Disaster’s Face: What Human Bodies Reveal about Catastrophe

The global mass media in general depicts disasters as a spectacle for an audience of consumers. As a result, the individuals depicted effectively become generic victims, not fully developed human beings with distinct needs and interests (Drake, Tierney). In Sinha’s novel, however, the chemical plant explosion, though drastically noxious to Khaufpuri citizens, is not restricted to harming only Khaufpuris. In fact, Animal’s narrative conveys visual punctual violence on a Western audience, as well as the Khaufpuris. He reminds his Western audience that there are exposed human bodies in specific geographic locations. This essay investigates the corporeal experience Animal’s audience has with disaster because of his narrative style. I argue that Animal’s People rhetorically constructs a Western audience, and in doing so, reorients the Western audience’s relationship with disaster and disaster victims. Put another way, this essay argues that Sinha’s novel discloses both non-Western and Western human beings amidst catastrophe by deconstructing the fantasy that Westerners are far removed and invincible from disaster. Bangladesh...formerly India...generations wiped out as regularly as clockwork...and they are cooly aware that when you talk about apocalypse...they are leading the way in that particular field. The facts of disaster are the facts of their lives. (Smith 176) Introduction o Westerners feel as if they are “leading the way” in accruing casualties because of disasters (176)? Westerners can believe that they are relatively invulnerable from disasters. The Westerners experience with disaster is not the same relationship that Indians faced because of unnatural reasons. On the night of December 2, 1984, forty thousand tons of methyl cyanide spewed from a chemical tank over the Indian city of Bhopal, flooding the city with chemicals denser than air, and now, thirtyone years later, over 600,000 Bhopali citizens suffer from both physical and mental illnesses (Mukherjee 37). Indra Sinha’s novel Animal’s People depicts a fictional town called Khaufpur that is closely based on the actual events that took place in Bhopal, India. A nineteen year old boy named Animal narrates the entire story. In the novel Animal’s People, these toxic chemicals corrode Animal’s back, and because of this, he must walk on his hands and feet. This essay investigates the corporal experience Animal’s audience has with disaster because of his narrative style. I argue that Animal’s People rhetorically constructs a Western audience, and in doing so, reorients the Western audience’s relationship with disaster and disaster victims. Put another way, this essay argues that Sinha’s novel discloses both non-Western and Western human beings amidst catastrophe by deconstructing the fantasy that Westerners are far removed and invincible from disaster. The chemical disaster that Animal’s People displays showcases the ways in which the Khaufpuri citizens are vulnerable politically, economically, and environmentally. In contrast, the global mass media depicts disasters as a spectacle for an audience of consumers. Phillip Drake and Kathleen Tierney argue, first, that mass media frames D