A Planet in Crisis: Environmental Justice in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island

Abstract

This paper examines how Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island functions as a literary intervention in contemporary debates on environmental justice. Ghosh portrays climate change not just as an environmental issue but as a deeply connected justice crisis. It is rooted in colonial histories and capitalist systems. Through a transnational narrative that combines myth, history, and ecological realities, the novel challenges readers to reconsider the interconnectedness of environmental and social crises. The novel focuses on vulnerable populations in the Global South, particularly climate refugees, whose lives are shaped by ecological devastation and forced migration. By depicting human and non-human elements as entangled in a shared fate, Gun Island calls for a redefinition of environmental justice, one that is inclusive and grounded in both historical responsibility and multispecies ethics