Growing urban anxiety and eco-dystopia in Usha K. R.’s Monkey Man

Abstract

Urban anxiety is the wretched condition people undergo due to urbanization, and they become apprehensive when thinking about a sustainable future. When a city becomes urban, some people are thrilled to explore the elevated opportunities it provides, while some fear the havoc of urbanization. The following research is based on Usha K.R.’s Monkey Man, which seeks to understand how Bangalore city witnessed a massive transformation due to urbanization from being a pensioner’s paradise to India’s renowned Silicon Valley and India’s giant IT hub. The objectives of this research are two-fold (i) to understand how urbanization makes people’s lives anxious, and (ii) to analyze how urbanization also causes environmental distress leading to eco-dystopia. Monkey Man has been the subject of urban studies, yet the notions of anxiety and dystopia are relevant today. It intends to remind the city dwellers that they can survive with minimal nature exposure but cannot live a wholesome life without it. The objectives of this research could be achieved by combining the idea of urbanization and eco-dystopia with ecocritical theory.