Romance plays a big part in how the novel is structured. These man to woman relationships that occur in the novel can allow us to make deeper connections to each of the characters and also it essentially helps with the plot of the story. It helps readers to have a better understanding of social, economic and cultural factors in India as well as helping us understand how these man – woman relationships add on to the substance of the novel.  We can see this through the relationships of Kanai and Moyna, Kanai and Piya, Piya and Fokir and Moyna and Fokir. One can say there is a love triangle between the three characters Kanai, Piya and Fokir but I also believe that something is simmering between Fokir and Piya as well as Kanai and Monya.

Kanai is a player and likes to think of himself as a ladies man. He is very self absorbed and has the mentality that he gets what he wants. Piya can get a sense of that and even his aunt knows that about Kanai as well because she states, ” he’s one of those men who like to think of himself as being irresistible to the other sex” (pg. 208). With that being said he still somehow is able to come off as sincere and sympathize with individuals. He is also  a very intellectual man of a higher class which gives him more pointers. I believe this is why we see his character bonding with both Monya and Piya. Through the interactions with both females he flirts a lot and it can come off as inappropriate in some cases but I think both ladies see some potential in him for different reasons, especially Monya. Monya and Kanai share much more in common due to the fact that they are both head strong individuals and both have desires to get what they want out of life. Monya likes the fact that he is a well established man who went to school and has his own business. Kanai likes the fact that Monya is a very ambitious woman and is able to uproot her life to take the steps she needs in order to become a nurse. He sees himself in her which is why to me they are more compatible.

On the other hand Fokir is the opposite, being that he cannot read or write he is a man that stays to himself and finds joy in being with his son on the water fishing and catching crabs. He is a husband to Monya but they live very separate lives. When reading this novel to me it seems that they should not be together. They do not seem compatible and it is very clear that they want different things out of life. When Piya and Fokir interact there is minimum communication with words but the connection is clear as day. Fokir may not have gone to school or become someone of a higher occupation but its very certain that he is intellectual, a protector and valuable when it comes to water resources and surviving in the conditions that they live in. Piya sees this which is how they fix upon one another. They both have an understanding of the sea/ river and even though she specializes in marine mammals he is still of great help when navigating how to spot them and navigate danger when it is near. There have been many instances of physical alterations and moments where Piya has smelled him which created a sensation of bliss for her. She feels very safe around him and a sense of calmness which I believe Fokir feels as well because you can see the energy shift from when he is at home with his wife to when he is out on the water by himself and with Piya. Moyna knows her husband is unhappy with the life she is making him live for her benefit and continues to belittle and embarrass him. I am not a fan of her and neither is PIya but out of respect for Fokir she deals.  In my eyes it makes the most sense for Fokir and Piya to be together and Monya and Kanai to be with one another, it just makes sense.

P.S. I am definitely team Fokir and Piya all the way!

In the first half of the novel ” The Hungry Tide” by Amitav Ghosh, is centered around the perspectives of two characters Piya and Kanai.  So far you can kind of make the assumption that these two characters will be the key in determining how nature and human folly can work as one and coexist together within the town of Lusibari and the other inhabited islands, located in India. Piya is an American cetologist who is in Canning to learn about the marine mammals of the Sundarbans. Though she was born in Calcutta, at the age of 1 her family moved and she was then raised in Seattle Ohio. Coming back to India you can see that from the outside Piya’s skin color and certain facial features may make her appear as a women native to India but her little nuances, short haircut, clothes and her American accent gives away that she is essentially a foreigner with an Indian background. Kanai and Piya first meet on the train heading to Canning and when speaking to him she says she is bad at languages but thankfully her job doesn’t require much talking. Ironically we later find out that Kanai is a translator and an interpreter who speaks 6 different languages “not including dialects” he so evidently pointed out. As readers we can foreshadow that he will be very useful for Piya when navigating the different areas of India they will soon encounter together. Kanai is seen to be of a higher class in India which you can see by the clothing he wears and his mannerisms. He comes off a little self centered with a know it all attitude but strangely knows how to swindle the ladies ( if only he knew how to keep them). Currently in the novel he is heading to Lusibari summoned by his aunt Nilima who needs him to read papers his late uncle Nirmal left for him. During this trip he continuously has flash backs of his last encounters with his uncle and aunt and starts to recognize the changes within the town. The papers his uncle left included work and journals talking about vast changes that was happening to these inhabited islands and destitution that was occurring making it unsafe for people to live in. I believe that throughout this novel Kanai and Piya will be put in a position to come together and figure out a way to make sense of what is going on using there expertise from their jobs and intellectual abilities pertaining to the climate to find out the conclusion that needs to be made for people and the island to sustain.

