This document discusses four key themes in Amitav Ghosh's novel 'Gun Island': 1) The historification of myth and mythification of history, 2) Climate change, 3) Human migration and refugee crises, and 4) Etymology and etymological mysteries. It also summarizes Amitav Ghosh's book 'The Great Derangement' which explores why the modern novel has struggled to address climate change and highlights the roles of colonialism and imperialism in contributing to the climate crisis. Sources discussed include works by Roland Barthes, Bertolt Brecht, and Amitav Ghosh's novels 'Gun Island' and 'The Great Derangement'.

1. Thematic Study
‘Gun Island’
1.The Theme of Historification of Myth &
Mythification of History
2.The Theme of Climate Change
3.The Theme of Migration – Human Trafficking /
Theme of Illegal Migration and Refugee Crisis
4.The Theme of Etymology / Etymological Mystery in
the Novel

2. The Great Derangement
Climate Change and the Unthinkable
• The book is composed of three parts:
• Part I, titled Stories, Part II, History, and Part III, Politics.
• The first part--Stories--explores why the modern novel struggles as an art
form to describe and grapple with the concept of climate change. To
understand this shortcoming, Ghosh highlights the role of the uncanny.
• In the second section--History--Ghosh highlights the role of colonialism in
the climate crisis. With examples ranging from Miami to Mumbai to New
York, Ghosh explores why urban planning deviated and deviates from the
indigenous multigenerational knowledge that compelled cultures to build
away from the ocean.
• In the final section--Politics--Ghosh notes that activists who single
out capitalism as the systemic driver of climate change miss an important
element: imperialism.
The Theme of Climate Change

3. Uncanny
• The uncanny is the psychological experience of
something as not simply mysterious, but creepy,
often in a strangely familiar way. It may describe
incidents where a familiar thing or event is
encountered in an unsettling, eerie,
or taboo context.

4. •Are myths subtle codes that contain some universal
truth? Are they a window on the deep recesses of a
particular culture? Or are they just entertaining
stories that people like to tell over and over?
•A box of tools for the study of Mythology.
1.Functionalism
2. Structuralism
3. Psychoanalysis
4. Myth and ritual
The Theme of Historification of Myth & Mythification of History

5. •Roland Barthes: “Myth converts history into nature. And
the task of the mythographer is to rediscover the element
of history (truth-fact-past) that motivates the myth, to
elicit what is specific to a given time and place, asking
what interests are served by the naturalization of
particular convictions and values.”
•‘Historification’ was a term Brecht used to define the
technique of deliberately setting the action of a play in
the past in order to draw parallels with contemporary
events
•‘Historification’ enabled spectators to view the events of
the play with emotional detachment and garner a
thinking response
The Theme of Historification of Myth & Mythification of History

6. In his poem "Speech to Danish working-class actors on the art of
observation", Brecht offers a vivid portrait of the attitude he suggested
an actor should cultivate:
• Imagine all that is going on around you, all those struggles
Picturing them just like historical incidents
For this is how you should go on to portray them on the stage:
The fight for a job, sweet and bitter conversations
Between the man and his woman, arguments about books
Resignation and revolt, attempt and failure
All these you will go on to portray as historical incidents.
(Even what is happening here, at this moment, with us, is
something you
Can regard as a picture in this way).

7. The Theme of Etymology / Etymological Mystery in the Novel
•Set in Kolkata, the Sundarbans, Los Angeles, New York and
Venice, the novel engages with Ghosh’s fascination for
etymology and how words in different languages inform our
sensibility and understanding of the world.
•“At the heart of the story of Gun Island, there lies an
etymological mystery, a derivation that points to the deep
and inextricable intermeshing of cultures and civilizations
over the ages. This is why etymology fascinates me: like
sailors, words, too, are travelers, and tracing their journeys is
like describing voyages of adventures.” (Bhattacharya, “Gun
Island by Amitav Ghosh.”)

8. Source:
• Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. London: J. Cape, 1972. Print.
• Bhattacharya, Saumya. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh: A Gripping Parable for
Our Times.” Hindustan Times, June 8, 2019.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh-a-
gripping-parable-for-our-times/story-Zygav4yLecQZb9xCO1KW1N.html.
• Brecht, Bertolt. Speech to Danish working-class actors on the art of
observation. Tr. John Willette. Poems 1913-1956. London, England :
Methuen, 1976, pp. 233-238. Rede an dänische Arbeiterschauspieler über
die Kunst der Beobachtung. 1934
• Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. Penguin Random House India. 2019.
• Ghosh, Amitav. The great derangement. University of Chicago Press. 2017.