Unveiling Colonial Narratives: A Linguistic and Structural Study of the Environmental Exploitation in Ghosh’s Smoke and Ashes

Abstract

Imperialism and ecological degradation have been inseparable powers and their effects on the environment and society is an urgent aspect of research. In this regard, Ghosh’s Smoke and Ashes provides a strong consideration of how the colonialists (especially in the opium trade) formed and ruined ecosystems. In Ghosh’s selected fiction, opium is depicted as two-sided: an instrument of imperialism and a cause of environmental destruction, in which the trade is a stimulus of violence as well as addiction and environmental destruction. The present research study particularly examines the impact of the colonial economic systems to its devastating consequences such as soil erosion, degradation of resources, and economic coercion in the novel. This research through a qualitative approach studies the oppressive colonial systems that were not only imposing military control but also altering the environment by introducing new foods, crops and diseases as explained by the Ecological Imperialism concept introduced by Alfred W. Crosby. With reference to postcolonial theory especially the notions of Edward Said’s Orientalism the current research study shedding light to colonization of voices is centered on aspects of exploitation of both natural resources and human labor by the British colonial system. The researchers selected Ghosh’s Smoke and Ashes to criticize the enduring effects of imperialism on the environment and the society and is a great reflexive statement on the effects of colonialism.

Keywords: Exploitation, Interventionism, Cataclysm, Ecosystem, Infatuation