discovering environmental and social justice · mbak atyaka laksmitarukmi for the friendship i...

DISCOVERING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

IN AMITAV GHOSH’S SEA OF POPPIES

A Thesis

Presented As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement

to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) in English Language Studies

By:

Anna Anganita Theresia Latumeten

156332035

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2017

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

APPROVAL

A THESIS

DISCOVERING ENYTRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

IN AMITAY GHOSH'S SEA OF POPPIES

Patrisius Mutiara Andalas" S.J.. S.S., S.T.D.Thesis Advisor Yogyakarta, Novemb er l, 2011


THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE

}ISCOYERING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

IN A]VIITAV GIIOSHOS,S'EH OF POPPTES

by


Student Number: l5$32A35

Defendetl before the T'hesis Committee

antl Declared Acceptatrle

TIIESIS COMMITTEE

Chairperson : Paui*s Sarrvoto, Ph.D

Secretary : Dra. Novita Ilewi, M.S., M,A (Hcns.). Ph.D

Members 1. Sri Mulvani Ph.D

Yogyakarta, Novemb er 2$, 2017

ate Prograin Director

University

=Ro 1)-J{,

Budi Subanar, SJ.

ii


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certiff that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated,

are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands

the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else's

ideas, phrases, or sentences, without proper reference.

Yogyakarta, Novernb er l, 2017

A

L\"^'A{' t/', )_-_-__Anna Anganita Theresia Latumeten

iii


LEMBAR PERI\IYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ,

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIATI T]NTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Anna Anganita Theresia Latumeten

NIM :156332035

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

DISCOVERING EI\IVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICEI{

IN AMITAV GIIOSH'S SEA OF POPPIES

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpusatakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,

mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan

data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mernpublikasikannya di internet atau

media lain untuk kepentingan akadernis tanpa perlu memintaizin dari saya

maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya

sebagai penulis.

Dernikian pernyataanini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada Tanggal 1 Novernber 2017

Yang menyatakan

I/)',^/,'e'h'1'L '


lv


v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to thank Jesus Christ for all of His blessing. I give

my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Patrisius Mutiara Andalas, S.J., S.S., S.T.D. for

his constructive insight, help, and correction. I thank my lecturers in English

Language Studies, Paulus Sarwoto, Ph.D and Dra. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A.

(Hons), Ph.D for the insightful class discussions.

I also thank family; my parents H. Carl G. Latumeten and Tormaida E.

Sitanggang, and my brothers Ducke Cristie Elias Latumeten and Denny Fladymier

Kennedy Latumeten for their utmost support. I would like to thank my friends

from ELS, especially from B Class of 2015. I also would like to thank my friends

from Literature stream; mbak Sophia, mbak Angel, mbak Sabrina, mbak Ludmila,

and Wibi. My special gratitude goes to Febby Winda Pelupessy, Jeanne Arini

Ratna Suwanto, Wanda Rizky Kinanty, Maria Consolacion Regala Catap,

Marschall Eirence Metekohy, Yosafat Barona Valentino, Flavianus Batan, and

mbak Atyaka Laksmitarukmi for the friendship I cherish so much. Lastly, I would

like to thank the academic staff of ELS for their helping hands.


vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ........................................................................................................... i

THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................... ii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ................................................................... iii

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ................................................... iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. v

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... vi

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ viii

ABSTRAK ............................................................................................................ ix

CHAPTER I .......................................................................................................... 1

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1

A. Backround of the Study ............................................................................ 1

B. Problem Formulation ................................................................................ 8

C. Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 9

D. Chapters Outline ..................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER II ....................................................................................................... 11

LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................. 11

A. Review of Related Studies ..................................................................... 11

B. Review of Related Theory ...................................................................... 29

CHAPTER III ..................................................................................................... 46

THE EFFECT OF COLONIZATION ON THE NATURE AND THE PEOPLE

IN GHOSH‘S SEA OF POPPIES ..................................................................... 46

A. The Effect of Colonization on the Nature .............................................. 46

B. The Effect of Colonization on the People .............................................. 56

CHAPTER IV ...................................................................................................... 65

RESISTANCE AS A MEANS TO DISCOVER THE ENVIRONMENTAL

AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN GHOSH‘S SEA OF POPPIES ........................... 65

A. The Early Resistance .............................................................................. 65

B. Migration and Resistance ....................................................................... 69


vii

CHAPTER V ....................................................................................................... 85

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 85

A. Significance and Achievement ............................................................... 87

B. Relevance ............................................................................................... 92

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 95


viii

ABSTRACT

Latumeten, Anna Anganita Theresia. 2017. Discovering Environmental and

Social Justice in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. Yogyakarta: The Graduate

Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma Univeristy.

This thesis explores the effect of colonization on the nature and indigenous

people, as well as to explore how the effect of colonization is resisted as a means

to discover the environmental and social justice. This thesis examines a novel

entitled Sea of Poppies (2008) that is written by Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. In

raising this topic, it is expected that this thesis is able to take part in the rising

awareness of environmental and social justice.

This thesis uses postcolonial ecocriticism as the main theory to help in

analyzing the text. The debate of the need to bring the issue of postcolonialism

and ecocriticism, the relationship between human and the nature in the colonial

setting, along with the discussion of resistance in search for environmental and

social justice, are brought together in seeing the environmental and social issues

raised by the novel.

There is an apparent shift in nature‘s role for the indigenous population.

Nature and indigenous people previously have a harmonious relationship before

the arrival of the colonial. The settlement of the colonial brings about impacts to

India in two ways: the exploitation of their nature and the exploitation of

indigenous population. Resistance comes as a reaction of the double forms of

exploitation.

Keyword: postcolonial ecocriticism, resistance, environmental justice, social

justice


ix

ABSTRAK

Latumeten, Anna Anganita Theresia. 2017. Discovering Environmental and

Social Justice in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. Yogyakarta: Program Pasca

Sarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Tesis ini membahas tentang efek kolonalisasi terhadap alam dan orang-

orang pribumi, dan juga membahas tentang resistensi sebagai usaha untuk

menemukan environmental justice dan keadilan sosial. Tesis ini membahas novel

berjudul Sea of Poppies (2008) yang ditulis oleh penulis India bernama Amitav

Ghosh. Dengan mengangkat topik ini, tesis ini dapat mengambil bagian dalam

menumbuhkan kepekaan terhadap environmental justice dan keadilan sosial.

Analisa teks ini menggunakan postkolonial ekokritik sebagai teori utama.

Perdebatan antara masalah postkolonial dan ekoritik, hubungan manusia dan alam

didalam setting kolonial, dan diskusi mengenai resistensi untuk mencapai

environmental justice dan keadilan sosial, digunakan untuk melihat masalah

lingkungan dan masalah sosial yang ditemukan didalam novel.

Ada perubahan peran alam yang terlihat sangat jelas didalam hidup

masyarakat pribumi. Sebelum penjajah tiba, masyarakat pribumi dan alam

memiliki hubungan yang harmonis. Ada dua pengaruh yang terjadi akibat

pendudukan penjajahan di India, yaitu eksploitasi alam dan eksploitasi masyarakat

pribumi. Resistensi muncul sebagai reaksi dari eksploitasi akibat penjajahan ini.

Keyword: postkolonial ekokritik, resistensi, environmental justice, keadilan sosial


1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Backround of the Study

In the age of the environmental crises, attention has been given to the

problems exist in our nature. We live under the alert that the earth‘s life support

system is in danger. Our world today faces serious environmental problems, such

as: the destruction of the ozone, air pollution, toxic waste, the extinction of animal

and plant species, and more. Our ignorance to these problems may result to such

catastrophic future of the earth. We cannot deny the fact that now our earth is

suffering. It affects both human and non-human species, namely plants and

animals. Ironically, humans are the cause of these environmental problems. By

taking control of and mistreating the nature, human beings are responsible for the

greatest destruction of this planet.

As we can see these days, green campaigns have been held frequently as

an effort to save the nature that is not-so-green anymore. Through the power of

the media, for example the internet, people have been trying to take part in raising

people‘s awareness in the importance of taking care of our Mother Earth. Various

efforts are being actively pursued to raise people‘s awareness. Literature is also

one of the ways to be included among these efforts. Literature has been taking

part to raise people‘s awareness of the existing problems in the environment faced


2

by the earth today. By involving environmental awareness into the writing, writers

can use literature to urge people to save the environment.

Environmental crisis is a global issue; it is affecting everyone. The birth of

ecocriticism as a reaction to the global environmental crisis has given the platform

to rethink about human and nature relationship in literature. In its early

development, ecocriticism only paid particular interest in Romantic poetry to see

how the earth is perceived. This shows how earth is finally given a place in the

literary study. The earth functions not merely as the setting for literary works, but

also as the important character in works of literature. Unlike in the early days of

ecocriticism development, nature writing these days is not only dominated by the

Western i.e. Romantic poetry. The awareness of environmental crisis being a

global threat has invited writers from different background to voice their take on

the crisis through their writings. This includes writers from Asia or Africa; the

writers who are from within the English studies are seen as the Third World

writers.

Amitav Ghosh is one of the writers who includes environmental concern

in his works. One of the works of this Indian writer that has ecological concern in

it is Sea of Poppies (2008). Ghosh‘s novels are usually rich in history, considering

the author‘s roots in journalism and academic writing.1 Sea of Poppies takes the

nineteenth-century opium poppy cultivation as the settings. The diversity of

characters in this novel mirrors the time of British colonialism time in India. It

1 John C. Hawley, Contemporary Indian Writers in English: Amitav Ghosh (New Delhi:

Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd., 2005), 1.


3

also captures the colonial history of the East by the West. This novel is divided

into three parts; ‗Land‘, ‗River‘, and ‗Sea‘, showing the natural setting shown in

the novel.

Sea of Poppies portrays human‘s abusive treatment to nature as the root of

environmental crisis which has become the concern of green literature. In the

novel, there is an obvious hierarchy that placed human as superior compared to

the non-human nature. Ghosh uses the opium cultivation in India as the setting to

help the reader see how nature is exploited for the benefit of British government‘s

opium trade with China.

Sea of Poppies tells us a story of different people of different background

during British colonialism in India. There is Deeti, a woman from northern Bihar.

Deeti is peasant who makes a living from the cultivation of opium poppy. She is

married to a former sepoy2 who is also an afeemkhor

3, named Hukam Singh.

Hukam Singh works in the Ghazipur Opium Factory, which is the biggest opium

factory in India operated under British East India Company. On his day to day

routine of going to work, Hukam Singh is transported to Ghazipur by a man from

the untouchable caste, named Kalua.

In the beginning of the novel, Deeti is given a ‗sight‘ by the Ganga River

about the Ibis, a ship that will change her life forever. It is also the very same day

when Ibis first make its way into the Ganga after its eleven months journey from

Baltimore. On board of this ship, there is Zachary Reid—who is a son of a slave

2 Indian soldier

3 Opium addict


4

from Baltimore with her white master, and a group of lascars led by Serang Ali.

The Ibis is brought to India to serve its new master—Benjamin Burnham of

Burnham Bros, as an opium carrying vessel.

Later on, Deeti, who is occupied with the lateness of her poppy crop,

receives a message that her husband passed out during his job in the factory. With

the help of Kalua, Deeti and her daughter Kabutri make their way to the town of

Ghazipur in Kalua‘s oxcart. On the way to the factory, Deeti cannot help but

notice how the other peasants appear to have the same problems as her. The

harvest for poppy sap is unusually late for them that season. Deeti notices how

this has caused the more people to suffer because they barely have anything on

their dinner table to feed their family. The road to the factory is filled not only by

people trying to earn money; it is also taken over by the contaminated air. The

factory has created such an unhealthy environment in its surroundings. As she

proceeds to the factory, Deeti notices how inhumane the working condition in the

factory is.

Deeti soon finds herself in a difficult situation when her husband died.

Deeti parts with her only child Kabutri when her husband‘s family forces her to

die as a sati. On the day of her husband‘s funeral, Deeti is rescued by Kalua. On

their escape, Deeti and Kalua then decide to run away together to a place

unknown by any of their family to start a life together. This is how they both sign

up to be indentured labors to be sent to Mauritius. Soon on the board of the ship to

Mauritius, Deeti and Kalua acquaint themselves with different people from

different background.


5

The one who also on the run, Paulette Lambert; she is a French orphan

from a long line of family of botanists. Paulette decides to leave Benjamin

Burnham and his family who take care of her after the death of her father.

Paulette‘s escape is motivated by Mr. Burnham‘s offensive acts towards her and

the prospect of marrying a man from Calcutta‘s white society for the so called

good ‗status‘. Her fluency in speaking in Hindi makes her undetectable when she

gets on the board of Ibis disguising as an indigenous woman. One of the closest

people to Paulette on the ship is Jodu, a native who signs himself up as a lascar.

Paulette and Jodu grows up together inseparably like siblings. Since the death of

her mother, Jodu‘s late mother took Paulette into her care as her own daughter.

Driven by a really different circumstance with the other migrants to-be,

there is Neel Rattan Halder. Born ‗royalty‘, Neel Halder is a man from a respected

high caste in Indian society. Neel Halder is to be transported as a convict to

Mauritius, to serve his seven years sentence in British jail in Mauritius. Neel

Halder is arrested by British authority because of debt problem with Benjamin

Burnham. Neel Halder is not the only convict to be transported to Mauritius. He

soon finds himself learns to be in the company of a half Chinese opium addict

named Ah Fatt.

Despite of the differences in their past lives, these people are brought

together in the same ship with the same fate waits for them. These characters get

along together with the ship and the status of being immigrants bound them

together. They face their new life of being ship siblings, anticipating of what life


6

is going to be after leaving their homeland in a journey of uncertainty. This theme

of journey on the ship marks an important event of Indian diaspora.

Sea of Poppies provides a significant example of the history of Indian

diaspora to all over the places in the world. Indian migrants, during this colonial

time, were being sent to various places under British colony to be labored as

slaves in British‘s plantations. In Sea of Poppies, for example, we witness how the

characters are on board of the journey to be transported to Mauritius, where

British plantations have waited for them to serve as coolies.

Other than migration as a reason of Indian diaspora, Sea of Poppies also

highlights some of the most important history of British colonial in India. One of

them is the imposition of opium cultivation of opium poppy upon the native

peasants. With British having an exclusive monopoly on India‘s opium

production, the new cultivation system is forced to the farmers in India. The

colony forces the cultivation of the cash crop poppy to gain as much profit as

possible. This causes the oppression on the locals and their land. The practice of

poppy monoculture has caused a serious damage to India‘s ecosystem, and its

people‘s lives too.

In Ghosh‘s works, theme related to colonialism or the environment is often

found. He has written several works of fiction, they are: The Circle of Reason

(1986), The Shadow Lines (1988), The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), The Glass

Palace (2000), The Hungry Tide (2004), Sea Of Poppies (2008), River of Smoke

(2011), and Flood of Fire (2015). His famous works of non-fiction includes In an

Antique Land (2002), The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the


7

Unthinkable (2016), and some more other. For instance, the novel The Glass

Palace talks about British invasion to Burma. There is also The Hungry Tide,

which is said to be the novel which speaks the most about the environment—it

revolves around the river dolphin and Bengal tiger preservation issue.

As previously mentioned, Sea of Poppies reflects Ghosh‘s take in

environmental concern as well. In Sea of Poppies, Ghosh uses Bengal as one of

the setting of the story. Ghosh was born in Bengal, an area which he described as

―a vast delta where thousands of creeks and rivers flow into each other to from a

landscape that is mapped upon a grid of interlocking waterways. It is a landscape

of ambiguity where there are no clear lines between river and sea, earth and water,

island and mainland.‖4

Natural landscape plays an important part in Ghosh‘s writings. The

portrayal of Bengal‘s natural landscape appears not only in his fictions, but it also

appears in his non-fiction writings. In 2004, Ghosh published an essay on his

concern about the plan of the development of the tourism complex in Sundarbans,

West Bengal. ―Folly in the Sundarbans‖ notes Ghosh‘s view on the Sahara India

Pariwar‘s project of hotels and cottages in Sundarbans that costs almost 115

million US dollars.5 Through his essay, Ghosh shows his concern to the Bengal‘s

nature. His essay shows that the development of tourism complex in Bengal will

cause an enormous damage on the nature. In fact, it may even be disastrous. For

4 Amitav Ghosh, ―Confluence and Crossroads: Europe and the Fate of the Earth,‖ Accessed

29 Nov 2016. <http://www.amitavghosh.com/essays/ConfluenceandCrossroads.html> 5 Amitav Ghosh, ―Folly in the Sundarbans,‖ Accessed 29 Nov 2016.

<http://www.amitavghosh.com/essays/folly.html>


8

instance, in the essay, he mentions that the construction of a floating hotel will

result to a huge quantity of sewage and waste into the surrounding waters. This

will cause serious threats to the populations of crabs and fish that live in the water.

His novel The Hungry Tide is also set in Bengal. Sea of Poppies, then, will be

another example of Ghosh‘s take of Bengal‘s natural ecosystem through fiction

writing.