Throughout this book I’ve noticed that history plays a very big part. In most climate fiction novels I would assume there needs to be some type of connection to real life with some sort of back ground knowledge so the reader is better informed. In this particular novel I feel that Ghosh uses a lot of real situations and you can see that he had to do a lot of research in order to portray this story correctly. So far to me nothing seems very ” out landish” in a sense that he talks about things that actually makes sense and that is very likely to happen right now. To further explain what I mean, in Butlers novel she talks about experiences and events that could happen in real life but to me she has more of a fiction aspect. Things like people shaving their heads and fully painting themselves reminds me of the fiction side of this genre. Ghosh on the other hand so far has made “The Hungry Tide” seem very “real life” where you can literally envision these things happening now and it makes sense. Going back to the topic of history Ghosh included a lot of real moments that occurs in the 1900’s which I think could engage readers more who are already knowledge to these events because it heavily relates the real world to this “fiction” world.

The novel “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler is based on the idea that climate change and social inequality within societies will create an unstable environment for humans and the earth to survive in. This novel is set in a post – apocalyptic future where racism, classism and environmental issues exist and how all of these problems will eventually affect the American future. Octavia Butler makes the acceptance of change a huge factor in this novel because change is the holy grail of the better days to come. As LeVar Burton stated in the foreword of the novel, “she painstakingly built a body of work that is decidedly humanistic while remaining unashamedly, unapologetically Afrocentric” (Burton, Pg.viii). Butler is able to showcase real world problems involving the interest of human welfare, our values, and still being able to emphasis black struggle which makes a lot of situations in the novel relatable to the present day struggles. Through the main character Lauren Olamina, Butler argues that change is the inevitable and without it, nothing will start to prosper into the society that people so desperately want.

Based in California in the town of Robledo, Lauren and her family live in a gated community where they practice a baptist belief. This community is closed off from the rest of the world essentially because no one leaves and no one comes in unless both parties have a death wish. Within this community and outside of it there is a lot of challenges because society is corrupt. There is inflation in food, water shortage due to prices increasing, violence, extreme climate changes causing natural disasters and many people without a home. Prior to the year of 2020 none of these things were so prevalent like how they are now. Within chapters 1 through 7 Lauren’s family and neighbors are constantly looking for ways to defend themselves from the outside and trying to create a space that is doable to continue to have a life in. Lauren has some ideas and new beliefs of her own which she realizes as she starts to mature. The role that God plays in her family’s life is the typical belief that most people have which is that he is the creator. He is the all mighty and powerful being that will allow them to get out of the disaster they are in and put them on certain paths in their life for the greater good. They see him as the being that knows and loves you and the being that holds their faith in his hands. Since the age of 12 Lauren has started to realize some things for herself prompting her to write down verses about God that she deems to be true. In chapter 3 she says, “I believe in something that I think my dying, denying, backward looking people need” (Butler, pg. 25). Lauren believes in what she sees right in front of her and actively doing something now that could change things rather than just continuing to accept things for what it is. Later in chapter 7 she figures out what to call her new religion which is known as “Earthseed”. She explains that Earthseed is a “God is change” belief system where people essentially need to “seed themselves” far away from the place that is trying to swallow them whole (Butler, pg.77,78). She establishes this belief because she starts to obtain the knowledge that if there is not better choices made in terms of creating change and actively learning and working towards it they will always be where they are at now.

It is no secret that with the way society is right now and the vast changes happening in the climate, there will be no future for anyone to live through. Butler creates Lauren to be the person that starts to see reality for what it is. She makes her the character that refuses to accept the economic crisis that continues to rise and instead be the being that breaks the past beliefs which is doing nothing but keeping them from truly living a life that is at the end of their finger tips.