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Untouchable
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Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand [Starting from March '2013]
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Sherin
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Mar 12, 2013 02:08AM
Let's discuss Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand
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Gist from Goodreads:Bakha is a young man, proud and even attractive, yet none the less he is an outcast in India's caste system: an Untouchable. In deceptively simple prose this groundbreaking novel describes a day in the life of Bakha, sweeper and toilet-cleaner, as he searches for a meaning to the tragic existence he has been born into - and comes to an unexpected conclusion. Mulk Raj Anand poured a vitality, fire and richness of detail into his controversial work, which led him to be acclaimed as his country's Charles Dickens and one of the twentieth century's most important Indian writers
Finished Untouchable sometime back. Liked it. Was Mulk Raj Anand christened India's Charles Dickens? I am sort of surprised though not completely. This is my first Mulk Raj Anand and yes there are similarities between Dickens propounding on poverty and the down-trodden in his works and Anand doing it here. But, I don't know why, I remained largely apathetic with Anand while Dickens saddened me.
I have read this book like ages ago.I loved it.It describes just a day in the life of an untouchable sweeper.It clearly tells us about Hindu Society.After ma first read, I do wanna read it again.
Good to knwo that you liked it,Gatha..Now,you may read it once more with us :)
And please do share your views about the book
Sherin wrote: "Good to knwo that you liked it,Gatha..Now,you may read it once more with us :)
And please do share your views about the book"
I will try to,thanks : D
My exams start this week so I wanted to know when this group read ends so that I can join this discussion later.
It doesn't end...:)We will not close this thread.
Please add your comments whenever you're able to.
have this book at home, i remember its a tiny one, i hope to be able to participate in this.
:)Yeah,it is pretty small.
Mod
Smitha wrote: "I too have it - I mean I have a bound collection of Mulk Raj Anand works, but I dont like depressing stories, especially the ones which make me feel guilty by association. So have not completed eve..."Strangely Smitha, it isn't depressing. I rather found it humorous.
I need to share this though.
In the book the boys keep calling each other 'brother-in-law', something that I tried hard to decipher. It was only towards the end that I realised that it was the literal translation of the Hindi word 'saala' :D
How similar is this to Thakazhi's 'THottiyude makan'(Scavenger's son)? That too being the story of an untouchable scavenger.
Aravind wrote: "How similar is this to Thakazhi's 'THottiyude makan'(Scavenger's son)? That too being the story of an untouchable scavenger."Haven't read this one. So cannot say.
recently completed, felt certain kind of suffocation.you dont chose your caste and yet you often have to suffer worst kind of humiliation possible for that accidental assciation
Has anyone completed this book?? Any thoughts? Dying to discuss.
Yes. The highlight of the novel was the scene when Gandhi was about to address a public meeting and people were whispering to each other, people only gathering that Gandhi would talk about untouchability, comprehending none of his spiritual, moral aspects of the talk.When the Babu talked about Swaraj and Panchayats, neither Bakha, nor other villagers understood what was being said. I have often wondered if might have been thus really, when Gandhi was trying hard to impress upon the masses his concepts of Sawraj. Must be a tough time dealing with such a huge multitude, knowing nothing about it, understanding nothing... Bakha could make no sense of so much of talk Gandhi was giving, he only knew that Gandhi supported his kind, and was trying to exhort other people into doing the same.
The most obvious irony in the novel was that a Bakha, despite being an untouchable, 'low-caste', implying all the dirt and filth that he not only cleaned, but was expected to have in his character, was far more honorable than the so-called educated, clean upper-caste Brahmins.
Also ironical was the fact that children didn't mind playing Hockey with Bakha or attending school with him, while the 'teachers', reservoirs of knowledge, refused to teach him.
The point when Bakha yearns to learn the 'tish-mish' of the 'Tommies' reminds me of Ambedkar yet again, about the method of using English as a weapon against oppression, as a symbol of dignity that was denied by their Indian counterparts.
Even the scene where the colonel tries to stress upon him the significance of Yessu Masih, making it evident that the Church did not discriminate between a Chamar and a Brahmin, soon followed by Mary Hutchinson's evident fury at having a lower-caste in the house.
