ENGLISH

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF
MULK RAJ ANANDS COOLIE
SUBMITTED TO DR. PRATYUSH KAUSHIK
(FACULTY OF ENGLISH)

SUBMITTED BYDEEKSHA TRIPATI

ROLL N0:-1126
2ND SEMESTER

1 | Page

ACKNOWLEDMENT
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to my English teacher, Dr. Pratyush Kaushik for his guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project &
also for her support in completing the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & my friends for their kind cooperation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project.
I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to seniors for giving me such
attention and time.
My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleagues in developing the project and people
who have willingly helped me out with their abilities.
Thanking them all !
Deeksha Tripathi.

2 | Page

Index
1. Introduction.......................................................................................04
2. Anand as a realistic novelistic..........................................................06
3. Exploitation of the under-privileged...............................................08
4. Caste and class conflict: specific reference to the problem of
migrant labourers.............................................................................10
5. Art of Munoos character................................................................13
6. Comparative analysis of protagonists of Anand two books:
Coolie and Untouchable...................................................................16
7. Style of writing..................................................................................19
8. Conclusion.........................................................................................22

Introduction
3 | Page

Mulk Raj Anands second novel Coolie is written within three months and got it published
without much difficulty in 1936, within a year after the publication of Untouchable. It was
widely praised by the readers and the critics alike. The popularity of the novel can be judged
by the fact that the novel has been translated into more than thirty eight languages. Some call
it an epic of misery, others call it an odyssey of a coolie. Anand himself calls it a Whitman
poem Passage to India. Anand calls this novel a Whitmans poem, A Passage to India not
for its poetic quality but for its picaresque nature. It moves from hills to the plain, village to
city from the north to the west and again to the north. Anand wants to show in all its varied
nuances, that exploitation is same everywhere. It is not the religion, race or caste but only
cash and class that matter.
All exploit the poor. Munoo, an orphan, nave hill boy of hardly fourteen is compelled to
move from place to place against his will in order to earn his living. His father dies of the
feudal exploitation and mother of poverty and hunger. An orphan faces domestic exploitation
at the hands of his uncle and aunt. They find their nephew, fourteen year old boy, old enough
not only to earn his own living but also to support his uncle who works as a chaparasi in one
of the banks in the town. They send him to work as a servant in a middle class family in a
small town. Here he is exploited by the wife of his master. She treats him like an animal and
other members of family treat him like a monkey; an instrument of amusement. In one of
such entertaining act in the role of a monkey he bites the daughter of his master. Nathoo Ram,
the master considers it as a sexual assault on his daughter and beats him mercilessly. Munoo
can no longer bear the cruelty and slips out of the house. Prabha Dayal, an owner of the
pickle factory in a neighbouring town feels a strange affinity for this orphan boy and takes
him home as an errand boy. Fortunately, the kind hearted wife of Prabha gives him love of his
mother. But Ganpat, the partner of his master treats all the workers mercilessly. Ganpat,
betrays his partner by spending the clients money extravagantly on drinking and whoring.
Prabha gets ruined. The partners treachery not only ruins him but also breaks him
completely. He sells out his factory and repays the loan. Munoo works as a coolie not only to
earn his living but also to help his master. But Prabha returns to his native place leaving
Munoo alone. While wandering to get a job, Munoo meets an elephant driver who takes him
to Bombay. Here with the help of Hari, a mill worker, he gets a job and shelter. A child of
fourteen is compelled to work for eleven hours a day on meagre wages. Here the head
foreman, Jimmie Thomas whom labourers call Chimta Sahib makes his life miserable. He
treats the factory workers as animals. Ratan, a co-worker protects Munoo from his
exploitation but pays the penalty by losing his job. The workers go on strike to protest. But
instead of reinstalling Ratan, the management gives them a notice of reducing their working
hours. To divert the attention of the agitators they spread the rumour that the Hindu child has
been kidnapped by a Muslim. The workers enraged with the communal frenzy, spread riot all
over the city. Munoo gets hurt in it and cannot return home. In the morning he meets with an
accident. A car knocks him down. The owner of the car, Mrs.Mainwaring takes him to Simla.
Munoo recovers soon and starts working as a domestic servant and a Riksha-puller for Mr.
Mainwaring. The strenuous work deteriorates his health. The disease turns out to be
tuberculosis. Despite all the possible treatments, one day, he dies on the lap of his friend. As
the central theme of the novel is exploitation, Anand portrays two classes of characters: the
4 | Page

exploiter and the exploited. Munoo is the only major character and a number of minor
characters are placed around him in every phase of his life.
The characters of British origin in Anands novels can be divided into two categories. In one
category there are owners of the capitalist machinery like cotton mills, tea estates and banks.
In the other category there is the entire British bureaucracy. In Coolie most of the British
characters belong to the first category. They are shown as racist. They wilfully ostracize the
natives. They are paragons of the capitalist exploitation. All the whites support each other in
their brutal exploitation of the natives. They do not assimilate with the natives, because they
think that they survive only through the brutal and outright exploitation of the ignorant
natives. The characters like Thomas, Mr. Little and Mr. White eke out their existence on the
exploitation of the natives only. They are the symbols of callousness of capitalists. They are
not only unmindful to the problems of the natives but also reticent about them. They look at
the Indians as disease-ridden dirty people.
Anand is concerned with the capitalist nature of the white characters who belong to the class
of oppressors. Edward Burra, a well known critic says, The English occur only as minor
characters and are described mostly with an inclination to caricature in fact precisely as they
must appear to Indian eyes. It would have been false to Anands purpose to describe them
otherwise. Anand shows their role in contaminating the Indian society by supporting the evils
of the class system. Anand has been criticized for presenting English characters as
caricatures.
Anand has based Munoos character on his childhood playmates who were working in a
pickle factory and who accepted their lot with fatalism peculiar to the Indian downtrodden.
Munoo represents all the children subjected to tyrannies of social class system for no fault of
their own. He is a symbol of child labour victimized by the exploitative capitalist system. He
also symbolizes all those coolies who are victims of industrialization, beaten from pillar to
post, as S.A. Khan rightly says, He is one among the millions of coolies tested and
formulated by myrid forces of class distinction exploitation and dehumanization. the story
of Munoo is quintessentially the story of every exploited individual in India and the pattern of
his life is intended to show the pitilessness that lies imbedded in the lives of millions of
people who are condemned to lead a life of an unending saga of social depredation. (Khan
30) On account of his being a realistic social novelist, Anand does not make his protagonist a
rising force or rebel against the capitalist exploitation but makes him a victim of it. Being a
child, he is not even aware of the nature of exploitation; so there is no question of freeing
himself from or rebelling against the exploitation.