As previously mentioned, the setting of the Opium War is important in this

writing because it shows how India‘s nature is exploited for the sake of the opium

trade. Initially in the 1880s, opium in India was planted in small plots of land. The

cultivation of opium poppy was meant to produce high quality latex and morphine

as an average content in Indian drugs.6 Sea of Poppies gives an image of how the

cultivation of opium poppy develops under British East India Company. Through

a close reading of his works, Ghosh‘s take about this event in Indian history

should be revealed.

B. Problem Formulation

British‘s colonization in India marked the exploitation of India‘s land and

its people. The arrival of colonial settlers in the middle of India‘s native society

has brought changes, not only to Indian indigenous society but also to the fertile

land of India. Ghosh appears to show a strong voice about the issue of

6 Arieh Levy and Judith Milo, ―Genetics and Breeding of Papaver somniferum‖ in Poppy: The

Genus Papaver, ed. Jenõ Bernáth (Amsterdam: OPA, 1998), 97.


9

monoculture poppy cultivation that has transformed Indian‘s nature and society

not for the better, but for the worse.

Ghosh crafts Sea of Poppies to be the reflection of human‘s abuse to its

non-human counterpart—the nature. Through this novel, Ghosh brings human and

nature relationship in the dialogue of history of colonization. Being trapped under

the torture of the exploitation of nature and colonial exploitation, the indigenous

land and people of India are forced to face the injustice under British ruthless

treatment upon them. In search of a possible positive alternative on the colonizer‘s

exploitative act, resistance is the only possible option. Seeing the issues portrayed

in Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies, the following questions are raised:

1. How does colonization affect nature and indigenous people in Amitav

Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies?

2. How does Amitav Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies portray resistance as a means to

discover environmental and social justice?

The theoretical framework that is used to help the problems raised in this

thesis is postolonial ecocriticism. The focus of the theory used is those which are

related to the dialogue of the nature in the colonial or postcolonial settings, the

effects of colonization to human and nature relationship, and about the resistance

that relates to achieving environmental and social justice.

C. Significance of the Study

This study is conducted in hope that readers can have a particular

perspective in reading Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies, especially concerning in the

discussion of the nature. With Asian readers, Indonesian in particular, this study


10

may offer an insight on how Asian literature contributes to the talk of postcolonial

ecocriticism especially on the similarity of history of how colonialism became a

justification for the colonizer to exploit the indigenous land. This study is also

hoped to be beneficial in the middle of the talk about environmental and social

justice, which usually goes together in the dialogue of environmental crisis and

the effort to raise awareness about it.

D. Chapters Outline

The first chapter of this thesis includes the background of the study,

research questions, the significance of the study, and the scope of the study. The

second chapter presents the literature review in which the previous studies on

Ghosh‘s works are being discussed, followed by the theoretical framework used in

the study. The theoretical framework is divided into three different parts. The first

part talks about the dialogue of ecocriticism and postcolonialism. The second part

talks about human and nature relationship in the middle of colonial setting.

Finally, the third part talks about resistance with its relation to achieve

environmental and social justice. The next two chapters, the third and the forth

chapter, present the answer to the research questions, respectively. Each question

is worth one chapter of discussion. Therefore, the third chapter discusses how

colonialism effect on the nature and people is reflected in Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies.

The fourth chapter discusses how the resistance is reflected in Ghosh‘s Sea of

Poppies as a way to discover environmental and social justice. The findings in

chapter three and four are concluded in chapter five. The final part of this thesis is

bibliography.


11

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

The previous chapter has explained that this thesis discusses Ghosh‘s work

entitled Sea of Poppies through the perspective of postcolonial ecocriticism. This

chapter presents review of related studies which focuses on how Ghosh‘s works

have been studied before, and the review of related theory that is used to help to

answer the problems raised in the previous chapter.

A. Review of Related Studies

This section discusses several previous studies on Amitav Ghosh‘s works.

Several articles discussing Ghosh‘s works are reviewed to see the existing debates

within the works of Ghosh. By reviewing the existing studies, this thesis should

be able to find its place within the discussion of Ghosh and his works.

The first article is by Nazia Hasan which focuses on Ghosh‘s work entitled

The Glass Palace. Hasan suggested that this works offer the theme of the

environment and its protection. The attention is particularly given to the depiction

of South East Asia‘s wilderness exploitation in the mid-nineteenth century

because of the march of colonization.7

7 Nazia Hasan, ―Tracing the Strong Green Streaks in the Novels of Amitav Ghosh: An Eco-

critical Reading.‖ Indian Literature, 57.1 (2013): 182. Web. 10 Jan 2017.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/43856755>


12

This novel shows how colonization becomes a way to dominate indentured

laborers from Malay and Tamil and also the magnificent natural resources from

Burma‘s land. The Glass Palace shows how the earth and the human laborers are

treated as money-making machines. As an effect from how the nature is abused,

nature fights back by becoming barren. The example in this book is shown by

how the rubber trees, do not respond to either manure or fertilizers.8 Hasan adds

that the sudden arrival of the ―enlightened‖ British colony, who claims to be

educated, has drained Burmese nature for one single purpose, which is money.9

Through The Glass Palace, Ghosh seems to highlight the effect of colonialism in

Burma to the locals and their nature. Both the locals and the nature are being

treated as money-making machines to serve the needs of the colony. The

exploitation of Burma‘s locals, the indentured laborers from Malay and Tamil,

and also Burma‘s nature is justified through colonization.

The colony in Burma, as seen in The Glass Palace, appears not only

interested in Burma‘s rubber trees, but also its oil. The novel shows how the

foreigners, consisting of white men from France, England and America take over

the oil wells in Burma and leave the ecosystem around it damaged. Hasan

highlights this issue as Ghosh‘s critics on human‘s cruelty over the nature for the

sake of their personal gain, or to fulfill their insatiable greed.10

It speaks to the

idea that man‘s selfishness has robbed the nature and its resources without

8 N. Hasan, p.183

9 N. Hasan, p.184

10 N. Hasan, p.188


13

considering about the nature‘s sustainability. The novel seems to be a critique on

how human completely take the nature for granted, even damaging it to gain as

much profit as possible.

Additionally, Hasan mentions Ghosh‘s other works to show the author‘s

concern on the ecology. One of them is The Hungry Tide which is claimed to

contain a strong ecological theme. In The Hungry Tide, Ghosh shows the

relationship between the environment and humanity as he speaks for the Bengal

tiger population and the life of the Sunderbans refugees. The Hungry Tide takes

Ghosh‘s perspective on the conservation of the Bengal tigers that costs the life of

these poor refuges. Ghosh insists that as much as it is necessary for the

international conservation projects or organizations to focus on the animal

preservation, it is important to remember that there are poor local settlers whose

lives are also important. Both human and animal can coexist in a balanced

relationship.11

The Hungry Tide shows that Ghosh also concerns on the animals as

the part of the ecosystem. The sustainability of earth‘s natural ecosystem depends

on how human and the non-human lives together.

Other work that is also reviewed by Hasan that contains an ecological

perspective is River of Smoke. Hasan lists several themes related to the ecology

that can be found in River of Smoke, including the role of nature in human‘s

everyday life. It emphasizes on how humanity relies a lot on the nature and its

11 N. Hasan, p.185


14

resources. Those resources are, in fact, blessings that are bestowed upon human.12

Hasan‘s view on Ghosh‘s novels suggests that Ghosh‘s writings show strong

concern on the ecology. It appears that Ghosh uses his works to remind the

readers about the serious consequences of human abusing the nature. Also,

speaking on the behalf of the non-human, Ghosh stresses on the importance on

having a more positive and non-oppressive relationship between human and its

non-human counterpart.

Hasan‘s article contributes in helping to see how Ghosh‘s presents the

issue of ecology and its protection in his novels. Considering that human and

nature‘s relationship is the basic of any green reading, Hasan‘s opinion on

Ghosh‘s The Glass Palace and his commentary on Ghosh‘s other novels needs to

be taken into account. Hasan gives an insight of Ghosh‘s position in the debate of

the importance of protecting the nature. This thesis, too, aims to give a layer in

this discussion. The conversation of how human and nature relate to each other in

Sea of Poppies with the setting of opium poppy cultivation in colonial India

should reveal Ghosh‘s view on the nature, its problems, and its protection. More

specifically, Hasan‘s article supports this thesis‘ take on how the colonized land,

India, is taken for granted for the colonizer‘s need. Hasan‘s article also supports

the fact how the colonialism has scarred the colonized land without considering its

sustainability. Including Hasan‘s perspective in the reading of Sea of Poppies

12 N. Hasan, p.190


15

should help to see how Ghosh suggests the importance of human to have a non-

oppressive relationship, especially with the nature.

Ghosh‘s writings seem to have a connection with today‘s happenings.

Hasan mentions briefly in the article of how Ghosh‘s The Glass Palace hints to

the today‘s Oil imperialism. The work itself is a critic on human‘s cruelty over the

nature; how human colonize ―oil in Middle East, sugar, cotton, and silk in Africa

or poppy and indigo in India.‖13

Furthermore, Kanika Batra claims on how

Ghosh‘s works, although they mostly tell about a particular event or history in the

past, display present days concerns. Batra‘s reading on Ghosh‘s concerns on how

the so-called space development has transformed the natural environment. Batra‘s

perspective relies on the comparison between today‘s Ghuangzhou to nineteenth

century Canton—the setting of Ghosh‘s River of Smoke.14

This reading mostly

focuses on Canton/Ghuangzhou‘s urban ecosystem.

There is something worth noting from the article. Batra opposes the claim

of the untouched landscape which came with the arrival of the Europeans in the

eighteenth century Canton. The arrival of the Europeans in Canton caused many

of the citizens, those of the poor people, to lose their living space because of the

transformation of the agricultural space into residential area.15

Batra also mentions

13 N. Hasan, p.188

14 Kanika Batra, ―City Botany: Reading Urban Ecologies in China through Amitav Ghosh‘s

River of Smoke.‖ Narrative, 21.3 (2013): 323, 324. Web. 7 Sep 2017.

<https://doi.org/10.1353/nar.2013.0015> 15

Batra notes that this occurs not only in old Canton, but also in modern Ghuangzhou, where

the housing project in Guangzhou is considered damaging the green area and threatening the city‘s

biodiversity.


16

that Ghosh‘s River of Smoke may reveal only a little on the issue of environmental

concern, but it still touches on the topic of people‘s relationship with their

surrounding environment especially in the dialogue of land expropriation.16

The

consequence of the transformation is none other than dispossession, how property

or land owners are deprived of their rights for real estate development.

Batra may not touch much on the human and the non-human relationship,

but the article reveals Ghosh‘s view related to space and the dispossessed. River of

Smoke reveals the discussion of the space in the environment, and it is important

to see that there is a price to pay in the face of development. In this case, the many

of the underprivileged, poor people in Canton are those who experience the

dispossession. The idea of the untouched, pure landscape is presumably a

justification for the Europeans to tame the land, recreating the space into their

concept of the ideal urban ecology. Batra‘s article supports this thesis‘ take on

how the so-called development brought by the colonization has caused the

transformation of the natural environment. Including Batra‘s perspective in the

reading of Sea of Poppies should help to see how India‘s natural environment is

transformed for a rather different reason, which is opium cultivation.

The next article by S. Alexander and P. Saravanan gives a particular

attention to Ghosh‘s The Hungry Tide. The novel is Ghosh‘s take on the matter of

ecology and the threats faced by the ecosystem. Ghosh talks about human and

nature relationship by strongly engaging the theme of ecology through his writing

16 K. Batra, p.326


17

and using it as a medium for science and humanity to meet. This article argues

how Ghosh‘s The Hungry Tide reveals the fact how ecosystem conservation

becomes a way for disguising human‘s political agenda. The conservation may

have saved the life of the animals, but it has violently driven the settlers of the

conservation area out of their locale.17

Almost similar to Batra, Ghosh also

mentions about how certain underprivileged people experiencing dispossession.

Through The Hungry Tide, Ghosh brings the different layers of people and

cultures that inhabited Sunderbans. Alexander and Saravanan focus on the issue

related to the conservation of Sunderban‘s nature. Ghosh presents Sunderban‘s

nature with its sandbars, mangrove, forests, rivers, creeks and channels.18

In the

novel, Ghosh evaluates the First World‘s ecologist‘s obsession of the wilderness.

Ghosh emphasizes the importance of saving the animal as well as the common

people that inhabited the land, in which both human and animal are equally as

important in the talk of preserving the balance of the nature.19

Ghosh presents the

importance of the balance in the environment, and aims to use the novel to raise

the awareness of the natural changes that are caused by science and technology.

Ghosh brings out human and animal relationship in literature through the

importance of a balanced human and animal relationship on earth within an

17 S. Alexander and P. Saravanan, ―The Quintessence of Ecology in Amitav Ghosh‘s The

Hungry Tide.‖ Literary Quest, 1.11 (2015): 60. Web. 10 Jan 2017.

<http://www.literaryquest.org/articleview.php?id=167> 18

S. Alexander and P. Saravanan, p.63 19

S. Alexander and P. Saravanan, p.65


18

endangered ecosystem.20

It appears that Alexander and Saravanan‘s reading on

The Hungry Tide also concludes in the essential idea of balance in the nature.

Alexander and Saravanan seems to correspond with Batra, both studies

represent how Ghosh perceives the obsession of the untouched nature, or the

wilderness. Ghosh seems to be against the idea of a pure, untouched ecosystem by

challenging it the in the context of urban development or conservation program.

Furthermore, similar to Hasan, Alexander and Saravanan‘s study seems to urge on

the importance of human and nature‘s coexistence. These studies on Ghosh which

revolve in the theme of ecology may be involved to support the reading of nature

in Sea of Poppies. From these different studies, it can be seen how Ghosh serves

various topics in reading the ecology; be it about the dispossessed, human‘s

superiority on the nature, and more. Alexander and Saravanan‘s study support this

thesis‘ take on the idea of a balanced nature which depends on human and

nature‘s coexistence. These different perspectives within the theme of ecology in

the works of Ghosh are to be considered in my reading of Sea of Poppies,

especially to support the findings.

Ghosh does not only concern on the theme of ecology in his writing. One

of the themes that appears in Sea of Poppies is diaspora. Another article, by

Rudrani Gangopadhyay, focuses on the issue of indentured immigration as the

cause of the Indian diaspora spreading all over the world. Gangopadhyay

highlights two important events of history in the novel, which are: the opium trade

20 S. Alexander and P. Saravanan, p.66


19

and the transport of Indian immigrants to British plantation in Mauritius, Fiji, or

Trinidad. The theme of journey through immigration makes a comeback in Sea of

Poppies after Ghosh‘s previous novel The Circle of Reason, The Glass Palace,

and The Hungry Tide. The theme of journey is also usually used by Ghosh to talk

about the theme of colonial history in most of his works.21

Gangopadhyay gives attention to all of the characters in Sea of Poppies

and looks at their reason to pursue a journey on board of the Ibis. These people

altogether experience diaspora and create their own history though their various

social and cultural backgrounds.22

This reminds of how people on the Ibis speak

variety of languages because they come from different social and cultural

background.

Languages spoken on board of the Ibis are various, including Bhojpuri,

Bengali, Laskari, Hindusthani, and English. The languages barriers are solved by

the birth of the hybrid language as the consequence of having different languages

spoken in a single place. The hybridization does not only happen to the language

on board, but also happens to the culture as a result or the characteristic of

diaspora.23

Gangopadhyay compares Sea of Poppies to Rushdie‘s Midnight

Children to explain diversity of language used by Ghosh‘s characters in the novel,

making it one of the special features of the novel itself. Gangopadhyay also

21 Rudrani Gangopadhyay, ―Finding Oneself On Board the Ibis in Amitav Ghosh‘s Sea of

Poppies.‖ Woman Studies Quarterly, 42.1&2 (2017): 56-57. Web. 21 Jul 2017.

<https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.2017.0012> 22

R. Gangopadhyay, p.60 23

R. Gangopadhyay, p.61


20

focuses on the phrases used in the narrative. Unlike Rushdie who chooses

consistency of English in the writing, Ghosh blends different languages into his

writing to show the divisions of his characters‘ backgrounds.24

However, this

division of background and languages soon proves to unite the different

characters, tying them together in the context of diaspora.

The study concludes how the shared experiences between different people

through diaspora results in the possibility of language, music, and culture

hybridity. In Sea of Poppies, people of different race and social class come

together on board of the ship for different reasons. Through the journey on the

Ibis, Gangopadhyay notes how Ghosh‘s characters are able to find their voice and

recreate their history in the context of migration and diaspora.25

The hybridity of

language, music, and culture is an important characteristic in talking about

diaspora phenomenon.

In line with the theme of diaspora, a study by Nandini C. Sen also focuses

on how diaspora becomes a motive that dominates Sea of Poppies. Sen notes that

diasporic phenomenon is one of Ghosh‘s favorite motives in his writings. For

instance, Ghosh uses it in his previous novel entitled The Shadow Lines where he

talks about the issue of border crossing.26

As a matter of fact, border crossing also

24 R. Gangopadhyay, p.62

25 R. Gangopadhyay, p.63

26 Nandini C. Sen, ―The Creation of Diaspora and its Historical Significance: A Study of

Amitav Ghosh‘s ‗Sea of Poppies‘.‖ Diaspora Studies, 5.2 (2012): 198. Web. 7 Sept 2017.

