How does Jenny Offills weather portray the relationship between personal anxiety and global crises through Lizzie, and in what ways do these external pressures amplify these personal anxieties and existential crises?

In part 2 of Jenny Offill’s novel “Weather”, we can see a more in-depth characteristic of Lizzie. Lizzie seems to be very self-aware of who she is. As the novel continues, we can see a better perspective of how Lizzie feels about certain things. We come to see that she has a dark sense of thought as well as dark humor. So far, the novel has felt as if we were in her head, listening to her thoughts. In the novel it states “… a student tells me failure is not an option and is angered when I laugh. I assume a cheerful manner. I tell her, Hey, me too, I used to have plans! Biggish ones, medium at least…” As the novel demonstrates we can see that subconsciously maybe Lizzie feels a certain way about what her future should’ve looked like, which has led her to become a librarian. Although Lizzie tries to put up a certain act with certain people, as readers we can tell she seems to be struggling a lot within herself. 

Moreover, we can see how Lizzie struggles to be with her husband. They tend to fight over small stuff but it seems like there’s some tension between them. The novel shows a bit of their banter, as states “You don’t really even have a job, do you? Ben says one day when I come home early….”Can you put sheets on his bed” “I fixed the drain” “I made corn.” We can see that there Ben doesn’t seem happy with his wife’s decision to become a librarian, however, Lizzie doesn’t seem to be annoyed by it but rather she faces it with an honest attitude. But Ben still decides to question her and it seems as though Lizzie isn’t bothered by it anymore. 

Lizzie’s personality shows that she seems to be very dark about survival, death, and even small things going on in the world as well. Lizzie goes on to talk about the climate in the world, and how it’s slowly becoming a problem. She seems to be very in tune with how the world is looking, and she knows a lot of dark jokes about the world. Lizzie says “Once sadness was considered one of the deadly sins, but this was later changed to sloth. (Two strikes then). I believe she talks about herself, and how lonely and sad she is but decides not to show it to her family or friends. She seems to be aware that she is struggling within herself but decides not to talk to someone but rather copes with dark humor or jokes about the end of the world.

How are the people of the world affected by climate change outside of the west and how does Ghosh’s novel portray that?

How does Amitav Ghosh critique theories of Western environmentalism in The Hungry Tide through the different roles Piya, Kanai, and Fokir play as productive characters in the narrated world clearly suffering from climate change?

In what ways does Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Hungry Tide critique Western notions of epistemology, specifically Enlightenment notions of empiricism ? In what ways does Forkir , represent a “postcolonial epistemology” and in what ways do other characters like Nirmal, Kainai, and Piya represent the opposite end ?