"The Alchemist" Book Review

The Alchemist Book written by Paulo Coelho is very interesting book to read. Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. The novel shows the journey of Santiago, the main character of the novel. How he started the journey to find his dream and to fulfill the dream how much he was suffered !

મેં આ બુક નું ગુજરાતી અનુવાદ વાચ્યું છે, જેના અનુવાદક છે સુધા મહેતા. 

બુક ની અંદર શું છે એ જાણતા પહેલા બુક ના શીર્ષક નો શો અર્થ થાય છે એ સમજીએ (જે બુક માં આપેલ છે). 

નોવેલની શરુઆત થાય છે સાન્તિયેગો નામના છોકરા થી. એ વાત કરે છે એના સ્વપ્ન ની. જેમાં એક બાળકી તેને પિરામિડ પાસે ખજાનો બતાવવા જતી હતી ત્યારે જ તેની આંખ ખુલી ગયેલી. બે વખત આ જ સપનું આવેલું ! સાન્તિયેગો આ સ્વપ્ન ને સાકાર કરવા માટે નીકળી પડે છે. જેની આખી સફર ની વાત આ નોવેલ માં કરેલી છે. 

સ્વપ્નમાં જોયેલા એ પિરામિડ અને એ ખજાનાની શોધમાં તે પોતાના વતનથી નીકળી જાય છે. પિરામિડ સુધી પોહચતાં રસ્તા માં ઘણી મુશ્કેલ પરિસ્થિતિઓમાં તે મુકાય છે અને એમાંથી બહાર પણ નિકળે છે. એ જ તો ખરું જીવન છે. તમારા સ્વપ્ન ને પામવા માટે તમારે ખરાબ અને સારી બંને પરિસ્થિતિ માંથી પસાર થવું પડે છે અને તમારા સ્વપ્ન ને વળગી રહેવું પડે છે. 

લેખક આ નોવેલ દ્વારા એ જ સંદેશો આપે છે કે તમે સપના જુઓ, તેના અવરોધોનો સામનો કરો, સપના ને સાચા બનાવો. જ્યારે આપણે સપના જોઈએ છીએ એ પહેલા જ આ સમાજ, પરિવાર, વાતાવરણ તમારા મનમાં એક પૂર્વગ્રંથિ બાંધી દેય છે કે તમે એ નહિ કરી શકો. એમને અવગણી ને આપડે સપના જોઈએ ત્યારે એમની વાત ન માન્યા નું દુઃખ પણ લાગે છે. પણ જે લોકો આપડું હૃદયપૂર્વક હિત ઈચ્છતા હોય તેઓ આપણે સુખી થઈએ એવું જ ઈચ્છતા હોય છે. હવે જે માર્ગ આપને અપનાવ્યો છે એમાં સફળતા મળશે જ એ જરૂરી નથી. તમારે પરાજયો નો પણ સામનો કરવો પડશે અને એમાંથી જ શીખવાનું છે કે તમારી ભૂલ ક્યાં હતી, જેથી તમે ફરી એ ભૂલ ન કરો. 

એક બીજી મજાની વાત જે પુસ્તક માં વારંવાર લેખક કહે છે, એ કે 

જ્યારે આપણે કંઈક મેળવવાની ઈચ્છા મનથી કરીએ છીએ

ત્યારે દુનિયાની સમગ્ર શક્તિ આપણી મદદે આવે છે.

આ કેટલું સાચું છે એ તો મને નથી ખબર, પણ હું એટલું જાણું છું કે જો તમે મનથી નક્કી કરો છો કઈક કરવાનું તો તમારી આસપાસ એક હકારાત્મક વાતાવરણ સર્જાય છે. અને શાયદ એ જ તમને મદદ કરે છે તમને તમારા સપના પુરા કરવામાં. તમારી એ જર્ની માં તમે શું શું શીખ્યા છો, અને એ શિખ ને તમે કેવી રીતે અનુસરો છે એ ખૂબ મહત્વનું છે. હા, અંતમાં તો તમે તમારા સપના સુધી પોહચવાના જ ! હવે સાન્તિયેગો નું શું થયું ? રણ માં એ શું શું શીખ્યો ? એનું સપનું પૂરું થયું કે ? ખજાનો મળ્યો કે ? આ બધા સવાલો ના જવાબ તો તમે આખી નોવેલ વાચશો તો જ મજા આવશે. 