I like this novel, but somehow this one lacks layers. The story is too simplistic, though not unimportant. It makes one only faintly aware of the issues, while these were actually very painful, dark times for mankind, especially the lower-castes. This does not come out effectively through the text. I find it too plain, too simplistic.
Dickens was what I had in my mind when writing on a topic like this. Dickens is rich in his story-telling, has the skill of writing effective, deeply poignant scenes. Look at 'Oliver Twist'. It is so painful, I dread a second read. This one I have read multiple times without half the sadness, thoughtfulness, pensiveness Dickens provided in a single reading. Dickens forces you to introspect. He gives the blind people eyes to see the sadness of the squalor around their own lives, and kills them with it. Having once seen the darkness in his books, one cannot return to the normal life untouched. One cannot emerge unchanged after reading his book. Mulk Raj Anand discusses an equally dark issue, but fails to make the reader feel that intense shame at belonging to the privileged class the way Dickens can. Anand has courage and honesty, but lacks effective story-telling skills. Honest intentions, but poor execution. Pales in front of Dickens.
Lit Bug wrote: "Dickens was what I had in my mind when writing on a topic like this. Dickens is rich in his story-telling, has the skill of writing effective, deeply poignant scenes. Look at 'Oliver Twist'. It is ..."Exactly my views. I failed to 'connect' or feel and I did find the story too simplistic. But could it be that Mulk Raj Anand indeed intended it to be exactly that way?
I can't guess that. Why would an author NOT want his readers to CONNECT with the matter? But it might be that the issue was far more unacceptable to public than it is today. So he mellowed it down as far as possible. Maybe if I read some other books by Anand, I can decide what might be the case. Or maybe it was effective in those days because the issue was more acute then, people had seen untouchables being treated inhumanly in front of their own eyes, so even when they read such simplistic prose, they could connect with it, they could conjure up the exact sentiments that the book sought to arouse, while our generation has seen some discrimination against the reserved category persons, but not UNTOUCHABILITY or that inhuman humiliation meted out to others in front of us. So such a simplistic prose fails to evoke any acute reactions from us.It's like watching the old movie 'Saraswatichandra' and failing to see the inherent tragedy, because things have changed a lot now.
I have often read some of those frustratingly incomplete short stories and articles where the authors end the prose at the discretion of the readers' imagination. Was Mulk Raj Anand attempting to do that? Or possibly, as you said, that it was more relevant the time it was written than it is now.
Maybe, or it might be time to accept that Anand is perhaps over-rated. Just a possibility. Too early for me to predict since this is the only writing by Anand that I have read.Some people love the lack of closure in stories or novels, though for most of us its like missing the end of a very interesting movie. But for me, this novel wasn't even that interesting. Most of all, I regretted the lack of depth in Bakha's character. I don't think it was well-drawn. Seemed pretty superficial.
I mean, read THE FIXER by Bernard Malamud. It's even more gut-wrenching than any of Dickens'. It is a fictionalized story of the Beilis case. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Jew unjustly imprisoned in Tsarist Russia. The "Beilis trial" of 1913 caused an international uproar and Russia backed down in the face of world indignation.
you'll be so shocked by it, you'll feel you've been hit by a brick on the head. You'll go numb and become depressed for a few days and won't touch the book again.
And tortures are nothing new to any country in the world, any history you take. Anand could have written an equally painful book, not for the sake of terrifying others, but to make us realize how we have been making a hell for others. After all, he had SEEN IT ALL, unlike us. Even A FINE BALANCE brings out so much about that social setting. I can connect with THAT story than this one.
My! You are the only one who mentioned Bernard Malamud. I have read 'The Assistant' by Malamud. Amazed! Got myself 'The Natural'. Added 'The Fixer' to my to-read list.Deviated from the topic.
I wasn't impressed by Bakha's character as well. Too plain.
Not reading your thoughts Lit bug & Pari as I've read only a few pages .I don't know how Bakhya survived as the only one wearing western attire in the community.