Anand as a realistic novelist

Mulk Raj Anand stands in the front line of Indian Writing in English. His depiction of
character is life like and he is the perfectionist ii the representation of his characters. He is
5 | Page

undoubtedly the greatest artist of Indian Writing in English. His great works represent to us
the lives of India's poor in a realistic and sympathetic manner.
We can find a great clash between the established caste system in the various novel of Anand,
which is always the main theme in his works. His main themes are deeply rooted in the social
conditions of his time. Indian caste-based society is the major concern, and his characters,
represent the most pattern of Indian society. He represents a society charged with the evils of
untouchability, caste discrimination, and social injustice.
Anand is a great writer having a sympathetical angle for the untouchables, the outcastes in the
society. He is the greatest realist, whose realism distinguishes him any wrong bias, and has
the ability to take a balanced view of man and society. Anand voices the most fundamental
sentiments of a man whose life is a strange amalgam of helplessness, anger, protest, despair
and anxiety. The typical Indian lives and life on many layers each of which is inextricably
linked up with others. The caste system is one such layer and it is a very vital thing for him.
He cannot help it, so ingrained it is in him, and yet he is a victim of it. 1
Mulk Raj Anand's realism lies in the depiction of a society in which the caste factor operates
so easily and naturally, conditions everything so effortlessly, that often it ceases to be an issue
even; it simply remains as backwater. Anand wrote his novels in the phase of his career when
caste system was on the peak in India and he was aware enough to raise his in protest. Anand
himself accepts:
"From that time onwards my protest about the human predicament, under the empire and
in the atmosphere of our own decay, often resulting from blind acceptance of bad habits
and the taboos of the sage Manu and the Hadith tradition of Islam, became self
conscious.In a way I sensed the pain of lofe, which the more privileged took out of the
weaker member of the flock"( Anand)
In the realist depiction of the Indian society, he has presented to us a class of those people
whose social status is dominated by their economic status. A strong believer in the dignity
and the equality, Anand is naturally shocked at the inhuman way the untouchables and coolies
are treated by those belong to the superior caste. Whereas Anand tells about a single
community in his novel untouchables, but it also implies in the rest of the world, where we
have caste-based society. Where we have discrimination on the name of class, race. His
representation of social structure reflects his idea to revolt against for exploitators to change
their inhuman behaviour with the rest of the world, and also to uplift their behaviour in the
society.
Mulk Raj Anand is the greatest writer of downtrodden because of his realistic portrayal of
Indian society, which includes the social values and social harmony. Anand believes that man
is the creator of his own destiny. He has immense faith in man and his power. Being a great
1 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/4059/8/08_chapter%202.pdf
6 | Page

artist, Anand does speak about black and white, but he gives the artistic form to the tragic
experience of a man. Anand's revolt and warning lies within the presentation of his art.
Despite of that Anand's novels considered as the blend to change the social system so that the
untouchables can enjoy the equal freedom in the society. Anand dreamt for our strong, united,
prosperous and peaceful nation. Through his great works he has presented to us the painful
realistic picture of our so called Indian society in a great manner, now he has left on us to
think how we can change the prevailing system, and how can we make our nation more
progressive.2

Exploitation of under-privileged
2 http://creative.sulekha.com/coolie-by-mulk-raj-anand_468908_blog
7 | Page