<https://search.proquest.com/docview/1563752458?accountid=13771>


21

appears in Sea of Poppies, which is marked by the characters coming altogether

into Ibis, the boat of pilgrims.

The study includes the talk of gender and diaspora in Sea of Poppies. Sen

raises a question on the role of women in diaspora; whether they are empowered

or victimized. By looking at characters like Paulette and Deeti, Sen concludes that

women have significant role in Sea of Poppies. Deeti and Paulette, along with the

other women like Ratna, Heeru and Sarju are depicted as brave women as they

make the decision to leave their homeland. Paulette, especially, leaves her

prominent status as a memsahib in Calcutta‘s white society.27

In the middle of

displacement, Ghosh portrays women as people who are able to make life

changing decision. This is considered impossible to be done in the middle of a

patriarchal society. Here, women‘s role is empowered.

Sen also highlights how diaspora affected caste system in Sea of Poppies.

Caste system, or varnashram in India, is an important concept that is related to

one‘s identity. In the context of diaspora, there is a tendency for the caste structure

to collapse. Sen mentions one of the reasons why caste structure does not work in

diaspora context is because ―caste group could not exist due the lack of local

caste-based authorities‖. The other reason is because the immigrants are

dominated by people of lower caste.28

By sailing on board of the pilgrim ship like

Ibis, immigrants who are portrayed by the characters in Sea of Poppies are freed

from the caste system that controls their identity.

27 N. C. Sen, p.200

28 N. C. Sen, p.201


22

Sea of Poppies reflects how Indian indentured workers being shipped to

various European colonies to work in plantations. Indentured workers are called

by the name ‗girmitiyas‘ which comes from the mispronounced of the word

‗permit‘ into ‗girmit‘ by non-English-speaking Indians. The contract for the

indentured workers usually lasts for five years and it is renewable for another five

years, with girmitiyas earning eight rupees per month.29

This is also what happens

in Sea of Poppies. The immigrants boarding on the Ibis leave their homeland with

no certainty of how much money will they make out of indentured labor, but they

sure know that there is no fancy life waits for them across the sea.

Sen also adds one of the most important topics in the study of diaspora is

the oral narrative. In the case of Indian diaspora, the immigrants may be illiterate,

but they have a vast knowledge on popular songs, sayings and folklore. Sen shows

how in Sea of Poppies, the immigrants uses their knowledge on songs, sayings

and folklores not only as a connection to their old life in their homeland, but also

as a foundation in creating their new culture.30

The immigrants who come from

different background teach each other about their songs, sayings, and folklores.

This is relates to the hybridity of language as previously mentioned in

Gangopadhyay‘s study.

Both articles by Gangopadhyay and Sen focus on a similar theme, which is

diaspora. These two articles approach diaspora from the motives of the journey to

the birth of the hybrid languages as a result of shared experiences. The experience

29 N. C. Sen, p.203

30 N. C. Sen, p.204


23

of border crossing is something familiar to postcolonial study. Seeing diaspora

becomes one of the main themes in Sea of Poppies, it is safe to say that Ghosh

also pays a special attention into the theme of border crossing. These studies by

Gangopadhyay and Sen provide some insight about the experience of the journey

and how it affects the people—their languages, castes, roles, etc. In this thesis‘

later chapter, a particular attention is also given to the experience of border

crossing. More specifically, the attention is given to migration, more specifically

the phenomenon of crossing the Black Water. Sea of Poppies presents us a fact

that a journey beyond the Black Water is actually unimaginable for some of the

characters, since it is forbidden by their religion. However, as the migrants find

themselves on board of the Ibis, there is another sense of discovery that goes

beyond the discovery of hybrid language. To some, however, it represents

resistance and the discovery of justice. Both studies by Gangopadhyay and Sen

support this thesis‘ take on the diaspora phenomenon. Sen‘s study in particular

supports how the rapid change in caste structure influences the life of the

characters in Sea of Poppies. The theme of diaspora in the novel works as the way

how caste or social structure is challenged in search of justice.

To add after the discussions of ecology and diaspora, another different

point of view also fills in the studies of Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies. In an article

about Sea of Poppies by Ravi Ahuja, there is a prominent discussion of hierarchy

studied from the point of view of Indian lascars. Ahuja puts special interest in

Jodu, one of the characters in Sea of Poppies, to show the experience of the

seamen in the nineteenth century sailing ship. Ahuja highlights how the term


24

―lascar‖ which originated from the Persian word ―lashkar‖ has its meaning shifted

because of colonialism. Originally, ―lashkar‖ means ―an armed formation‖ or

more generally refers to ―men under military command‖. However, colonialism

has shifted the term ―lascar‖ into a racial category that distinguishes Indian

seamen to European ones. The shift of meaning of the word ―lascar‖ is similar to

what happened to the word ―coolie‖ that means ―workers‖, in which it is shifted

into a racial category that separates ―Asians‖ to ―whites‖.31

The separation of

racial categories between Indian and European ship crews indicates the existence

of racial hierarchy in the deck, where the status of the non-European seamen

serves as the inferior compared to the European ones.

In the article, Ahuja compares Ghosh‘s fictional character with the actual

lascar of British Steam Navigation Company‘s SS Gandhara in the 1930, named

Sona Miah. He argues that the fictional character Jodu, and Sona Miah of SS

Gandhara are both identified as lascars. Both Jodu and Sona Miah are of those

lascars who become the victims of oppression by the European seamen they

working with. The oppression comes in the form of inhumane working and living

condition on the ship. The oppression, too, was the cause of high frequency of

lascar suicides in the 1900s.32

By comparing Ghosh‘s fictional character and Sona

Miah, Ahuja aims to show how both lascars are no different than prisoners being

confined in the ship. Ahuja adds, even though Ghosh does not explore more on

31 Ravi Ahuja, ―Capital at Sea, Shaitan Below Decks? A Note on Global Narratives, Narrow

Spaces, and the Limits of Experience.‖ History of the Present, 2.1 (2012): 78. Web. 18 Oct 2016.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/historypresent.2.1.0078> 32

R. Ahuja, p.79


25

the painful experience of the lascars confinement, Ghosh still shows how the

lascars are treated unfairly under the ship‘s racial hierarchy. One of the examples

Ahuja takes from the novel is when Jodu is threatened to be killed by the crew for

defying a British mate.33

This adds to another perspective on reading Ghosh‘s Sea

of Poppies. Being a lascar is used as a racial category that justifies the oppression

of characters like Jodu as a weaker subject in the dialogue of European seamen

versus Asian lascars.

The next article by K.M. Chandar also mentions his take on the issue of

hierarchy. While Ahuja sets Jodu as his main focus, Chandar sets his in Neel

Halder. Chandar mentions how in most of Ghosh‘s novels, he repeatedly uses the

theme of voyage on the sea of the river as the main theme.

Ghosh‘s writings are characterized with the appearance of sub-texts that

mark different time and space, but are connected through a similar theme of

journey. In addition, Ghosh provides his writing with rich history and cultural

anthropology, which is considered as the strength in his writings.34

To Chandar,

Sea of Poppies is considered as the most ambitious novel by Ghosh. If Ghosh‘s

previous novels like In An Antique Land and The Glass Palace use two subtexts,

in the Sea of Poppies, Ghosh creates and joins up to four deliberate subtexts.

33 R. Ahuja, p.81

34 K.M. Chandar, ―Journey to the Antique Land of Poppies: Voyage as Discovery in Amitav

Ghosh‘s ―Sea of Poppies‖.‖ Indian Literature, 54.4 (2010): 181. Web. 18 Oct 2016.



26

These four subtexts are all linked with another bounding themes; the poppy,

specifically South Asia to China poppy trade as the main theme.35

Chandar particularly focuses on one of the sub-texts in the novel that tells

the story about the land-owning Raja, Neel Halder. Neel Halder is a character who

represents one of the landlords who are tied to the East India Company. In the

early years of its establishment, the East India Company‘s major resources came

from the Bengal opium trade route. In the novel, Ghosh shows how the landlords

are connected into East India Company and the opium trade for the sake of

financial gain.36

However, good luck does not always stay in the Raja‘s side.

British representative arrests him under the accusation of forgery. Neel Halder is

sentenced seven years of imprisonment in British prison in Mauritius. Neel Halder

is forced to leave his glamorous life as a land-owning king to live as a prisoner.

Chandar highlights how Ghosh shows the drastic changes in Neel Halder‘s

life as the landowner is prepared to enter the prison. There is a display of British

prison system when Neel Halder is examined and marked as a prisoner. It includes

physical abuse and humiliation.37

The forms of this physical abuse and

humiliation are: being brutally stripped of one‘s clothes, being called by such

filthy names, one‘s body being marked by tattoo, etc.

On being transported to the Mauritius through a voyage, Neel Halder finds

himself discover a tender human relationship between him and a fellow convict,

35 K.M. Chandar, p.181




27

Ahfatt. Neel Halder grows extremely close to this half-Chinese opium addict. The

guards in the prison, in fact, have tried everything to break the bond between the

two, but it only grows even stronger. Later in the novel, the relationship between

Neel Halder and Ahfatt are being put to the test again by the Second-in-Command

in Ibis ship. It is marked as the peak of Neel Halder‘s humiliation when both he

and Ahfatt are being told to urinate on one another for the Captain‘s

entertainment. 38

However, Neel Halder and Ahfatt possess such strong

relationship. The effort to mess with these two different people of two different

social statuses is useless. Since both characters have become criminals according

to the British law, they both arrive in the situation where their identity and social

status is no longer significant.

The shift of one‘s identity and social status is one of the themes offered by

Ghosh through Sea of Poppies. The sub-texts in the novel overlap and create a

unique story of journey, identity, and hierarchy. Chandar‘s article presents an

interesting reading on Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies. It focuses mainly on one character,

Neel Halder. It presents how Neel Halder being one of the examples of the

character whose life undergoes an overturn because of the caste stripping.

Hierarchy and identity are two inseparable themes which also appear in

Sea of Poppies. Chandar and Ahuja‘s perspectives provide an additional insight

about some of the characters. However, there is diversity on the discussion of

identity of the characters in the novel, especially when it is combined with the



28

additional dialogue of colonial setting. Even so, these studies have shown how

Ghosh contrasts the relationship between the privileged and the underprivileged.

Previously, in the conversation of ecology in Ghosh‘s writing, human‘s

oppressive tendency over the nature is revealed. It appears that in the context of

one human to another, there is also a tendency of oppressing the weaker ones. The

involvement of power play between one person and another, combined with how

it related to human and nature relationship, is to be the stepping stone on the

reading of Sea of Poppies. The studies by Chandar and Ahuja are used to support

this thesis‘ take on how racial and social status differences are used to oppress the

weaker or the marginalized. It appears that Ghosh wants to challenge the

oppression towards the weak because of differences in race and social status

through Sea of Poppies.

By looking at the previous studies conducted on Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies,

it can be concluded that the studies are somehow still focus on the hierarchy of the

different social classes in the novel and also diaspora, and the ‗green‘ reading

revolves human‘s superiority over the nature. The existing studies are used to

support this thesis‘ findings. This thesis offers a different take on reading Ghosh‘s

work. Sea of Poppies will be seen from the point of view of postcolonial

ecocriticism with a particular focus on looking at human and non-human

relationship with the particular focus on the colonial setting, more specifically on

how human and the non-human relationship is situated within the context of caste-

based Indian society and within the setting of colonialism. This thesis also offers

to see how migration is seen as a form of resistance in search of environmental of


29

social justice, as well as seeing to what extent justice is achieved through the

resistance effort.

B. Review of Related Theory

Several studies on Ghosh‘s novel that has been conducted by the other

researchers have been discussed in the previous section in order to find an

available space to be filled by this thesis. This section focuses on the theory that is

used in analyzing the novel to answer the research questions. This section is

divided into three parts. The need of bringing together the issue of

postcolonialism and ecocriticism is to be explored first. The following part is to

talk about the relationship of human and nature in postcolonial context. The topic

of resistance, environmental justice, and social justice altogether in the context of

postcolonial ecocriticism is to be explored in the final part.

1. On Bringing Together Postcolonialism and Ecocriticism

In bringing together both ecocriticism and postcolonialism, it is important

to see how both disciplines are related and influenced one another. In literary

studies over the last decades, postcolonialism has occupied an important part in

literary studies. Ecocriticism also has become more popular due to the rising of

global environmental awareness. However, in the beginning of its development,

ecocriticism barely engaged the dialogue of postcolonialism in its investigation.

In the Introduction to The Ecocriticism Reader, Cheryl Glotfelty mentions

that ecocriticism appeared because of the ignorance of today‘s most important


30

issue, namely the global environmental crisis.39

Glotfelty states that major

publications in literature until the twentieth century have been focusing on the

issue of class, race, and gender, but none on the earth. Literary publications barely

reflected that the earth‘s life support is under pressure and in need of human‘s

attention.40

The earth is in the face of serious threats and it calls for everyone‘s

attention, including the participation from literary study.

The recent happenings related to the earth and its problems have put a

pressure on the literary study to give a response. Glotfelty also mentions that prior

to the publication of The Ecocriticism Reader, still, ―there have been no journals,

no jargon, no jobs, no professional societies or discussion groups, and no

conferences on literature and the environment‖. Meanwhile, other disciplines in

humanities like history, philosophy, law, sociology, and religion have shown their

concern on the environment.41

However, several studies focusing on the

environment and its issues has appeared under different names, such as:

―American studies, regionalism, pastoralism, the frontier, human ecology, science

and literature, nature in literature, landscape in literature, etc.‖42

These studies

aims to create an environmental-based approach to literature, even though mostly

still focus on the issue of wilderness. This shows that, even though appearing in

39 Cheryll Glotfelty, Introduction to The Ecocriticism Reader, ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and

Harold Fromm (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1996), xv. 40

C. Glotfelty, p.xvi 41

C. Glotfelty, p.xvi 42

C. Glotfelty, p.xvii


31

different names, literature studies has shown its concern to also ‗go green‘ and

follow the steps of the other disciplines in humanities.

Somewhere by mid-eighties to early nineties, ecocriticism was born. By

Glotfelty it is simply defined as ―the study of the relationship between literature

and the physical environment,‖ it takes earth as the center of its approach, similar

to how feminism and Marxism take gender issue and economic class as their

focuses, respectively.43

The most typical questions raised by ecocritics and

ecocricitism theorists, as noted by Glotfelty, involve around the representation of

nature, the role of the physical setting, ecological wisdom voiced in the literature,

humankind and natural world‘s relationship, changes in wilderness, etc.44

It

appears that ecocriticism becomes a line that connects human, literature, and the

actual physical world, or the nature.

Ecocriticism fundamentally believes that human culture and their physical

world are connected. Both human culture and the physical world affect one

another. The notion of the ‗world‘ in ecocriticism is expanded into the real

ecosphere, which differentiate this literary theory with the other theories in

examining the relationship between the writer, the text, and the world.45

To add,

Greg Garrard simply mentions that the widest way to describe ecocriticism is the

43 C. Glotfelty, p.xviii

44 C. Glotfelty, p.xix

45 C. Glotfelty, p.xvi


32

way it studies ―the relationship of the human and non-human, throughout human

cultural history and entailing critical analysis in of the term ‗human‘ itself.‖46

However, in the middle of its booming, Rob Nixon notices how

ecocriticism, as a representation of literature and environmental studies, only

revolves around the works of American critics. These critics, according to Nixon,

appear to have the same tendency. To quote Nixon:

Yet these authors tended to canonize the same self-selecting

genealogy of American writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry

David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Edward Abbey, Annie

Dillard, Terry Tempest Williams, Wendell Berry and Gary

Snyder.47

Nixon mentions how he appreciates these big names as people of influence,

however he regrets the fact that ecocriticism only speaks from within a single

nation. He also adds on how there is a similarity of dominating pattern even in

―environmental literary anthologies, college course web sites, and special journal

issues on ecocriticism.‖48

Ecocriticism seems to develop as an exclusive branch of

American studies, including the names of prominent American authors.

Nixon‘s sentiment is confirmed by Garrard who mentions that in its early

development, ecocriticism exclusively paid its attention to Romantic poetry,

wilderness narrative and nature writing. Only in the following years of its

development, ecocriticism then expanded its focus. Garrard mentions that after the

last few years of its emergence, then ASLE turned ecocriticism‘s object of study

46 Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism (New York: Routledge, 2004), 5.

47 Rob Nixon, ―Environmentalism and Postcolonialism‖ in Ecocriticism: The Essential

Reader, ed. Ken Hiltner (New York: Routledge, 2015), 196. 48

R. Nixon, p.196


33

into a more general ones, including studies of popular scientific writing, film, TV,

art, architecture and other cultural artefacts such as theme parks, zoos and

shopping malls.49

Ecocriticism seems to have a specific interest especially in the

idea of wilderness, before it expanded its reach into a more familiar object of

study.

Glotfelty, too, states that the canon texts for environmental literary

criticism include books like Aldo Leopold‘s A Sand Country Almanac, and

Edward Abbey‘s Desert Solitaire. This fact strengthens the idea that ecocriticism

itself ―has been predominantly a white movement‖.50

However, Glotfelty adds a

hopeful future for ecocriticism, in which it will be able to move across its

boundaries of American literature. This means, ecocriticism will open itself to be

a ―multi-ethnic movement when stronger connections are made between the

environment and issues of social justice, and when a diversity of voices are

encouraged to contribute to the discussion‖.51

This possibility of opening the field

of ecocriticism to diverse range of voices shows a possible space for fields like

postcolonialism to enter into dialogue with ecocriticism.

