It is very evident how these novels shape one’s concept of climate change after reading and evaluating the three novels by Nixon, Lemenager, and Ghosh, in which there are numerous opinions on the subject. On Rob Nixon’s concept of “slow violence,” he discusses climatic changes, such as toxic drift or climate breakdown, etc. which we all experience in our daily lives due to various types of weather changes, but we often overlook how they relate to the idea of slow violence. Slow violence is not believed to be violence that can damage a person immediately; rather, it is the development of a major issue that frequently goes unnoticed since it is not immediate. In Slow Violence the following comment by Rob Nixon caught my attention: “Falling bodies, burning towers, exploding heads, avalanches, volcanoes, and tsunamis have a visceral, eye-catching and page-turning power that tales of slow violence, unfolding over years, decades, even centuries, cannot match. Stories of toxic buildup, massing greenhouse gases, and accelerated species loss due to ravaged habitats are all cataclysmic, but they are scien- tifically convoluted cataclysms in which casualties are postponed, often for generations.”(pg5) This comment caught my attention because no one has ever put an end to climate change and it is a bigger problem that can’t be resolved by one or two people and will affect many, this stood out to me because it gives the reader a visualization or helps put the readers in perspective and lets them think back about all these life-threatening events or events that can also happen in the future.

The recent wildfire in Tenerife, Spain, which was fueled by the wind, heat, and low humidity levels and resulted in widespread damage to the island’s flora and fauna was talked about on social media and in the news where they posted pictures, videos, etc. and people can see them but then think, “Well, it’s not here.” One sentence that caught my attention in Stephanie LeMenager’s “Climate Change and the Struggle for Genre” was “For those reading is restricted to sources chosen to bolster an already decided vision of the real, the news will not “happen,” as it does for those of us who still enjoy the surprise of turning a page, either on a screen or in print, to the extent that this chapter anticipates the possibility of surprise might entail by reading what they have not curated so closely as to exclude any inconsistency in ideology or worldview” ​​I enjoy reading books and everything that goes along with them, including the suspense, the plot, and the “saying one more page and ending the whole book” moment, so this caught my attention. While reading about climate change, people may notice it and connect, just like when they read other stories where they can empathize but without realizing it can happen anywhere and at any moment. This is an example of how literature can be used to spark readers’ interest and draw in a larger audience because, once they start reading, the action, suspense, or even the setting may compel them to continue and intrigue their curiosity about what might happen or how to change our relationship with the natural world to benefit future generations.

The novels we have read so far has displayed specific situations where climate change has led too much bigger complications. When learning about climate change and the issues that it has caused over the years, you come to understand that the author is evoking a deeper meaning for this term because there is much more damage that follows the representational. The Great Derangement Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghost is focused on the stories of climate change and the disastrous events emphasized due to the change. Climate change events are caused by extreme weather and on page seventeen Ghost shares a story of when there was a hailstorm in North Delhi on March 17, 1978. It was stated that the hailstorm worsened as time passed which became very dangerous. “The place where I had first thought to take shelter, the glass-fronted doorway, had been reduced to a jumble of jagged debris. The panes had shattered and many people had been wounded by the shards. I realized that I too would have been among the injured had I remained there.” (page seventeen). After stating the damage and the shock he felt he then proceeds to stating that ” ‘30 Dead,’ says the banner headline, ‘700 Hurt As Cyclone Hits North Delhi’.” An unexpected hailstorm caused a “cyclone” and “funnel-shaped whirlwind” to wipe out almost all of North Delhi’s community. When reading and learning about this event that  took place it maneuvered me to a deeper understanding that climate change can be any kind of disastrous change that becomes very complex and somewhat like a domino effect. Once something horrific starts to take place a few others are more than likely to follow before feeling hopeful again. Climate change can be referred to actual climate issues but i believe it can be applied to other world, personal problems also. In my opinion “Slow Death” by Rob Nixon was indeed very complex. From my understanding i feel as if Nixon’s purpose for writing his book was to draw attention to violence that is neglected. Slow Violence gives an example of women facing hard and long struggles of carrying a child who will be birthed unstable due to lack of medical care. Nixon generally focuses on the needs and feelings of those who are mistreated and neglected. The deeper meaning of climate change does get a bit tricky but to my understanding, climate change can be any natural, complicated event that may lead to needing many perspectives. 

After reading the three assigned novels about climate change, they all have a unique outlook on climate change. That allows us to think more in-depth about the subject. From the “Great Derangement” by Ghosh, “Would it follow, then, on the analogy of Kohn’s suggestion in relation to forests, that to think about this era of climate change will be to think in images, that it will require a departure from our accustomed logocentrism? Could that be the reason why television, film, and the visual arts have found it much easier to address climate change than literary fiction?”(Chp. 18) . While reading, this particular line stood out to me. I stopped to think because it is true when writing about climate change, it is easier to write about it through fiction. Creating these horrific disasters or what the world would be like if it was empty and dry, having the characters survive this apocalypse world. It is made solely for the entertainment of readers, viewers, etc. At this point, the stories stray further away from the historical context of climate change. Literary fiction helps readers understand the impact climate change has on our lives. With television, film, and visual arts, you have a visual representation of what climate change is, or what events are unfolding in front of you. People like to escape into a different fantasy-like reality when reading books, reading a literary fiction book about climate change will be hard to understand. Thinking about the deeper meaning and reality of said books may make the reader distant. But those books giving us heavy subjects such as climate change, allow the reader to understand how much climate change affects the world, affects the characters in the story, and how they overcome it. In the film, you see it happen, but is it affecting you and your critical thinking compared to the book?

In “Slow Violence” by Nixon, a quote I took from the book was “How can leaders be goaded to avert catastrophe when the political rewards of their actions will not accrue to them but will be reaped on someone else’s watch decades, even centuries, from now? How can environmental activists and storytellers work to counter the potent political, corporate, and even scientific forces invested in immediate self-interest, procrastination, and dissembling? We see such dissembling at work, for instance, in the afterword to Michael Crichton’s 2004 environmental conspiracy novel, State of Fear, wherein he argued that we needed twenty more years of data gathering on climate change before any policy decisions could be ventured.” ( Pg 10) I took an interest in this part of page 10 due to it being another quote that made me critically think about climate change. Climate change has been going on for decades, passed down to a new generation where nothing is done. It’s as if the older generations truly believe that the newer generations will fix their problems, when in reality that does not seem like the outcome. On the news, articles, or wherever, they always state “We’re going to combat climate change!” Nothing happens, the world gets crispier by the second. Even now, it feels as though no one has taken action, as if they still haven’t figured out about climate change enough to prevent the planet from becoming unliveable.

Here’s the prompt for the first blog post, due Thursday:

All three of the authors we’ve read so far (Nixon, Lemenager, and Ghosh, our reading for Thursday) emphasize “representational” problems represented by climate change. In one way or another, all wrestle with the way the “slow violence” (Nixon) of climate change is hard to visualize or conceptualize in ways that make it seem possible to act effectively. Using one or more of these authors’ arguments, discuss some ways in which novels have a special role to play in helping us think more richly, more clearly, and more deeply about climate change.

I’ve posted more about the mechanics and the rhetoric of how to blog here: please take a look as you prepare this assignment.

Due before class on Thursday.