Anand's Coolie is epical in sweep and panorama in purview, pictures of the effects that the
pervasive evil of class-system has a poor hill-boy, Munoo. Munoo and his fellow Coolie are
exploited by the force of industrialization, capitalism, communalism and colonialism. Munoo
is not only the victim of such exploitation, the novelist makes it quite clear, that such
exploitation and denial of life and happiness is the lot of the poor everywhere in India,
whether in village like Billaspur or small town like Sham Nagar, or big cities like Daulatpur
and Bombay.
Coolie can very well be taken as a socio logical, economic, political and cultural chronicle
of Pre-Independence India. The novel exposes the monster of capitalism, cross-section of
Indian society from the lowest stratum to the rich businessmen and the haughty English
Colonialists.
The central theme in Anand's coolie is the exploitation of the poor and the underprivileged by the forces of capitalism, industrialism andcolonialism. The term exploitation is
not a new coined problem in the modern era but was founded by Karl Marx in Russia and
later was comprehended by the whole universe.3
Munoo symbolises sufferings misery of the poor and exploited masses of India.
Exploitation has a strong relationship with the society as in the society there are many people
who are being exploited or manipulated for the benefits of others. In the simplest of words,
the term exploitation refers to using another person's labour or work without offering
adequate rewards including all kinds of abuses as physical, verbal, emotional, sexual,
psychological and mental. Exploitation of under-privileged in Mulk Raj Anand's Coolie
The novel deals with life of Munoo, a poor, helpless orphan, who is denied his fundamental
right to life and happiness, who is exploited and made to suffer, till he dies of consumption.
The novel is an indignant comment on the tragic denial to a simple peasant of the
fundamental right to happiness. Munoo and his fellow Coolies are exploited by the forces
of industrialization, capitalism, communalism and colonialism. With its constantly shifting
scenes, its variety of characters from all classes of society and its wealth of eventful
incident, 'Coolie' has an almost epic quality. 4
The young boy of fourteen- and orphan-Munoo is ill-treated by his aunt Gujri and his uncle
Daya Ram. Munoo has learnt even at this young impressionable age how the landlord had
seized his father's five acres of land because the interest on the mortgage, covering the unpaid
rent had not been forthcoming. The master's wife, Bibi UttamKaur underfeeds, nags and
humilities the poor servant, who is a mere boy of a very sensitive age. He was condemned by
an iniquitous system always to remain small, object and drab. There must be only two kinds
of people in the world, the rich and the poor, he thinks. This lesson is further enforced by the
3 http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-the-theme-novel-coolie-by-mulkraj-anand-87043
4 http://researchdirection.org/uploadarticle/206.pdf
8 | Page

happenings at Daulatpur where Munoo is forced to work as a Coolie because his employer
and benefactor Seth has been cheated and rendered bankrupt through the fraudulent conduct
of his partner, Ganpat.
Exploitation of the gullible Munoo continues unabated at Bombay- the industrial and
commercial capital of India. Munoo somehow manages a job at Sir George White'sCotton
mill there. The wages are so poor the workers are unable to meet their requirement and they
live in a very bad condition. Coolie goes beyond mere financial industrial and colonial
exploitation to talk about sexual exploitation also. In the last section of the novel Anand deals
with Munoo's sexual exploitation in Shimla by Mrs.Mainwaring. His continued exploitation
leads ultimately to his death of consumption at a very young age.5
Coolie is an authentic portrayal of the ugly reality of colonialism also. Indians have been
shown being ill-treated and exploited by the symbols of colonial authority. In Indo-Anglian
fiction,Coolie is perhaps the first novel to touch on the communal relationship between
Hindus and Muslims. It foreshadows the murderous riots that followed the partitioning of
India in 1947.

5 www.rjelal.com/Vol1.Issue%204/Anitha%20206%20-211.pdf
9 | Page

Caste and Class conflict- specific reference to the

problem of migrant labourers
Anand is a novelist of urgent social concerns and preoccupations, and the social impulse is at
the heart of his writings. He is considered the Messiah of the downtrodden, the unwanted and
the unloved. Even in a random reading of Anands novels, the reader becomes immediately
aware of such issues as the tyranny of the caste system, its injustice, and its social, moral and
economic consequences, class conflicts, exploitation of various kinds of the poor by the rich,
quest for identity, search for freedom, etc.
Under colonial rule, a number of social and economic changes took place and as a result a
feudal society was gradually transformed into a capitalistic one. The class system in India has
turned out to be a new kind of caste system. It is built on the cash nexus on which it thrives. It
has created a society much more complicated and devious, and in some respects more rigid
than the one created by caste. Therefore it has become a very powerful divisive force, far
more damaging to social cohesion than caste, as it has tended to segregate people into the rich
and the poor, the haves and the have-nots.6
Coolie is one classic example of the story of the underprivileged class of the society and of
the oppressed people who cannot even make both ends meet.
The novel takes us to different places and cities showing the inhuman and degrading
treatment that the poor Munoo gets at the hands of the socially, economically, and politically
affluent and higher classes of Indian society and how he copes with all circumstances alone.
Anand was able to strike a cord in the hearts of the conscientious Indians with the beautiful
and real to life portrayal of the down trodden masses of Indian society, the so called have
nots. Mulk Raj Anand was much appreciated and recognized for this novel and was one of
those people who were highly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. And this influence is clearly
seen in all his works including Coolie. True to his Marxist spirit, he always portrayed the real
India, and more specifically the poor India. Though the novel is historically located in 1930s,
it continues to enjoy the same contemporaneity in the present century India.7
Munoo is the protagonist of this novel Coolie. Generally the protagonists of the novels of
Mulk Raj Anand are from dirt and dust; they are too meek to report against the evil forces
which tend to suppress them and their like. These hero-antiheroes, no doubt, are endowed
with certain admirable qualities of the head and the heart; but the cruel, irrational social
forces hamper the proper development of these qualities. The diligence, intelligence and
sensitiveness of these characters are awfully suppressed that they can never gain confidence
to wage a fight for their cause. They, however, do sensitively feel the torture of the unjust
practices, but the reaction is limited merely to their acknowledgement of the social status
6 www.rfidtags.com/mulk-raj-anand-coolie-ebook.htm
7 http://www.theijes.com/papers/v2-i4/part.%20(2)/F0242031033.pdf
10 | P a g e

