Smart Moves Journal IJELLH (International Journal of English language, literature in humanities)
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Ecologies of Memory and Displacement in Amitav Ghosh\u27s The Hungry Tide
Full text linkThis paper critically examines Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide through the intersecting lenses of memory studies, ecocriticism, and eco-postcolonial theory, highlighting the complex relationships between the displacement, ecology, and ethical responsibility. This paper focuses on the ecologically fragile Sundarbans; the novel presents the landscape not merely as a physical background but as a living archive that bears witness to the silenced histories of resetting, state violence, and marginal survival. The study asserts that Ghosh reconceptualizes nature as an active agent in preserving cultural memory, particularly in the erased history of the Morichjhapi massacre, which lives through oral narratives, ecological traces, and embodied knowledge rather than official historiography.
The novel explores ecology as a site of remembrance, the paper shows how environmental spaces challenge linear and the state-sanctioned historical narratives. Displacement in The Hungry Tide is shown to employ on multiple levels cultural,physical ,psychological, and epistemological moving fisherfolk, refugees,and indigenous communities whose exist are rendered precarious by exclusionary conservation of policies. The novel interrogates human–nonhuman relationships and complicates ethical binaries by representing rivers, animals, and tides as contributors in shared ecological existence. Through the characters such as Fokir and Piya, Ghosh variations indigenous ecological knowledge with technocratic environmentalism by exposing the moral limitations of discussion models that ignore social justice.
The paper contends that The Hungry Tide advances an moral ecology rooted in interdependence, coexistence, and historical accountability. By combining ecological consciousness with memory and displacement, the novel appears as a significant eco-postcolonial text that resonates with contemporary discussion surrounding environmental injustice, climate change, and forced migration., The study affirms literature’s capacity to recover the silenced pasts and to remake more inclusive and the humane ecological futures
Speaking from the Ashes of Empire: Subaltern Consciousness and Counter-Myth in Ramayana and Prometheus
Full text linkThis article investigates how sacred myths function as political archives that preserve the voice of power while erasing the histories of those it defeats. Through a cross-mythic reading of Valmiki’s Ramayana and Anand Neelakantan’s Asura: Tale of the Vanquished, alongside Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, the study argues that subaltern consciousness emerges not in opposition to heroism but in resistance to the moral authority claimed by divine law. Canonical narratives present the cosmic order as an ethical necessity, yet this order is sustained through exclusion, punishment, and narrative silence. Revisionist texts dismantle this structure by re-centering those marked as demonic, transgressive, or criminal in sacred history. Rather than treating Ravana and Prometheus as symbolic rebels, this study interprets them as ethical subjects produced by regimes of power that define justice through conquest and suffering. Their rewritten voices expose myth as an ideological instrument that naturalizes hierarchy while denying the historical complexity. By bringing Indian and Greek traditions into dialogue, this article demonstrates that the counter-myth is not merely a modern literary strategy but a form of cultural memory that reclaims agency for the defeated. In recovering what the official myth suppresses, these texts transform storytelling into an act of resistance, unsettling the authority of sacred narratives and opening a space for reimagining justice beyond the rule of the gods
Examining the Intellectual Elitism of the Anti-Hero in No Longer Human and Notes from the Underground
Full text linkThis paper presents a comparative analysis of Osamu Dazai’s Yozo Oba from No Longer Human and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Underground Man from Notes From the Underground focusing on the paradoxical relationship between acute self-loathing and intellectual elitism. While both narrators position themselves as ‘disqualified’ or ‘spiteful’ outcasts, this study argues that their profound sense of alienation serves as a tool for asserting moral and intellectual superiority over the ‘normal’ man. By employing a framework of hyper-consciousness and existentialist critique, the research explores how Yozo’s performative clowning and the Underground Man’s aggressive isolation function as defenses against a society they perceive as intellectually shallow.
