Theme of exploitation in Mulk Raj Anand's novel?
The mere title brings to light how the relationship between the British and the Indians is one of exploitation and domination. Exploitation was the reality that faces both the protagonist and the vast majority of Indians. In the work, Munno leaves his village with hopes of finding financial and emotional success. Yet, such hopes are immediately dashed when he has to work in labor intensive as well as physically demanding jobs that leave him without any dignity and dying of tuberculosis. For Anand, the predicament of the "Coolie" is one where Indians work for the benefit of those in a position of power and have little to show for such toil and struggle. In making the main character of his work such a sympathetic figure who cannot find any hope of redemption because of his exploitation, Anand might be suggesting that Indians will always be seen as Munno in the eyes of the British, always to be a "Coolie" unless there is a call to change what is into what should b...