An Ecological Sailing Towards Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This paper is an ecocritical reading of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy which comprises of three historical fictions, Sea of Poppies (2008), River of Smoke (2011) and Flood of Fire (2015). It is a documentary of the opium trade between India and China and the trafficking of people as indentured labors by the East India Company during the mid-nineteenth century. The paper will examine the ecocentric dimensions in the work of Ghosh. Ecocriticism is a rapidly emerging field of literary study that considers the relationship which human beings share with the environment. The main issues that become very prominent in these novels are Ecological Imperialism and Ecocide. These terms are portrayed by Ghosh in his Ibis Trilogy in a very realistic manner with the grand scale of opium war. Opium war is one of the greatest incidents in the colonial history of India. This paper will analyse the issue of environmental degradation as found in the Ibis Trilogy in the light of ecocriticism.