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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/.
