Discuss the vision of life underlying Mulk Raj Anand’s Coolie.
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Answer:
Reading novels in Indian English writing written by writers such as Mulk Raj Anand is a sort of eye opening part of life. In the paper I tried to point out some of the interesting things such as the problems of caste which has divided the whole Indian nation into several communities and religions. Coolie is one of the most interesting novels in 1930s which describes the story of Munoo as a victim of an exploitative system. My paper, apart from comprehending and understanding his suffering and exploitation take place in his psychological, emotional and spiritual growth; a dialogue that continues between h is existential problem and his questioning of basic tenets of humanism that he is constantly denied of, it also tell why the guy has to undergo such problems. Finally, he is forced to accept his existential condition as determined by his fate, his karma and accepts his class identity, for many others suffer like him.
My paper also studies how the novel revolves around the migration of a young boy Munoo from his home in the hills of Kangra to the towns, the city finally, embracing the end of his life in Simla. Anand uses humanism to bring Munoo to life and follows his sexual awareness, his adolescence, his innocence and his simplistic view of life. Munoo’s innocent life is crushed under the cruelty of the world. The experiences he gather in life’s journey are pitiful, a saga of misery that finally bring his life to an end. Anand invokes pathos of the readers as well as exposes the exploitative system that victimizes Munoo.
Munoo is born poor and for the rest of his life is unable to get away from his poverty that leaves him broken. The class system ensures that assimilation to a higher class is not possible. The bourgeoisie expand their class through institutions and ideology. But the reality of the working class in Coolie is that it itself is without demarcations. Thus the Coolies can move in and out of this class. There is no ideological barrier that demarcates/ brackets the working class. Anand himself refers to the striking mill workers as Coolies; the word means unskilled workers.