In line with ecocriticism‘s ambition of wanting to include diverse voices

into the field, and the sentiment of the field being too American-centered, Nixon

brings the case of Nigerian writer and activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa to highlight his

arguments. It bothers Nixon how writers like Saro-Wiwa, who clearly revealed

49 G. Garrard, p.4

50 C. Glotfelty, p.xxv

51 C. Glotfelty, p.xxv


34

the struggle for social and environmental justice, does not have a place in the

middle of the so-called canon for ecocriticism. Someone like Saro-Wiwa, would

find his works being criticized under the scope of African writer whose work is

more suitable to be analyzed from the perspective of postcolonialism instead of

ecocriticism.52

To this dilemma, then, Nixon declares it is possible to bring

together the issue of ecocriticism and postcolonialism.

Seeing the concern of both theories on a quick glance, ecocriticism and

postcolonialism happen to oppose one another. Most environmentalists happen to

be silent when it comes to postcolonial theory and literature, and vice versa.

Postcolonial critics happen to be just as silent when it comes to environmental

literature.53

This shows how both fields appear to be mutually silent of each

other‘s concerns. In bringing together both fields, Graham Huggan and Helen

Tiffin also add that the other problem lies on the difficulty of the definition of

both fields. Huggan and Tiffin seem to support Nixon by declaring that both

postcolonialism and ecocriticism are ―notoriously difficult to define‖.54

Therefore, owning no place in neither of the field, it is no surprise that cases like

Saro-Wiwa become an anomaly.

For instance, postcolonial critic‘s commitment to the issue of hybridity

does not seem to match ecocritic‘s preservation of purity—the idea of the virgin

52 R. Nixon, p.197

53 R. Nixon, p.196

54 Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin, Postcolonial Ecocriticism: Literature, Animals,

Environment. (New York: Routledge, 2010), 3.


35

wilderness and the ―uncorrupted‖ place.55

Nixon also adds that postcolonial critics

are uncomfortable with the idea of purity. Environmental writing tends to remove

the history of the colonized land through the image of the conquest of the empty

land. This mostly appears in wilderness writings.56

Wilderness writings are, in

fact, obsessed with the idea of seeing nature as a place that is pure,

uncontaminated by human‘s civilization.57

The history of the colonized land

becomes a problem when the conquest of the so-called wilderness has established

the land and its native settlers as objects to be owned, preserved, or patronized.

The colonized are denied the ownership of their land and its legacies.58

Next, postcolonial critic‘s concern with displacement does not seem to

match ecocritic‘s priority to place. Here, Nixon highlights the autobiographical

differences between postcolonial critics and ecocritics. Postcolonial critics are

those who happen to have crossed national boundaries through the experience of

displacement. Meanwhile, Nixon notes that prominent writers and critics of

environmentalism are ―mono-nationals with a deep-rooted experiential and

imaginative commitment to a particular American locale.‖59

To place both fields

together is problematic when ecocriticism suggests purity and returning home to

nature as the solution of problems and crisis in the environment, while the idea of

home, for postcolonialism and its displacement, is a place that is not locatable.

55 R. Nixon, p.197

56 R. Nixon, p.198

57 G. Garrard, p.59

58 R. Nixon, p.198

59 R. Nixon, p. 198


36

Also, postcolonialism and its concern on the cosmopolitanism and

transnationalism appear not to match ecocriticism‘s tendency of being a

nationalistic field. Nixon points out how the texts that are considered as the canon

in ecocriticism are developed within a national context, which is a national

American framework.60

The important question to be asked is, then, how to

situate the context of ecocritic‘s particular national framework to go beyond its

boundaries in order for it to be transnational. This, adds Nixon, demands

ecocriticism to move beyond its idea of ‗place‘, and this requires ecocrticism to

rethink about ‗place‘ within the dialogue of colonial and postcolonial—a nature of

environmental also cultural degradation.61

Finally, postcolonialism pays a special attention to history, something

which seems to be overlooked by ecocriticism. In talking about history,

particularly, postcolonialism is specifically interested in reimagining the history of

the marginalized, also history from the below and the border. In its pursuit of a

timeless nature, however, Nixon recognizes how ecocriticism appears to discard

the history. For example, in American natural history, the life of the colonized

people is repressed because of the obsession to the myth of the empty lands.62

However, bringing together postcolonialism and ecocriticim is something

that needs to be done. Integrating environmental issues into the discussion of

60 R. Nixon, p.197

61 R. Nixon, p.200

62 R. Nixon, p.197


37

postcolonial literatures and vice versa is a way to bridge both fields.63

The issue

with the environment, in fact, is something everyone can relate to.

Environmentalism should not only be a Western luxury, and ecocriticism should

not only be dominated by the white. Only by this way, then the voice of people

like Saro-Wiwa and other postcolonial writers who have a say in environment

issues can gain a place in the middle of the so-called ‗green‘ literature canon.64

By bringing together both postcolonialism and ecocriticism, it should

answer to the ambition of ecocriticism to engage diversity of voice into its

discussion. The consequence of this is the way we see how is this diversity of

voice contributes in defining ecocriticism and its commitment to human and

nature‘s relationship as a whole. It is important, then, to see how the relationship

between human and nature in postcolonial or colonial context is, and how does it

differ to the human and nature relationship we have come to see through

mainstream ecocriticism.

2. On Human and Nature Relationship

As previously mentioned, the relationship between human and nature is

the main focus of ecocriticism. Speaking in line with the concern of the

environmental crisis, human and nature relationship become the attention of

ecocriticism for it is the main reason of the crisis in the environment. From the

perspective of ecocriticism, human and nature relationship becomes a problematic

63 R. Nixon, p.203

64 R. Nixon, p.204


38

one when the former appears to dominate the latter. This section will explore this

notion, more particularly how it is discussed in the dialogue with colonialism.

In talking about human and nature relationship with its relation to

ecological crisis, historian Lynn White, Jr. notes that the existing of ecological

crisis is the result of human‘s culture, especially technology and science.

Technology and science, by White is characterized as being Occidental, it belongs

to the Western. Western technology and science owe its success from the past

sciences, for instance, the great Middle Age Islamic scientists and their discovery

in fields like medicine, optics, mathematics, etc. It was through Latin translations

of Arabic and Greek scientific works, the foundation of Western technology and

science development was made possible.65

With consistency, the West

continuously expands its technology and science in developing power machinery,

labor-saving devices, and automation. The effort to develop the so-called modern

technology, however, tends to ignore the fact that it treats the earth in a ruthless

way.66

The way how human treats the land ruthlessly for the sake of developing

the technology and science—for example through plowing, harvesting, chopping

trees, butchering, etc.—has established an important separation between human

and the nature itself. Human and nature are two different things, with the former

65 Lynn White, Jr., ―The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis‖ in The Ecocriticism Reader:

Landmarks in Literary Ecology, ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm (Athens, GA: The

University of Georgia Press, 1996), 6. 66

L. White, p.8


39

being the master of the latter.67

Having the dominant power over the nature,

anthropocentrism has become human‘s impulse to conquer, violate and exploit the

nature. White mentions that Christianity‘s victory over paganism caused the

greatest revolution in human‘s culture. Christianity has contributed in the creation

of duality between human and the non-human. It also, according to White, insists

in the notion that nature‘s exploitation for human‘s benefit is God‘s will.

Christianity has taken over pagan animism and changed the way nature is seen. It

changed pagan animism beliefs that spirit exists in natural objects.68

White also

adds that these days, however, science and technology has developed even further

from Christian attitude of human and nature relationship. Human is seen to be

nature‘s superior, and taking it for granted is considered natural.

White‘s argument is also supported by Christopher Manes who claims that

the established human and nature relationship has caused nature to be silent.

Human is the only creature granted the monopoly of being the speaking subject.

Manes also highlights the culture of animism that contrasts the existing belief

about human and nature relationship. The belief that the spirit that lives in the

natural world, within the animals, plants, or stones, and river were replaced.69

According to Manes, the silence of the nature has opened a chance of exploitation

67 L. White, p.8

68 L. White, p.10

69 Christopher Manes, ―Nature and Silence‖ in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in

Literary Ecology, ed. Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm (Athens, GA: The University of

Georgia Press, 1996), 15.


40

by human. This ethic of exploitation has flourished and rooted among human.

Nature exploitation is, in fact, the reason of today‘s ecological crisis.

Human‘s relationship to nature has been said to be dominating. Human has

been well known for taking the nature for granted and using the nature to serve

whatever human need is. Technological superiority of the West also, then,

encouraged them to take over the nature in small countries—to conquer and

colonize these countries.70

Human and nature relationship, however, is formed

rather differently in the colonial setting.

In introducing postcolonial ecocriticism and talking about nature and

human, Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffin begin by including the matter of racism

and speciesism into the field‘s discussion. In the case of non-human; animals, for

instance, the separation between human and its non-human counterpart has

allowed human to dominate the weaker—the animals. In colonial circumstances,

the indigenous population is labeled and treated as the animalized human. The

natives are given the quality of being similar to the human ‗other‘, even the non-

human. Colonization, then, becomes the setting where anthropocentrism and

racism take place. By seeing the colonized land and people as weaker counterpart,

the colony‘s oppression to the colonize land is connected to the oppression of its

people.71

With the colony seeing the colonized land and its people as open to be

oppressed, the exploitation of the land surely too will be connected to the

70 L. White, Jr., p.7

71 G. Huggan and H. Tiffin, p.4


41

exploitation of the people. The justification of this exploitation of the colonized

land is based on the colony‘s perception of the indigenous land being a spaced

that is unused or underused. The exploitation of the colonized people is also based

on the colony‘s perception of the indigenous people being primitive and

uncivilized.72

Huggan and Tiffin state that the exploitation in colonial setting is a place

where human has taken the nature for granted, with the domination of human in

the form of anthropocentrism relates to imperialism. The analysis, in this case,

speaks about the power abuse of human over nature, with the aim of seeking for

not only environmental justice, but also, social justice and economic justice.73

Huggan and Tiffin also add that this goal of wanting to protect the rights of the

abused nature and people is an effort for the liberation of the oppressed. This

effort should take into account the history of the natural and social world of the

oppressed.74

Colonialism has shifted nature for the colonized population through the

abuse of power. By using the colonial power, the colony used the so-called idea of

development as a way to utilize and civilize the indigenous land and people,

respectively.75

This way, the colony enforces the idea of how is the proper model

of civilization, which includes naturalizing anthropocentrism in it. Colonialism

shifted the idea of the colonized about the way nature is supposed to be treated






42

through the use of power. Huggan and Tiffin quotes Saro-Wiwa and the case of

Ogoni people and their land as an example. For these people, nature did not only

provide for their everyday life, but it was sacred and related intimately to their

community. Unfortunately, the so-called development brought by the abuse of

power changed this.76

To liberate the colonized society from this way of thinking

means to liberate their land from the abuse, too. Hence, one of postcolonial

ecocriticism‘s commitments suggest that social justice for the colonized can only

be fulfilled when environmental justice is achieved as well.

Huggan and Tiffin also emphasize to look within the idea of entitlement

and how this is related to human and nature relationship in the colonial setting.

Speaking of entitlement means to talk about the sense of ownership. With the

colony having the monopoly of the power, the indigenous people are forced to

face the experience of dispossession and loss, with the consequence of the

devastation of their pastoral.77

With the arrival of the colonial settlers, the

indigenous people are stripped of their rights with their own land. The colony

takes over the land to show how it is supposed to be used ‗properly‘. Huggan and

Tiffin mention that the experience of displacement, either legally claimed or

emotionally experienced, should be explored in seeing between fellow human

relationship and human and nature relationship.78





43

3. On Resistance, Environmental Justice, and Social Justice

Seeing how the dominating power works in the dialogue of postcolonial

ecocriticism, Huggan and Tiffin state that ―there is no social justice without

environmental justice‖.79

By looking at the case of Saro-Wiwa, Huggan and

Tiffin, too, highlight the fact at a conclusion that the history of the colonial

oppression and environmental oppression go hand in hand. Colonialism affects

not only the population of the indigenous people, but also their land and their

natural resources. Therefore, the attempt to put an end to the oppression on the

people and the land should go hand in hand as well.

Christa Grewe-Volpp seems to have a mutual sentiment to Huggan and

Tiffin in the subject of justice in postcolonial ecocrticism context. Grewe-Volpp

emphasizes the need to take a look within the Third-World to add a new

perspective into environmentalism and its concern on social and environmental

issues. The urge to see from within the Third-World context is claimed to be a

proper way to see environmental and social justice from the perspective of the

indigenous eyes, no through western‘s eyes. By doing so, it is possible to see how

colonialism has changed the way land is perceived and used. After all, Grewe-

Volpp adds that ―the colonized subject cannot be seen separately from the effects

of his or her colonized environment.‖80


80 Christa Grewe-Volpp, ―No Environmental Justice Without Social Justice: A Green

Postcolonialist Reading of Paul Marshal‘s The Chosen Place, the Timeless People‖ in Literature,

Ecology, Ethics: Recent Trends in Ecocriticism, eds. Timo Muller and Michael Sauter

(Heidelberg: Universitatverlag, 2012), 228.


44

To see from within the perspective of the indigenous people, as mentioned

by Grewe-Volpp, means to see the colonized subject‘s own take on the history of

their land and the people. This, too, means to see how domination and resistance

are embodied in the indigenous community. Through transplantation, slavery,

colonialism and imperialism, the colonized subjects are forced to crush their idea

of the land. They are forced to accept Western‘s perception of how land is

supposed to be valued. Colonization becomes Western‘s tool to shape the

colonized perception on how to value and use their own land. The perception

imported by the colony to the colonized is, of course, very exploitative.81

In the place where colonialism happens to exploit both the nature and the

people, it is important to see the resistance as a means to find out in what way a

positive alternative is possible for the environment and its inhabitants.82

It can be

seen how colonial exploitation has granted the colony the control of people and

their lands. This complete control of the colony has caused silence as a sign of

powerlessness.83

Grewe-Volpp mentions that to fight against the exploitation,

colonial subjects need to speak and act against it. This becomes a way to resist

both colonial and environmental exploitation that has entered the body and the

mind of these poor and oppressed people.

Grewe-Volpp adds that the possibilities of resistance are in the form of

rejecting development as a way to resist the dominating power, it also includes to

81 C. Grewe-Volpp, p.229




45

―mistrust in the idea of western development‖. Grewe-Volpp also mentions that

the concept of development, as suggested by Escobar, is a way for the First-World

countries to take control of the social, economy, and the physical of the

‗enderdeveloped‘ Third-World countries.84

Development here becomes an

instrument of dominating and suppressing the non-Western countries, therefore it

needs to be fought against. The form of fighting against or resisting the notion of

development, as suggested by Grewe-Volpp, might come in the form of ―refusing

this development projects, even sabotaging them.‖85

However, achieving social and environmental justice by resisting does not

necessarily mean to return to the pristine condition of the environment just like

from the very beginning. It is impossible for the land and the colonized subject to

return to its ‗original‘ condition after being scarred by the dominating colony.

Grewe-Volpp suggests that the most possible way of a radical change to achieve

justice is by working on a new relationship that is more balanced in all aspects;

environmentally, politically, economically, and culturally. This relationship needs

to overcome the existence of hierarchy that comes from the imperial power

structure. By liberating the nature and the dispossessed from the hierarchal system

and its abusive way, the improvement for the nature and people is possible—with

the possibility for how ecology is to be shaped is left open.86





46

CHAPTER III

THE EFFECT OF COLONIZATION ON THE NATURE AND THE

PEOPLE IN GHOSH’S SEA OF POPPIES

In the previous chapter, some studies on Ghosh‘s works have been

reviewed along with the postcolonial ecocriticism theory to answer the research

questions. This section focuses on the analysis of the effect of the colonization on

the nature and people in Amitav Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies. The analysis works to

see how human and nature is related to one another in the scene of colonial India.

This section is divided into two parts; the effect of colonization on the nature, and

the effect of the colonization on the people to see how the practice of British

colonization in India has affected the indigenous people and their land.

A. The Effect of Colonization on the Nature

Nature plays an important role for the characters in Sea of Poppies.

Through one of the characters, Deeti, Ghosh shows how humans rely on the

nature. In the novel, Deeti is described as a native woman who lived on the suburb

of Ghazipur. Making a living out of poppy farming, Deeti possesses an

environmental consciousness for being directly involved with the nature. Her

relationship with nature allows her to notice the difference that happens when East

India Company takes over India for opium cultivation. Being presented as the

native in the novel, Deeti shows how nature plays a significant role in the life of

the indigenous people.


