Cycle of Oppression

Throughout Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable, it becomes clear that the discrimination that the main character Bahka faces each day is part of a greater theme of how oppression becomes cyclical. Anand emphasizes the untouchables’ lack of ability to change their status in society. They cannot get their own water, they must rely on the “generosity” of the higher castes to draw them water from the well. They are not able to receive an education because those who teach are afraid of being dirtied by the presence of an untouchable in the classroom. Untouchables are even forced to pay higher prices for goods, even though they are unable to be paid for their work and can only be given “small gifts” from the higher class. The upper castes justify their treatment of the untouchables by claiming their status is a form of purgatory for bad acts in a past life. There is some truth to that thought: yes, the untouchables are in purgatory (or really hell), but they are not responsible for their placement there. Anand writes, “[Singh] did not relax the grin which symbolized six thousand years of racial and class superiority,” (10). The status of the untouchables is not something they can change and with no way for their children to escape it either, they are essentially stuck in a life of misery. It is somewhat ironic that while many believed that it was the past that caused the untouchables to be where they are, it is this very same status that prevents any type of future for them. Anand’s novel seems relevant even today in American society. While not as blatant in our eyes as the blight of Bakha, millions of Americans face the same cycle that Bakha does. The systematic oppression in our country prevents marginalized groups from receiving equal education, equal pay, and equal treatment. What does this say about our country when we can draw parallels from a novel written in 1935 about a developing country?