Thank you !!! 

Book Review : Gun Island

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

The novel contains a discussion of the serious issues of climate change and human trafficking. A little thing can affect the surroundings, that Ghosh is able to see and shows us. At the first glance we thought this novel would carry the story of "Gun" as the title written, but through the reading of the book we come to know about the pilgrimage of Gun Merchant and Dinanath Datta. The title of the novel suggests a place; a foundry of Venice. Where the merchant had gone from there. His journey from his hometown Sundarban to Gun Island (Venice), Land of Palm Sugar Candy (Egypt), Land of Kerchieves (Turkey) and then Island of Chains (Sicily).  

The whole novel is divided into many chapters. It is very interesting to read the chapter because it tells the story of Gun Merchant as well as Deen's journey, their migration because of global warming and the effects that they have faced. Ghosh said in the novel that animals and various species are suffering because of climate change. Because of it such events are happening like, wildfire, flood, tornado, high wind etc, that novel discussed. 

Ghosh uses the myth of Manasa Devi to convince the readers that the merchant suffered because of climate change. This is not the problem of a particular culture, it is the problem of the world. We can see the use of etymological words in the novel. For the meaning of the word we have to go deep in the history of the word and the meaning of it in the other language. This makes the novel difficult for readers to understand the meaning of those words. 

The book is worth reading to understand the problems that world wide people are facing including India. 

Assignment Paper 209

 

Difference Between Academic Writing and Non - Academic Writing 

Name : Latta Baraiya

Paper : Research Methodology 

Roll no : 11

Enrollment no : 3069206420200003 

Email id : lattabaraiya1204@gmail.com

Batch : 2020-22

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU

Introduction 

Writing skills are an important part of communication. Your thoughts are reflected in your writing. But we never thought that writing has different parts also, like academic writing and non academic writing. There are differences between academic writing and non academic writing. Both have different style, language, context, format, tone, grammar, vocabulary etc. Their purposes are also different. Writing is  Process. It is not easy to write. According to Columas people have been writing for thousands of years, writing has become more important in recent years, and despite the fact that millions of people are unable to write and read, the majority of communication takes place through writing rather than speaking .(Coulmas) If we look at other observations, we find Yunus and Haris said that writing is a necessary device in learning that it can help learners better in different ways such as comprehending the opinions and concepts.(Yunus and Haris) 

But here one can ask that, what is this academic writing and non academic writing ?  How does academic writing differ from other writing? Writing is a set of processes. So let's see it in detail. 

What is Academic Writing and What is Non Academic Writing ? 

It is very important to know what academic writing is and to write in that form. So let's see what is academic writing and what is non academic writing. It refers to a particular style to express anything that we are going to write. "It is consequently unsurprising that writing is given higher prominence in academic contexts, owing to its immediate practical application in a wide range of academic assignments such as examination questions, essays, research reports, dissertation thesis, and so on" (Sağlamel and Kayaoğlu). Hhh talks about three characteristics of academic writing :

• Clear evidence in writing that the writer(s) have been persistent, open-minded, and disciplined in study. 

• The dominance of reason over emotions or sensual perception. 

• An imagined reader who is coolly rational, reading for information, and intending to formulate a reasoned response. (Hill, Josh, et al)

Academic writing is just like written form of communication which demands reading and serious thinking. It refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of expertise.  

