Discuss Coolie as a Postcolonial text.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Colonialism as ‘an alleged policy of

exploitation of backward or weak people by a large power’. Colonialism is not
merely the political control of Asian, African or South American regions(the three
continents which became ‘colonies’ of European powers during the 18th and 19th
centuries).. It was a powerful conquest over the culture, as well as the mind of the
native population.

The European power ruled over vast regions of Asian, African and South
American continents is a known fact to us. This rule took the form of political
governance, economic exploitation and cultural domination.During the latter half of
the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, the colonized states were
engaged in active political resistance to this rule. Freedom struggles erupted
throughout the colonies. By the mid 20th century, these struggles had resulted in
political Independence for many states in Asia and Africa. In other words they were
‘postcolonial’, suggesting ‘after the colonial’.

A major feature of postcolonial literature is the concern with place and

displacement. Postcolonial literatures deal with themes like- concern with the
development or the recovery of an effective identifying relationship between ‘self’
and ‘place’ .It also shows the valid and active sense of the ‘self’ eroded by
dislocation resulting from migration, leaving the land of birth. Sometimes it shows
the bitter experiences of transportation or ‘voluntary’ removal as indentured labourer.
Beside the historical and cultural differences, place and displacement is a common
feature in postcolonial literature in English. Suffering due to geographical
displacement and the loss of cultural identity to which the protagonist belongs is an
underlying theme of Mulk Raj Anand’s novel ‘Coolie’.
 ‘Coolie’ relates the tragic story of Munoo, an orphaned village boy from
Bilaspur, in the kangra Hills. His displacement occurs when he leaves the hills and
comes to work as a domestic servant in an urban, middle class family in Shamnagar,
where he is ill-treated, abused and accused of nasty things. Later he gets a job as a
worker in a pickle factory, then as a labourer in a Cotton Mill in Bombay, finally as a
rickshaw-puller in an Anglo Indian household in Shimla, where he dies an untimely
death.

Displacement killed Munoo .He could not find acceptance or a place or a family
anywhere. The novelist hints at economic exploitation and shows the master-slave
relationships, ruler-ruled relationships as this was common in postcolonial cultures.
Mulk Raj Anand makes it quite clear that such exploitation and denial of life and
happiness is the condition of the majority of the under –privileged in India. Munno is
an example of such suffering and exploitation in India.

At a very early age, Munoo becomes a victim of exploitation. The novel opens
when Munoo is only 14 years of age, living in the natural surroundings of his native
village. He is quite happy with his playmates even though he is ill-treated by his aunt
Gujri and bullied by his playmate Jay Singh. Even this simplistic rural community is
not free from Capitalistic exploitation and Munoo and his family are victims of it.He
is pushed out from his place, uprooted, forced to leave the village of Bilaspur and
‘exiled’ from his land. He had seen his father economically exploited, his mother
dying of sorrow and rigorous work. Yet, he had known his happiest days in Kangra as
he belonged to the place. He had heard how the landlord had seized his father’s five
acres of land because the interest on the mortgage covering the unpaid rent could not
be paid because the rainfall was scanty and the harvest was poor. He knew that his
father had died a slow death of bitterness and disappointment. He had left behind his
wife (Munoo’s mother) as a penniless beggar, with a child in her arms.

Munoo leaves the village and comes to the city. Hisfirst encounter with the urban
world is in the house of Babu Nathoo Ram, sub-accountant in a bank in Sham Nagar.
The beauty and purity of his innocence is ripped apart (torn apart) as he is abused and
ill-treated by his mistress Bibi Uttam Kaur.She nags at him and humiliates him all the
time and gives him food which cannot be eaten. His uncle Daya Ram takes away the
three rupees which he earned. All this, however fails to dampen his spirit and he
enjoys the friendship and company of his employer’s daughters Sheela and Leela.

Munoo moves o bigger cities like Daulatpur.The study of relationship between

master and servant occupies an important place in the novel. A kindlier aspect of this
can be studied through the relationship of Munoo with Seth Prabh Dayal and his wife.
Both are kind to him but his partner Ganpat abuses him and beats him sometimes.

From that household Munoo goes to Bombay in the hope of a better life but his
hopes are soon shattered. In Bombay he gets a job in Sir George White’s Cotton
Mills and is exposed to the full force of Industrial and Colonial exploitation. The
hierarchical system of the ruler and the ruled is clearly shown by the White Imperial
masters through their treatment of the natives in Coolie. The British Management
offers no security of services. The British foreman is at once the recruiting authority,
a landlord who rents out shabby cottages at high rent. The Sikh merchant exercises
his monopoly as the authorized dealer in the colony and takes full advantage of it.
The ill-paid, ill-housed, under-nourished and bullied labourer is broken, both in body
and soul.

The final act of Munoo’s tragedy begins when Mrs. Mainwaring, whose car knocks
him down, takes him to Shimla. His own wishes in this matter are of no value. She
makes him her boy servant, her rickshaw-puller and there is a hint that he was
sexually exploited also .Munoo accepts the job as a rickshaw-puller without a
murmur, as he being a servant was in a helpless position. This puts a strain on his
lungs and he dies due to tuberculosis at a young age of sixteen.

Munoo’s aspirations, passionate longings and potentialities go waste before they

could be fulfilled. Yet, ‘Coolie’ despite its tragic ending cannot be called a
pessimistic novel. The hope of humanity lies in people like Ratan and Mohan who
protest against the existing system. The novel is a ‘cry against the dehumanization
and brutalization of man which has no end’. The society must give place to the
dispossessed and the marginalized. It must give such dispossessed people a sense of
belonging and an identity. Compassion in people like Seth Prabh Dayal and his wife,
Hari and Mohan offer solution for finding a place for the displaced and the victimized
subjects of human exploitation. Thus ‘Coolie’ is truly a Post-Colonial text.