47

The significance of nature in human‘s life can be seen from how nature

provides everything that is needed to survive. In her everyday life, for example,

Deeti and her family go to the Ganga River to bathe. This shows how Deeti‘s

everyday need of water is fulfilled by the Ganga:

…Now, her mind turned to her shrine room again: with the hour of

the noontime puja drawing close, it was time to go to the river for a

bath. After massaging poppy-seed oil into Kabutri‘s hair and her

own, Deeti draped her spare sari over her shoulder and led her

daughter towards the water, across the field.87

As a poppy farmer, Deeti indeed makes a living from the nature. Nature

works as a day to day working place for her. For being able to only plant poppies,

Deeti still makes the most out of it by making use of the poppies to fulfill her own

daily needs. From the previous quotation, it can be seen how she and her

daughter, Kabutri, use the poppy seeds oil to be massaged on their hair. This is not

the only example of how the poppies are being used regularly in Deeti‘s daily life.

In fact, Deeti also uses the poppy seeds in her cooking. For example, she uses the

seeds in cooking alu-posth88

, which is a dish made of potatoes cooked in poppy-

seed paste. (SOP, 7)

Even during her escape with Kalua, Deeti also feels how nature provides

for her. They both manage to survive by the help of the nature. This following

quotation shows how by being close to the Ganga, Deeti and Kalua are saved

from being hungry or thirsty despite having no money at all.

87 Ghosh, Amitav. Sea of Poppies. (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008), p.7. From

this onwards, Sea of Poppies is to be abbreviated as SOP with pagination only. 88

Also spelled as aloo posto.


48

…Every evening Kalua would light a fire and Deeti would knead

and cook a sufficient number of rotis to see them through the day.

With the Ganga close at hand, they had so far lacked for neither

food nor water.(SOP,189)

Other than helping Deeti in sustaining her life by providing food and water

in need, nature also holds a place in Deeti‘s spiritual life. It can be seen from how

Deeti shows her respect and gratitude to the nature that provides for her. To give

thanks to the nature, Deeti pours out the water and the offering to the Ganga River

and to the holy city of Benares89

, which is shown in the following quotation:

…Turning in the direction of Benares, in the west, Deeti hoisted

her daughter aloft, to pour out a handful of water as a tribute to the

holy city. Along with the offering, a leaf flowed out of the child‘s

cupped palms. They turned to watch as the river carried it

downstream towards the ghats of Ghazipur. (SOP,7)

After expressing her thankfulness to the nature by giving the offering to the holy

river and the holy city, Deeti fills her pitcher with the water from the river to be

placed in her puja90

room, where she will also give flowers and offerings to the

deities (SOP, 8). In India, flower offerings during the worship are done to delight

the deities in hope that they will bestow prosperity to the family.

Not only that nature fulfills Deeti‘s daily needs and becomes a part of her

spiritual life, it is also nature who gives Deeti a ‗sight‘ about her future. In the

beginning of the novel, it is the Ganga who gives Deeti the ‗sight‘ about the Ibis,

the ship that will change her life forever. This next quotation shows how the

89 Also known as Varanasi, one of the holy cities in India.

90 Prayer


49

nature bestows signs about the future upon Deeti by giving her a vision to her

through the contact with the sacred waters.

In time, among the legions who came to regard the Ibis as their

ancestor, it was accepted that it was the river itself that had granted

Deeti the vision: that the image of the Ibis had been transported

upstream, like an electric current, the moment the vessel made

contact with the sacred waters. This would mean that it happened

in the second week of March 1838, for that was when the Ibis

dropped anchor off Ganga-Sagar Island, where the holy river

debouches into the Bay of Bengal. (SOP,10)

The previous quotations show how Deeti lives harmoniously with the

nature. They also represent the idea of human and nature having a symbiotic

relationship to one another. Since Deeti and her family rely so much on the nature,

it is not surprising to see how changes that affect the nature will also affect their

lives. As mentioned previously, being directly involved with the nature has caused

Deeti to possess an environmental consciousness. Deeti is included in those who

are aware and notices about the changes that happen to the nature.

Sea of Poppies presents us an image of how British colonization in India

affected the nature, and natives like Deeti are of those who are forced to accept

the changes in the environment that also influence a numerous changes in her

daily life. Sea of Poppies presents the fact that in the late 18th

century, British has

established a monopoly over opium production in India. By then, British has

forced a new cultivation system to Indian‘s nature and natives. To gain as huge

profit as possible, British forces the natives to plant poppies and fulfill British‘s

high demand of opium. Colonialism in India has changed the way poppies are

produced in India, it can be seen in the following quotation:


50

When Deeti was her daughter‘s age, things were different: poppies

had been a luxury then, grown in small clusters between the fields

that bore the main winter crops—wheat, masoor dal and

vegetables. Her mother would send some of her poppy seeds to the

oil-press, and the rest she would keep for the house, some for

replanting, and some to cook with meat and vegetables. As for the

sap, it was sieved of impurities and left to dry, until the sun turned

it into hard abkari afeem; at that time, no one thought of producing

the wet, treacly chandu that was made and packaged in the English

factory, to be sent across the sea in boats. (SOP,28)

From the previous quotation it can be from Deeti‘s point of view that the arrival

of British colony has changed the way poppies are cultivated in India. Deeti

witnesses how at first poppies were planted alongside the main winter crops like

wheat, masoor dal91

, and vegetables. However, Deeti cannot find those winter

crops anymore because the cultivation system is different already; farmers only

plant poppies instead of those usual main crops. The start of production of poppies

in a large scale to be sent into the opium factory and to be exported outside India

happens when British arrived and imposed the new cultivation system. Poppies

are no longer a luxury because it is being planted all year in a massive amount as

well.

Since poppies are planted in a large amount to fulfill British demands of

opium production, poppies have taken over the land all across India. This

cultivation of poppies has changed the way the land is used. The enormous scale

of poppy cultivation is, indeed, a form of abuse to the land itself. With the colony

taking over the land and the natives, growing opium becomes a form of land

91 Lentil


51

exploitation. From one places to another, it is difficult to find other type of crops

being planted other than the poppies.

It happened at the end of winter, in a year when the poppies were

strangely slow to shed their petals: for mile after mile, from

Benares onwards, the Ganga seemed to be flowing between twin

glaciers, both its banks being blanketed by thick drifts of white

petalled flowers. It was as if the snows of the high Himalayas had

descended on the plains to await the arrival of Holi and its

springtime profusion of colour. (SOP, 3)

The quotation shows how poppies take over the fertile land by the Ganga River all

the way from Benares to Deeti‘s village in the Northern Bihar, which is located in

the outskirts of the town of Ghazipur. The poppies do not only take over Deeti‘s

village, but they also cover the surroundings of Deeti‘s childhood home near the

Karamnasa River. Deeti notices how the landscape near the river has a great deal

of change since her childhood, and she finds only the remnants of the harvest

alongside the fertile riverbank. (SOP,188)

Deeti notices how the colonization has transformed the landscape. As

someone who is close to nature, Deeti finds herself agitated over the loss of

greenery in her surroundings. She longs for the presence of the vegetable and

grain in the middle of the massive flowers takeover, which can be seen in:

…The landscape on the rivers‘ shores had changed a great deal

since Deeti‘s childhood and looking around now, it seemed to her

that the Karamnasa‘s influence had spilled over its banks,

spreading its blight far beyond the lands that drew upon its waters:

the opium harvest having been recently completed, the plants had

been left to wither in the fields, so that the countryside was

blanketed with the parched remnants. Except for the foliage of a

few mango and jackfruit trees, nowhere was anything green to

relieve the eye. This, she knew, was what her own fields looked

like, and were she at home today, she would have been asking

herself what she would eat in the months ahead: where the

vegetables? The grains? (SOP,188)


52

The landscape, as shown in the quotation, is filled with the remnants of the poppy

harvest. Deeti cannot help but feeling upset over the fact that the environment has

lost its green color. For Deeti, being able to see the greenery in her environment

brings such sense of relief. Unfortunately, seasonal crops are no longer planted in

order to gain as much poppy harvest as possible. In this case, winter crops like

vegetables and grains are nowhere to be found. The cultivation of poppies in a

massive amount has created an obvious problem which is the loss of nature‘s

biodiversity.

Since the poppies monoculture is forced, it has resulted in various

problems on the environment. Previously, it can be seen the nature has lost its

biodiversity with the land being taken over entirely by the poppies. Another

apparent result of this practice is its effect to the soil. On the long run,

monoculture may result in the damage of the soil. The damage may be seen in

how the valuable soil nutrients deplete over time since the poppies monoculture

requires the cultivation of poppies over a large area for years. Biodiversity is

needed by the soil to maintain the nutrients to keep it fertile. Since the farmers in

the novel do not plant the seasonal crops anymore, there is no crop rotation effort

to restore the nutrients that are found in the soil. The most obvious effect can be

seen in how Deeti along with some other farmers are experiencing late harvest,

which is possibly caused by the lack of available soil nutrients. The late harvest

has caused uneasiness for Deeti and her neighbors who also work as poppy

farmers. (SOP, 3)


53

In addition, it appears that the poppies monoculture also affect the animal

population in various ways. The enormous amount of poppies in the field is

shown to have pacified the animals, as shown in:

…As her steps lengthened, she saw that on some nearby fields, the

crop was well in advance of her own: some of her neighbours had

already nicked their pods and the white ooze of the sap could be

seen congealing around the parallel incisions of the nukha. The

sweet, heady odour of the bleeding pods had drawn swarms of

insects, and the air was buzzing with bees, grasshoppers and

wasps; many would get stuck in the ooze and tomorrow, when the

sap turned colour, their bodies would merge into the black gum,

becoming a welcome addition to the weight of the harvest. The sap

seemed to have a pacifying effect even on the butterflies, which

flapped their wings in oddly erratic patterns, as though they could

not remember how to fly. (SOP, 27)

In the previous quotation, it is Deeti again who notices how the smell of the poppy

sap affects the insects like bees, grasshoppers, wasps and butterflies. The smell of

the sap does not only pacify these insects, but it also potentially kills them.

Sea of Poppies also presents the negative effect of British colonization on

India‘s nature through the depiction of the opium factory. The opium factory in

Ghazipur as shown in the novel is the actual portrayal of Ghazipur Opium Factory

that was established by East India Company, and it is the biggest and the oldest

opium factory in the country. On her way to pick her sick husband up from work,

Deeti witnesses how the opium factory has caused negative effects to its

surroundings.

Although the Sudder Opium Factory was indisputably large and

well-guarded, there was nothing about its exterior to suggest to an

onlooker that it was among the most precious jewels in Queen

Victoria‘s crown. On the contrary, a miasma of lethargy seemed

always to hang over the factory‘s surroundings. (SOP, 89)


54

Despite of the huge profit British has gained from the opium production, the

quotation shows how the factory cannot be considered as a place of luxury or so.

On the other hand, the factory has caused ‗a miasma of lethargy‘, showing how

the factory has caused dullnesss and produced an awful smell to its surroundings.

On her way to the factory in Kalua‘s oxen cart, Deeti and Kabutri suffer

because of the opium-filled air. The waste of the factory in the form of fog takes

over the fresh air of the city. The polluted air gives a terrible effect not only to

humans, but also to the animals. Deeti, Kabutri, Kalua, including Kalua‘s oxen

and everyone nearby the factory cannot help but sneeze because of the air

pollution.

As Kalua‘s cart rolled on, towards the factory‘s main compound,

Deeti and Kabutri began to sneeze; soon, Kalua and the oxen were

sniffling too, for they had now drawn abreast of the godowns

where farmers came to dispose of their ‗poppy trash‘—leaves,

stalks, and roots, all of which were used in the packaging of the

drug. Ground up for storage, these remains produced a fine dust

that hung in the air like a fog of snuff. Rare was the passer-by who

could brave this mist without exploding into a paroxysm of sneezes

and sniffles—and yet it was a miracle, plain to behold, that the

coolies pounding the trash were no more affected by the dust than

were their young English overseers. (SOP, 89)

The condition within the opium factory itself is worse. The smell of the

raw opium fills the factory, mixed with the unpleasant smell of human‘s sweat as

a result of being confined in hot and closed spaces. Deeti, who makes her first

visit to the opium factory, is overwhelmed by condition of the factory that she has

breathing difficulty and finds herself almost faint.

…The air inside was hot and fetid, like that of a closed kitchen,

except that the smell was not of spices and oil, but of liquid opium,

mixed with the dull stench of sweat—a reek so powerful that she

had to pinch her nose to keep herself from gagging…not till she


55

was through the door did she allow herself to breathe freely again,:

now as she was trying to cleanse her lungs of the odour of raw,

churned opium, she heard someone say: Bhauji? Are you alright?

The voice proved to be that of their relative and it was all she could

do not to collapse on him. (SOP, 92)

The waste of the opium factory does not only pollute the air, but it also

contaminates the Ganga River, and it affects the animals in the environment. For

instance, Deeti notices how the factory‘s effluence is badly affecting the

population of monkeys near the factory. After consuming the contaminated water

from the Ganga River, the monkeys seem to mimic an opium addict; those

monkeys lose their excitement and are stupefied by the factory‘s waste.

…The monkeys that lived around it, for instance: Deeti pointed a

few of these out to Kabutri as the ox-cart trundled towards the

walls. Unlike others of their kind they never came down from the

trees it was to lap at the open sewers that drained the factory‘s

effluents; after having sated their cravings, they would climb back

into the branches to resume their stupefied scrutiny of the Ganga

and its currents. (SOP, 89)

To add, the broken earthenware pots that are scattered around the rivers

also cause the pollution to the Ganga water. The pots, which are used to contain

raw opium, seem to contaminate the population of the fish. The population of the

aquatic animal is under the influence of the raw opium remnants, which can be

seen in:

…This stretch of riverbank was unlike any other, for the ghats

around the Carcanna were shored up with thousands of broken

earthenware gharas—the round-bottomed vessels in which raw

opium was brought to the factory. The belief was widespread that

fish were more easily caught after they had nibbled at the shards,

and as a result the bank was always crowded with fishermen.

(SOP, 90)

The effect of the monoculture in the poppy cultivation system which is

imposed by British to India‘s nature also affects the life of the indigenous people.


56

Through the cultivation of the cash crop in a huge amount, British have exploited

both the nature and the indigenous population. The following section will

elaborate in what way the indigenous people are exploited in line with the nature

exploitation.

B. The Effect of Colonization on the People

The exploitation of both the nature and the indigenous people in Ghosh‘s

Sea of Poppies go hand in hand. The forced perspective from the colony that

changes the nature of course will change the life of the people as well. The

indigenous people in the novel suffer under both colonial and environmental

exploitations.

In Sea of Poppies, during British colonialism, the exploitation of the

nature and its resources occurs simultaneously with the exploitation of the

indigenous people. Colonization has shifted both the ecosystem of India and also

the life of the indigenous people. In the novel, people like Deeti and her family

become those who struggle under the colonial exploitation.

It has been explained previously that before the arrival of the British

colony in India, poppies were such a luxury for the indigenous people like Deeti,

and were planted in a small amount only to fit the needs of a household to be used

for specific purposes as well. The beginning of the new cultivation system that is

imposed by the British to the nature marks the beginning of the exploitation of the

indigenous people at the same time.

The exploitation of the nature goes hand in hand with the exploitation of

the nature. In cultivating the opium poppy in a large scale, the colony does not


57

only oppress the nature, but they also oppress the indigenous people. Being

abused by the colony to only cultivate poppies has caused complications in the

life of the Indian natives. The indigenous people struggle to face the rapid changes

that are caused by the colonialism that affects not only their natural ecosystem,

but also their everyday lives.

As previously mentioned, one of the changes in the environment is how

poppies are planted in a large scale for a whole year. To make sure the indigenous

people are fulfilling the colony‘s high demand of the opium production, farmers

are forced not to plant their usual seasonal crops but to plant the poppies instead.

Contracts are set prior to the opium cultivation and they are to be signed by the

farmers, so these farmers are to work under the colony to produce as much opium

as possible, it is shown in:

…She had only to look around to know that here, as in the village

she had left, everyone‘s land was in hock to the agents of the

opium factory: every farmer had been served with a contract, the

fulfilling of which left them with no option but to strew their land

with poppies. And now, with the harvest over and little grain at

home, they would have to plunge still deeper into debt to feed their

families. It was as if the poppy had become the carrier of

Karamnasa‘s malign taint. (SOP, 188)

Deeti is one of the farmers that have no other choice but to plant her fields

with the poppies. She is also bounded with the enforced contract, just like the

other farmers. These farmers, as shown in the quotation, cannot even sustain

themselves with the little grain they own, because they have been denied the

rights to plant the traditional crops that they need.


58

In addition, there is a reason why the farmers only planted a small amount

of poppies in the middle of the traditional crops. The cultivation of poppies

requires extra care, as shown in:

In the old days, farmers would keep a little of their home-made

opium for their families, to be used during illnesses, or at harvests

and weddings; the rest they would sell to the local nobility, or to

pykari merchants from Patna. Back then, a few clumps of poppy

were enough to provide for a household‘s needs, leaving a little

over, to be sold: no one was inclined to plant more because all the

work it took to grow poppies—fifteen fences and bunds to be built;

purchases of manure and constant watering; and after all that, the

frenzy of the harvest, each bulb having to be individually nicked,

drained and scraped. Such punishment was bearable when you had

a patch or two of poppies—but what sane person would want to

multiply these labours when there were better, more useful crops to

grow, like wheat, dal, vegetables? (SOP, 28)

As previously shown in the quotation, growing poppies takes a tremendous effort

from the farmer, from making sure the availability manure and water, to the extra

care during harvest. This is why in the past, farmers only planted poppies in a

little patch of land to be used only during illnesses, harvests, or weddings.

