LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:8 August 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Two Leaves and a Bud Is a Novel on Social Exploitation

M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

In this paper, I present Two Leaves and a Bud as a novel on social exploitation, full of violence and bitterness. It describes the hazardous life of Gangu, an indentured labourer, in an Assam Tea Garden owned by a British man. The theme is bitterness, violence and exploitation which makes our blood boil about the injustice done to the poor coolies. Anand’s writing is full of disgust and hate. The angry young man in Anand is more evident than the artist. The gift of Mulk Raj Anand’s imagination and his gentle and humane sympathy for his subject adds a new dimension in sensitivity to contemporary literature.

Keywords: Exploitation, indentured, plantation, artist, underdog, humanist, villain, rakshas, complement, pessimistic, cudgles, unsavory, cliché, niche.

Introduction

Mulk Raj Anand is a pioneer in the field of Indo-English fiction. He has succeeded in carving for himself a special niche and so he reverentially called one of ‘The Big Three’. All his novels and short stories bear him out as a champion of the underdog and his writings reveal his deep understanding of socioeconomic problems. No wonder, of all the Indian novelists in English, Anand is, undoubtedly a writer with a strong commitment to expose the social evils of inequality and exploitation. He takes the cudgels against the cruel forces and unsocial elements which exploit the lives of the poor. Tenderness is the essence of Anand’s humanism. He is a humanist.

Special Introduction to the Novel

Anand’s first five novels are ‘The Untouchable’ (1935), ‘Coolie’(1936), ‘Two Leaves and A Bud’ (1937), ‘The Village’ (1939) and ‘Across the Black Waters’(1940). The nineteen- thirties were the seed time of modern independent India. The Gandhian Satyagraha movement, the Organization of Marxist parties, the agonies of World War II in 1939, with the rise of Nazism, all had a definite impact on Mulk Raj Anand’s mind.

Like many Indo-Anglian writers, this political action took the form of writing novels. With a social conscience, Anand wrote for the people and of the people because he is a humanist. One such novel is Two Leaves and A Bud. It was published in London in 1937. Later it was published in India by Hind Pocket Books (p) Ltd. It comprises 26 chapters.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

M. V. Sulochana, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Research Scholar)
Research Scholar
Department of English
Centre for Distance Education
Acharya Nagarjuna University
Guntur-522 210
Andhra Pradesh
India
mvsulochana19@gmail.com
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