"Academic writing include a formal tone, use of the third-person rather than first-person perspective (usually), a clear focus on the research problem under investigation, and precise word choice. Like specialist languages adopted in other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts".(Hartley) 

Now let us look at non academic writing. Non academic writing, it is writing that is not intended for an academic audience. They are written for a lay audience or the mass public. This type of writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. Examples : Personal blog writing, Facebook post, Personal journal writing, Writing for newspapers etc. 

Non academic writing is writing that is not intended for an academic audience.  They are written for a lay audience or the mass public. This type of writing may be personal, impressionistic, emotional, or subjective in nature. (Hasa)

Most of non academic writings do not include references, citations or a list of sources. Nor are they extensively well-researched as academic writing. Moreover, non academic writing often does not have a rigid structure as academic writing. It is often free-flowing and reflects the style and personality of the writer. 

Difference Between Academic Writing and Non Academic Writing 

Now we have idea that what is academic writing and what is non academic writing. If we compare both writing, we can get many points that are different from each other. So let's see what are the differences,

Academic writing is a formal and impersonal style of writing that is intended for a scholarly or academic audience while non academic writing is an informal and often subjective style of writing that aims the mass public. (Hasa)

Academic writing and non academic writing are differ from various sectors such as audience, style, purposes, language, vocabulary etc. Let's overview all the points,

Audience :-  The readers of academic writing are academics or scholars and the readers of non academic writing are mostly family and friends. 

Purpose :- Academic writing give information with evidence, whereas non academic writing so give information. But it is gave in sense of entertainment. 

Style :- The style of academic writing is more formal and impersonal, but in non academic writing it is personal and more subjective and emotional. 

Organization :- When we write research it needs a well organised. It is more clear and well planned. In non academic writing the organisation is less likely to be as clear and as organised. 

Grammar :- When you write academic writing you are supposed to follow all the rules of grammar. Because your academic writing is authentic source of information. Many people take your research as their supporting argument. In non academic writing you are free to use grammar rules. But you are not supposed to break all the rules, but there are not rules also. 

Language :- The language of academic writing is more formal and it avoids colloquialisms whereas the language of no academic writing is informal and casual. It may include colloquialisms. 

Vocabulary :- Academic Writing needs accurately use of technical and academic language. While non academic writing uses short forms, idioms and slang in write up. 

Complexity:- In comparison to spoken language, written language is more complex. Written language has longer words, a more rich lexicon, and a wider vocabulary than spoken language. It employs noun-based phrases more frequently than verb-based phrases. Shorter written texts have more grammatical complexity. While non academic writing have less complexity in the writing. 

Citation & Reference :- In academic writing we can see the citation and references but in non academic writing we can not find citation and references. Because academic writing is giving evidence, so they require critics to prove their points and non academic writing is just gives information so they don't require any proofs. 

Example :- The example of academic writing is, research paper, scholarly article, thesis, dissertation etc. The examples of non academic writing is social media post, blog, newspaper article etc. 

In this way academic writing is different from non academic writing. As Hyland said, "academic writing is a kind of means to discuss knowledge claims.Academic writing should be the most concrete social text; it should consider as collective social practices rather than concerning linguistic features as regularities of academic writing. The most goals of academic writing will be persuasive; to persuade an evaluation in a review, to accept a knowledge claim in a research paper and to acknowledge a schema in a text book. On the other hand, non-academic writing is a kind of individual text in which writers think, feel or believe something. It doesn’t include literature, personal essays, articles, writing in popular magazine and newspapers".(Hyland)

Academic writing is complex then non academic writing. You should follow the rules of grammar as well as spelling and punctuation. It is hard to do academic research, because it requires more attention and you can't write anything in research. Non academic writing is more easy but I haven't that much importance in comparison to academic writing. You are responsible for your writing also, because you are giving evidence in your research so you can't rid of it. It may possible that someone deniy your points in academic writing, at that time you should be ready with your points. In non academic writing you are not supposed to prove your things and nobody is going to ask you about it. In this way we can defferciate both writings. In this both writing academic writing is very important. We can write a good academic writing with the help of quotes, statements of author and critics. This is how we can improve our academic writing. 

