Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part K (2025)

The Hungry Tide (2004) by Amitav Ghosh is an eloquent piece of literary work that tries to capture the fragile and hostile ecosystem of Sundarbans where nature is not only the background actor but an active player in the effort of resistance. The borderline between terrestrial and fluvial surroundings is negotiable in this unreal deltaic setting, reminding how the human control of the environment is always shaky. Ghosh describes nature in the sense that it is caring and destructive, that it can support life and it can protest against human conquests, commodification and settlement. The constant occurrence of tidal flood, cyclones, and the treacherous and deadly existence of the Royal Bengal tiger remind one of the unpredictable (relatively) and free will of nature. In the novel, the author criticizes anthropocentric perception of the world derailing the human where ecological order revolves around humans. Using characters such as Piya, a marine biologist, Kanai, an urban translator and Fokir, an illiterate fisherman with heightened sensitivity to tides, Ghosh has woven a tale in which the dichotomy between scientific rationalism and traditional forms of knowledge is brought out. These contrasting views of nature show how complicated the coexistence of nature can be when the only way to survive is to observe the natural rules, not the submission. Also, historical description of Morichjhanpi massacre has been incorporated into the story to make it evident about the violent interface between the environment policy, political ideology, and displacement of human beings.