The Indian Monologue

Mulk Raj Anand is a great Indian Writer. Of all his contributions to Indian Literature, one cannot forget Untouchable and Coolie. The Protagonists of both these novels represent the down trodden society in pre-independence of India. In this novel Bakha is a universal figure to show the oppression, injustice, humiliation to the whole community of the outcastes in India. Bakha and Munoo symbolize the exploitation and oppression which has been the fate of untouchables like them. Their anguish and humiliation are not of their's alone, but the suffering of whole outcastes and underdogs.Anand not only throws light on their object poverty and suffering but also focuses its attention on their low-caste. As K.N. Sinha comments: …The novel has a tragic beauty of its own. The will to revolt and the sheer impossibility of successful doing so under the circumstances constitute the basic tension in the novel. The hero is simultaneously a rebel and victim. His anguish becomes our sorrow. But Bakha has no tragic status as scapegoat and a victim, tyrannized by a recalcitrant society. He is the lowest of the lowly whose destiny does not suffer any appreciable erocion.