which they are doomed to accept without a hope for emancipation. The knowledge of their
helplessness against the establishment, social set-up, traditions, taboos and customs makes
them writhe with acute mental agony. They can do nothing but accept their faith. The
summary lines of Coolie delineate a bohemian life saga of an adolescent hill boy Munoo. An
idyllic life in the kangra hill with friends and relations seemed to be short lived as Munoos
guardian and uncle Dayaram, at the instigation of his irate wife, drags the orphan to town to
eke out his living. The orphan boy Munoo runs to avoid every place of cruelty in search of
happiness and everywhere he is suppressed. He is aged fifteen and he does various jobs at
Daulatpur, Bombay and Simla. He dies of tuberculosis in the end because of poverty. Munoo
is exploited greatly in one way or another, by one person or another.
Munoo universally symbolizes the suffering of the oppressed and those taken advantage of.
Suppression takes major role in Coolie to show how pathetic the lives of the Indian people
are under the suppressive forces.8
Through his saga of suppression, Anand shows the decline and upturn in the life of Munoo.
Munoos uncle and aunt consider him as a machine for obtaining money. Munoo willingly
receives his role as a slave and agrees to go to town with his uncle. At fourteen, Munoo is
forced to work in the house of Babu Nathoo Ram, a worker in Imperial Bank in Sham Nagar.
Munoos romantic views are destroyed by the wife of Babu Nathoo Ram. This lady is not
goodnatured and always abuses and curses him without any reason. Anands Munoo is denied
happiness. Munoo is humiliated for relieving outside the wall and abuse is showered on him.
Munoo suffers physical and mental torture and this shows suppression in the form of child
labour. Even at the tender age of fourteen, he is not provided with the basic necessities.
Munoo is, in fact, a burning symbol of millions of unfortunate souls like himself lost and
bereft, abused and down-trodden.
If Anand hints at the gradual break-down of the caste system, mainly through the British, in
Untouchable and Road, he shows in Coolie how it is replaced by class system an evil no
less vicious than the former an awful result of social revolution fermented by the twin
forces of industrialism and the cash nexus.9
Central to Coolie is Anands humanistic faith that this class-consciousness born of money or
social status can have crushing effects on those that are at the lower rungs. We can see in
Coolie how the evils of poverty and cruelty crush a bud of youth before it could bloom to any
extent. Daya Ram, Mr. and Mrs. Nathoo Ram, Ganpat, Chimta Sahib, and Mrs. Mainwaring
too, have only contempt for Munoo. They slap him, kick him, and abuse him. Almost at every
turn he comes across only pain and cruelty which make his life a painful saga of suffering. He
is forced to become a sort of a purposeless vagabond with apparently no control on his
destiny. By studying all the above characters, we can say the main character who is Munoo
who suffer because he is poor he is coolie and all other coolies also suffer because capitalists
8 ssmrae.com/admin/images/ed37e553db4572fad03ef408a69ce392.pdf
9 www.keveinbooksnreviews.in/.../book-review-coolie-by-mulk-raj-anand
11 | P a g e

and other rich Indians exploits them physically and economically. Munoo is the
representative character in the novel. His longing to live, we can see in the novel. Right from
the beginning we can say whether in village or at city, all persons who are responsible for the
suffering of the character Munoo are the same. Moneylender seized all property of Munoo's
father and his mother. His father died of shock and Munoo became orphan. He worked in
textile factory. There also capitalists exploited him.10
Anand depicted the real condition of downtrodden workers of the society. Anand also shown
how a lady exploits Munoo sexually and because of extra work of pulling rickshaw and
sexual exploitation, Munoo died. In Coolie Anand has shown extreme suffering of the
characters like Munoo, Hari-Har and Prabh Dayal.
Anand suggests that a little more sympathy and a little more tenderness on the part of the
society could have turned Munoo into a happy individual, and also averted his tragic end.
There are many writers in Indian Writing in English who have dealt with the theme of
untouchability and segregation. But nobody has been able even to come near Mulk Raj
Anand.
With his literary power and perspectives he has tried his best to spring up the healthy human
values and radical social transformation in our human society in which the haves and have
not both can enjoy happily the bliss of human life on the same footings and fraternity peace,
love and justice.11

10 www.shreeprakashan.com/.../2012827184720281.4.Ekta%20Ranjeetsing
11 www.rfidtags.com/mulk-raj-anand-coolie-ebook.htm
12 | P a g e

Art of Munroos character

Mulk Raj Anand's famous novel coolie depicts the character of Munoo, a young hill boy who
is dragged into the plains in the false hope of going to work and seeing the world. Fate takes
him from the clutches of a vindictive housewife to a primitive pickle factory in a feudal city,
and then to Bombay where he farms some peace. With his comradeship and love, his
irrepressible curiosity and zest for life, Munoo emerges as the most attractive character.
Munoo is a lad of fourteen and was the playful boy. He was the whiz kid at climbing trees.
He would hop on to the trunk like a monkey; climb the bigger branches on odd hours.
Munoo is an innocent country boy. He was far from being go-getting, being ambitious in life.
His expectations are extremely modest. His only desire is to live, "I want to know, I want to
work". Munoo finds himself in tune with all the lavish beauty of nature around him.
Munoo is a receptive and sharprural teenager full of higher spirits and enthusiasm for life.
Despite the hardship and the misfortunes which he encounters at every stage in the course of
his brief career in this novel, he never loses his zest for living. His "the essential loneliness
of the soul, that apartness which he had succeeded in shattering by his zest and
enthusiasm for work". He says, "I want to work like this machine; I shall grow us to be a
man, a strong man like the wrestler". Munoo may also be regarded as a symbol of the
affirmation
of
life,
and
of
the
positive
attitude
to
life.12
Munoo's sense of his human dignity should also not be forgotten in assassing his character.
His self respect never deserts him. Inwardly he feels deeply offended or hurt by such illtreatment or injustice. He develops an aversion for Bibiji in Sham Nagar, for Gampat in
Daulatpur and for Jimmie Thomas in Bombay, even though he doesn't openly revolt against
them. He had no position to revolt against anybody. He is a coolie after all. But he has his
pride that compelled him to quit Babu Nathoo Rams house. It is his pride which makes him
angry when the waiter in a road-side restaurant in Bombay, speaks mockingly and scornfully
about him. Here he inwardly tells himself I should have fought hard if he had dared to
turn me out or abused me. I am not an untouchable. I am a Hindu Kshatriya, a Rajput,a
warrior",who would not take an insult lying down. Munoo felt strong and powerful at the
thought of his dignity and that his dignity came back to him when he thought of the waiters
insulting attitude. Munoo is a sensitive and self-respecting boy. After Babu Nathoo ram's
12 http://www.the-criterion.com/V5/n3/Shashi.pdf
13 | P a g e

