When Landscapes Inherit Loss: The Politics of Ecology in a
Globalized World
Dr. Sunitha C R
Assistant Professor and Head
Department of English,
SVR NSS College, Vazhoor,
Kottayam, Kerala, India.
Abstract: The paper entitled “When Landscapes Inherit Loss: The Politics of Ecology in a Globalized World” explores colonial and postcolonial exploitation of nature from an
ecocritical perspective in Kiran Desai’s novel The Inheritance of Loss. The paper also dwells on the theory
of ecocentrism to analyze the impact of neocolonialism and economic
liberalization on man and nature with respect to migration and cultural
alienation. Ecocriticism examines how human interaction with the natural world
is portrayed in literary works. The novel explores individuals who are caught
up in an ambivalent cultural and social ethos, and tries to demonstrate various
forms of crises where environmental consciousness encounters with human greed
and violence. The author talks about how human ways of life affect and have a
huge impact on the environment. The novel clearly represents the fact that
global capitalism is primarily defined by economic and environmental
exploitation and the benefits of capitalist growth have been unequally divided,
providing prosperity and progress to only a few people, while the majority is
made to bear the brunt of its social, cultural and environmental consequences.
Keywords: Ecocriticism, Ecology, Culture, Landscape, Nature,
Globalization.
In The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
portrays a community living in the North Eastern region of Kalimpong and
delineates several crises faced by them in a post-colonial, globalized world.
The lives of these characters are affected by the uncertainties of local and
global issues. Individuals having loyalties to Western ideologies struggle to
make sense of the local community and their nature centered value systems. The
human cost of globalization nullifies the soaring figures of economic gains
achieved by a section of people as a result of economic liberalization. The
setting of the novel is at Kalimpong, Sikkim, a North Eastern town situated in
the foothills of Himalaya. The setting itself is symbolically representative of
the depleting “Inheritance” of man as a result of human mistreatment towards
nature. This is not only a threat to
nature but all life forms are also treated the same way. The novel analyses in
detail the imbalance that is created in nature as a result of modernity and
economic liberalization. The scenic beauty of the place sets the mood of the
novel. Desai’s description of the beauty of nature is evident from the
beginning itself. She is intensely conscious of her environment and ecological
sensitivity. Her environmental consciousness is evident from the novel’s
opening sentences:
All day, the colors had been those of dusk,
mist moving like a water creature across the great flanks of mountains
possessed of ocean shadows and depths. Briefly visible above the vapor,
Kanchenjunga was a far peak whittled out of ice, gathering the last of the
light, a plume of snow blown high by the storms at its summit. (1)
The depiction
of landscape reminisces a novelist narrating the features of a living character
and shows how the novelist hold nature close to her heart as a living and
breathing entity rather than a non-human background. Throughout the novel, the
constant presence of nature influences and affects the characters in it. The
mighty Kanchenjunga is symbolic of the power and supremacy of nature over man.
The mountain stands tall as narrative unfolds and chaos erupts. All the
characters are introduced against the remote location of Cho Oyu, a place
famous for its breath-taking natural beauty:
Suddenly to the right, the Teesta River came
leaping at them between white banks of sand. Space and sun crashed through the
window. Reflections magnified and echoed the light, the river, each adding
angles and colors to the other, and Sai became aware of the enormous space she
was entering. By the river bank, wild water racing by, the late evening sun in
polka dots through the trees, they parted company” (31).
The place evades
the hustle and bustle of the city and is portrayed as a quiet place only to be
destroyed by modernity and military insurgency. The peaceful backdrop set by
the nature is perfectly used by the novelist to contrast with the ensuing chaos
created by man. What once used to be a balanced ecosystem, where nature and
humans coexist gets broken by the arrival of members of the Gorkha National
Liberation Front (GNLF). They forcefully enter the Judge’s house and intimidate
him, demanding food, housing, and one of his weapons. As Peter Barry puts it:
“Nature really exists out there beyond ourselves, not needing to be ionized as
a concept by enclosure within knowing inverted commas but actually present as
an entity which affects us, and which we can affect, perhaps fatally, if we
mistreat it” (252).
Love for
nature lingers around in the form nostalgia. When the cook looks at the dried
azalea and Juniper in the hut, he reminisces the day when they had burnt this
incense all along the path on the arrival of Dalai Lama and Panchan Lamas in
Kalimpong. He recollects the intense refreshing smell of incenses all around.
