Social Injustices of the Untouchables
Social Injustices of the “Untouchables”
In the novel Untouchable, written by Mulk Raj Anand in the year 1935, there are various vivid representations of the social injustices that the Untouchable castes are exposed to daily. In such a case, the main character of the novel, Bakha, is an ideal example. This novel is set to explain the caste system in one single day and does an exceptional job to help the readers understand how the low caste citizens were treated. Bakha is an eighteen year old boy who was born into being a Bhangi, which also means his job is to clean the latrines leaving him in the lowest level of the caste. This novel depicts the protagonist to aspire to be part of the British culture that he is not, because he sees how respected they are and wishes to be a part of a caste that others favor. Bakha’s family tends to think he’s forgotten where he’s come from, but Bakha just solely wishes he was from a higher caste. Humiliation and abuse play a huge role with social injustices in the novel because Bakha shows a love for life and continuously gets ridiculed and becomes depressed and tired of all the events that are repeatedly occurring in his life. Another message the novel gives the readers is the message of hope and to have faith. (Ravi) Bakha has so many reasons to give up but his perseverance and determination are what help him survive his lifestyle. The first social injustice that Bakha is forced to deal with, is his father’s constant abuse after his mother’s death. Bakha stated, “He always keeps abusing me. I do all his work for him. He appropriates the pay all right. He is afraid of the sepoys. They call him names. He abuses me. He is happy when they call him Jemadar. So proud of izzat! I don’t take a moments rest and he abuses me.” Bakha receives degrading treatment even at his own home, not only in the community. Bakha has a job in the community for his father as a street sweeper and cleaning the latrines that people use to relieve
In the novel Untouchable, written by Mulk Raj Anand in the year 1935, there are various vivid representations of the social injustices that the Untouchable castes are exposed to daily. In such a case, the main character of the novel, Bakha, is an ideal example. This novel is set to explain the caste system in one single day and does an exceptional job to help the readers understand how the low caste citizens were treated. Bakha is an eighteen year old boy who was born into being a Bhangi, which also means his job is to clean the latrines leaving him in the lowest level of the caste. This novel depicts the protagonist to aspire to be part of the British culture that he is not, because he sees how respected they are and wishes to be a part of a caste that others favor. Bakha’s family tends to think he’s forgotten where he’s come from, but Bakha just solely wishes he was from a higher caste. Humiliation and abuse play a huge role with social injustices in the novel because Bakha shows a love for life and continuously gets ridiculed and becomes depressed and tired of all the events that are repeatedly occurring in his life. Another message the novel gives the readers is the message of hope and to have faith. (Ravi) Bakha has so many reasons to give up but his perseverance and determination are what help him survive his lifestyle. The first social injustice that Bakha is forced to deal with, is his father’s constant abuse after his mother’s death. Bakha stated, “He always keeps abusing me. I do all his work for him. He appropriates the pay all right. He is afraid of the sepoys. They call him names. He abuses me. He is happy when they call him Jemadar. So proud of izzat! I don’t take a moments rest and he abuses me.” Bakha receives degrading treatment even at his own home, not only in the community. Bakha has a job in the community for his father as a street sweeper and cleaning the latrines that people use to relieve
Cited: Ravi, Rakesh, Dr. "Dr. Rakesh Ravi 's Evaluation of Mulk Raj Anand 's 'Untouchable '" Articlesbase.com. Articlesbase.com, 02 Sept. 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .I used this scholarly site to help me develop the context of my paper and better understand different themes and topics throughout the novel. "Nationalist Movements in India." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. .This site was used to find condensed background information on the Nationalist Movement in India. Arabbi, Girish R. "The National Movement And Mahatma Gandhi." The National Movement And Mahatma Gandhi. Principle of SGIS, 20 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .This slideshow presentation was created by an Indian Principle of a school to help identify what Gandhi 's values and opinions towards the Bhangi 's were. O 'Neill, Tom. "Untouchable @ National Geographic Magazine." National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .I used this source to get a better understanding of how some caste systems are treated outside of the novel. Ambedkar, B. R., Dr. "The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They BecameUntouchables?" Trinicenter. N.p., 1 Jan. 1948. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .I used this source because it was dated back to the year 1948 and thought it would give insight on the caste system from a scholarly source that was written around the time that the book was written.