American Research Journal of English and Literature

Amitav Ghosh reveals areas of colonial oppression that were not much highlighted earlier along with the much talked-about topic of the oppression of the poor by local moneylenders.The British businessmen wanted to earn easy money from cash crops and to meet their greed the Indian farmers were compelled to produce crops according to the liking of the colonials, depriving themselves of wheat and paddy that they needed most to support themselves. The cultivation of Indigo ‘neel’ that was thrust upon the farmers in Bengal was highlighted in Bengal writings of the period and was included later in the agenda of National movements, but the cultivation of the opium was little focussed. Here in this point of view, Ghosh sincerely reveals the plight of the farmers like Deeti who fell in the clutches of the English businessmen and began poppy plantation. Before poppy plantation was introduced, the fields were heavy with wheat in winter, and after the spring harvest, the straw could be used to repair the hut’s roof. “But now, with the sahibs forcing everyone to grow poppy, no one had thatch to spare- it had to be bought at the market, from people who lived in faraway villages, and the expense was such that people put off their repairs as long as they possibly could” (29).