He contrasts it with the chocking smell of exhaust coming from the bus station.
Author gives an indication that with progress and mechanical advancement, hostility
towards nature too is on the rise. For the ecologically sensitive space where
they inhibit, a hostile treatment of nature in the hands of human being
adversely affects humans themselves and gives rise to various problems. As
Sisir Kumar Ghose observes, when mechanization takes over, the laws of life are
bound to be trampled upon (114).
Every time
Gyan visits Cho Oyo to teach Sai, he is captivated by the beauty of
nature:
He enjoyed the walk to Cho Oyu and
experienced a refreshing and simple happiness, although it took him two hours
uphill, from Bong Busti where he lived, the light shining through thick bamboo
in starry, jumping chinks, imparting the feeling of liquid shimmering( 67)
The concept of
ecocentrism focuses on all the systems of the environment and their relative
effect on the abiotic component. It is considered an umbrella concept that
encompasses the environmental worldview and the geomorphological process and
their effects (Albuhamdan et al.).It stresses on sustainable models of progress
and development. Kiran Desai also advances an ecocentric perspective in her
analysis of nature and characters. Ecocentrism underscores the inbuilt and
intrinsic value of nature irrespective of the value given by human beings. It
clearly states that ecology has got some intrinsic values irrespective of the
acknowledgement of human beings. Ecocentrism is significant as it offers an
essential solution to the environmental problems and it expands the concept of
moral community in ethical terms. The idea also elucidates that societies have
established moral sentiments in the field of ecology and this has improved
their spiritual empowerment (Hasanthi).
It also teaches modesty and simple living and thus is regarded as a
suitable way to the achievement of sustainable environmental solutions. When
the SDO looks at the beautiful flowering creeper in the garden of the judge, he
says: “Beautiful Blossoms, Justice Sahib. If you see such a sight, you will
know there is a God.” Though a power wielding authority, Judge loves and
appreciates the beauty of nature and looks after his plants exactly as if they
are babies (Desai 226). The reflection of SDO underscores the fact that in
order to avoid the growing pandemonium in the life of modern man, it is
necessary to rekindle his association with nature. The ethics of preserving
nature for the sake of a better future is evident in these narratives.
For Sai, a
girl without her parents, the judge’s house cladded in nature offers the
perfect refuge: “Kanchenjunga glowed macabre, trees stretched away on side,
trunks pale, leaves black, and beyond, between the pillars of the trees, a path
led to the house” (19). The building itself provides a picture of environmental
sustainability and cohabitation with nature. Life there gifted her with the
serenity that only nature can give: “Sai, sitting on the veranda, was reading
an article about giant squid in an old National Geographic. Every now and then
she looked up at Kanchenjunga, observed its wizard phosphorescence with a
shiver” (1).
Systematic
exploitation of nature is evident in the novel. Natural resources from
Kalimpong forest stand overexploited. Indigenous products from the Kalimpong
forest are consumed and sold to outsiders. The environmental exploitation has a
direct connection with the rising insurgency in the region. The people are
devoid of work and sustenance has been increasingly difficult. The residents
are dissatisfied and left without a steady source of income.
People are fed
up with government promises and increasingly begin to join armed rebellion. The
rise of Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has direct connection with
growing environmental degradation. People’s activism reflects the principle of embodied ecology, where
knowledge of the environment is inseparable from bodily experience. Rising
insurgency becomes a platform where disadvantaged section of the society begins
to express environmental knowledge and moral authority. Furthermore, their
presence as minorities in the region underscore the importance of recognizing
intersectionality—how gender, caste, ethnicity, and class intersect to shape
experiences of environmental injustice (Shiva 22). An occurrence of over mining of stones from the river presented in the
novel is another instance of environmental exploitation:
Every day the Lorries leave bearing away our
forests, sold by foreigners to fill the pockets of foreigners. Every day our
stones are carried from the riverbed of the Teesta to build their houses and
cities (159).
With
globalization, the movement of people across the borders in search of work and
better living conditions has increased tremendously. The United States, with
its global supremacy, has become the preferred choice for many immigrants.
Biju, the cook’s son in The Inheritance
of Loss makes several attempts to get a visa to the United States. For him,
acquiring a visa to the United States turns out to be one of the hardest
procedures in the immigration process. At the United States embassy, Biju
witnesses the extent of the humiliation visa aspirants endure to be in the US:
Biju watched as the words were put forward to
others with complete bluntness, with a fixed and unembarrassed eye—odd when
asking such rude questions. Standing there, feeling the enormous measure of
just how despised he was, he would have to reply in a smart yet humble manner.
If he bumbled, tried too hard, seemed too cocky, became confused, if they
didn’t get what they wanted quickly and easily, he would be out. In this room,
it was a fact accepted by all that Indians were willing to undergo any kind of
humiliation to get into the States. You could heap rubbish on their heads and
yet they would be begging to come crawling in...(The Inheritance of Loss 184)
Biju’s father,
the cook, believes that sending his son to the US would bring him social
acceptability and material prosperity. The pathetic living condition in Cho
Oyumakes the cook to think it as a better option to go abroad than indulging in
the poverty and insurgency of the place. Emigration is perceived as a chance to
elevate social rank, an opportunity to modify local hierarchies, seeking
equality between different classes of people. The cook proudly proclaims that
both he and the town’s doctor have their sons in the US, a fact which puts him
on equal terms with the “most distinguished personage in town” (Desai85). The cook’s opinion of the
US is in consonance with the popular image of the country constructed by the
media. He thinks of the US as a land of abundance: “In that country, there is
enough food for everybody” and it is “the best country in the world” (85), and
it is the land of “water and electricity” (24).Cook’s perception of his homeland
underscores the stark and hopeless reality of the place.
Biju suffers a lot in the US because of his status as an illegal worker.
He works for meagre pay in restaurants and undergoes gross human rights
violation. Nostalgia strikes Biju at the sight of a dead insect in a sack of
basmati rice. He craves to go home, but the words of his father counseling him
not to return jerks him back to reality. Biju reflects that in India he could
never afford basmati rice, and the incident gives him a chance for
introspection with respect to his existence in the US. Santwana Haldar opines
that:
In this age of
globalization exile is often the chosen condition accepted for the hope of a
‘better life’ and when people are disappointed in such condition, the pangs of remaining
far from homeland are heart-breaking (82).
When Biju’s American dream gets shattered, his love for his home village
is rekindled. He thinks about the peaceful life of his village, the incredible
taste of the roti cooked on a choolah, and the savour of fresh warm buffalo
milk. According to Subha Mukerjee:
... people
from different countries have settled in alien nations but their heart and soul
are left behind in their far off motherlands. Physically the situation changes,
but emotionally they hate everything alien (40).
The man’s association with nature and his locale is explained through
the plight of Biju, the cook’s son. While Biju suffers the torments of an
illegal immigrant in a foreign country, he remembers the blissful days he spent
in his village. Nostalgic memories of his nature cladded home soothe his
tormented self. Biju calms and consoles himself by contemplating nature:
How peaceful
our village is. How good the roti tastes there! It is because the Atta is
ground by hand, not by machine …and because it is made on a choolah, better
than anything cooked on a gas or kerosene stove. Fresh roti, fresh butter,
fresh milk still warm from the buffalo (103).
This reference exemplifies the beauty and simplicity of village life,
where everything is unpolluted and genuine, a sharp contrast to his experiences
in the United States. Nature instills him hope and positivity while facing
inhuman treatments abroad. Biju has bright memories of his childhood in the
village. Biju realizes the troubles of unsustainable progress and prosperity
where man is a greater sufferer than nature.
Throughout the novel, novelist uses an ecocentric approach where the
narrative is reinforced with the visible presence of diverse flora and fauna
either directly or symbolically. The narrative is peppered with descriptions of
wildlife and numerous descriptions of flora. Even the judge’ dog Matt is
presented as a character in this novel. Judge’s cook is a worshipper of snakes
and abhors killing them. As cook describes:
I went to the temple and they told me that I
must ask forgiveness of the snakes. So I made a clay cobra and put it behind
the water tank, made the area around it clean with cow dung, and did puja.
Immediately the swelling went down (27).
There is a strong inclination for many characters to consume locally
produced products than mass produced consumer goods. Father Booty is one such
person. He owns a dairy farm and declares that cheese produced there is so much
better than the mass produced Amul cheese which he considers as nothing more
than a plastic wrapper: “This struck Father Booty as very funny, but he stopped
laughing when they passed the Amul billboard, Utterly, Butterfly, Delicious,
and Plastic! How can they call it butter and cheese? It’s not. You could use it
for waterproofing!” (Desai 208).
The inhabitants of Cho Oyulose their material possessions but reinstates
their optimism for life that emanates from the knowledge that love and family
bonding entwined with their emotional connection with nature surpass the
short-term happiness derived from material possessions. Seen in this light, Kiran Desai’s work
demonstrates her environmental sensitivity and emotional connection with
nature.
The novel also
reveals the life of Gyan, Sai’s tutor belonging to the Gorkha community. Post
independence, India witnessed nationalist affiliations giving way to
sectarianism and regionalism, challenging the harmony and integrity of the
nation. The Gorkha insurgency, which
resulted from years of oppression and marginalization of the Gorkhas,
challenged the peaceful life of the Anglophiles living in Kalimpong. Through
insurgency, Gorkha separatists demanded a separate state for Gorkhas in the
North East called ‘Gorkhaland’. In the novel, the Gorkha rebels create an
atmosphere of terror in the Kalimpong hills with their armed rebellion and acts
of vandalism. The peaceful existence of the inhabitants gets interrupted by
roadblocks, electricity cutoffs, and robbery. The Anglophiles in the locality
become the primary targets of the insurgents because of their Western
affiliations and insularity. In addition to abusing and humiliating the
Westernized people, the insurgents start to vandalize and steal from their
property.
The social and
economic inequality between the Westernized Indians living in Kalimpong and the
poor Gorkha community is evident in The
Inheritance of Loss. The people of Nepali origin in the region belong to a
disempowered and disadvantaged class. The community suffers from poverty and
lack of education. Their feeling of separatism stems from the years of
marginalization. They feel cut off from mainstream India, and left out of the
country’s development trajectory. As a result, rebel organizations like The
Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) find following among young people of
the Gorkha Community. The novel shows Gyan, inspired by the revolutionary
rhetoric of GNLF leaders, joining the organization. Gyan is torn between two
worlds – one of poverty and insecurity, and the other of progress and
opportunity. By being part of the insurgent movement, Gyan gets a chance to
discover himself, and an opportunity to find his self-worth and respect.
The affluent inhabitants of Cho Oyu rarely take notice of the economic
inequality and discontent of their Gorkha neighbours till the resentment
attains the proportion of a violent agitation. The novel underscores the
failure of the consumerist way of life which prioritizes consumerist and
material possessions over social and familial relations. Biju realizes the
futility of his pursuit of material prosperity and decides to return home. He
comes back to Kalimpong broken and penniless and happily reunites with his
father. Sai and Gyan realize the need to be more sensitized towards the
cultural differences around them. Overjoyed by the return of his pet dog, Mutt,
the novel ends by revealing the humane side of the emotionally guarded Judge.
The Inheritance of Loss shows how individual lives are affected and transformed by larger
socio-economic and environmental changes. The novel depicts the lived reality
of characters existing in a world of fluid boundaries and cultural crossovers.
The novel challenges the claim that economic liberalization and globalization
create prosperity in the lives of people. While globalization has given
opportunities for the people of the developed countries to be richer, political
fragmentation, economic and environmental crisis push the people from the
developing nations towards exploitation and indentured labour. The novel clearly represent the fact that global capitalism
is primarily defined by economic and environmental exploitation and the
benefits of capitalist growth have been unequally divided, providing prosperity
and progress to only a few people, while the majority is made to bear the brunt
of its social, cultural and environmental consequences.
Works Cited
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Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss. Penguin, 2006.
Ghose, Sisir Kumar. “Creativity: The
Ecological Challenge.” Creativity and Environment, edited by
Vidhya Niwas Mishra, Sahitya Akademi, 1992, p. 114.
Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm,
editors. The
Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. University of Georgia Press, 2009.
Hasanthi, D. R. “The Mimic Man in Kiran
Desai’s The
Inheritance of Loss.” 2021. (Note: Publisher or journal name not
provided.)
Mukherjee, Subha. “The Inheritance of Loss –
Biased and Unfair Globalised World.” The Hindustani Innovator, vol. 3, no. 1, 2007, pp. 38–47.
Peter, Barry. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary
and Cultural Theory. Viva Books, 2007.
Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and
Development. Zed Books, 1989.