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Social Conflict In Untouchable By Mulk Raj Anand

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Anand lays strain on the demands of the present; he refuses to be bound by fusty convention and orthodoxy. In fact, Anand’s novels convey emotional truths as well as social realities and the beauty of his art of fiction is well realized by way of analysis and interpretation of social problems and of corrupt practices. However social life in India has been entirely revolutionized since then, one cannot say with confidence that casteism is fully wiped off in all the states of India. Untouchable gives a voice to the predicament of the mute humanity in vicious conditions. The agony is not caused by fate but by fellow human and the social ambiance from which the sufferer still have great and enduring hopes for betterment of life. Untouchable is …show more content…

In his work, the conflicts are not resolved decisively, but the possibility of a solution in future is hinted at. Any conflict involves two groups or institutions. So also in Mulk Raj Anand’s novels two polarities are introduced and all the characters fall into either of the groups. In Untouchable the conflict is between the caste Hindus and the untouchables; Coolie presents a class struggle between the haves and the have-not; Two leaves and a Bud deals with the confrontation between British plantation owners and the Indian labourers; Lalu Trilogy portrays different stages in the Indian struggle for freedom. The Big Heart fictionalizes the conflict between capitalists and industrial labourers; Gauri elaborates female protest against male domination and so on. However, the conflict in all these novels is not a clash between the equals; it takes the form of exploitation of a less fortunate and less privileged group by a more powerful and privileged set of individuals. The two groups involved, therefore, turn into victims and victimizers, and the writer’s sympathy for the former becomes …show more content…

He is also convinced of the need to act and urge for a change. This change in Bakha symbolizes the awakening of subaltern consciousness. It was with untouchable that Mulk Raj Anand made his debut as a major novelist. As such, he knew that only by maximum effort in the utilization of one’s inherent artistic gift one could achieve greatness and therefore he directed his head and heart towards it. The novel is the result of several incholate and wild urges that present the mind of Mulk Raj Anand which he reflects thus: ……. The vanity of youth wanting recognition, the Departure from abstract philosophical theories towards the search for philosophical insights faced on the lives of the human beings whom he knew the flesh and the blood: the urge to express oneself at all costs in an absolutist manner so as to explore the ugliness of death in life by deliberately dramatizing even through distortion, the non-human realities which impinged on one from all sides….( 6

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