Résumé:
This study is an attempt to investigate the environmental and ecological issues in
South Asia caused by the British colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries
particularly from a postcolonial ecocritical perspective using Amitav Ghosh’s The
Glass Palace (2000). It attempts to shed light on the catastrophic extensive
exploitation of the Burmese, Malay, and Indian natural resources including teak,
rubber, oil as well as the human workforce by the British in the Indian subcontinent
during the last two centuries. This dissertation also examines the situation of the
subaltern embodied in local workers, immigrants, women, orphans, and servants who
have been equally victimized just like nature itself. It explicates their ironical position
of being the hands that destroy and harm their mother land during the British
occupation. Moreover, it explores the relationship and attitudes of the colonized
characters towards nature and the environment as well as those of the colonizers
spotlighting environmental racism exercised against the subalterns. Furthermore, the
study traces human cruelty, abuse, and exploitation of animals that eventually lead to
the extinction of many species creating the imbalance in the ecosystem.
