116. Jayalakshmi E

Abstract 116

Jayalakshmi E            

Voicing Nature: An Ecocritical Reading of Aathi.

Abstract

Literature of opposition has a central place in the post colonial discourse. This is evident in the enormous sprouting of counter voices from the margins of our society like Dalits, women, gay, working class and so on. Nature writing or writing against the destruction of nature is one among the recent areas of dissent culture.

This paper is an attempt to study Aathi by Sarah Joseph as a strong dissent novel against water and environmental pollution in Kerala. As a socially committed writer and activist she penned many literary and non literary works against the atrocities towards women and nature. The present novel is a powerful protest against the dumping of city waste in the adjacent villages and the consequent destruction of rural areas under the label 'development'. In the words of Vandana Shiva, what happens in India under the title of development is actually ‘mal development’. Albeit it creates economic growth on one side it produce utter poverty and displacement of local villagers on the other side. The depiction of Chakkamkandam a village near Guruvayoor, a renowned temple in South India, makes the novel an open protest against water pollution. Another important issue the writer brings to light is the atrocities of land mafia in Kerala. As a feminist writer she also looks into these problems through women’s point of view and depicts how these destructions of nature affect the women folk in Aathi, the central place of action in the novel.