Narrating Ecological Crisis: Environmental Anxiety and Literary Form in The Hungry Tide

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18555386

Abstract

This article examines Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide as a literary articulation of ecological crisis, environmental anxiety, and postcolonial ecological consciousness. Focusing on the Sundarbans as a fragile and volatile bioregion, the study analyses how the novel represents environmental instability as a permanent condition shaped by natural forces, state policies, and historical displacement. Using a postcolonial ecocritical framework, the article explores the interconnection between human and non-human life, highlighting how conservation practices, biodiversity loss, and forced migration converge to produce socio-ecological injustice. The analysis further demonstrates that the novel’s non-linear, polyphonic narrative structure mirrors ecological complexity and enables a dialogue between scientific knowledge and indigenous, myth-based epistemologies. By foregrounding environmental anxiety as an embodied and collective experience, The Hungry Tide positions literature as a critical space for cultivating ethical awareness and environmental responsibility. The study concludes that Ghosh’s novel contributes meaningfully to contemporary ecological discourse by advocating relational, culturally rooted approaches to understanding and responding to environmental crises.