Conclusion 

In this way we can say that both writings have their own form of describing the information, one is professional and one is personal. From the discussion of this topic we can say that scholarly interpretations differ from those of others. Ordinary people are not able to understand this unusual meaning, but academicians are capable of doing so. Academic portrayal of the subject is unique and interesting to read. Non-academic writing only comprises informal conversions, whereas academic writing represents serious views. There are no specific standards and regulations for structure and grammar in non-academic languages. As a result, it is similar to everyday ordinary language that is only used in everyday life. Academic language should be well-thought-out, concise, and straightforward.

Works Cited

Coulmas, Florian. Writing Systems: An Introduction to Their Linguistic Analysis (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge University Press,2003. https:/writing-systems-an-introduction-to-their-linguistic-analysis-cambridge-textbooks-in-linguistics-e156761438.html. 

Hartley, James. Academic Writing and Publishing a Practical Guide. Routledge, 2008. 

Hasa. “Difference between Academic Writing and Non Academic Writing.” Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms, Differencebetween.com, 4 Oct. 2019, https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-academic-writing-and-non-academic-writing/.  

Hill, Josh, et al. “What Is Academic Writing .” Go to the Cover Page of Composing Ourselves and Our World, https://composingourselvesandourworld.pressbooks.com/chapter/1-2-what-is-academic-writing/. 

Hyland, Ken. “Disciplinary Discourses, Michigan Classics Ed.” The United States: University of Michigan Press, 2004, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.6719. 

Sağlamel, Hasan, and Mustafa Naci Kayaoğlu. “ English Major Students’ Perceptions of Academic Writing: A Struggle between Writing to Learn and Learning to Write.” Journal of History Culture and Art Research, vol. 4, no. 3, 2015, p. 37., https://doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v4i3.477. 

Yunus, Melor Md, and Siti Nor Haris. “The Use of Discourse Markers among Form Four SLL Students in Essay Writing.” International Education Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, 2014, https://doi.org/10.5539. 

Assignment Paper 207 Themes of Gun Island

 

Themes of Gun Island 

Name : Latta Baraiya

Paper : Contemporary Literatures in English

Roll no : 11

Enrollment no : 3069206420200003 

Email id : lattabaraiya1204@gmail.com

Batch : 2020-22

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU

Introduction 

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 Sada-gar, translated “The Gun Merchant,” and his persecution by Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes. Now let's see the themes in detail. 

Themes in Gun Island 

1] The Theme of Etymology / Etymological Mystery in the Novel / Etymological Concern in the Novel (Title of the novel) :- 

If we look at the themes of the novel "Gun Island" we find the etymological concern in the novel. The words which are used have different meanings in the novel. At a first glance we might think of the usual meaning of those words, but Amitav Ghosh used the term etymology. The question that arises first in our mind is, what is etymology ? According to Merriman Webster dictionary the definition of 'Etymology' : 

The history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language.

It means going into the origin of words. If we look at the novel Ghosh used many etymological words. As Soumya Bhattacharya said 

“At the heart of the story of Gun Island, there lies an etymological mystery, a derivation that points to the deep and inextricable intermeshing of cultures and civilisations over the ages. This is why etymology fascinates me: like sailors, words, too, are travellers, and tracing their journeys is like describing voyages of adventures.” (Bhattacharya, Soumya) 

We can see the use of such words that goes into the origin of those words. Let's see some examples. 

1. Gun Island

When we read the title we thought there may be a reference to 'Gun' in the novel. But no, there is no direct reference to guns in the novel. As Somak Ghoshal observed, The novel opens with a subject that he describes as one of his “obsessions": etymology. In the beginning is a word and that word is “bundook". Used to mean “gun" in many languages. (Ghoshal, Somak) 

If we see in the novel there is 'Island within Island…' 

There is one foundry where armaments, including bullets, were cast. And the word used for foundry in Venetian dialect is "getto". And the world "ghetto" is derived from "getto" and it is connected with Jews. 

