Revival of the Earth: An Ecocritical Reading of Sarah Joseph’s Aalohari Anandam [Per Capita Happiness]

Abstract

The paper aims to project the ecocritical concerns of the novel Alohari Anandam [Per
Capita Happiness] by the Malayalam writer Sarah Joseph. The exploitation of the
environment is a global concern. In Kerala various people’s movements to protect the
Western Ghats are taking place. The common people are the worst affected due to
environmental destructions. Sarah Joseph is a writer and activist, who voices the concern of
the marginalized. The central character in the novel Paul is an eco crusader who opposes all
anti-environmental practices that take place in his village. He owns a few acres of land that
he turns into paddy fields and other crops. Many people lure him into making his land a unit
of stone crushing as an easy way of making money. But he refuses all and leads a rebellious
life. For his support there are Anu, aunty Rahel and relatives like John Mathai and Emma. As
the novelist delineates the eco-consciousness of the characters depicted using lot of symbols
and images from nature, the novel opens up space for an ecocritical reading. Ecocriticism is a
theory that sees connection between literature and environment. Paul’s identity is defined in
relation to his land. The naming of his farmland as the ‘bhoomivathukkal’[at the entrance to
the Earth] is very significant here because the land of Paul shelters the poor and discarded.