severe beating, Munoo runs away from his employer's house because he can't reconcile
himself to the humiliation of the beating. He is unable to endure Bibiji's callousness any
longer.
We see that Munoo is servile to the people of higher rank. He is unduly humble and even
servile towards a shahib or an Englishman. He feels most happy at the time of his proximity
to mr. W. P. England when that man visits Babu Nathoo Ram's house in response to an
invitation. He says to himself "I am a kshatriya and I am poor. The babus are like the
shahib
logs".
Munoo is certainly more intelligent than the average village boy of the age fourteen or
fifteen. He can understand other people's emotions, desire and feelings. This quality is clear
from the following remarkable lines : " Munoo, who was always quick to sense peoples
emotions, has emerged with a capacity for more real intuitions since his illness." Munoo
was intelligent enough to realize the fact that "all servants look alike. There must be only
two kinds of people in the world, the rich and the poor"
He was talent enough to understand the fact that poor are always beyond to suffering as he
says to himself: "we belong to suffering!" Love Craving Munoo: In the house of Nathoo
Ram we see Munoo as a love craving lad. He was scold and dishonoured in that house but
chota babu gave him love and for why Munoo became grateful. He had the power to arouse
love
and
loyalty
in
others
and
he
could
become
There was certainly another admirable quality in Munoo, the capacity to win the goodwill
and confidence of people. One reason for his success in this direction is his own sincerity or
loyality towards those who show him any kindness and who help him in any way. His
essential loneliness was shattering in "entering the lives of others, by the natural love he felt
for others." He tries to establish some post of understanding with Sheila and chota babu, in
Daulatpur, he forms a friendship with Tulsi, Prabha and Prabha's wife. 13
Munoo had the refer of the spirit of sacrifice and service to others. As we see Munoo digits
against a couple of other domestic servants in Sham Nagar for the honour of Bibiji; and he
rates the life of a boy from being killed by the heavy traffic on a road in Bombay, doing so at
the risk of his own life.
Munoo was sympathetic towards other people. When Prabha was very badly treated by the
police man, his wife law huddled in the house in a desolate condition. Munoo tries his utmost
to console her. Then after the doctor had examined Prabha, Munoo went to a cherist in the
main Bazar to get the medicines and ointments which had been prescribed. He also earned
money to help Prabha in his predicament.
Munoo was a hardworker. When he was only fourteen, he abandoned village in search of job.
First he sets a job as a domestic servant in a middle class family. Then he has done service in
13 http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/comment-mulk-raj-anandscharacterization-munoo-256238
14 | P a g e

a pickle factory, service as a cookie. And porter, and even disciplehood for an hour under a
yogi, and rickshaw puller.
Munoo always thought about the labours. Then he sees the labours in Bombay can't help
asking himself why they were so sad, why " they will revoke against tyranny and injustice
had become almost extinct in them", why they went through life in a dark daze : Munoo
addresses coolies as: "shivering, weak, bleary with twisted, ugly faces, bleak, filthy, gutless,
spincless. They stale along with unconscious, vacant looks; idiot looking at the smoky
heavens, as they signed or murmered, 'Ram, Ram' and the other names of God in
greetings to each other"
Munoo was a melancholic boy and he also thought about the miserable conditions of his life.
He says, "My father died when I was born and then my mother". In Ram's hourse his heart
sinks "And in his heart there was a lonely song a melancholy wail" we see in this novel that
though he is hardly , he is "mentally and physically broken", "like an oldman" as "he
thought of the condition under which he had lived, of the intensity of the struggle and the
futility of the water of revoke falling upon the hard rock of privilege and possession"
Munoo was a romantic boy.
When Munoo is suffering from sore eyes and from fever and when Parvati looks after him
tenderly it became am unforgettable memory for Munoo. It is a memory which proceeds from
the innocent boy of a young boy's love. Anand portrays the life story of Munoo, a tragic and
on hoi one. All the events of this story develops around him. "He is a universal kind of
figure." He is a hill boy with taste for the of life which is denied to him again, again. His full
bodied health, his eagerness for life, his fundamentally innocent nature, his penchant to react
to benevolence, all make him a central character as well as hero of this story.14

14 http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v2(10)/Version-2/H021002045046.pdf
15 | P a g e

