The quote "Silence is golden" is extremely subjective in its interpretation and highly dependent on the context of the situation to which it is applied . Is it always right to remain silent, without expressing your innermost thoughts and feelings? Or is it always the best option to express yourself, letting words fill in the gaps that silence cannot? What if we had no choice but to remain silent? In the novel "The Hungry Tide", Amitav Ghosh represents the social class of displaced and uneducated fishermen and other primary sector workers through the character of Fokir, a young man with virtually no real "voice" throughout the novel. This is where we need to consider the spectrum that contains the different shades of gray between having a voice and no voice at all. Being “silenced” does not necessarily mean being deprived of your voice, a concept clearly elucidated by Fokir and his essential role in the progression of the plot.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay We first hear Fokir's voice after he saves Pia from drowning in a river near Canning. The strength and morality of his character are immediately established when we see him risk his own life to rescue her from the tumultuous depths. The first part of the novel, entitled "The Ebb: Bhata", gives us only nine instances where we hear Fokir's voice. Most of his dialogue is only one word, but in almost all cases, a single word is enough for Pia and the readers to understand his intention and the message he is trying to convey. The first word we hear Fokir say is "Lusibari"[1], assuring Pia that Lusibari is indeed the island he is taking her to. “Lusibari” is also the last word readers hear him say in the first part. The importance is not lost on us because “Lusibari” is the place where all the main characters of the novel meet and directs the plot of the novel towards the second part. Readers soon realize that Amitav Ghosh's economy of words when it comes to giving Fokir dialogue serves to make the numbered things he says all the more important. Just by saying the word “Lusibari,” he was able to leave readers with a feeling of anticipation for what was to come. Another extremely important word cited by Fokir is "gamchha"[2], a Bengali word for a piece of coarse cotton cloth that is traditionally used as a towel. The word is on the tip of Pia's tongue but she can't remember it, and it holds an immense amount of culture and heritage as it evokes memories of her father. By giving voice to Pia's thoughts, readers begin to see how Ghosh uses language to describe Fokir's understanding of Pia despite the language barrier between them. It would seem strange then that Ghosh gave almost no voice to Fokir but provided Horen, another fisherman, one so strong. We see Horen's character both in Nirmal's journals and in person in the second part of the novel. Indeed, although Fokir and Horen share the same profession, they do not belong to the same social group. Horen is a generation older than Fokir; he was a young man when he met Kusum, Fokir's mother. He has been a worker all his life, but Fokir is nevertheless a young man from another era. As the world progresses, he remains a humble fisherman, which greatly upsets his wife, Moyna. Another way Ghosh silences a character is by using another character's words against them. Moyna describes Fokir as.’[9].