fly to Dhaka in 1964; she asks her son if, "she would be able to see
the border between India and East Pakistan from the plane" (Ghosh, 167). Her son laughs at her and
asks her if she thought that "border was a long

Ecological Imperialism In Sea Of Poppies By Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh in Sea of Poppies published in 2008 looks back at the colonial period to show the
social, cultural, economic and ecological devastation done by European intervention in South Asia.
Ghosh states that the impelling policies of colonial powers alter the landscapes of the annexed
bioregions and economically plunder the communities. The research paper focuses on Ghosh's
concern over the commodification of nature at the hands of British colonialists. Sea of Poppies is an
account of the imposed opium monoculture in Bihar and Calcutta for the Chinese market
responsible for the enormous wealth of Britain. As such it is made clear in the paper that colonizers
have always imported and introduced cash crops in the annexed terrains by exterminating ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
It throws light on the status quo of agriculture in India and emphasizes the environmental injustice
caused to the land and to the people. Though unwilling, people are forced to adapt this new crop
culture as Britishers would go from home to home, forcing cash advances on the farmers and their
forged thumbprint. The farmers are unwilling but bound to such contracts because if they refuse, the
British soldiers would hide the silver in their houses to prove them culprits and make them convicts
to be transported beyond the seas as indentured servants. In addition, their refusal to oblige leads to
forfeiture of their properties. The novel provides a vivid picture of the exploited farming class. Deeti
maintains that earlier they lived in harmony with nature. She yearns for useful crops like wheat, dal
and vegetables. These gestures of Deeti show a happy and symbiotic environment of the earlier
times. She is aware of the curse posed by monoculture. According to her, during winters, fields used
to be covered with wheat and after the spring harvest; the straw would be used for different purposes
like fixing the hut roofs. She realizes that it has been seven years since roof of her hut was last
hatched. She does not have money to buy a handful of straw. The Britishers have left the natives
handicapped by raising the price of small accessories like straw. Being

What Is The Theme Of The Glass Palace
Deepa Bavanasi The Glass Palace
Amitav Ghosh explores different storytelling forms and complicates the picture of pre– and
postcolonial South Asian identity in his fourth novel The Glass Palace1. His ambitious epic tells "the
stories of a cast of characters, royal working – clogs, and bourgeois Indians, Bengalis, and Burmese
– as they grapple with their sense of place and self while violent historical events reshape twentieth
century Burma and India2".
Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace is an evocation of the recent past of the glorious culture and
eventual of Burma along with the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Yes, look around you, look at how we live. Yes, we who ruled the riches land in Asia are now
reduced to this. This is what they have done to us, this is what they will do to all of Burma. They
took out kingdom, promising roads and railways and ports, but mark my words, this is how it will
end. In a few decades the wealth will be gone – all the gems, the timber and the oil – and then they
too will leave. In our golden Burma where no one ever went hungry and no one was too poor to
write and read, all that will remain is destitution and ignorance, famine and despair. We were the
first to be imprisoned in the name of their progress; millions more will follow. This is what awaits us
all: this is how we will all end – as prisoners, in shantytowns born of the plague. A hundred years
hence you will read the indictment of Europe's greed in the difference between the kingdom of Slam
and the state of our own enslaved realm. (88) The formal declaration of Burma's independence in
1948 and the initial phase of democratic order were replaced by military rule which did not evoke
the popular unrest as there is not so much public awareness. It is rather strange that the military
dictatorship was able to combine two characteristics of earlier regimes, a central heard akin to a
monarch as the sole source of power and the repressive nature of colonial rule, without the benefits
of either. The country still reels under its sway

The Shadow Lines By Amitav Ghosh
With Indo–Pak relations straining from worse to worst, the 1988 novel, The Shadow Lines, of
Amitav Ghosh gets more relevance as its major focus is on the partition inflicted psyches. A nation
draws boundary to separate its people from other nations. But, in the case of India and Pakistan the
borders are not strong enough to separate people who are the progenies of the same culture and
history. How can one divide a nation which has a common past, culture, history and heritage? In fact
the makers of the sensational news about the violence on the borders consciously forget the truth
that one cannot divide the memories of the people and in turn tries to foster in them hatred for the
people across the border. The novel helps us think of a free ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Being a Bengali, Ghosh brings into focal point the partition on the Bengal border. Though the novel
concentrates much on a single family it rides through the heart of the wounded India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh and covers a large span of India's freedom struggle. The narrator of Ghosh's novel is a
young boy born and brought up in Kolkata in the post partition India. If the purpose of partition was
to give freedom to the people, that freedom was a nightmare for the Bengalese. While reading the
newspaper, Amitav Ghosh's narrator is forced to ask: "Why don't they draw thousands of little lines
through the whole subcontinent and give every place a new name? What would it change? It's a
mirage; the whole thing is a mirage. How can anyone divide a memory?"(TSL 247) In fact freedom
was just a mirage for the people on the borders. The line was drawn through their heart; many of
them lost their home land; they were cut off from the root. Life in a translated world, away from
their homeland was something horrible for many. The grandmother of Ghosh's narrator is such a
person who lost herself in between the line, being born on one side and living on the other side of
the

The Postcolonial Of Amitav Ghosh 's Novels Let Us Begin
To understand the postcolonial readings of Amitav Ghosh's novels let us begin by understanding
what postcolonial literature is. In this chapter, I will try to understand what the postcolonial
literature does by theorizing the entire process of imperialization or colonization. In the following
chapters I will try to understand the postcolonial perspective in Amitav Ghosh's fictional works.
As Peter Barry observes in his Beginning Theory, postcolonial criticism emerged as a distinct
category only in the 1990s. It has gained prominence through the influential books like In Other
Worlds (Gayatri Spivak, 1987), the Empire Writes Back (Bill Ashcroft, 1989), Nation and Narration
(Homi Bhabha, 1990) and Culture and Imperialism (Edward Said, 1993). A recurring feature of
postcolonial writing is the attempt to identify the differential cultural identity. As oppositional
discourse, postcolonial literature seeks to undermine the European discursive tradition that has
promoted the entire process of imperialization. The postcolonial theory challenges system of
conceptualizations and representation that justify and help maintain imperialist power during and
after the age of colonization. As a means to achieve this end, the postcolonial theory seeks to
establish a differential identity in an impulse to decolonize the mind. It challenges and resists the
Western cultural hegemony. Over the last few decades postcolonial theory has evolved through
different stages to encompass a variety of

The Glass Palace By Amitav Ghosh

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