ECO-ANXIETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE IN AMITAV GHOSH’S GUN ISLAND: A SLOW VIOLENCE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This study analyzes Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019) through the theoretical frameworks of Rob Nixon’s concept of slow violence and eco-anxiety theory. It examines how environmental catastrophe in this novel is a process that has been unfolding over many years, is a cumulative phenomenon resulting from global economic relations, colonial histories, and climate change. The study is qualitative, interpretive and close reading, using selected text passages to explore the dynamic of ecological degradation over time and space, all the while revealing its often hidden and intensely harmful nature.

The findings reveal that Gun Island (2019) portrays environmental harm as slow violence that manifests through droughts, floods, biodiversity loss, and forced migration. These processes destabilize human life while remaining socially and politically under recognized until they reach visible intensity. At the same time, it reveals what conditions such ecological instability create in the characters' minds, conditions that manifest as fear, uncertainty and grief, as well as psychological disorientation. This fear is magnified by a series of interconnected crises like migration, trafficking networks and global capitalism.

The study concludes that the novel interlinks slow violence and eco-anxiety, presenting environmental catastrophe as both a structural and psychological phenomenon. It states that ecological destruction isn't some mere material problem, but also a tremendous emotional and psychological one, one which has a remarkable effect on human consciousness.