In harvesting the poppy sap, the timing must be precise as well. The

lateness in harvesting only causes the extra care in growing the poppies becomes

useless. Harvest needs to be done efficiently or else the farmers will not gain

anything from the harvest, for the remnants of the poppies are not valuable for the

opium factory.

…The timing had to be exactly right because the priceless sap

flowed only for a brief period in the plant‘s span of life: a day or

two this way of that, and the pods were of no more value than the

blossoms of a weed. (SOP, 5)

Considering all the care and effort in growing and harvesting the poppies,

it is reasonable why in the past the indigenous farmers only plant a little poppy


59

alongside with the other crops. With British colony forcing the farmers to

cultivate poppies in a huge amount, imagine the amount of effort it takes to grow

the flowers. This is another form of how the natives are oppressed. In other words,

planting poppies becomes a torture for these people.

The abuse towards the indigenous population does not stop on giving the

extra care on the poppies cultivation, but it proceeds to how they are forced to sell

their harvest to the factory. Opium is the exclusive monopoly of the British colony

under the East India Company. This means, people like Deeti are not entitled of

the fortune brought by the poppies she has harvested. Their harvest is directly

brought to the factory in earthenware gharas92

where each detail of the opium

production has been specifically planned by the East India Company‘s directors in

London.

…Hukam Singh had told Deeti that the measure of every

ingredient was precisely laid down by the Company‘s directors in

faraway London: each package of opium was to consist of exactly

one seer and seven-and a half chittacks of the drug, the ball being

wrapped in five chittacks of poppy-leaf rotis, half of fine grade and

half coarse, the whole being moistened with no more and no less

than five chittacks of lewah. (SOP, 95)

The previous quotation shows how people like Deeti and her husband

Hukam Singh, who are a farmer and an opium factory worker, respectively, have

no control over opium and its production. This is because everything has been

arranged by the people in East Indian Company. Farmers like Deeti, especially,

are only obliged to hand their harvest over to the factory on a monthly basis where

92 Pots


60

it is to be weighed and graded into either chandee (fine) or ganta (coarse). (SOP,

90)

As reflected in the novel, British colony in India is sustained by the

monopoly of the opium production. The monopoly only gives advantages to the

British merchants, which in the novel is represented by Benjamin Burnham. To

Burnham, the exploitation of the nature through the colonization is a benefit

granted from British to India, it can be seen in:

‗For the simple reason, Reid,‘ said Mr Burnham patiently, ‗that

British rule in India could not be sustained without opium – that is

all there is to it, and let us not pretend otherwise… Do you imagine

that British rule would be possible in this impoverished land if it

were not for this source of wealth? And if we reflect on the

benefits that British rule has conferred upon India, does it not

follow that opium is this land‘s greatest blessing? Does it not

follow that it is our God-given duty to confer these benefits upon

others?‘ (SOP, 113)

In his talk with Zachary Reid, Benjamin Burnham bluntly states his opinion on

the exploitation of India‘s nature and indigenous population. In Burnham‘s

perspective, British have successfully made use of opium, India‘s only source of

wealth. According to Burnham, British rule has properly helped to utilize opium

for human‘s benefit, and without it India is just an impoverished land.

However, it is obvious that the exclusive monopoly of the opium only

benefits British. Opium as British‘s source of wealth has caused a widespread

poverty and hunger to the indigenous people. The cultivation of a cash crop like

poppy makes it impossible for the people to survive. Many of the farmers are

forced to leave their villages in search for a better job, but it somehow useless and

they are still living in poverty and hunger, as shown in:


61

…The town was thronged with hundreds of other impoverished

transients, many of whom were willing to sweat themselves half to

death for a few handfuls of rice. Many of these people had been

driven from their villages by the flood of flowers that had washed

over the countryside: lands that once provided sustenance were

now swamped by the rising tide of poppies; food was so hard to

come by that people were glad to lick the leaves in which offerings

were made at temples or sip the starchy water from a pot in which

rice had been boiled. (SOP, 198)

These people, including characters like Deeti too, are the victim of British

opium monopoly. Not only that these people are forced to sign a contract, they are

also given cash advances along with the contract. The cash advances should be

returned with their earnings from the harvest.

Come the cold weather, the English sahibs would allow little else

to be planted; their agents would go from home to home, forcing

cash advances on the farmers, making them sign asámi contracts. It

was impossible to say no to them: if you refused they would leave

their silver hidden in your house, or throw it through a window. It

was no use telling the white magistrate that you hadn‘t accepted

the money and your thumbprint was forged: he earned

commissions on the opium and would never let you off. And, at the

end of it, your earnings would come to no more than three-and-a-

half-sicca rupees, just about enough to pay off your advance. (SOP,

28)

However, not even the earning from the harvest is enough for the farmers.

The previous quotation shows the farmer‘s earning is too small it can only cover

the advance. These farmers have no other choice but to start another season of

poppy cultivation with a new round of debt. The loan for the farmers, too, has a

huge interest, as shown in:

…She gave in and agreed to place the impression of her thumb on

the seth‘s account book in exchange for six months‘ worth of

wheat, oil and gurh. Only as she was leaving did it occur to her to

ask how much she owed and what the interest was. The seth‘s

answers took her breath away: his rates were such that her debt

would double every six months; in a few years, all the land would


62

be forfeit. Better to eat weeds than to take such a loan: she tried to

return the goods but it was too late. (SOP, 152)

The debts system and its huge interest are the reasons why a lot of the farmers

lose their lands and leave the countryside. The farmers eventually end up with no

money and no land to work on. In some cases, a lot of people choose to leave the

country and become indentured labors. Ratna and Champa are those people that

Deeti meets on the Ibis that choose to leave instead of living in starvation.

As for stories, there was no end to them: two of the women, Ratna

and Champa, were sisters, married to a pair of brothers whose

lands were contracted to the opium factory and could no longer

support them; rather than starve, they have decided to indenture

themselves together—whatever happened in the future, they would

at least have the consolation of a shared fate. (SOP, 237)

The opium factory displays not only the trace of natural exploitation, but

also human exploitation. Not only that the factory is established by the British,

Ghazipur Opium Factory is also exclusively managed by the British. The

superintendent of the factory is a senior official of the East India Company, and

the other important positions such as overseers, accountants, storekeepers, and

chemists in the factory are also occupied by the British. These people order

several hundred of Indian workers for the Company‘s benefit. (SOP, 88)

On her visit to the opium factory to pick her sick husband up, Deeti does

not only discover the horrible condition of the opium factory‘s surrounding, but

she also witnesses how the employees of the factory are working under such an

inhumane condition. The working condition for the workers in factory is so

horrible; the factory is polluted by the opium, and in some rooms the temperature

is cool, almost wintry, while in some other places, the temperature is too hot.


63

There are not enough lights in the factory, and there is not enough space either

since there are a lot of workers placed in the same room at the same time.

As the result of an awful working condition, a lot of workers in the factory

are in an awful health condition as well. Seeing the workers and their working

condition in the factory seems to trigger Deeti‘s pity to them. These workers

happen to be badly affected by the drugs they work on, and some of them become

ill since they are made to do such work like sinking themselves in the opium filled

tanks. These people start to look like a living dead in Deeti‘s eyes.

…When her eyes had grown more accustomed to the gloom, she

discovered the secret of those circling torsos: they were bare-

bodied men, sunk waist-deep in tanks of opium, tramping round

and round so often to sludge. Their eyes were vacant, glazed, and

yet somehow they managed to keep moving, as slow as ants in

honey, tramping, treading. When they could move no more, they

say on the edges of the tanks, stirring the dark ooze only with their

feet. These seated men had more the look of ghouls than any living

thing she had ever seen: their eyes glowed red in the dark and they

appeared completely naked, their loincloths—if indeed they had

any—being so steeped in the drug as to be indistinguishable from

their skin. (SOP, 92)

To add the way the workers are oppressed, they do not only work in such

an inhumane condition, but they also are tormented by the British overseers who

watch their every move. White overseers patrol every place, they are armed with

tools like metal scoops, glass ladles, and long-handled rakes, and are ready to

punish the workers (SOP, 93). For these workers, there is no room even for minor

mistakes. Deeti witnesses how the workers in the opium factory carefully treat the

ball of opium as if their lives are depended on it. The horror breaks when one of

the workers drops the opium ball, and he receives caning from the overseer as a

consequence of his mistake.


64

…How could they throw so accurately with one hand, while

holding on with the other—and that too at a height where the

slightest slip would mean certain death? The sureness of their grip

seemed amazing to Deeti, until suddenly one of them did indeed

drop a ball sending it crashing to the floor, where it burst open,

splattering its gummy contents everywhere. Instantly the offender

was set upon by cane-wielding overseers and his howls and shrieks

went echoing through the vast, chilly chamber. (SOP, 94)

However, for being able to work with the colony, the landlords in India are

gaining advantages from the opium cultivation. These landlords who are from the

high caste in India‘s society gain profits from the association they make with the

colony.

… Little did they know of the perils of the consignment trade and

how the risks were borne by those who provided the capital. Year

after year, with British and American traders growing even more

skilled in evading Chinese laws, the market for opium expanded,

and the Raja and his associates made handsome profits on their

investments. (SOP, 84)

Unlike the low caste farmers, the landlords are able to gain huge profits from their

association with British Colony. However, this is not something that lasts for

long, considering what happens to Raja Neel Halder. How the relationship of the

colony and zemindary in Neel Halder‘s case will be explored more in the

following chapter.

In the frame of colonization, the exploitation of the nature and the people

happen simultaneously. The indigenous people are the living proof of how

anthropocentrism in colonial frame goes beyond human and nature relationship,

but there is also the ‗other‘ human that are oppressed for the Colony‘s benefit.

Resistance is needed as the form of fighting back against both forms of

exploitations. Resistance may offer an available possibility to fight against the

injustice caused by the colonizer‘s exploitative attitude.


65

CHAPTER IV

RESISTANCE AS A MEANS TO DISCOVER THE ENVIRONMENTAL

AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN GHOSH’S SEA OF POPPIES

In the previous chapter, the effect of colonization towards India‘s nature

and indigenous people has been discussed as a means to see how human and

nature relate to one another in colonial settings. The findings show how both the

nature and the people experience exploitation and injustice caused by the

colonization. This section is to see how resistance works as the way to react

against the nature and human exploitation.

A. The Early Resistance

The early resistance refers to the small attempts done by the indigenous

population to fight, protest, and raise their voice against the injustice that

oppresses them and their nature. Ghosh presents how British completely takes

control of the people and the land in India. The native only has a small option to

fight back, since they are almost powerless in the presence of their oppressors.

In Deeti‘s case, there is an urge to fight against the long term and vast

amount of opium poppy cultivation. To her, such practice is a punishment that

needs to be fought against. As a farmer, she knows that the normal amount of

poppy to be planted is only a patch or two of poppies, and it is to be planted

alongside main crops like wheat, dal, or vegetables.

…Such punishment was bearable when you had a patch or two of

poppies – but what sane person would want to multiply these


66

labours when there were better, more useful crops to grow, like

wheat, dal, vegetables? (SOP, 28)

The amount of poppies which has taken over the land seems insane and

overwhelming to Deeti. She voices the concern of her kind, the peasants, who

think that they are in need of other crops instead of just poppies. Deeti reflects

someone who Grewe-Volpp will identify as a colonized subject who is seen to

have his/her ideas of the land being crushed by the colonization93

. By having her

own perception on how to value and use the land, Deeti expresses her thoughts

against the exploitative perception of the colony.

However, British has made it impossible for the locals, especially the

farmers, to fight against them. The local farmers have no option but to obey since

they are bounded by the contracts that they have signed. For people like Deeti, of

course they will prefer to plant main seasonal crops to sustain their lives instead of

planting cash crops like the poppies. For people who refuse to plant poppies for

the East India Company, British will frame the farmers or their family by leaving

silvers in the farmer‘s houses. In the end, these farmers have no option but to be

placed in jail or to be transported outside India to be made into slaves.

…It was impossible to say no to them: if you refused they would

leave their silver hidden in your house, or throw it through a

window. It was no use telling the white magistrate that you hadn‘t

accepted the money and your thumbprint was forged: he earned

commissions on the opium and would never let you off. (SOP, 92)

The way how British colony forces the locals and frames them to gain a complete

control over their property and even their life shows how colonial exploitation has



67

granted the colony the control of the people and their lands. The unavailability of

access of the indigenous people to speak on the behalf of their lives is what

Grewe-Volpp considers as the indigenous people‘s silence as a sign of

powerlessness.94

The fact that the farmers‘ harvest is valued cheaply by British gains protest

from the indigenous people. For the farmers, especially, it is unfair that they are

forced not plant crops to sustain their life while their effort is cheaply prized.

Deeti as the representative of the farmers raises a protest against the little amount

money she accepts for her labor. It upsets Deeti that her harvest for a whole

season is only worth a little, that there is only small possibility for her to feed her

family with the money she earns from selling the raw opium.

…But a rude surprise was waiting at the Carcanna: after her gharas

of opium had been weighed, counted and tested, Deeti was shown

the account book for Hukam Singh‘s plot of land. It turned out that

at the start of the season, her husband had taken a much larger

advance than she had thought: now, the meagre proceeds were

barely enough to cover his debt. She looked disbelievingly at the

discoloured coins that were laid before her: Aho so ka karwat? she

cried. Just six dams for the whole harvest? It‘s not enough to feed a

child, let alone a family. (SOP, 152)

Deeti is not the only one to make such protest. The other farmers are also

against such unfair treatment. The phenomenon where the indigenous people

speak against or protest against the colonial domination is the way how resistance

is embodied in within the community.95

Protests can be heard in the opium factory

when the harvest is weighed. Most farmers end up being angry at how cheap the




68

factory values the farmer‘s hard work. Complaints and quarrels are unavoidable,

yet there is no room for these peasants to express their objection against this

injustice. To protest means to get beaten by the landlords. Also, these farmers still

have to accept the consequence that they are to start a new season of poppy

cultivation by a bigger burden of debt.

…Nearby, held back by a line of lathi-carrying peons, stood the

farmers whose vessels were being weighed; alternatively tense and

angry, cringing and resigned, they were waiting to find out if their

harvests for the year had fulfilled their contracts—if not, they

would have to start the next year with a still greater load of debt.

Deeti watched as a peon carried a slip of paper to a farmer and was

rebuffed with a howl of protest: all over the hall, she noticed, there

were quarrels and altercations breaking out, with farmers shouting

at serishtas, and landlord berating their tenants. (SOP, 92)

Farmers have done effort such as protesting against their landlords or the

factory. Unfortunately, it does not affect the system that has been forced by

British. In other words, protests do not stop British from exploiting India‘s nature

and indigenous people. Some farmers choose to sell their land to avoid living in

hunger (SOP, 152). In some other cases, when protests do not work, the other

option that the farmers can do is to leave their homeland as the only available

choice left. For instance, this is what happens to Ratna and Champa, two sisters

that choose the option of crossing the terrifying prospect of crossing the Black

Water, rather than staying and serving the colony in poverty and hunger.

As for stories there was no end to them: two of the women, Ratna

and Champa, were sisters, married to a pair of brothers whose

lands were contracted to the opium factory and could no longer

support them; rather than starve, they had decided to indenture

themselves together – whatever happened in the future, they would

at least have the consolation of a shared fate. (SOP, 237)


69

To emphasize, there is only a little possibility available for the people to

speak or act against the colony. In some cases, protesting against the injustice

does not always mean well for the indigenous people. The only available left for

the natives are to leave their homeland as a way to put an end to their oppressed

lives.

B. Migration and Resistance

When there is no space left for justice, crossing the Black Water to leave

as a way to resist the exploitation caused by the authoritarian colonialism. Ghosh

presents the theme journey crossing the Black Water as a theme which bonds

between one character and another. To look at it closely, in choosing migration,

the characters are faced with the uncertainty of how they life would be afterwards.

Despite the uncertainty, there is still an urge to sail across the sea as a statement to

fight against the injustice. Losing one‘s caste after migrating and crossing the

Black Water is a consequence, but also the point where the social justice is

achieved, and so is the environmental justice. The Ibis gives birth to a new

‗society‘ where everyone lives in balance, there is no unfair treatment, and

nobody oppresses anybody.

As previously mentioned, people like Deeti have attempted to do all they

can to protest or to voice against the injustice that oppresses their lives. Through

characters like Deeti, Ghosh aims to show how resistance is portrayed as a

reaction against the exploitation of India‘s nature and indigenous population.

Deeti is created by Ghosh as a character that is victimized by the opium—being

drugged by her husband‘s family in her wedding night, having an opium addict


70

husband, and living in poverty because of the cultivation of opium poppy. Her

entire life has revolved around opium that Deeti herself comes to realize the

power opium has in controlling people.

As for Deeti, the more she ministered the drug, the more she came

to respect its potency: how frail a creature was a human being, to

be tamed by such tiny doses of this substance! She saw now why

the factory in Ghazipur was so diligently patrolled by the sahibs

and their sepoys – for a little bit of this gum could give her such

power over the life, the character, the very soul of this elderly

woman, then with more of it at her disposal, why should she not be

able to seize kingdoms and control multitudes? And surely this

could not be the only such substance upon the earth? (SOP, 37)

Deeti discovers the power of the opium as a means to control people when

she uses the substance to gradually drug her mother-in-law. She understands, then,

how human being is such a weak creature compared to the opium. By deciding to

leave her family and her old life behind, and detaching herself from the opium,

Deeti has released herself from all of the strong forces that keep her oppressed.