The other vocabulary for Venice is linked to three apparently unrelated things - hazelnuts, bullets and guns ! The shape of hazelnuts is similar to that of bullets which are, in turn, indispensable for guns ! Venice in Arabic language is "Banadiq" - the ancestor of the German and Swedish "Venedig". In Arabic "Banadiq" became "al-Bunduqeyya". So this gun is referred to as Venice, not gun ! So the ultimate meaning of the title is - a merchant who visited Venice and who found ghetto-foundry. 

2. Bhut - Ghost 

In part one of the novel in one of the chapter named Brooklyn, there is a conversation between Dinanath Datta and Tipu through email. Tipu asked Deen, ``What is the meaning of "Bhuta" ? Does it mean "ghost" or something else ? Deen explains that in Bangla bhoot/bhuta means according to Sanskrit root "bhu" means "to be" or "to manifest".  So "bhuta" simply means "a being" or "an existing presence". This word "bhuta" also refers to the past, in the sense of "a past state of being". Like we use "bhuta-kala" or "times past". So this "bhuta" is not "ghost" but it is "memory". So it can be with you in the form of memory. 

3. Possession 

There is reference to the word possession in the novel. Possession is when someone is taken over by a demon. And the demon is nothing but it's just a metaphor for greed, an imaginary thing. So possession is not like someone's soul comes into our body and all things ! It's our greed that we have taken over that greed. 

When Cinta and Deen talk about possession, Deen said he has symptoms like possession. At that time Cinta explained that possession became when a person loses "will" and "freedom". Further she said it is a kind of awakening, you are waking up to things that you had never imagined or sensed before. In other words we can say possession is consciousness of things. 

4. Land of Palm Sugar Candy

The Bengali word for this is "taal-misrir-desh". Desh = country, taal= kind of palm tree that produces a sugar syrup, Bengali word for sugar candy is misri. Cinta said that Arabic word "Misr" is used for Egypt. So this place is referred to Egypt. 

5. Land of Kerchieves 

Cinta asked for the Bengali translation of this word. Deen told her it was called Rumaali-desh. In Bengali Rumaal is a handkerchief. Chinta said it is about Rumelia, and this Rumeli-Hisari is located in Turkey. 

6. Island of Chains

The Bengali word for this is "shikol-dwip". And this is a reference to Sikelia and that is now Sicily. So the Island of Chains is used for Sicily. As  

This is how we can see the words and it's meanings. We can't easily understand the meaning of those words, which Ghosh used in the novel. 

2] Theme of Historification of Myth & Mythification of History (Myth & History) :- 

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 his persecution by Manasa Devi, mythical goddess of snakes. This myth is not myth but history, that Ghosh described in the novel. As we see the historical locations which are mentioned are correct. So here we see myth is real history that is alive with us. 

The several questions that we can ask here to understand the theme are,

• Are myths subtle codes that contain some universal truth ? 

• Are they a window on the deep recesses of a particular culture ? 

• Are they just entertaining stories that people like to tell over and over ? 

We can answer these questions in the context of Gun Island, like this… 

• Yes, a sort of truth that Ghosh want to prove here about climate change and human trafficking. He wants to say that myths do have reality.

• We can say that this myth is not about any particular culture, but it is about all cultures. We find references to Kolkata, Los Angeles, Venice, Egypt, Turkey etc. So it's not only for one particular culture. 

• The story that Nilima Bose told to Dinanath Datta is not a children's story. So it's not for entertainment, but to see the reality and to take these problems seriously. 

If we want to study mythology, we find some box of tools to study mythology,

1. Functionalism

The founder of functionalism is Bronisław Kasper Malinowski. It studies about what is the function of myth in society. If we look into the novel, the function of myth is trying to tell us that going to another country is not allowed in our tradition. Against that going out is not wrong and harmful. So Ghosh uses this myth as an example and proves his point. Merchant suffered a lot while traveling but he was saved also. 

