Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer who wrote prominently in English and popularized Anglo-Indian fiction through his novels and short stories. He was a socialist who engaged himself in the Indian Independence Movement. However, most of his novels and short stories attack various aspects of India's social structure, social biases, caste system, as well as the legacy of British rule in India. He is especially known to shed light on the lives of lower caste people who are treated with great bias and unfairness. Almost all of his novels and short stories like Untouchable, Coolie, The Big Heart, Two leaves and a Bud, etc. touch on the problems of the political structure, oppression of classes, untouchability, and so on. Anand was born on 12 December 1905 in Peshawar of British India, now a part of Pakistan. He died on 28 September 2004 at the age of 98 in Pune of Independent India. He completed his graduation from Khalsa College, Amritsar in 1924, and then he earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cambridge University, England. His dissertation was on Bertrand Russell and English Empiricists. Bertrand Russell was known for his anti-imperialist ideas as he chaired the Indian League during the 1930s. During his days in England, he came in contact with T.S. Eliot and worked for his magazine Criterion. He formed a friendship with E.M. Forster, who was also working for Criterion. His first novel was Untouchable, which was published in the year 1935, and its introduction was written by E.M. Forster. During World War II, Anand worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC in London, and during that period, he came close to George Orwell, who wrote an appreciative review of his 1942 novel The Sword and the Sickle. Some other important novels by Mulk Raj Anand include Coolie (1936), The Village (1939), Across The Black Waters (1939), and The Private Life of An Indian Prince (1953). He was offered the International Peace Prize of 1951, and in 1971, his English novel Morning Face won the Sahitya Academy Award in India. In 1967, he was offered Padma-Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India. Characters of Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand Bakha is a young Indian boy belonging to the low sweeper caste who is the son of the head of his town’s sweeper caste. Bakha is an intelligent boy with an inquisitive mind. His father Lakha, is a strict person who wants his son to understand his place in society and perform his tasks appropriately, while he is lazy and tries to avoid his duties. Bakha doesn’t appreciate his work as a sweeper. The story is about the experiences of Bakha during a single day. Bakha’s mother died after giving birth to Rakha, his younger brother. Bakha believes that his father turned sour and abusive right after her death. Sohini is Bakha’s elder sister. Charat Singh is a military sentry of the town who doesn’t care about caste biases, though he belongs to a high caste. Chota and Ramcharan are his two friends. Chota and Ramcharan belong to the washerman caste, which is considered higher. Gulabo is the mother of Ramcharan, who doesn’t like the friendship of his son with Bakha, as he belongs to a lower caste. She is jealous of Sohini, too, as Sohini is very beautiful. Bakha likes Ramcharan’s sister, but her marriage has been fixed, and he is not happy about it, but he knows he could never marry her because she belongs to a higher caste. Waziro is another woman who belongs to the weavers’ caste. Unlike Gulabo, she isn’t mean to people of lower castes. Pundit Kalinath is the priest and is in charge of the town’s temple. He is a corrupt person who tries to exploit Sohini for her sexual appeal. Burra babu is an influential high-caste man of the town whose sons are of the same age as Bakha. They invite him to a match of hockey match. The Doctor of the town, a high-caste man who is also very benevolent and duty-bound, saved Bakha’s life when he was terminally ill during his childhood. Colonel Hutchinson is an English Evangelist who tries to convert Bakha to Christianity, but his wife shouts at Bakha for being an Indian and of low caste, and Bakha realizes that changing religion won’t change his situation and runs away from the church. The novel also includes a fictional speech by Mahatma Gandhi in the town that Bakha listens to curiously. R.N. Basheer is a lawyer who criticizes Gandhi’s speech and calls him a hypocrite. However, Iqbal Sarshar, a poet, opposes him as Bakha listens to their debate and takes some helpful lessons from it. So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of Indian English Literature as we strive to offer a complete course for the preparation of UGC NET English literature, NTA NET English literature, PGTRB English,, SET English literature, TGT PGT English, GATE English Literature, and other exams, please stay connected with the Discourse, Thanks, and Regards!