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- Title
CHINA AND COLONIAL IMPACT: A POST COLONIAL READING OF AMITAV GHOSH'S RIVER OF SMOKE.
- Authors
Devi, R. Karthika
- Abstract
The Europeans who established their colonies in various parts of the world were accused of eradicating native cultures and languages, misrepresenting their history, misappropriating their literature, swindling their wealth, deteriorating their environment, stereotyping the negative images of the colonized, making them addicts to liquor and other poisonous drugs like opium, degrading them as inferior creatures, exploiting them economically, considering them barbarians, victimizing them with racistprejudice, etc. At the same time, it is not denying thefact that colonialism became responsible for founding the modernization of the world. Colonialism encouraged the scientific enquiry of truth. It promoted exploring life with the spirit of reason and intellect. Science and technology progressed and it led to the improvement of material condition of man. The Europeans, with their naval expedition, found out new safe routes for the known places and discovered new places like America, Australia and New Zealand. They threw light on the Aborigines living in the dark continents. They discovered new plants and animals and invented new objects. They introduced the new discoveries and the inventions for the betterment of the world. Dissemination of knowledge has become possible because of colonialism. Yet, it is a charge against the Europeans that whatever, whether it is political or mercantile, they did had been in the interest of their own people living in their mother lands. Some communities andafew individuals of the colonized country alsoflourished during the colonial rule due to colonialism. In India, it is Parsi people who enjoyed great privileges provided by the British colonizers. The contribution of the Parsi people along with the British in the establishment of the port city of Mumbai cannot be left unrecognized. The Parsis were as skillful as the English people in ship-building as well as they performed as brilliant as the colonizer in dealing with trade matters and maritime exploits. River of smoke elaborately discusses the Parsi involvement in the opium trade with China along with the British by narrating the events and incidents that took place in the story of Bahram Modi. While concocting the life of Bahram Modi with his rich imagination, Ghost lavishly uses the historicalfacts of opium trade by the colonizers in China and its impact reflected in political and social atmosphere of China.
- Subjects
GHOSH, Amitav, 1956-; STEREOTYPES; DRUGS; COLONIES; RACISM; OPIUM trade
- Publication
Literary Endeavour, 2019, Vol 10, Issue 1, p65
- ISSN
0976-299X
- Publication type
Article