Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh

Thinking Activity on 'Gun Island'

About the Author Amitav Ghosh 

Amitav Ghosh, (born July 11, 1956, Calcutta [now Kolkata], India), Indian-born writer whose ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and Southeast Asia.He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honor.He has written historical fiction and also written non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change.

Ghosh studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, and earned a doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. He worked at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi and several academic institutions. His first novel The Circle of Reason was published in 1986, which he followed with later fictional works including The Shadow Lines and The Glass Palace. Between 2004 and 2015, he worked on the Ibis trilogy, which revolves around the build-up and implications of the First Opium War. His non-fiction work includes In an Antique Land and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable.

Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007 he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honours, by the President of India. In 2010 he was a joint winner, along with Margaret Atwood of a Dan David prize, and 2011 he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019 Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.

           Gun Island 

1.How does this novel develop your understanding of a rather new genre known as 'cli-fi'?

Firstly,  this novel develop very new  understanding of a genre known as 'climate fiction'which highlights the impact of climate change on human society and the natural world.There are characters like Piyali Roy,Cinta,Larry ,Dinanath etc which  are connected with the climate change and their research work are also connected with enviroment or nature.There is  importance Climate Change discussed in the novel along with that , the theme of Histrorification of Myth & Mythification of History also explored how the Global Climate affects growth and is woven around the myth in Sundarban. Throughout the novel, Ghosh explores the cultural, political, and environmental issues arising from climate change, including migration, ecological crisis, and denial of the scientific consensus on global warming. 

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

The first person narration of the novel begins with Dinanath Dutta aka Deen who is a rare book dealer in Brooklyn,and who during a visits to  Kolkata his hometown and  accidentally finds himself in the Sunderbans chasing the myth of Bonduki Sadagar (Gun Merchant) and Manasa Devi, the goddess of snakes and poisonous creatures. As the mythical story goes, during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, the Bengali merchant Bonduki Sadagar had started on a voyage to avoid the rage of Ma Manasa. On the way he was captured by Portuguese pirates who chained him and sold him off as a slave.A merchant named Iliyas purchased him. After that they try to do business in various islands with exotic names but face either epidemics or hardships of various kinds. In the end when the Gun Merchant arrived in Venice, Manasa Devi spots him.

Climate Change 

"Gun Island' written after the book 'The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable" By Amitav Ghosh."Gun Island' is an answer to the questions raised in this book. Climate Change seems like unreal, similarly in novel some incidents like Cinta time and again talking to her daughter who died in accident, Story of Manasa Devi, Spirit of Gun Merchant etc are also unreal, uncanny things.

 

Migration/Human Trafficking and Refugee Crisis

There are three major reasons of migration of people.

1.War and natural disaster.

2.Religious Migration.

3.Climate Refugees.

The novel is focusing on two locations Sundarban ,Venice.Both this sites are sinking sites, that causes migration so often.

Reasons of Migration

Natural Calamities:-Lubna Khala

Cyclone and shifting. Snake bite and two deaths. (Brother, Niece)

"It was Munir’s father who saved us,’ Lubna continued. ‘He came in a boat and got us out. But after that we knew we couldn’t live in that village any more. We sold our land and moved to Khulna. Munir and I got married later that year and he decided that instead of wasting three years chasing a degree in Dhaka he would go overseas. It was easier in those days – he went first to Russia and then came to Italy, through Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. After receiving his papers he sent for me – that was almost twenty years ago."

Communal Violence:-Bilal and Kabir

Family issue of Bilal.Riots causes migration.Migration is hard.One day there was a fight." My uncle and cousins attacked my father and me, so Kabir came to our defence and knocked my uncle down. After that it was like a riot. Kabir and I managed to get away, but from then on, we had to be constantly on the run."

Poverty:-Tipu and Rafi

Life in Sundarban is very hard. - Rafi telling a story."We spent two weeks in Dhaka and then the dalal put us on a minibus, along with a group of other men. I was carrying only a backpack, and so was Tipu. We had some clothes, a bit of food, and around 250 US dollars each, that's all."

Socio-Economic conditions :-Palash

Palash migrated to Italy as a student. Wealth, education and opportunities are also sometimes causes migration.

"I came to Italy as a student, you see, which sets me apart from most Bengali migrants. Back in Bangladesh, my circumstances were completely different from theirs. Most of them are from villages and small towns, while my father is a banker, in Dhaka. My older brother is a civil servant, quite high up. I studied at Dhaka University and even have a degree in management. For some years I worked as a manager in a  multinational corporation. I used to go to work in a car every day, wearing a suit and tie."

3.Generate fan literature with the help of ChatGPT. (Promt: Generate micro fiction on Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island; Generate poem on Amitav Ghosh's Gun Island etc).

Micro Fiction 

In the stillness of the Venetian lagoon, a lone traveler named Piya sought answers about the mysterious Gun Island. Guided by the words of Amitav Ghosh, she journeyed through the shifting tides and changing climates. With each step, she uncovered deeper truths about the interconnectedness of man, nature, and the gods. As the storm raged on, Piya realized that the only way to survive the rising waters was to embrace the uncertainty of the world, and surrender to the inevitable flow of time.

Short story 

Title:"Gun Island Quest"

Once upon a time, there lived a man named Deen, who was a rare book dealer. One day, he received a request for a rare book about the Gun Island, which was said to be located somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Deen had never heard of the Gun Island before and was intrigued by the request.

So, he set out on a journey to find the book and the Gun Island. Along the way, he met many interesting people and learned about the history of the island and the legends that surrounded it. He discovered that the Gun Island was said to be cursed and that it was guarded by powerful spirits.

Despite the danger, Deen was determined to find the book and the Gun Island. He finally reached the island and found the book he was looking for, but as he was about to leave, he was confronted by the spirits guarding the island.

Deen stood his ground and, with the help of his knowledge about the island and the legends surrounding it, was able to defeat the spirits and lift the curse from the Gun Island. He left the island with the book and returned home, where he wrote his own account of his journey and the secrets of the Gun Island.

The book became a bestseller and Deen was hailed as a hero. People flocked to the Gun Island to see the place where the curse had been lifted, and it became a popular tourist destination. And so, the Gun Island was no longer a place of mystery and legend, but a place of wonder and adventure.

Poem

Title: "In the Land of Gun Island"

In the land of Gun Island, stories unfold,

Of sea-farers and traders, myths untold.

A tale of a young man on a quest,

To uncover secrets of the West.

With the power of wind and water, he sets sail,

To the delta, where the Ganges meets the trail.

In search of a legend, he meets the old,

Whose words and wisdom, a truth they hold.

From Calcutta to Venice, he travels far,

Through tides and typhoons, with the shining star.

To find a way to save the world,

From the curse of the guns that swirl.

Amitav Ghosh weaves a tale of old,

Of the stories that in our hearts unfold.

A journey of discovery, of love and strife,

In the land of Gun Island, where the past comes to life.

Word Count 

1,500

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