Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide as a study of the Impact of Climate Change upon its unique Bio-Diversity and the Human Communities

Abstract

Climate Change and Global Warming are already beginning to transform life on Earth. They threaten to catastrophically damage our world. It is high time that we should be concerned about the damage it is and will be causing in the coming years. In the wake of the growing concern for the fast deepening Environmental Crisis this paper highlights how Environmental/Climate Fiction can effectively be a powerful mediating tool in understanding the dramatic and emotional contours of Climate Change. Termed as a “canonical text for environmental critics” by Greg Garrard, Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide is a perfect example of this new genre of Climate Fiction or Cli-fi. The plot being embedded in Hindu Mythology explores the complex ecological issues of Climate Change that pose severe threats to the mere existence of the inhabitants of the Sunderbans, whether it is the human communities or the unique diversity of aquatic or terrestrial animals.