Gun Island : Thinking Activity

Hello readers ! 

In this blog I'm going to discuss the novel "Gun Island" by Amitav Ghosh. This thinking activity is assigned by our professor Dilip Barad sir. 

Amitav Ghosh is a contemporary writer of the twentieth century. He is an Indian writer and the winner of the 54th Jnanpith award, India’s highest literary honor, best known for his work in English fiction. 

Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and Southeast Asia. 

Gun Island is also a very complex novel to understand. You have to read all chapters thoroughly. Otherwise you miss the connection of the story and won't be able to know further. We see the use of three languages in the novel; Bangla, Italian and English. The novel has two parts, the first one is Gun Merchant and the second one is Venice. Let's see some questions about the novel. 

1. How does Amitav Ghosh use the myth of Gun Merchant 'Bonduki Sadagar' and Manasa Devi to initiate discussion on the issue of Climate Change and Migration/Refugee crisis / Human Trafficking? 

With the use of myth Ghosh wants to talk about the serious problem that we are facing today; climate change and migration. Ghosh uses the myth of Manasa Devi and wants to tell us that Gun Merchant changes the places because of climate change and during that journey he realises the problem of migration. The whole story is about the pilgrimage of Gun merchant as well as of Dinanath. Both characters and the events are connected with each other. It is a kind of similar story.

Climate change 

In Gun Island we see many incidents that are talking about climate change. The floods in Sundarban and tides in Venice are the examples. We see that Nilima talked about the cyclone that came in Sundarban. Animals and various species are changing their places because of pollution and human disturbance. Fertiliser and other chemicals create a dead zone in water and because of that dolphins have to change their place and path often. The wildfire in Los Angeles; that we can connect today also. For example the wildfire in California, the effect of climate change :

When Deen and all the other characters are going to see the blue boat, they face many  problems like, tornado, heavy wind, hailstorm and rain. This is the upheaval in the cycle of the season. We can connect it with today also. Ice is melting because of high temperature, and that becomes serious problem to pay attention.

Some other cutting of newspaper,

This is the effect of climate change.

Migration 

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. 

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. 

There is the news in the newspaper about Indian migrants, 

2. How does Amitav Ghosh make use of the 'etymology' of common words to sustain mystery and suspense in the narrative? 

Sometimes we can't understand the meaning of any word, at that time we have to go to the origin of the word. 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 gun 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. It is a kind of awakening also, 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-dish". Desh = country, taal= kind of palm tree that produces a sugar syrup, Bengali word for sugar candy is misri. Cinta said that the Arabic word "Misr" is used for Egypt. So this place is referred to as 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. 

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. 

3. What are your views on the use of myth and history in the novel Gun Island to draw the attention of the reader towards contemporary issues like climate change and migration?

The main intention of author is to draw the attention of the readers towards contemporary issues like climate change and human trafficking. For that Ghosh used the myth of Manasa Devi. But the way he is telling the whole story, that process seems like it's real events that happened in the past.  To establish the things you have to tell a story around it, so it stays in people's minds. That is why Ghosh used the myth of Manasa Devi and the way it was told it seems the story was not myth but history. But what is important is Ghosh wants to draw attention to these serious problems of climate change and migration. 

4. Is there any connection between 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'? 

Yes, this novel "Gun Island" is the answer to another novel "The Great Derangement" by Ghosh. 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. 

5. There are many Italian words in the novel. Have you tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of google translate app ? If so, how is machine translation helping in proper translation of Italian words into English or Hindi ? 

I have tried to translate these words into English or Hindi with the help of google translation. It becomes easy to translate Italian words into English or Hindi. Here is the spreadsheet of these words, click here.

Comparison of The Hungry Tide and Gun Island

Comparison Between The Hungry Tide and Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

Abstract

This research paper discusses the comparison between The Hungry Tide and Gun Island. Amitav Ghosh used many things similar in both novels. At first glance it seems like Gun Island is a sequel to The Hungry Tide; though the researcher tried to prove whether Gun Island is sequel to The Hungry Tide or not. During the journey of both the works people can get the idea of Bengali Myth which novelist used in both novels. 

