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He is elated to be a part of Gandhi ji's speech, where the Mahatma stands for the rights and fair treatment of the 'Harijans'. He wishes a normal life of kindness and equality. He feels happy and grateful when Charat Singh, a higher caste Hindu, treats him as a normal person and is kind to him. The author clearly shows Bakha as a human being who has expectations, emotions, weaknesses and strengths just like anyone else. I felt I was a part of all the protagonist's experiences, as a silent spectator, and felt disgusted but couldn't do anything. Anand very well describes Bakha's dilemmas, emotions of anger, helplessness, rejection and disapproval. There would not have been a better way to show how rejection can affect a person and his/her psyche.
![barkha dhar barkha dhar](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0QQiBaWGfHE/hqdefault.jpg)
All they look for are the basic rights and privileges as human beings, which the caste system deprives them of.Īs a reader you feel sorry for all the humiliation and suffering he is subjected to.
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I hate it too."Īnand's novels on humanism give voice to the oppressed and allows them to express their anger and suffering. He soon concludes that "They always abuse us. On the other hand she gives respect and regard to the Sadhu, who is a Brahmin, and requests him to accept her offerings, assuring him that 'the sweeper' didn't pollute her house.īakha feels helpless as he fails to understand why the upper caste people always abuse him or look down upon him. "You eater of the masters! Why did you sit down on my doorstep, if you had to sit down at all? You have defiled my religion! You should have sat there in the gulley! Now I will have to sprinkle holy water all over the house! You spoiler of my salt! oh! how terrible! You sweepers have lifted your heads to the sky, nawadays!" When he goes to clean the house of a Hindu lady, he is showered with unpleasant comments and the leftover bread and food is thrown at him. The discrimination exists because it is supported by the caste system and Hindu beliefs. I doubt if that's how any individual addresses a person, even if s/he belongs to the lowest section of our society. He is supposed to shout and warn people of his approach. He is addressed as a "Dirty dog! Son of a bitch! The offspring of a pig!" His day begins with his father's abuses and curses, followed by the insults and humiliation from the Hindus of the upper castes.
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Throughout the novel Bakha struggles to get some answers-Why are sweepers treated with no respect? Why are the temples, schools, wells not open to the outcastes? Why is their shadow or touch considered polluted? Why are sweepers humiliated all the time for no rhyme or reason? Mulk Raj Anand in his novel 'Untouchable' portrays how the scavengers most commonly referred to as the untouchables are treated by the Hindu society. Anand describes a day in Bakha, a sweeper's life and his desire to be like the Englishmen and the high class Hindus-imitating their lifestyle and living in cleaner houses rather than the filthy and miserable living conditions and seeking similar respect instead of the ill-treatment that he has to face.īakha is a young and attractive boy who wishes to live a life of happiness and respect. His only fault is that he is the son of a scavenger and has to carry on with the profession of cleaning and disposing other people's waste. But there are some people who have to live with it every day. Nobody likes being disliked or rejected, specially when things are not under our control or cannot be changed.