An Eco-critical Study of The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

Abstract

Nature has been centrally featured in many literary and other artistic works. In literature, both man and
the physical condition he is surrounded by have been described in great length since times immemorial. The
fashion in which the surroundings have been represented has evolved along with the evolution of human
behaviour. The relationship between man and nature has been mostly depicted in writing in a very pleasant
and delightful way. It is only recently that the threat on nature and the stress it is under has managed to grab
the attention of writers. The blatant misuse of nature and its bounty for man‟s selfish gains has finally been
getting the attention it deserves in media. It also gave birth to the novel concept of eco-criticism – the study
of the relationship between literature and nature.
Eco-criticism is a section of research which is booming. It studies, collects and preserves hypotheses and
opinions presented by many writers which are specifically concerning man and environment he lives in. In
the past, literature used nature for symbolism. It was usually in the background while the centre-stage was
taken by the complexity of human relationships and culture. The issues of the degrading natural environment
had more severe implications than how innocuously they were portrayed in the writings. Though there are
some literary works which concentrate solely on environmental impact, they are few and far in between.
More often than it is used only as a setting to create a particular ambience in the minds of the readers.
“Just as feminist criticism examines language and literature from a gender-conscious perspective, and
Marxist criticism brings an awareness of modes of production and economic class to its reading texts, ecocriticism
takes an earth-centered approach to literary studies.” Cheryll Glotfelty (xviii) 

Expansion under the guise of „development‟ has been a major reason for the global degradation of the
condition of the environment. It has also been an influencer on the society created by man and the way
nature has been portrayed by the people who experienced this period of imperialism. Indian origin writers
such as Kiran Desai, V. S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth have through their writings broached
the subject of eco-criticism under the effect of expansionism. However, there is one author who has dived
deep into eco-criticism in his writings. Amitav Ghosh has presented the relationship between man and nature
in many of his works. He expertly crafts tales of diaspora, journeys to one‟s homeland, ambiguity in social
identity while maintaining a strong outlook on nature. In his writings, nature is in the foreground as much as
his characters.
This research paper is dedicated to studying the delicate dance between man and nature in Amitav Ghosh‟s novel The Glass Palace (2000). In the book, Ghosh discusses the catastrophic ecocultural effects of
the British invasion of South Asia. It is a classic example of eco-criticism in the way it investigates and
unfurls the brutalization of the landscape of the Indian subcontinent and the ramifications on the people and
their habitat which changed permanently.