2. Structuralism

The founder of structuralism was Claed Levi-Strass. It studies how the story is told to people. Amitav Ghosh used a very mysterious way of telling the story. The merchant was not happy but after becoming a devotee he became very rich. People might think there may be divine power and all kinds of stuff. But very interestingly Ghosh told a story of myth. 

3. Psychoanalysis

The founder of the study of mind and psychology was Sigmand Freud. He studied psychological analysis. If we had a dream, that is because of our desire for that thing or we have fear, that fulfils in our dream. So we see the thing that constantly becomes the cause of fear of serpent. Or serpent may represent sexual energy; energy to have new life. So if we see in the novel we find that anything that deriving Deen is to know more about Piya. He is looking for a life partner, a new life. At the end of the novel also Piya said Deen to stay there, to live there. So this connection we see in this analysis. 

4. Myth and Ritual

The pioneers of myth and ritual were Emil Durkheim and Jane Harrison. If people do anything connectivity different kind of tempo they get. But what is troublesome is walking alone ! So if you want to establish a thing you have to arrange a ritual around it. Myths also have stories, so it is easy to establish the thing. What ritual can we see in the novel ? The ritual of pilgrimage "Jatra" can be found here. Deen goes to the pilgrimage and the same path he has visited like a merchant. We find the same events also happening during the journey. 

According to Roland Barthes,

"Myth converts history into nature, and the task of the mythographer is to rediscover the element of history (truth-fact-past) that motivates the myth, to elicit what is specific to a given time and place, asking what interests are served by the naturalization of particular convictions and values."

Myth is doing something that is not natural. Naturalization of something is the opening fact behind the myths. Things are opened with facts. These facts convince us so we can't deny it. What does Ghosh want to prove or naturalize ? 

If we connect it with the novel Gun Island, we find that Ghosh naturalize the problem of climate change and human trafficking. To tell the reality about climate change Ghosh used a myth, that is what he wanted to naturalize it. 

Historification was a term Brecht used to define the technique of deliberately setting the action of a play in the past in order to draw parallels with contemporary events. 

The contemporary problems that people are facing today are climate change and human trafficking that we have to take it seriously. We have seen in the novel about human migration. We see the body organ transplantation is quite terrifying. The people who are migrating are demonised. In reality, these are serious problems before they go beyond control.  

'Historification' enabled spectators to view the events of the play with emotional detachment and garner a thinking response. 

If we talk about what kind of response we are getting in the novel; emotional one or rational one.  We can say that we receive both kind responses. Cinta is a kind of believer in magical realism. But she is a historian so she also gives facts to prove her points. But in a way she is a kind of believer in some divine power. The other female character Piya strongly believes in scientific reasons. She thinks rationally and gives rational clarifications. As JR Ramakrishna observed,

Ghosh weaves the myth of the Gun Merchant into contemporary weather-related realities such as the Los Angeles wildfires, the unusual travels of dolphins and spiders, and the sinking buildings of Venice, to create a pacy, absurdist, and ultimately hopeful tale of our times. (Ramakrishnan, JR)

In brief the novel tries to tell us that we have to think seriously about climate change and migration. 

3] Theme of Climate Change :- 

If we want to understand the theme of climate change in Gun Island, we have to see first the another novel of Amitav Ghosh "The Great Derangement". Because this book asks the question, What is the role of literature in the context of climate change ? Why aren't authors talking about it in their works ? And how can they talk with the help of literature ? It argued that not enough contemporary novels were addressing climate change as a central issue of our time. 

