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51 pages 1 hour read

Amitav Ghosh

The Hungry Tide

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

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Symbols & Motifs

Rivers

Rivers are a central symbol of The Hungry Tide. They are referenced in the book’s title—the hungry tide is the combined tides of the many rivers, large and small, that bring both life and death to the Sundarbans. In the novel, rivers symbolize man’s complicated, dualist relationship with nature. Rivers are the source of all life in the Sundarbans, providing food, transportation, and water. Fokir makes his living on the banks of the river, and has fed himself from it since he was a small child living on Morichjhapi. Rivers have always been the cradles of civilization since Mesopotamia emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and the Sundarbans are no different. “‘On the banks of every great river,’” Nirmal tells a young Kanai, “‘you’ll find a monument to excess’” (20). Rivers are also a primary source of danger, with lurking crocodiles and deadly undertows, both of which Piya narrowly escapes. “Only at high tide was it evident that the interior of [Lusibari] lay well below the level of the water” (31), creating the constant possibility of floods.

The Tiger

In The Hungry Tide, the tiger represents the limits of human civilization. Existing mainly on the outskirts of the story, the tiger howls in the night, carries off villagers, and stares at Piya through the trees. This is the modern world (though without many modern conveniences) and yet nothing can keep the tiger away. Lusibari has electricity, a hospital, and phones, but the tiger kills villagers all the same. Scientists have attempted to solve the tiger problem with electric fences and other technological devices, yet the tiger continues to attack. In Kusum’s case, the trauma of seeing her father eaten by a tiger inspires a religious devotion to a friendly spirit, Bon Bibi, a mythological creature of a bygone era. Piya and the rest of her crew watch villagers who have trapped a tiger descend into a cruel frenzy, torturing the tiger before setting it on fire. The tiger brings out the darkest, oldest human emotions. Piya is horrified—from her scientist’s perspective, the tiger is blameless, simply an animal following its instincts—but for those who must live with the danger of tiger attack daily, this is not a compelling argument. Late in the novel, Kanai sees a tiger up close and loses all ability to think rationally. Though he is an educated, even snobbish man with a facility for multiple languages, “his mind, in its panic, had emptied itself of language” (271). Seeing the tiger, Kanai reverts to a prehistoric state, devoid of language. He reacts as an animal, “an artifact of pure intuition” (271).

The Crab

In his journal, Nirmal describes a conversation with a very young Fokir about crabs. He brings Fokir down to the river embankment and asks him to put his ear up to a closed basket. Fokir hears a small scratching sound, and correctly deduces that crabs are inside, having been caught in the tide. “‘Now ask yourself,’” Nirmal says to Fokir, “‘how long can this frail fence last against these monstrous appetites—the crabs and the tides, the winds and the storms? And if it falls, who shall we turn to then, comrade?’” (172). Fokir does not know, and Nirmal replies that we certainly won’t turn to the animals. The crabs know that humans are “not comfortably at home in our translated world” (171). In this brief conversation, the crabs stand in for the natural world, at once harnessed and manipulated by human beings, but, nevertheless, beyond human comprehension. The crabs have been caught in a man-made trap and will be eaten by humans, yet, the crabs are at home in their world, unlike humans. Humans can consume nature but are, on some level, unable to understand it.

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