A Study on Immigrants’ Life in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies

Abstract

It is a study on immigrant people presented in Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies. This paper
focuses on how immigrant people are made oppressed under the British rule and also focuses on how the
author has brought history into the novel and told the history in the form of story. As it is stated, Sea of
Poppies has its base on historical event of nineteenth century. It analyses colonization, historical,
economical, psychological and cultural habits presented in the novel Sea of poppies. In the first volume,
Ghosh presents Ibis Colonization. Ibis is an imaginary ship made by Ghosh. This ship helps people from
different nations reach their destination. Here in this Ibis trilogy Ghosh speaks about the story of Opium
war and migration of coolies. The colonization creates a path for the birth of a historically, politically
and culturally colonized country. The story is narrated using the historical events and places. Ghosh
differs from other novelists like Vikram Seth, Gita, Allen Seally etc., in his narration on events and
colonization with historical background. The characters presented in the novel are native of India,
Burma, South Africa, etc., the novel is divided into three parts, namely land, river and sea. Amitav
Ghosh’s sea of poppies is the best novel that narrates the colonization of people, post-colonization and
the people of immigration.