Highlighting elephant’s perspective through umwelt exploration: textual analysis of the novella River Storm

Abstract

ABSTRACT The elephants are the most important animal characters in Nirmal Ghosh’s novella River Storm, and they both metaphorically and literally permeate the entire story. This article explores how viewing these animals through the lens of sensory ecology enables more accurate identification of the ways in which the elephants’ olfactory, tactile, and auditory senses help in communicating with their environment and a better comprehension of the nonhuman perspective. It also tries to illustrate why understanding an elephant’s sensory capabilities is necessary to acknowledge the non-human perspective in a society where humans predominate. Drawing on the premises of Jakob Von Uexkull’s umwelt theory, this study acknowledges the elephants’ agency by contradicting humans’ generic conception of animals as objects or symbols or allegorical subjects in the epistemology of literary discourse about animals. To emphasize the elephant’s distinctive perception of the environment, the narrative specifically moves beyond the boundaries of human perception. Furthermore, it clarifies how an elephant interacts with their surroundings using their sensory faculties, how misinterpretations of their umwelt can result in a number of conflicts between humans and elephants, as well as how a clear understanding of the elephant world can result in a cordial relationship between humans and elephants.