So Gun Island is a kind of example or explanation of those questions. With the help of literature we can understand serious problems like climate change and migration. We see many incidents in the novel that are talking about climate change. Animals and various species are changing their places because of pollution and human disturbance. Deen said while talking with Cinta, 

‘You know – temperatures are rising around the world because of global warming. This means that the habitats of various kinds of animals are also changing. The brown recluse spider is extending its range into places where it wasn’t found before – like this part of Italy.’ (p.214 Gun Island) 

If we read in the novel we find 'Corpus' (list of words) in the novel that connects or describes climate change. For example,

• Flood, cyclone, storm, calamities, drought, weather alert, wildfire, tsunami, apocalypse, volcano, temperature, reforestation, femine, earthquake, plague, smoke, air quality, tornado, global warming, greenhouse, carbon dioxide, coal, tufaan, wind, water, catastrophe, hailstorm, fossil fuels etc. 

Humans see benefits and are not much aware about climate change. That is why the seasons have changed. As Piya said in the novel, because of climate change animals are migrating, and finding a better place. But there is also the same problem. So in this way we can study the theme of climate change in Gun Island. 

4] Theme of Migration - Human Trafficking / Theme of Illegal Migration and Refugee Crisis :- 

Amitav Ghosh talking about the problem and the reality of humans. People are selfish who think about themselves, not about others. There are many reasons behind migration. It may be because of political issues, religious problems or it can be climate also. JR Ramakrishna rightly said that, 

This journey sets off a chain of others and brings in Piya, an American scientist monitoring dolphins in the Sundarbans; Tipu, a slippery, ever-hustling young man who schools Deen; the earnest Rafi who goes from the Sundarbans to Venice via a convoluted, dangerous route taken by migrants today, and Cinta, the glamorous Italian academic, whose faith and insight glimmer through the book. (Ramakrishnan, JR)

If we see the reasons of migration in the novel, we find four main reasons: 

• Calamities :- Lubna Khala and her family members migrated because of the flood. Everything was destroyed in her village. So they have to migrate to other place. Many other people are also migrating because of drought, cyclone, flood etc. 

• Communal violence :- Bilal was a kind of person who helped his friend's family. He and Kabir are friends. Kabir's land was grabbed by his uncle. 

• Poverty :- Tipu and Rafi migrate because of poverty. Rafi hasn't enough money to pay the loan. 

• Socio-Economic Condition :- There is a character of Palash whose financial condition was good, he is not facing any violence nor calamities. But he has a kind of fantasy or dream to go Finland and for that he is migrating. But then he was not able to make his dream true. 

Deen, who was working in New York, has a reason for migration. He gives a reason that there is a sort of restlessness that drives people to migrate. He read many books so he dreamed of going abroad. Tipu listened to some voices and sometimes he was suffering from seizures. To discover or we can say to forget it he migrates. 

Conclusion

So these are the major themes of this novel. In short Ghosh want to tell us that climate change and human trafficking are serious problems, we have to think seriously about it.  It is hard to understand the words because you have to go deep in the origin of the word. By using these words Ghosh makes the novel complex. Here we can see that Ghosh gives importance to Bengali Language. And it is an interesting way to describe the story. 

Works Cited 

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. London: J. Cape, 1972.  

Bhattacharya, Soumya. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh: A Gripping Parable for Our Times.” Hindustan Times, 8 June 2019, https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh-a-gripping-parable-for-our-times/story-Zygav4yLecQZb9xCO1KW1N.html.  

“Etymology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/etymology. Accessed 18 Mar. 2022. 

Ghoshal, Somak. “Amitav Ghosh on Myth, Magic and His New Novel, 'Gun Island'.” Mint, 15 June 2019, https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/amitav-ghosh-and-the-sea-of-stories-1560505247731.html.  

Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. Penguin Random House India, 2019. Book. 2 January 2022.  

Ramakrishnan, JR. “'Gun Island' Is a Surreal Novel about Climate Change and Migration.” Electric Literature, 10 Sept. 2019, https://electricliterature.com/gun-island-is-a-magical-realism-novel-about-climate-change-and-migration/.