Rewilding the Human: Ecological Consciousness and the Ethics of Survival in Contemporary Fiction

Abstract

By analyzing how it is portrayed in the writings of Margaret Atwood and Amitav Ghosh, this study investigates the developing idea of "Rewilding the human" as a critical paradigm in eco-critical discourse. Rewilding is situated in the nexus of post-humanist ethics and environmental philosophy, emphasizing the restoration of multispecies interdependence, a return to ecological balance, and a decentering of anthropocentric cognition. Examining how modern literature addresses the climatic issue, ecological degradation, and the pressing need to reevaluate human identity and responsibilities within the planetary biosphere is made easier by Atwood's MaddAddam (2013) trilogy and Ghosh's Gun Island (2019), Nutmeg Curse (2021), and the Hungry Tide (2004). This study probes that both writers emphasize ecological consciousness as a lived ethic of survival that is influenced by fortitude, spiritual rejuvenation, and opposition to colonial and capitalist forms of exploitation rather than as an ideal. In order to restore lost forms of kinship with nature, the study uses close textual analysis to show how their stories foster an imaginative reorientation toward the non-human world. The article argues that Atwood and Ghosh not only identify the anthropocenic catastrophe but also imagine ecologically conscious futures based on humility, empathy, and care by placing literary storytelling inside the framework of environmental justice and planetary ethics.