Comparative analysis of the Protagonists of Anands

two books: Coolie and Untouchable
All characters of Mulk Raj Anand's novels are remarkable for intimate touches of fidelity to
life and intense realism. He has written about the suffering and tragedy of the downtrodden
and the poor whom he has actually seen and known in his childhood and youth. Mulk Raj
Anand remarks: The passion which have occupied theme were, perhaps, my own dominant
moods, and therefore, all those characters may be said to be part of the same autobiography
of the torments, ecstasies and "passionate consciousness" of the last three generations.
Mulk Raj Anand in his novels represents a departure from the tradition of Indian fiction in
which the bottom dogs had not been allowed to enter the pages of the novel and act as
protagonists. He allowed the poor and the underdogs to enter the pages of his novels. His
characters are from the lower strata of society, like the sweeper, the peasant, the plantation
labourer, the city drudge, the sepoy and the coolie, and treats them with sympathy and respect
as human beings. Mulk Raj Anand's characters are both types and individuals.15
In portraying major characters like Bakha, Munoo, Gangu, Lalu, Nur, Ananta, Gauri and
Krishan, Mulk Raj Anand skillfully employs the technique of the inner working novelist, and
aims at exploring the intense sufferings of their souls. Besides the exposition of soul and
psyche of his characters, he portrays vividly and realistically the contours of human body.
Mulk Raj Anand portrays all characters, covering a wide and comprehensive range of the
Indian social political scene, over a period of more than thirty years, from Maharaja to
untouchable with equal vehemence and equal force. He attempted to introduce the
downtrodden in the realm of novel and this is a memorable contribution to Indian English
novel. Mulk Raj Anand's realism is revealed in his efforts to establish his point of view in a
very determined and powerful manner.
Mulk Raj Anand firmly believed that there could be no literature without any social purpose.
His interpretation of India is based on realism as his protagonists are based on the real
characters with whom he freely mixed for play and friendship, paying no attention to their
caste, class, creed or colour. As Mulk Raj Anand himself acknowledges in the 'Preface': All
15 www.theglobaljournals.com/ijar/file.php?val=April_2015...79.pdf
16 | P a g e

these heroes, as the other men and women who had emerged in my novels and short stories
were dear to me, because they were the reflections of the real people I had known during my
childhood and youth. And I was only repaying the debt of gratitude I owed them for much of
the inspiration they had given me to mature into manhood, when I began to interpret. .. They
were flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood, and obsessed me in the way in which certain
human beings obsess an artist's soul. And I was doing no more than what a writer does when
seeks to interpret the truth from the realities of his life. One of the social concerns that recurs
frequently in his novels is the inequality between the wealthy and the poor. He expresses his
deep sorrow and sympathy for the unfortunate poor and their inability to cope with the
circumstances. He poses these problems of social inequity at large and also attempts to seek
resolutions to the social conflicts. The resolutions that he proposes are the empowerment of
the weak and the development of social consciousness and awareness for social growth. His
novels also aim at wiping away social barriers and orthodoxy, casteism and communalism.
His themes depict the complex social structure of society, which is devoid of humanism.16
Mulk Raj Anand in his novels represents a departure from the tradition of Indian fiction in
which the bottom dogs had not been allowed to enter the pages of the novel act as
protagonists. He allowed the poor and underdogs to enter the pages of his novels. His
characters are from the lower stata of society, like the sweeper, the peasant, the plantation
labourer, the city drudge, the sepoy and the coolie, and treat them with sympathy and respects
as human beings. His interpretation of India is based on realism as his protagonists are based
on the real characters with whom he freely mixed for play and friendship, paying no attention
to their caste, class, creed or colour. He poses problems of social inequality at large and also
attempts to seek resolutions to the social conflicts. The resolutions that he proposes are the
empowerment of the weak and the development of social consciousness and awareness for
social growth.17
Through Untouchable Anand presents his long preserved feeling of protest against Indian
caste system. His method of protest was quite different from that of others. Instead of writing
a tract against untouchability as suggested to him by Mahatma Gandhi, he wrote a novel.
Thus, he, at once, became more human and could reproduce contrary emotions and shade of
feelings through his characters. Anand shows the pain, and the agony of untouchables and
their suppression by upper caste people. Bakha is potrayed as strong, hard working, dedicated
toward his work and inspired by Britishes, therefore he is dressed up in their costume. The
whole novel involves a single day's event in Bakha's life. He is humiliated by people of upper
caste at almost every step for being an untouchable. Through him also Anand presents, how
the feeling of untouchability is deeprooted in their soul that he is prevented by an imaginary
wall from taking revenge for the insult of his sister Sohini. The character Pandit Kali Nath
shows that how the people of upper caste, use religion for their own sectarian benefit and
suppressing the people of lower caste. Lakha's character is presented as of a person who
16 www.languageinindia.com/april2012/jaisrecooliefinal.pdf
17 http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/mulk.pdf
17 | P a g e

considers untouchability as the part of his life and thinks that all the people of upper caste are
not bad; some of them are kind-hearted also. Bakha gets some relief and support from Charat
Singh who not only appreciates his work but also treats him humanly and inspires him too.
Mulk Raj Anand sees that the novel develops along the character in action with his strict
fidelity to the facts of life and a variety of the social mores. This makes the novel at once a
significant social document as well as well as a symbolic projection of the whole saga of
human suffering. Bakha is put to a complex realities of social forces, and the incidents in
which he finds himself unwittingly implicated, are keyed up to bring out the pain in the life of
the protagonist. Anand maintains a steady distance and uses every significant event in the
service of art to cast more light on the character and the incident.18
Anand in his second novel Coolie sensitively portrays the Indian life, with all its time-tested
social customs and traditional taboos. Though the novel is meant to give a cross-section of
the people, the poor and the rich, the bewildered and bedevilled it, in fact represents more
than the Indian social life. Anand projects once again, the plight of the miserable pitted
against the backdrop of social malaise. He looks forward to the development of the novel
aided by the fictional contingencies of realistic and naturalistic determination. Munoo is the
central character in Coolie. He is one among the millions of coolies, tested and formulated by
a myriad force of class distinctions, exploitation and dehumanization. 19 In Coolie it is the
class distinction, which differentiates the individual's attempt at self survival. The four phases
in the life of Munoo, his experiences in the house of Nathoo Ram, his life at Daulatpur as a
worker in a pickle factory, his escapades in Bombay, where he becomes initiated into the
profession of labourer in a ginning factory and them on as a worker in Sir John Cotton Mills,
and finally, his stay at Simla with Mrs. Mainwaring where he succumbs to tuberculosis, all
form the main patterns of the narrative. The story of Munoo is quintessentially the story of
every exploited individual in India and the patterns of his life are intended to show the
pitilessness that lies embedded in the lives of millions of people who are condemned to lead a
life of an unending saga of social depredation. The secondary characters of the novel Coolie
are Daya Ram, Ganpat, Jimmie Thomas.They all represent the exploitors class. Ganpat a
goat-faced partner of Prabha Dayal, is devil -like character when he deals with his labourers.
Jimmie Thomas exploits the miserable and skeleton like coolies in terms of loan interest, rent,
damaged cloths and price for giving job and so on. To him the coolies are only swine. Mrs.
Mainswaring also represents the exploiters class because all the time she ill-treats Munoo.
The character of Prabha Dayal is of a kind-hearted person because when as son as he finds
Munoo, in the train, he becomes compassionate towards him and takes him to his place,
Daultpur.