Ghosh aims to show how by choosing to run and live with Kalua, Deeti has

resisted against the domination that keeps bounding her. Deeti has decided that

she is no longer to be oppressed by her husband‘s family and East India

Company.

In addition, there is something so interesting about how Ghosh creates

Deeti and Kalua to end as one and another‘s company, especially in considering

the two characters‘ caste differences. How Deeti supposedly treats Kalua can be

seen in the following quotation:

…he was of the leather-workers‘ caste and Hukam Singh, as a

high-caste Rajput, believed that the sight of his face would bode ill

for the day ahead…Deeti, too, was careful to keep her face covered

in the driver‘s presence: it was only when she went back inside, to


71

wake Kabutri, her six-year-old daughter, that she allowed the

ghungta of her sari to slip off her head. (SOP, 4)

Kalua‘s caste is Chamar, which is considered as the untouchables. It is

believed that only a sight of Kalua‘s face alone is able to bring bad luck. Deeti,

too, needs to be careful in showing her face to the oxen-cart driver, which is why

she is required to her face hidden behind her ghungta96

in the presence of Kalua.

Even so, Kalua still helps Deeti from being forced to be a sati by her husband‘s

family. Kalua himself is someone who is wounded by the people of high caste. In

one occasion, three gamble-loving landowners force Kalua to do an act of

bestiality just to get back at him for their defeat in a gamble. Deeti witnesses this

discreetly, and she helps to clean Kalua when it is impossible for him to do it by

himself because he is injured. The fact that Deeti is not allowed to touch Kalua

because of their caste differences does not stop Deeti to help Kalua. The feeling of

gratitude drives Kalua to save Deeti from the fire that will burn her and her

husband‘s bodies together. Through Kalua and Deeti, Ghosh wants to show that

despite of the rigid caste differences and the rules that forbid these two characters,

a balanced relationship between one human to another is possible be achieved. In

a caste-bound society that always disadvantages the untouchable ones, it is Kalua

who helps Deeti to put an end to the injustice she faces in her old life.

Deeti finds the prospect upon running away with Kalua to be exciting. To

leave the life that once oppressed her create an immense joy within herself. It is

96 Veil


72

like she is given a chance to relive a new life with Kalua, a man from the

untouchable caste that has rescued her.

… Even then she did not feel herself to be living in the same sense

as before: a curious feeling, of joy mixed with resignation, crept

into her heart, for it was as if she really had died and been

delivered betimes in rebirth, to her next life: she had shed the body

of the old Deeti, with the burden of its karma; she had paid the

price her stars had demanded of her, and was free now to create a

new destiny as she willed, with whom she chose – and she knew

that it was with Kalua that this life would be lived, until another

death claimed the body that he had torn from the flames. (SOP,

175)

As a way to complete Deeti and Kalua‘s life transformation, Ghosh

presents them with new names; Aditi and Madhu, respectively (SOP, 229). Both

introduced themselves as a couple of Chamars. To completely free themselves

from their old life, both are agree to sign up as migrants. They are to be sent as

labors across the sea to Mareech, or Mauritius. Deeti is frightened of the outlook

on leaving to a completely strange land. It is a widespread tale that Mareech is a

land inhabited by demons and beasts; this causes uneasiness in Deeti‘s heart

(SOP, 201). In addition, the worst part of leaving their homeland and crossing the

Black Water is losing their caste. This, too, causes such discomfort to Deeti, as

seen in:

She tried to imagine what it would be like to be in their place, to

know that you were forever an outcaste; to know that you would

never again enter your father‘s house; that you would never throw

your arms around your mother; never eat a meal with your sisters

and brothers; never feel the cleansing touch of the Ganga. And to

know also that for the rest of your days you would eke out a living

on some wild, demon-plagues island? (SOP, 71)

As seen in the previous quotation, to lose one‘s caste, as mentioned, means

to lose one‘s relationship with one‘s family. The event in which Deeti loses the


73

ties with her family represents a lot more. Deeti experiences the dispossession and

loss. By cutting the ties, she has lost not only her family, but also the rights to her

belongings or properties. This also causes complication in Deeti‘s identity in

India‘s society as well. It seems that it will be impossible to Deeti to return to her

homeland with her being casteless. To Huggan and Tiffin, dispossession and loss

are something that occurs innately to the indigenous people because of the arrival

of the colonial settlers.97

Even though the prospects of crossing Black Water and

losing one‘s caste are terrifying to Deeti, she and Kalua decide that it is the only

option for them to do. Ghosh shows how Deeti has the luxury to rebirth and

reshape her new life as she leaves her old life that is controlled by the rising tide

of opium poppy. Ghosh wants to show that in Deeti‘s case, the willingness to give

up one‘s caste shows a sense of liberation. Through Deeti, Ghosh shows how his

character dares to put an end to the injustice that oppresses her, even though it

costs her tremendous changes by doing so—saying farewell to her homeland is

one thing, and saying farewell to her daughter is another. However, it is not only

Deeti makes such choice. The other migrants, too, have their reasons why they

make the decision to leave, and mostly, these migrants have the same reason as

Deeti. Instead of living in hunger and poverty, and being constantly oppressed by

the colony that takes over their homeland, the prospect of leaving—although

scary—is still promising.

97 Huggan and Tiffin, p.45


74

Paulette also is included among the people on board of the Ibis. Ghosh

presents Paulette as French orphan who was born and raised in India. Paulette‘s

mother died when she gave birth to her. Paulette grows up inseparable with Jodu,

in the care of Jodu‘s mother due to Paulette‘s mother‘s death. Paulette and Jodu

practically grow up as siblings in Royal Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. Paulette‘s

late father dedicated his life to work as a botanist in Royal Botanical Gardens.

Being intimately close to Jodu‘s mother from the moment she opens her

eyes as a baby, Paulette develops a special bond with native Indian like Jodu and

his mother. Jodu‘s mother, too, loves and takes care of Paulette like her own

daughter, domesticating her feminine French name by calling her ‗Putli‘—which

means ‗doll‘ (SOP, 65)—and later will be used by Paulette when she disguised

herself as a native Indian woman.

In a way, Paulette is unique because:

…the first language she learnt was Bengali, and the first solid food

she ate was a rice-and-dal kichiri cooked by Jodu‘s mother. In the

matter of clothing she far preferred saris to pinafores –for shoes

she had no patience at all, choosing, rather, to roam the Gardens in

bare feet, like Jodu… for Jodu and his mother were not the only

ones to be cut off from their own kind; Paulette and her father were

perhaps even more so. Rarely, if ever, did white men or women

visit their bungalow, and the Lamberts took no part in the busy

whirl of Calcutta‘s English society. (SOP, 65)

As shown in the quotation, Paulette‘s first language is Bengali since she is raised

by Jodu‘s mother. She prefers Indian food, clothing, and manner than living like

common white people living in India. Growing up, Paulette admits herself to be

more a Bengali than French. Paulette finds herself experiencing uncertainty about

her own self-identity.


75

In addition, Paulette‘s habits are also strengthened with the fact that the

Lamberts do not involve themselves with the ‗white‘ society in India, as seen in

the previous quotation. To Jodu, Paulette and her father are always ―at odds with

the other white sahibs‖ (SOP, 66). Paulette and her father have their reasons for

not involving themselves with the ‗white‘ community in India

Obviously, there is an apparent contrast in the lives of both the colony and

the colonized in India. The life of the indigenous people in India has been

explained in the previous chapter. Meanwhile, the white merchants in India

inhabit the verdant area of Calcutta, which is located in the bank of the Hooghly

River. In contrast with the way native Indian lives, the white community in India

takes over the suburban area with their luxurious estates.

Just beyond the boundaries of Calcutta, to the west of the dockside

neigborhoods of Kidderpore and Metia Bruz, lay a length of gently

sloping bank that overlooked a wide sweep of the Hooghly River:

this was the verdant suburb of Garden Reach, where the leading

merchants of Calcutta had their country estates. (SOP, 97)

These merchants live in enormous mansions which are modeled variedly

according to their owner‘s taste. Each luxurious mansion shows the wealth owned

by their occupants.

…The mansions that graced these estates were as varied as the

owners‘ tastes would allow, some being modeled on the great

manors of England and France, while others evoked the temples of

classical Greece and Rome. The grounds of the estates were

extensive enough to provide each mansion with a surrounding

park, and these were, if anything, even more varied in design than

the houses they enclosed—for the malis who tended the gardens,

no less than the owner themselves, vied to outdo each other in the

fancifulness of their plantings… (SOP, 97)

However, of all the merchants living in the bank of Hooghly in Calcutta, it

is Benjamin Burnham who is considered to bear the largest fortune of them all,


76

judged by his estates. Not only that Burnham owns the best looking garden in the

neighborhood, his estates also offer the best view of the river‘s traffic. It is rather

everyone‘s agreement that his wealth is second to no one nearby.

…But it was not by these extravagant extensions that the values of

the properties were judged; it was rather by the view that each

manse commanded—for a patch of garden, no matter how pretty,

could not be held to materially affect the owner‘s prospects, while

to be able to keep an eye on the comings-and-goings on the river

had an obvious and direct bearing on the fortunes of all who were

dependent on that traffic. By this criterion it was generally

acknowledged that the estate of Benjamin Brightwell Burnham was

second to none… (SOP, 97)

In the case of the Lamberts, Paulette and her father do not live the way the

people of the white community in India live. They choose to live in the

consolation of their bungalow in Royal Botanical Gardens with Jodu and her

mother. According to Paulette, her father refuses to live ―like most other

Europeans in the city.‖ (SOP, 132)

…Paulette‘s eyes misted over at the thought of those childhood

years, when she and her father had lived with Jodu and Tantima, as

though their bungalow were an island of innocence in sea of

corruption. (SOP, 134)

To Paulette and her father, living in the middle of the European society in India is

similar to living in the middle of a corrupted society. Mr. Lambert‘s sole propose

of coming to India is to work on his botany manuscript, not to take part on the

exploitation of India with the other white people. Lambert seems to be against the

way the fellow white people in the city treating the indigenous land and people.

Technically, skin color-wise, Paulette and her father are assumed the role of the

colonizer. However, their intimate relationship with the nature and the indigenous

people like Jodu and his mother complicates this situation. Mr. Lambert, too,


77

seems to oppose the idea of him and his daughter becoming a colonialist. By

doing so, Paulette and her father seems to reflect what Albert Memmi considers as

challenging the colonizer‘s very own existence by having the colonizers who

actually rejects the idea of colonization itself.98

To Mr. Lambert, the use of the

term ‗corruption‘ also probably refers to how the invasion of the European has

corrupted the physical environment of India as well. Paulette and her father, along

with Jodu and his mother stay within the innocence of their bungalow. Choosing

not to get along with the fellow Europeans can be considered as a means of

resistance itself. On the final days of his life, Paulette‘s father still does not want

Paulette to be associated with the European in India. He is against the

environmental and human exploitation as a means to make a living. Mr. Lambert,

on his visit to Baboo Nob Kissin, speaks on the behalf of the locals as a white

sahib who is not interested in the exploitation of the nature.

…a child of Nature, that is what she is, my daughter Paulette…She

has had n teacher other than myself, in the innocent tranquility of

the Botanical Gardens. She has had no teacher other than myself,

and has never worshipped at any altar except that of Nature; the

trees have been her Scripture and the Earth her Revelation. She has

not known anything but Love, Equality and Freedom: I have raised

her to revel in that state of liberty that is Nature itself. If she

remains here, in the colonies, most particularly in a city like this,

where Europe hides its shame and its greed, all that awaits her is

degradation: the whites of this town will tear her apart, like

vultures and foxes, fighting over a corpse. (SOP, 134)

Upon the death of Mr. Lambert, Mr. and Mr. Burnham take Paulette into

their care. By being Paulette‘s benefactor, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham have rescued

98

Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (London: The Orion Press, Inc., 1974), 65.


78

Paulette from living in Alipore where a poorhouse for destitute Eurasians and

white minors is located (SOP, 126). However, Paulette wishes to run away from

Burnham‘s mansion after witnessing her benefactor, Mr. Burnham behaving

disturbingly in their private lessons of Scriptures (SOP, 293).

There is an irony in how Ghosh places Paulette in the care of Benjamin

Burnham and his family. Being educated by her botanist father, and having a long

line of botanists in the family, Paulette seems to be the most ecocentric among the

characters in Sea of Poppies. Yet, after her father‘s death, Paulette finds herself in

the care of the most anthropocentric character in the novel.

Choosing to disengage herself from the association with Mr. Burnham is

Paulette‘s way to keep herself as a figure that is raised by the tranquility of

Botanical Gardens. To leave from Burnham‘s mansion in Calcutta and disguise

herself as a native Indian with her fluent Bengali are ways in which she refuses to

be corrupted by the fellow white people or the Europeans. Through Paulette‘s

camouflage among the soon-to-be indentured labors, Ghosh shows how a

European like Paulette can also live together with the low caste peasants. Paulette

has lived with the principle of equality among one and another, which is taught by

her father. Leaving the Burnhams, and the white community in India means

refusing to be corrupted with her principle. Paulette believes in equality in

between nature and people, also one people to another regardless of race

differences. As she leaves India with the people on the Ibis, Paulette—without

shaking—declares her fearlessness:

…On a boat of pilgrims, no one can lose caste and everyone is the

same: it‘s like taking a boat to the temple of Jagannath, in Puri.


79

From now on, and forever afterwards, we will all be ship-siblings –

jaházbhais and jaházbaens – to each other. There‘ll be no

differences between us. (SOP, 348)

Ghosh also presents resistance through the character Neel. Neel is also

included in crossing the Black Water on the Ibis and also becomes an example of

a person who loses his caste. Neel Rattan Halder is the zemindar of one of the

oldest and most noted landowning family. Even though the Halders are not

Brahmins, this family religious background is orthodox Hindu and is ―zealous in

the observance of the upper-class taboos and in following the usages of their

class‖ (SOP, 39). To the Halders, the practice of caste and its rigid rules are

something of significant matter. For this reason too, as the Raja or Rashkali

zemindary, Neel‘s marriage is arranged to a daughter of another prominent

landowning family (SOP, 40). Rashkali zemindary is very strict when it comes to

caste.

Being the aristocrats among the society, a Raja and his family usually

accept a great deal of advantages that cannot be owned by just anyone. One of the

advantages is, of course, a tremendous wealth. Neel‘s father is also included

among the Rajas who use the wealth and the social status for his own benefit.

Neel‘s father even does not hesitate to use his power in the society to take

advantage of his own people. However, unlike his father or any previous Raja

before him, Neel is different. He owns a different style of living.

It was true that Neel‘s own style of living was, for a scion of the

Halder family, almost frugal: he managed to get by with a single

two-horse carriage and made do with a modest wing of the family

mansion. Much less a voluptuary than his father, he has no mistress

other than Elokeshi – but on her, he lavished his affections without


80

stint, his relationship with his wife never progressed beyond the

conventional performance on his husbandly duties. (SOP, 44)

The quotation shows one of the examples of how Neel lives differently to his

father. For a Raja, Neel lives a frugal life. He refuses to have numerous of

mistresses like his late father did. Neel prevents himself from spending the

zemindary‘s wealth for the similar reasons like his late father. He lives modestly

and he does not keep hoards of mistresses other than Elokeshi.

In addition, Neel does not befriend Benjamin Burnham. To him, it is the

worst mistake that his father has done. The association with Burnham is what

causes the whole Rashkali zemindary to be in a serious financial danger. In the

early settlement of East India Company in India, British gained the access to the

indigenous society through the connection to the zemindars, since the Rajas are

considered the respected people, being the owners of the lands with number of

peasants as their dependants or workers.

The wealth owned by the zemindary, in the novel, is seen from how the

Raja makes his handsome profits by the association with the British colony. By

investing in British merchants, the relationship between British and the zemindars

is proved to be mutually beneficial. For the sake of wealth, the people of high

caste appear to give the access to the colony to the land and the people of India. In

Neel‘s case, before his father‘s death, he even told Neel to invest more on

Benjamin Burnham. The investment on Burnham Bros. will be retuned doubled

the amount.

…It was only in the final days of his life that the old zemindar

informed his son that the family‘s financial survival depended on

their dealings with Mr Benjamin Burnham; the more they invested


81

with him the better, for their silver would come back doubled in

value. (SOP, 85)

It is ironic how the high caste society is somehow the reason why the exploitation

of nature and the exploitation of indigenous people in India are made possible. It

seems like Ghosh wants to show the hypocrisy from within the indigenous society

itself. Of course, the one who feels the most impact by this situation is the low

caste peasants. Not only they are oppressed because of the caste-based system,

they are also oppressed because of the settlement of the colony that is made

possible by the respected people from within their own society.

However, in Neel‘s case, the investment in Mr. Burnham does not go as it

is expected. Neel‘s late father ends up leaving an enormous amount of debt before

his death. To settle this debt, Mr. Burnham confronted Neel to give his estates.