Normally society doesn't let someone be that different :) .. especially in that era.
But in the book,it's depicted like he is enjoying it.
I would imagine at least some part of people's admiration is his illusion.
To me this was just an average book. I feel its only because of its sensitive topic that it has survived till today. I'd rather read Laxman Mane's autobiography 'Upara' or Laxman Gaekwad's autobiography 'The Branded (English)/Uchalya (Marathi)' for a taste of reality.Both of them were untouchables who fought their way through the system, had unflinching allies in some humanist upper caste Hindus, made a name for themselves and wrote their autobiographies.
Again, don't expect any Dickensian skill, but at least, they are true stories, and along with the authors, you too would feel frustrated at the state of affairs.
Hmm.. will check them out
Sherin wrote: "Not reading your thoughts Lit bug & Pari as I've read only a few pages .I don't know how Bakhya survived as the only one wearing western attire in the community.
Normally society doesn't let some..."
Yes, in that era, Bakha would have been severely physically assaulted for a transgression as grave as imitating a superior's attire. He's enjoying it for sure, gives him a sense of power and importance, even though it is, as you said, only an illusion, albeit a gratifying one.
The trouble the lower caste people had to go through to get drinking water is scary.. It's great that we are mostly off from such atrocities. The way people accept such discrimination is almost unbelievable. May be if we keep on accepting it for generations,it may not feel like something bad at all.
The same way we accept corruption as part of life now :P :p
Yes, and urbanization and the anonymity that comes with it, with the need to interact and co-operate with everyone for survival is also a substantial factor for the decline in untouchability. In deeper rural areas of many states, untouchability is still a reality, just as harsh as it was 5 decades ago. It has been wiped out only where it was impractical to follow. Protests against reservations are the civilized ways of maintaining hierarchy.
Sherin wrote: "The trouble the lower caste people had to go through to get drinking water is scary.. It's great that we are mostly off from such atrocities. The way people accept such discrimination is almost u..."
Most of the villages still have these discriminations..
That's what is called brainwashing. Human mind is capable of believing the utmost ridiculous notions. The kind of things we can get used to is just horrifying. There's nothing such as the past was such a dark time, or the future's gonna be such a dark time... Even the present is equally grim, but we're so used to it that we recognize it as a part of life, instead of an abnormality within our social structure and even our mental structure. One can never rely on human mind.
haven't read 'Untouchable' but just read the discussion on the thread ... i feel comparisons of literature from different eras and societies doesn't serve much purpose. Looking for Dickensian skills in dalit literature entirely misses the point. you may like to read this very insightful article on dalit literature.
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/essay/l...
This was not only a discussion of the social issues in the book, it was also a literary discussion, where literary merits were being discussed. By Dickens, we meant an expectation of a skillful execution considering the nature of the story. With such a painful, shameful topic in hand, we surmised Anand could have represented Bakha better. It is difficult to empathize with the 'untouchable' protagonist in the story because of Anand's poor story-telling skills. The story did not get the treatment it deserved. Perhaps the discussion will make more sense when you've read the novel. A good story-telling highlights the issue and its various complicated nuances, rather than underplaying them and mellowing them down as happened in the novel.Secondly, while in the article, it is lamented that Dalits were falsely categorized about being naïve about movements like the Dalit Panther movement, or Ambedkar, it is true only to a certain point. In those days, with no communication technology and much social ostracization, it was difficult to even spread word of mouth on such events. Secondly, only a tiny fraction of Dalits even 'dreamt' of antagonizing upper castes. They were definitely scared, hence mute sufferers, in most cases. Even today, only educated Dalits know about these things. In villages, uneducated people yet do not know. Even in urban areas, I doubt if any slum dweller recognizes Ambedkar.
In the story,Bakha is depicted as an intelligent person and generally he acquieses to the limits set to him by society.(view spoiler)
That is so uncharacteristic .
I thought the author didn't have to finish it off so fast :p
I agree. It seems he was in a hurry to finish the book. Poor characterization, a poor story-line and poor treatment - all mar the enormous scopes an issue like this would have in skillful hands.