18 soleillescowork.com/mulk-raj-anand-coolie
19 www.theijes.com/papers/v2-i4/part.%20(2)/F0242031033.pdf
18 | P a g e

Style of writing
The greatness of Anands fictional art lies in his ability to translate human misery and
predicament into a live and pulsating reality. As an extremely sensitive and aware person,
Mulk Raj Anand felt acutely the wide gulf between the 'haves and the have-nots'. The sheer
insensitivity of the mighty and powerful ones of society towards the unfortunate poor baffled
him. Even as a child he resented the orthodox restrictions levelled against the outcastes and
low caste people. As he matured his emotional apprehension of reality shaped his intellectual
response as well. Thus making his presentation not just emotional but also rational. His
novels, therefore, embody the entire world of man and society. They depict the subtle aspects
of human relationships which generate actions and reactions.20
The novels of Mulk Raj Anand within their complex of thematic structure and techniques
invite immense possibilities of explorations and insights. Man and society form a variegated
fabric of life. Within the complicated structure of society lie the joys and sorrows of man.
Mulk Raj Anand with his exposure to various social theories and philosophies has
incessantly attempted to present a just and righteous vision of life. His novels deal with socioeconomic aspects of life.
As a progressive writer sympathising with the Sarva hara (the deprived class of society),
Mulk Raj Anand envisions a world of love and human concern. Ever since human settlements
came into existence, the issue of equal distribution of various resources among human beings
has caused graved concern. The relationship between master and servant, husband and wife,
parents and children, have assumed several shades. The strong exercise their power over the
weak in terms of money and social status.
In a country like India where the caste-system is still very strong, the issues of untouchability,
child labour, exploitation of factory and teagarden workers form a very prominent thematic
pattern in Mulk Raj Anand's novels. 21

20 ssmrae.com/admin/images/ed37e553db4572fad03ef408a69ce392.pdf
21 http://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/the-themes-of-mulk-rajanands-coolie-english-literature-essay.php
19 | P a g e

The greatest contribution of Mulk Raj Anand to Indian English fiction is his vast coverage of
various themes and their explication in an innovative and imaginative manner.
The pre-independence period was marked by several events. The entire country was passing
through a period of multifarious changes at every level of society. Struggle for freedom was
the governing event but it engendered in people a determination to seek social justice in every
sphere of life. Mulk Raj Anand's novels reflect the fast changing social climate of India.22
The thematic design of a novel depends largely on the author's concerns of life. The human
concerns which engaged Mulk Raj Anand intensely were deeply related to discrimination,
orthodoxy, social disparity, untouchability and the highhandedness of the powerful and the
rich. The themes of his novels depicts these concerns in an intensely artistic and realistic
manner. Mulk Raj Anand weaves the plots of his novels to reveal the stark reality of life and
also generates a positive view point. To Mulk Raj Anand, the world in general and India in
particular, was fraught with social injustice. He focused acutely on the wide and deep divide
between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots. His themes dwell upon the subtle
aspects of discriminations which underline his strong preference for humanism. It is this
enlargement of feelings, heart and mind which govern his thematic pattern. Mulk Raj Anand
is, no doubt the pioneer in this field and has dealt with themes of poverty, hunser and
suffering of Indian masses in a number of his novels and short stories.
Mulk Raj Anand is a committed writer with a social purpose. Mulk Raj Anand emerges as the
champion of the underdogs and a crusader against social distinctions and man-made barriers
which divide humanity. He vehemently condemns the insensibility, self centredness and lack
of human sympathy and understanding in the upper strata of society for the poor and the
exploited. He is both a realist and humanist whose fundamental aim is to establish the
fundamental oneness of mankind.
Mulk Raj Anands love for novelty and originality enables him to carry the tradition of
Tagore and Premchand Bankim and Sarat Chandra to new heights. Mulk Raj Anand, has
definitely modernized the Indian novel giving it a new shape.
Mulk Raj Anand, made a departure from the tradition of Indian fiction. He succeeded in
interpreting the soul of India to the west in the form they could easily understand and
appreciate.His interpretation of India is based on realism as his protagonists are based on the
real characters with whom he freely mixed for play and friendship, paying no attention to
their caste, class or creed. As Mulk Raj Anad himself acknowledges in the Preface:
"All these heroes, as the other men and women who had emerged in my novels and short
stories were dear to me, because they were the reflections of the real people I had known
during my childhood and youth. And I was only repaying the debt of gratitude lowed them
for much of the inspiration they had given me to mature into manhood, when I began to
interpret ... They were flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood, and obsessed me in the way

