This article explores through the water symbols used plentifully in Sarah Joseph’s Gift in Green. The novel has at its background the story of water-covenant between the inhabitants of Aathi, a village of pristine beauty and the Water. It is testified in the story that, under the earth was buried the clear water body that had sustained Aathi, and its people, for centuries. The signatories of this magna carta includes the fish, the frogs, the crabs, the oysters, the birds, the butterflies, the reptiles, the grass, the bushes and the mangrove forest. The people of Aathi found the divine presence in the numerous waterbeds with which the village is adorned. Faced with degradation and pollution of this miracle of life, they experience the absence of God and the fury of nature. This divine fury is highlighted in order to conscientize the …show more content…
In a flash, Hagar ran back screaming, scooped up her son, flew to the spring, and immersed him in the water. Trembling, she poured a palm-full into his mouth and immersed him in the pool again and again. The flow of water continued undiminished, the source spouting more and more fresh water. Hagar soaked herself in the stream until in her breast she knew the miracle of water turning into milk (Joseph13-14).
Hagar takes to heart this contract with God, because it is sealed with her own struggles in the wilderness of her life, both literally and metaphorically with her new born son. She declares: “I shall be the caretaker of this water, guard it and mother it for the sake of my child and for the sake of the children yet to be born” (Joseph 14). In an era of capitalism and environmental degradation in the name of development, can the modern Hagars stand upright guarding the covenantal gift of water, for generations to come is a query of concern and