Climate Crisis in Amitav Ghosh's Writings: With Special Reference to 'The Great Derangement' and 'Gun Island'

Abstract

Abstract Climate change is one of the biggest problems facing the world in the twenty-first century. Rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, rising sea levels, floods, storms, droughts, and other natural disasters are changing both nature and human life. Science explains these changes through facts, data, and reports, but literature helps people understand their emotional and human effects. Literature can show fear, loss, displacement, and responsibility in ways that numbers alone cannot. This research paper studies two important works by Amitav Ghosh: The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016) and the novel Gun Island (2019). In The Great Derangement, Ghosh asks why modern literature and politics have not responded strongly enough to climate change. He says that this failure is not only scientific or political but also a failure of culture and imagination. In Gun Island, he uses a story that combines myth, history, animal movement, environmental change, migration, and human suffering. The study shows that Ghosh does not see climate change as only a scientific problem. He connects it with colonial history, fossil-fuel use, capitalism, inequality, and human greed. He also presents nature as an active force that can affect and change human life. The paper concludes that Ghosh’s writings help readers understand the Anthropocene and encourage people to respect nature, understand climate justice, and accept collective responsibility for protecting the environment.