22 www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17449857708588480
20 | P a g e

in which certain human beings obsess an artist's soul. And I was doing no more than what
a writer does when seeks to interpret the truth from the realities of his life."23
Coolie, is a heartrending saga of human suffering. Munoos travails and tribulations are sharp
pointers to mans sadistic pleasure in torturing child domestics. Munoo represents those
numberless children whose childhood is lost in endless physical labour. Love, care and fund
are strange words for them.
Mulk Raj Anands main aim is to reveal an ideal humanistic vision of life. As the pioneer and
exponent of nativization technique, He adopts the epical or dramatic or episodic or picaresque
form as his subject demands. He expresses his view that, every theme requires its won form,
technique and experience. One cannot accept the conventional forms of another literature or
classics in newer situations. In conclusion it can be said that Mulk Raj Anand has used his
imagination and creative skill to transform facts into fictions to present a realistic vision of
life. He has organized his material with great care and skill. His novels definitely evince a
thematic unity.
Mulk Raj Anands literary contributions map the pre-independence and modern India. His
novels universalize issues which concern every man and every county. He produces a tragic
vision of life but also finds resolutions to the problems it presents. In his novels he envisions
a world permeated with love and good will.24

23 www.gktoday.in/mulk-raj-anand/
24 albertsliterature.blogspot.com/2012/02/mulkraj-anand-coolie.html
21 | P a g e

Conclusion
The novel has been described as a naturalist portrayal of life at its darkest moments, being
that a central theme throughout it. Mulk Raj Anand tells the story of Munno, an orphan boy
from India who wants to venture out into the world, and goes through a series of jobs and
experiences. Yet, the gist of the novel is Anand's analysis of the boy's inner fears, thoughts,
and emotions, and the description of the darkest moments of Munno's life up until the
moment of his death.
Its a naturalist rendition of a life story where darkness is perennial and where the bad gets
worst. Yet, it is a masterpiece of a story to read given Anand's natural talent for storytelling
and the richness of his description and exploration of humanity.
All ofAnands novels are novels of responsibility, of involvement of creative tension and its
resolution, of profound humanism and moral values. Mulk Raj Anand's main aim is to reveal
an idealistic humanistic vision of life. He writes with the aim of helping to raise the
untouchables, the peasants, the coolies, to human dignity and self awareness. Mulk Raj
Anand's novels show a happy blend of idealist; revolutionary socialism and a comprehensive
historical humanism which is rare in the contemporary novel. In his novels Mulk Raj Anand
attacks hypocrisy, superstition, and caste and class prejudices. Mulk Raj Anand, deals with
man as a social being with a moral purpose capable of selfdevelopment. Mulk Raj Anand's
literary contributions map the pre-independence and modem India. His novels universalize
issues, which concern every man, every community and every country. He produces a tragic
vision of life but also finds resolutions to the problems it presents. In his novels he envisions
22 | P a g e

a world permeated with love and good will. No other novelists of Mulk Raj Anand's time
dared to present this beautiful expression in their creations. It is therefore concluded that
Mulk Raj Anand is very successful in depicting characters. In characterization he seems to
give importance to Indian culture and ethos. When he finds that the Indian tradition is alter
this tradition. "Untouchability", is one of the great examples of this type. Mulk Raj Anand's
heroes remain passive witnesses to all the social and psychological traumas heaped upon
them by the soulless social custom. To conclude, Mulk Raj Anand's characterization is not
meant for characterization only, it is meant to give a new turn or direction to the Indian
society.
Mulk raj Anand wrote to denounce the society based on all kinds of distinctions- of caste,
color, creed, and last but not the least, the distinction between rich and poor. Munoo, the
central character of the novel, is the poorest of the poor. T
he novel mainly focuses on the distinction of rich and poor. Munoo, to begin with, is a child,
and that too an orphan, whose parents died in utter poverty, leaving him nothing to fall back
upon.
Anand seems to think that the problem of social cooperation in an industrial society is
primarily intellectual and moral. Anands protest against the society based on discrimination
is, therefore, not violent. A classless society is a new concept sought to be established in the
existing structures of caste, color, and creed. Anand thus protested against human thinking
which is muddled because of the co-existence of the old. Munoo is a victim of social apathy
because society as a whole has yet to enter the positive stage of mutual sympathy. Anand is a
sociologist and historian of society. The world according to Munoo is divided into two
classes- the rich and the poor. To be poor is as bad a stigma to be lowly born. In spite of his
tender years, supple body and dark eyes; he is still regarded as an untouchable. He is far apart
from rich just because of his poverty. He is an untouchable in the class conscious world. He is
to be a slave whether the country is rural, or urban, feudal or modern. Munoo equally grows
conscious of his own status. Unfortunately we have inherited this metaphysical thinking that
nature does this or that, that laws of nature are good etc. from the days of enlightenment.
Rousseau and Romantics then carried it over into their social contract, natural right, the
sovereignty of the people. Such privileging creates a center the privileged position, as, for
example, of rich over the poor, resisting the freeplay between the two. Anand in his novel
Coolie, protest against this privileging of the rich.

23 | P a g e

Bibliography

Coolie ( Penguin Twentieth- Century Classics) Mulk Raj Anand

Untouchables - Mulk Raj Anand
Mulk Raj Anand- His art and Concerns C. J. George
The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand: A Critical Study Mittapalli Rajeshwar
Mulk Raj Anand- B.R. Agarwal
The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand: the study of his Hero- Neena Arora
The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand- A new critical spectrum- T.M.J. Indra Mohan
Mulk Raj Anand Coolie- Raghukul Tilak
Mulk Raj Anand: Early Novels- Ketaki Goshwami

24 | P a g e