Question

summary of coolie by mulk raj anand

Answer 1

Coolie, by Mulk Raj Anand, was first published in 1936 and helped to establish Anand as one of the foremost Anglophone Indian writers of his day. Like much of his other work, this novel is concerned with the consequences of British Rule in India and with the rigid caste system that structured Indian society. “Coolie” is a term for an unskilled laborer, though it can also be used as a pejorative. Anand’s novel tells the story of Munoo, a young boy from the Kangra Hills in Bilaspur. He is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle; however, early in the novel they reveal they can no longer support Munoo and insist that he get a job. This is the beginning of a journey that will take Munoo to Bombay and beyond, but it also marks the end of his childhood.

With his Uncle, Munoo travels to a nearby town where he finds a job as a servant to a bank clerk, Babu Nathoo Ram. Munoo is mistreated by his master’s wife but he admires his master’s younger brother, Prem Chand, who is a doctor. Babu Nathoo Ram himself is something of a caricature; a typical example of a Middle Class Anglophile who has internalized the values of the colonizer and firmly believes in the supremacy of white people. A great fuss is made when the aptly named Mr. English visits the bank where Babu Nathoo Ram works, but Anand uses this episode to undercut the apparent superiority of the English. When Prem Chand enquires about the best place in Britain to further his medical training, it is revealed that Mr. English is uneducated and doesn’t know.

Answer 2

'Coolie' was published in 1936 by Mulk Raj Anand. Since then, it has become a landmark in modern Indian literature. The novel condemned the economic, social and cultural impact of British occupation. It indicted India's own rigid caste system.

Summary:

There lived a young and orphan boy named Munno in the village of Bilaspur. He is raised by his aunt and uncle. He enjoys going to school and playing. When Munno became of 14 years, his uncle told him that he can no longer afford his responsibilities. He asked the boy to earn his way of life. The boy had very less education with no skills. The uncle took the boy to Sham Nagar, a nearby city, where Munno indentured as a house servant to a bank clerk's family. The wife of the banker treated him mercilessly. Munno finds a friend in the couple's young daughter, Sheila. One day, while playing, Munno got carried away with his monkey routine and accidentally bites the girl. The parents of the little girl beat him mercilessly. He ran away to Daulatpur by train.

On the train, he meets Prabha Dayal, a kind man who runs a chutney factory. Prabha Dayal offers him a safe and comfortable home. Prabha also gave him work in the factory. The condition of the factory was unpleasant, the work was hard and had long hours to work. On the fraud of Ganpat, business partner of Prabha, the company collapsed.

Munno is back on the streets, struggling to find a place to live. He sees colorful posters of an advertisement for a circus.  Munno, joins the circus and work for a stint with the elephant keeper, arrives in Bombay, the city of expectations. He takes aback by the sheer size, noise and confusion of the city. After this, he finds work in a cotton mill owned by a British expatriate. The man was very brutal who relishes mistreating, harassing and even physically abusing the workers. The conditions of the factory were also not good. It had long hours to work, sweltering floors and air full of thick cotton fluff. Munno finds a new friend, Ratan, who agitates openly and vociferously for the rights of the coolies. Ratan was dismisses from the job and suddenly Munno is lost in the city.

Munno is now homeless without any job in his hands. He is hit by a car riding by Mrs. May Mainwaring, a wealthy woman. She becomes disturbed by the accident and take Munno to Shimla. She gave him work to pull a rickshaw through the steep streets of  the town. He begins to show the signs of tuberculosis. After some time, Munno died at the age of just 15.

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