Sunday, April 3, 2011

How does the title Coolie reinforce the theme of exploitation in Mulk Raj Anand's novel?

The mere title brings to light how the relationship
between the British and the Indians is one of exploitation and domination.  An ardent
patriot to the core and a passionate enthusiast of independence and Gandhi's teachings,
Anand understood that the use of the term as the title of his work would effectively
convey the lack of dignity that Indians suffered at the hands of the British.  In
Anand's eyes, the British control of India rendered all Indians, to a certain extent, as
akin to Munno, the protagonist of the work.  Exploitation was the reality that faces
both the protagonist and the vast majority of Indians under British rule.  In the work, 
Munno leaves his village with hopes of finding financial and emotional success.  Yet,
such hopes are immediately dashed when he has to work in labor intensive as well as
physically demanding jobs that leave him without any dignity and dying of tuberculosis. 
For Anand, the predicament of the "Coolie" is one where Indians work for the benefit of
those in the position of power and have little to show for such toil and struggle.  In
making the main character of his work such a sympathetic figure who cannot find any hope
of redemption because of his exploitation, Anand might be suggesting that Indians will
always be seen as Munno in the eyes of the British, always to be a "Coolie" unless there
is a call to change what is into what should be.  The "Coolie" or Indian worker who
toils and struggles and often dies unrecognized was elevated to a state in Anand's work
where individuals had to recognize their efforts and demands a fundamental shift in the
relationship between the British and the Indians.

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