Key Words :- Comparison, Contrast, The Hungry Tide, Myth, Gun Island, Amitav Ghosh

Introduction 

Amitav Ghosh is a well known contemporary Indian writer and the winner of the 54th Jnanpith award. Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956 and raised and educated in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Egypt, India and the United Kingdom, where the author received Ph.D. in social anthropology from Oxford. Acclaimed for fiction, travel writing and journalism, author's books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In an Antique Land and Dancing in Cambodia. Author's previous novel, The Glass Palace, was an international bestseller that sold more than a half-million copies in Britain.  Ghosh has won France's Prix Medici Etranger, India's prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Pushcart Prize. Author now divides time between Harvard University, where he is a visiting professor and author's homes in India and Brooklyn, New York. People get the references of these places and also observe the influence of the writer's motherland in both the novels. 

The Hungry Tide (2004) is the sixth novel by Amitav Ghosh. It won the 2004 Hutch Crossword Book Award for Fiction. The Hungry Tide has been translated in twelve foreign countries and is also a bestseller abroad. Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women. Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down. 

Contrast Between The Hungry Tide and Gun Island

After analysing both novels the researcher found that there are some contrast between both novels. There are more characters in Gun Island. "The Hungry Tide" is told with two perspectives of Kenai Datta and Piyali Roy but "Gun Island" is told with Deen's perspective. Kanai is a translator and Deen is a rare book dealer. The Hungry Tide is the story where Piya and Kanai are going to Lusibari and their works as researcher and translator, where in Gun Island the Deen's journey starts with the visit of Nilila and then to the shrine in Sundarban and Venice. 

Similarities between The Hungry Tide and Gun Island

Obviously if readers have read both novels they must think that both novels have many similarities. Not only in characters but also in some incidents. The characters like Piya Roy, Kenai Datt, and Nilima boss, Tipu, Moyna, Fokir and Horen are similar characters in both novels. Piya Roy is portrayed as a dolphin researcher in both novels. The journey started in the novel The Hungry Tide and in Gun Island it goes further. In both novels the author used Bengali myth or folklore, which clearly shows the connection of author with this language and it's folk tales and the place also. Kusum dies in the novel The Hungry Tide and Cinta dies in Gun Island. 

Use of Bengali Myth

As a Bengali writer, readers find the attachment to the motherland of the author in these works. One can ask here why writers use myths in their works.  In article Myth Criticism of Northrop Frye, NASRULLAH MAMBROL said, 

Myth criticism drew upon the anthropological and psychological bases of myths; rituals and folktales to restore the spiritual content to the alienated, fragmented world ruled by scientism, empiricism and technology. Myth criticism regarded the creation of myth (with its association with magic, imagination, dreams etc.) as integral to human thought; and myth as the collective attempt of cultures to establish a meaningful context to human existence. Literature is viewed as emerging out of a core of myth, and as a “system” based on “recurrent patterns”. These parameters were also reflected in other contemporary movements such as Structuralism and Jungian concept of the “collective unconscious” Frye argued that literature drew upon transcendental genres such as romance (summer), tragedy (autumn), irony/satire (winter) and comedy (spring). These four genres constitute a ‘central unifying myth’. (Nasrullah Mambrol) 

When Amitav Ghosh in his interview to The Hindu was asked about his employment of human/non-human issues in the book his answer to M. Kapoor is as follows: 

 … we are seeing is an upheaval that is overturning everything that we ever knew about the world, everything is changing… the primary literary challenge of our time is to give voice to the non-human. …Those boundaries never existed. Even … Greek mythology, it is filled with non-humans of many different kinds…a kind of inspiration to go back to the literatures … It is really true that often you can find in the past sources of regeneration,… (Ghosh, 2019) 

 

In one or another way the author wants to use Bengali myth, because the author himself is Bengali. In The Hungry Tide, Bon Bibi's myth is used. 

Bon bibi‟s myth is ethnologically internalized by Fokir, who prays to her in order to appease the spirit of the forest, because he knows that in the tide country, a greater force rules the spirit that lies beyond the control of the human beings. (Nilanjan Chakraborty)

Is Gun Island Sequel to The Hungry Tide ? 

