THE TRAUMA OF WAITING: SUSPENDED LIVES AND RESILIENCE IN AMITAV GHOSH’S THE HUNGRY TIDE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/JISSI.v2.i3.2026.112Keywords:
Trauma, Waiting, Suspended Lives, Resilience, Displacement, Memory, Morichjhapi, Sundarbans, Amitav GhoshAbstract
Amitav Ghosh’s novel The Hungry Tide presents a complex account of displacement, ecological danger, violence, memory, and survival in the ever-changing environment of the Sundarbans. Although numerous critics have examined the book’s attention to ecology, postcolonial themes, refugee experiences, Morichjhapi, island identity, and the relationship between humans and nature, this paper considers waiting as another way to understand trauma and resilience in the work. In this context, waiting is not simply a pause but rather a prolonged condition of psychological, social, political and geographical uncertainty. The characters are frequently situated between different places, identities, relationships, histories and possible futures. Refugees wish for a safe home, displaced groups aim for recognition, Nirmal is looking for an opportunity to put his political beliefs into practice, Kanai is trying to find out about his uncle’s past, Piya has to cope with cultural and language difficulties, Fokir and his community struggle to survive since their lives depend on the tides, the weather, the animals and the economy, and Moyna is working to build a new future for herself and her son. By making use of concepts such as trauma, suspended existence, displacement, memory, postmemory and resilience, this paper claims that Ghosh treats waiting as a form of historical and psychological trauma. At the same time, the novel shows that waiting can lead to adaptation, learning, community, memory, and the emergence of new forms of agency. Based on the research of Cathy Caruth, Dominick LaCapra, Marianne Hirsch, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Ann S. Masten and other scholars, this study proposes that in The Hungry Tide, resilience is not viewed as a complete recovery from trauma, but as the capacity to continue living, remembering, adapting and rebuilding even in the face of uncertainty.
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