The Myth of Bonbibi and The Environment in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide

 

Isabella M. Bracken
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor

Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide interweaves the myth of the goddess Bonbibi with the novel’s main narrative centered around Piya, Kanai, and Fokir’s exploration of The Sundarbans. This paper analyzes how Fokir’s deep connection to nature and his ability to interpret his environment position him as a “divine being” in a mythical fictional mode. This mirrors Bonbibi’s role in her myth as the protectress of the Sundarbans. In addition, this paper will illuminate how the novel’s ending, in which Fokir is killed by the very environment he understands so well, subverts the mythological structure presented in the novel by effectively “killing” the hero. Through this structural disruption, I will argue that Amitav Ghosh uses Bonbibi’s mythology to highlight the rapidly growing unpredictability of nature and the unsustainability of the traditional ways of life in the Sundarbans.

 

Keywords: The Hungry Tide, Amitav Ghosh, Bonbibi, Sundarbans, Environment, Nature, Tides, Mangrove Forest

Topic(s):English

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA