In The Great Derangement, Amitav Ghosh begins by discussing that he intends this novel to be innovative in its environmental story telling. Instead of telling a fictional story with crazy superstorms, Ghosh wants to write about crazy superstorms that have actually occurring, killing scores of humans and impacting billions of dollars of damage. Ghosh wants to bring to light the great plight of peoples around the world from the effects of extreme natural disasters, rather than use the various disasters to tell a story.
In recent years, people have been turning to museums and literature to learn more about the world and the effects that humans may have had on it. However, Ghosh predicts that in the future, people will look at our time of one …show more content…
These cities were settled right on the edge of oceans and seas, which intrigued Ghosh as he wanted to see whether humans always have wanted to live by the water. However, after research into other cities and traditions, he found that “through much of human history, people regarded the ocean with great wariness” . He points to various old port cities, such as London, Amsterdam, and Malacca, that are all protected from the open ocean by estuaries, bays, or deltaic river systems as examples that traditionally people have been wary to be close to the unmanageable and dangerous open ocean. However, as European colonialism expanded, cities began to rise on seafronts, which are now becoming hotspots for ever strengthening storms due to climate …show more content…
He presents stories of horrific storms in a way that makes the everyday reader feel empathy for those affected, while not off-putting the same audience by being pessimistic and despairing. He presents climate change in a story like way, which pulls the audience in and makes it difficult to put down the book. Even after finishing the novel, the audience will continue to ponder the great environmental change that has occurred over the last couple centuries, helping this book to cement its place in a canon of environmental novels which any person would enjoy
In recent years, people have been turning to museums and literature to learn more about the world and the effects that humans may have had on it. However, Ghosh predicts that in the future, people will look at our time of one …show more content…
These cities were settled right on the edge of oceans and seas, which intrigued Ghosh as he wanted to see whether humans always have wanted to live by the water. However, after research into other cities and traditions, he found that “through much of human history, people regarded the ocean with great wariness” . He points to various old port cities, such as London, Amsterdam, and Malacca, that are all protected from the open ocean by estuaries, bays, or deltaic river systems as examples that traditionally people have been wary to be close to the unmanageable and dangerous open ocean. However, as European colonialism expanded, cities began to rise on seafronts, which are now becoming hotspots for ever strengthening storms due to climate …show more content…
He presents stories of horrific storms in a way that makes the everyday reader feel empathy for those affected, while not off-putting the same audience by being pessimistic and despairing. He presents climate change in a story like way, which pulls the audience in and makes it difficult to put down the book. Even after finishing the novel, the audience will continue to ponder the great environmental change that has occurred over the last couple centuries, helping this book to cement its place in a canon of environmental novels which any person would enjoy