The analysis examines the ‘Superfluous Man’ archetype in both 19th-century Russia and post-war Japan, illustrating how both authors use the anti-hero to challenge Enlightenment ideals of progress and logic. Ultimately, the paper concludes that for these protagonists, the refusal to participate in the ‘human’ collective is not a failure of character, but a deliberate, elitist retreat into the sovereignty of the self. This ‘aristocracy of misery’ suggests that in the modernist tradition, to be "less than human" is, ironically, to be more than the masses
Spatio-Temporal Transition: Reading Navya Aesthetics in S. Manjunath’s “Sale”
Full text linkThe present article explores S. Manjunath’s “sale” focusing on the tension between the nostalgic past and the fragmented present with shards of memory that serve as a conduit to the narrator’s self. The poem represents a relative reality of the modern educational landscape, where the once-harmonious triad of school, teacher and parent had drifted towards disintegration.
Applying Fanonian Lens to Examine Memory and Trauma in Selected Works from East Asia and South East Asia
Full text linkThis research adopts a Fanonian framework to analyze the cultural and communal effects of war and colonialism in selected texts from East and South East Asia. This paper argues that though Fanon’s theories are framed based on the experiences of colonized African subjects (Fanon 1986), they resonate deeply with the turbulent histories of Vietnam, South Korea and Philippines. Narrated from the perspective of women’s civilian experiences, the novels highlight how these nations faced intense cultural erasure, violence and collective trauma under various colonial powers.
In order to understand gendered perspectives of war, the article examines The Mountains Sing by When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (1994) by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, The Mountains Sing (2021) by Nguyen Phan Que Mai and The Island of Sea Women (2020) by Lisa See. The analysis explains how colonialism forces the colonialized subject to abandon their ethnic identity and mimic the colonizer for survival (Fanon 1963, p.58). Fanon’s arguments claim that a reclamation of the culture and memory is possible through counter-narratives that resist colonial hegemony.
Finally, the article aims to conclude that the application of the Fanonian lens to these Asian contexts, in understanding the lasting effects of colonial violences perpetuated in the selected countries. The study concludes by depicting that gynocentric narrations form an essential part of the decolonialization process and helps in the reclamation of the fractured identity
Humanism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Search for Belonging: A Thematic Analysis of the Select Works of Vikram Seth
Full text linkVikram Seth holds a unique status in modern Indian English literature as an author whose work surpasses strict national, cultural, and genre limitations. Most renowned for his masterwork A Suitable Boy, part of Seth\u27s literary oeuvre—comprising poetry, verse novels, travel writing, and prose fiction—demonstrates a consistent exploration of humanism, cultural plurality, love, identity, tradition, modernity, and ethical coexistence. This article conducts a thorough thematic analysis of Vikram Seth\u27s principal works, including A Suitable Boy, The Golden Gate, From Heaven Lake, An Equal Music, and his poetry collections. The study contends that Seth\u27s writing transcends mere formal or biographical analysis, revealing a subtle yet significant ethical perspective that emphasizes individual agency, emotional moderation, and secular humanistic principles within a postcolonial, globalized context. The study examines how Seth navigates the conflicts between tradition and change, personal desire and social obligation, nationalism and cosmopolitanism, as well as art and life. The essay ultimately portrays Vikram Seth as a writer who challenges prevailing ideological extremes—nationalist, colonial, or global—by restoring the dignity of ordinary human experience and the potential for harmony amidst diversity
Family, Community, and Survival in Contemporary Indian Fiction: A Study of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line and The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey
Full text linkThis paper explores the themes of family bonds, community relationships, and everyday survival in Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (2020) by Deepa Anappara and The Mysterious Ailment of Rupi Baskey (2022) by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar. Set respectively in an urban slum in Delhi and a Santhal tribal village in Jharkhand, the two novels portray socially vulnerable communities facing crisis—child disappearances in one text and unexplained illness in the other. While both narratives expose institutional neglect, including the failure of police systems, media structures, and medical authorities, they simultaneously foreground the resilience of ordinary people sustained by family ties and collective living. In Anappara’s novel, the fear generated by the disappearance of children destabilizes the urban settlement, yet parental care, friendship, and neighborhood solidarity provide psychological strength to the characters. In Shekhar’s novel, the mysterious illness of Rupi Baskey reveals both the limitations of modern