Considering the amount of people relies on his estate, Neel resists giving his

property because the Rashkali land belongs not only to him, but also to his

ancestors and his dependants.

Since Neel refuses to hand his land to Burnham, Neel is faced with a trial

where English law is enforced upon him as a native Indian. Neel is the victim of

injustice in his own homeland despite being the person of a high caste and highly

respected in the society. Even someone like Neel cannot avoid himself from being

dispossessed. In the face of the colony, Neel is stripped of the right of his own

land. This shows how in the middle of the colonial setting, the experience of

people being deprived of their right is indeed happen, be it legally claimed or


82

emotionally experienced.99

In the face of his own trial, Neel witnesses how the

British has taken control over the nobility like himself. It is as if British has

become the ‗new Brahmin‘.

…In the course of his trial it had become almost laughably obvious

to Neel that in this system of justice it was the English themselves

– Mr Burnham and his ilk – who were exempt from the law as it

applied to others: it was they who had become the world‘s new

Brahmins. (SOP, 234)

The court, then, sentenced Neel of seven years imprisonment in Mauritius.

Neel finds himself experiences the displacement as he is forced to be transported

into the Mauritius. This is what brings him on board of the Ibis to cross the Black

Water on a journey of punishment. In case of Neel, Ghosh shows how even

people of high caste is powerless in the face of the colony. Through the fall of

Neel, Ghosh shows how British has taken a complete control over all layers of the

society in India, that there‘s no power left over their land for the natives.

Furthermore, the way in which Neel refuses to let his whole zemindary

being taken by Burnham and his company is his way to show his resistance. From

the beginning, Neel has chosen not to be involved further as he already has with

Burnham. Unlike his father, as a Raja, Neel refuses to follow his father‘s way of

life. He chooses not to take advantages of his own people and determines to take

care of his land, especially considering that hundreds of people technically live

under his protection. As a consequence, Neel is stripped off of his caste when he

is to be sent away across the sea on board of the Ibis. In the company of Ahfatt, a

99 Huggan and Tiffin, p.121


83

half-Chinese opium who shares the same fate as Neel as transported convict, Neel

learns to live without caste boundaries. The peak of Neel‘s liberation is seen as he

and Ahfatt managed to console each other in a selfless and delicate relationship

without caste restriction. It shows how a balanced relationship between one

human and another should be

…Gradually he became aware that there was an arm around his

shoulder, holding him steady, as if in consolation: in this embrace

there was more intimacy than he had ever known before, even with

Elokeshi, and when a voice sounded in his ear, it was as if it were

coming from within himself: ‗My name Lei Leong Fatt,‘ it said.

‗People call me Ah Fatt. Ah Fatt your friend.‘ (SOP, 335)

Through Neel and Ahfatt‘s relationship, Ghosh wants to resist the idea of caste-

based system which has created injustice among one people to another. Justice is

achieved when balance is there.

The findings in this chapter show that resistance appears as a means to

discover the environmental and social justice. Colonialism has stripped the

indigenous people off of their rights on their own land. The connection to their

nature is severed, broken, and scarred by the nature and human exploitation.

Environmental justice is nowhere to be found. In addition, colonial settlers who

assume themselves to be more powerful over the indigenous community has

damaged the life of the natives as well. In seeking for justice by fighting against

colonial domination, the indigenous people also attempt to seek justice for their

land. These attempts of achieving justice go hand in hand. Even though British

made it almost impossible for the indigenous people to sound their protest, the

attitude to fight back against the injustice still can be seen. By fighting, protesting,

and raising their voice against the injustice that oppresses them and their land, the


84

natives show their effort to achieve what they deserve. The efforts that are

pursued to resist the colonial domination are seen by protesting to the landlords,

protesting to the opium factory, and sounding an opinion against the practice of

monoculture.

When there is no space left for justice, migration through crossing the

Black Water to leave India is the only way left to fight against the exploitation

caused by the authoritarian British colony. The similarity of journey experience

on the Ibis is what brought the people together as a form of resistance against the

injustice they experience in their own homeland. Ghosh shows that a balanced

relationship is possible to be achieved even if it costs the natives to leave their

homeland. Balanced relationship where no strong counterpart oppresses the weak

one, it is the ideal depiction of environmental and social justice. Even though, in

the end of the story, the nature cannot return to its pristine condition, the

possibility of having a balanced and harmonious relationship somewhere is left

open. Considering that the characters in the novel migrate to serve as workers in

British plantations, there is always a possibility of this balanced and harmonious

relationship is, again, disturbed by the inequality of power. However, the most

important thing to note is that even in a short amount of time, through the social

status changes the characters experience by migrating on board of the Ibis, they

have discovered justice where no caste or race differences matters.


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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The previous chapters attempt to answer the research questions raised in

the first chapter. The third and fourth chapter answer to the research questions

number one and two, respectively. This chapter, the last chapter, offers the

conclusion to summarize the previous chapters.

This thesis analyzes the effect of the colonization on the environment and

the indigenous people. Somewhere in between the colonial upheaval, injustice

happened in the form of nature and human exploitation. To regain the balance

between nature and people that has been scarred by the colonialism, resistance is

needed.

The analysis of this thesis is divided into two problems formulation. The

first is the analysis of the effect of colonialism on the nature and the people. The

second is the analysis of resistance as a means to discover the environmental and

social justice. The novel used in this investigation is Sea of Poppies (2008) by

Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. The topic raised by this novel is relevant to the

current environmental and social justice.

This thesis responds to the matter of environmental crisis as a serious

threat for the global society. Ironically, the environmental crisis is caused by none

other than by human. Human‘s oppressive attitude towards the nature has long

been a threat for earth‘s life support system. The commitment for literature to be

involved in raising awareness to save the environment is taken seriously. A work


86

of literature that shows commitment to voice the condition of the nature is chosen

to voice the consequence of human and nature problematic relationship.

Sea of Poppies offers Ghosh‘s interesting take in the intersection between

colonialism and environmentalism in relation with human and nature relationship,

with an additional concern on justice. The setting used in this novel is the

nineteenth-century British opium monopoly in India. This novel brings the image

of India being taken over by British colonialism. The characters in this novel are

diverse, which capture the different layers of the society in colonial India.

The arrival of the colony has disrupted the tranquility of nature. Human‘s

abusive relationship with nature is reflected in Sea of Poppies through colonial

exploitation and the exploitation of the nature. The arrival of the colony has

created havoc in the relationship between the nature and human. As a natural

reaction of the colonial consequences, the attitude of fighting back is attempted by

the characters in the novel to gain a balanced relationship between human and

nature.

This thesis aims to present a particular perspective in reading Ghosh‘s Sea

of Poppies. The discussion is aimed to speak for the exploited nature and

indigenous society in the face of a colonial oppression. Sea of Poppies provides

the insight from within the colonized land and people about how colonization

becomes the justification to exploit the land and human in a large scale for a long

period of time.


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A. Significance and Achievement

This study uses postcolonial ecocriticism as the framework of the analysis.

Some previous studies that examine Ghosh‘s writings have been reviewed to help

the analysis of Sea of Poppies. Studies that are conducted on Ghosh‘s Sea of

Poppies still focus on the theme of hierarchy and the social classes found within

the novel. Looking from the perspective of the environmental themes, the studies

on Ghosh‘s works that have been conducted still speak around the issue of the

importance of the nature, and also the relationship between human, animal and

their environment. This thesis pursues a different perspective for Ghosh‘s Sea of

Poppies. Postcolonial ecocriticism is used to give a particular issue on looking at

human and the non-human nature relationship in the colonial setting. Postcolonial

ecocriticism, too, is used to see how resistance is portrayed in the novel as an

effort to discover environmental and social justice.

As separated fields, both ecocriticism and postcolonialism has different

commitments towards the issues both fields bring in the study of literature.

However, mainstream ecocriticism alone is considered not ‗enough‘ to talk about

the environmental issue that occurs in the land where colonialism once took place.

Mainstream ecocriticism appears to be obsessed with the idea of a pure

environment, something that simply does not exist in the ex-colonial environment

where the land and people are deeply scarred by the colonial experience.

Therefore, mainstream ecocriticism alone is not enough to uncover the conflict

within the society that is reflected in Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies. Traditionally, the

works of Indian author like Ghosh would be placed within the scope of


88

postcolonial literature rather than the environmental literature. However, being

categorized as a postcolonial writer, does not mean Ghosh has nothing to say

about the issue of environment. Therefore, by bringing together the issue of

postcolonialism and ecocriticism through under postcolonial ecocriticism, is

considered more effective to response to the readings of books like Ghosh‘s.

The commitment to find out the effect of human and nature relationship is

also one of postcolonial ecocriticism‘s attentions. Human and nature relationship

that tends to be abusive from the human‘s side is claimed to be the long cause of

the existing environmental crisis. For a long time, human has dominated the

nature, taking it for granted in the name of human‘s mastery over the nature. This

notion, as noted by Huggan and Tiffin, becomes even more complex in the middle

of colonial settings. With the colony being the strongest power in the colonized

land, the colonial oppression appears through double consciousness: the

oppression of the indigenous land and people. The colony‘s justification of this

double consciousness of exploitation is based on the perception that the

indigenous land and people are being underused and uncivilized, respectively.

Colonial setting is a place where anthropocentrism has moved beyond human and

nature relationship because it relates to colonialism or imperialism where the

oppression over the weaker colonized people is naturalized.

With the dispossession of environmental and social justice through

colonial exploitation, Grewe-Volpp suggests that resistance is an obvious

reaction. This relates to the other postcolonial ecocriticism‘s claim which is ―there

is no social justice without environmental justice‖. As previously mentioned about


89

human and nature relationship in colonial setting, the colonial and environmental

oppression go hand in hand. Therefore, the effort to put an end to one side of the

oppression should liberate the other one as well. The resistance can manifest in a

lot of ways, as long as it shows the indigenous people determination to speak and

act against colonial and environmental exploitation. Achieving social and

environmental justice by resisting does not always mean to return to the

environment‘s pristine condition pre-colonial time. What is being sought is the

creation of a change in terms of human and nature relationship that is more

balanced in all aspect.

The first analysis of this thesis focuses on the effect of the colonization on

the nature and the people in Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies. The effect of the

colonization mirrors the consequence of human and nature relationship in the

dialogue with colonialism. The effect on the people here refers to the native

Indian characters in the book that are directly affected by the colonialism.

Nature plays an important role in Sea of Poppies. Deeti, one of the

characters relies a lot on the nature. Deeti, the characters who portrays the

peasants, depends on the nature because she makes a living out of poppy farming.

Therefore, nature is day to day working place for her. In addition, she also

depends on the nature in her everyday life. For instance, the need of food, drink,

and bathing is supplied by nature. Nature does not only play a huge role in Deeti‘s

life by providing for her, but it also becomes a part of her spiritual life. It was

nature that gives her the sight of the Ibis, a ship that will change her life forever.


90

Through Deeti, Ghosh wants to show how before the colonialism, nature and

people live together in a harmonious symbiotic relationship.

The nature and the indigenous people of India are affected by colonialism

when it comes into the picture. Since the establishment of British exclusive

monopoly of opium in India by the late 18th

century, British colony has imposed

monoculture poppies cultivation to raise the opium production in India. Poppies

take over the land in India, and farmers are no longer planting crops that are used

to sustain their lives because of British‘s unstoppable greed in opium cultivation.

The cultivation of poppies in India is aimed to serve British and their demands

only. Since the landscape has lost its ―green‖, a lot of changes happen to the

environment that is ruled by flowers. Nature has lost biodiversity for being taken

entirely by the poppy cultivation. Numerous populations of animals are affected,

by it too. The presence of opium factory in the middle of the environment, too,

has caused serious damage in the ecosystem.

The exploitation of the nature goes altogether with the exploitation of the

indigenous people. In the colonial setting, both ethics of exploitation works hand

in hand. The exploitation of the nature through colonization has several impacts to

the people in the book. The impacts include starvation and poverty. The

indigenous people are forced to struggle under the complication of the cultivation

of the cash crop poppy flowers. Prior to the cultivation of poppies, the peasants

are forced to sign a contract and they are provided with cash advancement to

agree to cultivate none other than poppies to serve the British. The application of

the debt system on the indigenous people by the British is turned out to be the


91

most oppressive, because not only that British has a complete control over the

people, they also secretly have the power to dispossess the peasants of their

belonging when they do not meet the factory‘s monthly demand of opium.

The second part of the analysis is aimed to see how resistance is portrayed

as a means to discover the environmental and social justice. In need of justice,

there is a form of resistance found in the story. Even though British made it

almost impossible for the indigenous people to sound their protest, there is still an

attitude of fighting back. The indigenous people have shown the way they fight,

protest, and raise their voice against the injustice that oppresses them and their

land. Protesting to the landlords, protesting to the opium factory, and sounding an

opinion against the practice of monoculture, are the way early resistance is

formed.

When there is no space left for justice, migration by crossing the Black

Water to leave their terribly scarred homeland is the only way left to fight against

the exploitation caused by the authoritarian colonialism. The similarity of journey

on the Ibis is what brought the people together as a form of resistance against the

injustice on their homeland and fellow natives. Deeti, whose life has been

controlled by the opium is given a brand new chance, a rebirth. In choosing to run

away with Kalua, Ghosh shows that Deeti has resisted against the oppression that

bounds her life. Paulette is included in the list of people who resist too. Paulette‘s

closeness to the nature and the culture of India has caused her to refuse being in

between the white society of Calcutta who makes a living out of colonizing the

others. By choosing not to associate herself with the ‗whites‘, Paulette shows his


92

strong belief in the equality among human and nature, also one human to another.

Ghosh shows that a balanced relationship is possible to be achieved. Balanced

relationship where no strong counterpart oppresses the weak one is the ideal

depiction of environmental and social justice. For instance, Ghosh shows how the

relationship of the high caste Neel Halder and the ‗filthy‘ opium addict foreigner

Ahfatt evolves throughout the book. There is no better example to show a

balanced relationship other than through this example.

In Sea of Poppies, we see that it is impossible to return to the pristine

condition of the nature. Being deeply affected by the colonialism has changed the

nature and the colonized community into an irreversible situation. Justice is

earned on the Ibis where no one oppresses anyone. The relationship between one

people to his or her surrounding is in a harmony. Through migration, a journey of

crossing the Black Water where caste-bound society is disestablished, people find

a balance between them and their nature, also with the fellow migrants.

B. Relevance

The problems that are raised in this thesis have contributed to different

issues that are related to today‘s environmental and social issues. Ghosh‘s Sea of

Poppies is indeed set in the in the colonial India, but that does not necessarily

mean that this book is not relevant to today‘s problems.

First of all, Sea of Poppies takes a strong position in talking about the

relationship between human and nature. The novel reveals that in whatever the

case is, a dominating, exploitative relationship between human and nature will

affect very negatively. In whatever the case is—colonization or not—taking the


93

nature for granted is not right. Human and nature should, all in all, live in a

balanced and healthy relationship. This speaks to today‘s environmental crisis

where the earth is now taking serious consequences from human‘s doing. Raising

awareness of creating a more balanced relationship is needed. Ethic of

exploitation towards the nature and its non-human inhabitants, including animals

and plants, needs to stop.

Sea of Poppies, too, shows an issue related to the environment that is

rarely seen in other literary works. Sea of Poppies especially takes the issue of

monoculture cultivation as one of its important theme. Particularly in Indonesia,

monoculture cultivation is now a very alarming issue. This speaks to palm oil

monoculture controversy in some places in Indonesia, more specifically in

Borneo. The large scale cultivation of palm oil in Borneo has endangered and

devastated the rain forest ecosystem. It is also linked to human rights abuses of

the local workers by massive international companies.100

Monoculture cultivation,

without a doubt, gives a huge profit, especially when it is manifested in the

cultivation of cash crops. However, the most important thing to remember is, a

long term and vast scale of monoculture has a really serious risk. The biggest

threat of it is the death of biodiversity. In some cases and some places,

monoculture is still practiced because of the prospect of gaining as much profit as

100 Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, ―The Palm Oil Effect‖, 5 Sep 2017. Accessed 26 Nov 2017.

Available from Vogue. < https://www.vogue.com/projects/13535833/palm-oil-controversy-

beauty-products-ingredient-sourcing-deforestation-climate-change/>


94

possible. Then again, what we must remember is that the earth needs biodiversity

to survive.

The other issue that is raised by Sea of Poppies is the matter of justice.

Both environmental justice and social justice are two important matters. By not

oppressing the nature and promoting a more balanced life between human and

nature, also with fellow human, a more positive light of the human to human and

human to nature relationship is possible to be achieved. The exploitation of the

nature or human exploitation of any kind are supposed to be put to end.

Finally, this thesis is hoped to be able to offer a contribution to the talk of

human and nature relationship in the dialogue of ecocriticism and

postcolonialism. The relationship between human and nature in any kind of

setting is open for interpretation and investigation. Therefore, more contribution

should be made by the future literary researchers in developing this matter, to

enrich not only postcolonial ecocriticism field, but also literary studies in general.

In addition, Ghosh‘s Sea of Poppies is still opened to more interpretation.

Therefore, a postcolonial reading or even a feminist reading on the novel is

encouraged for future researchers.


95

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