Analysis of Moth Smoke in Light of Ecocriticism

The following study dissects the debut novel of Mohsin Hamid on basis of ecocriticism or as we call it green criticism in Europe. Defined by Cheryll Glotfelty as a study of relationship between literature and environment (Glotfelty 1996), ecocriticism examines the biosphere within a setting of any literary work, and then raises questions to highlight the subtle hints left by authors to draw parallels between settings and mental states of characters.

The novel is set in Lahore, which is probably the most polluted zone of Pakistan. According to a study conducted by Pakistan Environmental Agency in collaboration with Japan International Cooperation Agency, the suspended particulate matter in air of Lahore is 6.4 times higher than the suggested guidelines of WHO (Yaqoob 2010).

The story of Hamid’s first novel revolves around a guy named Darashikoh (Daru), who loses his job, starts selling drugs in Lahore’s elite circle, commits adultery with his best friend’s wife, and ends up terribly at the hands of capitalism and filthiness of rotten ecosphere of Lahore. To give a representation of setting in this book, Daru’s observations about the dead grass in his lawn even after being blessed with monsoon (p. 242), and of the sun, which is “completely blotted out by a dirty sky” (p. 119) are more than enough. Readers very precisely comprehend that the city is badly perverted ecologically.

In a backdrop, the story matures around the nuclear testing program of Pakistan, being planned against India. Humanity has already suffered a great deal of loss at the hands of nuclear powers in Second World War when USA bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hamid illustrates a biochemical polluted scenario for us by writing “neighborhoods baked in the still heat” (p. 127). One can envision such a deadly metropolis to live in.

A Pakistani vendor rides on his bicycle on a street amid heavy smog in Lahore on November 9, 2017. Flights were cancelled, school times pushed back and hospitals flooded as air pollution inundated the city a day earlier. Visual: Arif Ali/AFP/Getty

It’s not only about air alone. Hamid draws our attention to holy land as well when Daru comes out of his home smelling something burn. He notices “Neat mounds of rubbish in front of the neighbors’ houses” (p. 254). We are repeatedly told about the sky that “There are no clouds, no wind, and no stars because of the dust” (p. 16). Mohsin calls Lahore a “Soggy city” (p. 242).

This novel depicts a world where the man and environment have lost a deep rooted connection, and now nobody bothers to fix it. The evils of society, be it overdose of recreational drugs or infidelity, are now spitting its poison on the remaining beauty of mother earth. The symbolical representation of air-conditioners in Hamid’s narrative sketches a thin line for readers to differentiate between upper class - people who ruin the society, and lower class - people who wait for the right time to hunt rich and grab what is theirs for now. This ugliness of politically corrupt civilization, whose neck is choked with all the filth of lies, leaves ordinary people with no control. Or as Hamid describes that a common man is “at the mercy of the powerful” (p. 265)

Hamid’s compelling work of fiction tells us that whatever humans will do, nature will reflect it back at us. Preserving nature is important. To end my analysis, I would like to add my favorite excerpt from this novel that allows readers to learn how vital conservation is:

“Unrefrigerated, the food in my house spoils overnight, consumed by colored molds that spread like cancer. Overripe fruit bursts open, unhealthy flesh oozing out of ruptures in sickly skin. And the larvae already wriggling in dark pools of water will soon erupt into swarms of mosquitoes.” (p. 249)

References

-Glotfelty, C., & Fromm, H. (Eds.). (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology. University of Georgia Press.

-Yaqoob, M. (2019). Environmental Discourse: A Comparative Ecocritical Study of Pakistani and American Fiction in English, https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v9n3p260.

-Hamid, M. (2012). Moth Smoke. Penguin.