medical intervention and the importance of familial responsibility and community engagement. The Santhal village emerges as an interconnected space where collective concern, shared rituals, and women’s informal care networks sustain the social fabric. Rather than focusing on grand political ideologies or abstract theoretical constructs, this paper emphasizes the everyday dimensions of resilience—caregiving, shared grief, friendship, and moral responsibility. Both novels demonstrate that survival in marginalized contexts depends less on institutional structures and more on relational bonds. Through intimate portrayals of domestic life and communal interaction, Anappara and Shekhar suggest that family and community are not merely background settings but active forces that shape endurance, identity, and hope. Ultimately, the paper argues that contemporary Indian fiction continues to reaffirm the enduring value of human connection. In depicting crisis alongside compassion, these novels present survival not as heroic triumph but as collective persistence rooted in love, obligation, and shared humanity
Dehumanising Discourses: Hate Rhetoric in Digital-Political Ecosystems
Full text linkThe incidence of hate speech in the contemporary digitally mediated environment demands a thorough investigation regarding the mechanisms that initiate and perpetuate such hate ecosystems. This rhetoric, which is also a language of othering, is not an individual act of inappropriate speech but is assisted by mechanisms of discursive dehumanisation, systemic amplification and institutional legitimisation. Drawing upon the frameworks of speech act theory and critical discourse analysis, the paper argues that these three interconnected mechanisms provide the felicity conditions for hate rhetoric to thrive, causing marginalisation and, in many cases, leading to violence. An analysis of the Metei- Kuki violence in Manipur reveals a typical case of the culmination of hate rhetoric targeted at each other through fringe-group labelling, coordinated digital attacks and institutional legitimation, all converging in ethnic violence. The paper highlights the need for a multi-pronged strategy, including counter speech, digital literacy, robust policymaking, implementation, and institutional accountability, to counter such undemocratic language practices
Re-Envisioning the Mahabharata: Constructing Paradigms for Environmental Equilibrium
Full text linkThe rapid advancements in science and technology have profoundly altered the pace and quality of daily life, offering unprecedented convenience and efficiency compared to previous eras. Innovations in fields such as medicine, education and commerce have enabled humanity to realize possibilities that were once considered unimaginable. However, this accelerated tempo of modern existence has also introduced challenges to interpersonal relationships, often resulting in diminished opportunities for meaningful interaction among family members, friends and colleagues. Furthermore, these changes have contributed to a growing disconnection between humans and the natural world. Ancient Hindu scriptures provide a contrasting perspective, portraying nature as sacred and advocating for reverence towards all living beings as a means of sustaining ecological balance. The texts underscore the importance of maintaining harmony between human activities and the environment. In the contemporary context, climate change and environmental degradation have emerged as critical global concerns, threatening not only human well-being but also the stability of entire ecosystems.
This study critically examines the Mahabharata, an influential ancient Indian epic, to argue that current ecological crises are rooted in humanity’s neglect and disregard for the environment. Through an analysis of selected narratives from the text, the research highlights the significance of environmental stewardship as articulated in the Mahabharata and explores how these insights can inform strategies for restoring and maintaining ecological harmony in the present day
Exploring Shashi Deshpande’s Small Remedies: A Journey Towards Female Identity
Full text linkAn intricate and introspective examination of female identity within the emotional and cultural context of patriarchal culture in India is presented in Small Remedies (2000) by Shashi Deshpande. A writer named Madhu grieves the brutal murder of her son when he was a teenager throughout the book. She starts penning the life story of Savitribai Indorekar, a legendary classical vocalist whose unusual lifestyle shatters conventional wisdom, as a means of facing her loss. Three women, Madhu, Savitribai, and Leela, all navigate the challenging terrain of personal desire and social expectation; their stories progressively interweave as Madhu reconstructs Savitribai’s life. The analysis examines narrative, emotional healing, and memory to highlight the issue of female identity in the novel. The research further contends, using feminist literary views as a framework, that Deshpande shows identity not as a static social category but as a dynamic process that is constantly changing. In a culture that often restricts women’s independence, the characters’ experiences show how women try to find their identity. The novel also highlights the healing power of storytelling: via writing, Madhu is able to face her pain and gain insight into the experiences of other women