The question which arises in every reader's mind is, whether Gun Island is a sequel to The Hungry Tide or not ? After reading the summary of both novels, the first thought that comes to every reader's mind is yes ! It is a sequel to Gun Island. But it is not so. In one article, Mandira Nayar says

Amitav Ghosh's new book, Gun Island, is his first standalone novel since the Ibis trilogy. “After the trilogy, I was just dying to get back to fiction,” he says. ... The book is not a sequel, but Piya Roy is a central figure, and is still following the dolphins. Fans of The Hungry Tide will immediately recognise her no-nonsense self. ( Mandira Nayar) 

For the answer of this question, Keshava Guha writes, "Gun Island is not the first novel in which Ghosh has answered his own call to arms. It is a sequel of sorts to The Hungry Tide (2004), which examined the impact of climate change on the Sundarbans. Many of the characters in that novel reappear here, most notably the Bengali-American marine biologist Piya Roy." (Keshava Guha)

Climate Change

To begin with, we have seen that The Hungry Tide leads to a reflection on the human and non-human world, on the opposition between nature and culture, and between the global and the local. Ghosh's reflection favours a vision of the world in which its constitutive parts are seen as interdependent and interconnected. This means that everything is connected and that climate change cannot be solved unless it is seen as a problem that encompasses the natural world and the world of humans. Considering this, The Hungry Tide can be read in light of eco-cosmopolitanism, which promotes the understanding of the world as co-extensive and inclusive, connecting the human with what lies beyond its boundaries. While interconnectedness lies at the heart of the novel, Ghosh insists on the duty of writers to use their power to write about it and provoke a reaction, which will lead to an increased awareness. Indeed, the general passivity in the face of climate change also translates into the denial of predictions, as was the case for Piddington and Port Canning. These warnings are also present in Gun Island and represent the failure to imaginatively grasp the consequences of climate change. (Mathilde, Dutrieux)

In Gun Island Ghosh draws attention to the serious problem of climate change and human trafficking with the help of myth. Ghosh uses the myth of Manasa Devi and wants to tell us that Gun Merchant changes the places because of climate change and during that journey he realises the problem of migration. The whole story is about the pilgrimage of Gun merchant as well as of Dinanath, Sundarban to Venice and to Sicily. Both characters and the events are connected with each other. It is a kind of similar story. 

Purpose of Writing

Every writer has a special message in their works, that is why they took help of various myths. But people always took it wrong, they started believing in the myths and connected it with their sentiments. Nilanjan Chakraborty talked about how Amitav Ghosh gave his reason for choosing the novel as a form to express his thoughts as an artist. He says,

For me, the value of the novel as a form is that it is able to incorporate elements of every aspect of life – history, natural history, rhetoric, politics, beliefs, religion, family love, sexuality. As I see it, the novel lets you write anything you want to, as long as what you write remains pertinent to the bigger story. You create a world where you can include every part of you and the usual distinctions between historian, journalist, anthropologist dissolve.

• Amitav Ghosh

Conclusion

So this research paper provides the comparison of both novels "The Hungry Tide" and "Gun Island". There are some characters that are the same in both novels. Both stories are about the journey of the main characters in The Hungry Tide Kanai & Piya and in Gun Island Deen. There is use of Bengali myth; in The Hungry Tide Bon Bibi's myth and in Gun Island Manasa Devi's myth. 

References 

Chakraborty, Nilanjan. “Myth Formation  in the Fiction of  Chinua Achebe and Amitav Ghosh.” Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020. 

Chakraborty, Nilanjan. “Myth, Politics and Ethnography in Amitav Ghosh’s  The Hungry Tide.” Www.ijhssi.org, vol. 2, no. 2, Feb. 2013, pp. 24–28. 

Ghosh, Amitav. (2019, june 19). "For me story telling very close tied to uncanniness". The Hindu. (M. kapoor, Interviewer)

Guha, Keshava. Review of Gun Island By Amitav Ghosh, Literary Review, July 2019. 

Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Myth Criticism of Northrop Frye.” Literary Theory and Criticism, 21 Aug. 2019, https://literariness.org/2016/03/21/myth-criticism-of-northrop-frye/. 

Mathilde, Dutrieux. Climate Change in Amitav Ghosh's the Great Derangement ... https://matheo.uliege.be/bitstream/2268.2/12071/4/Dutrieux%20Mathilde_TFE%202021.pdf. 

Nayar, Mandira. “Amitav Ghosh Returns to New World with His Book 'Gun Island'.” The Week, The Week, 22 June 2019, https://www.theweek.in/theweek/leisure/2019/06/21/amitav-ghosh-returns-to-new-world-with-his-book-gun-island.html.