A Reading of Mulk Raj Anand's Two Leaves and a 3Bud

Journal of Critical Reviews

ISSN- 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 5, 2020

Review Article DISCOVERING THE CONFORMING PSYCHE TOWARDS THE OCCIDENTS: A READING OF MULK RAJ ANAND'S TWO LEAVES AND A 3BUD

Abhilasha Phukan

Assistant Professor, University of Science And Technology, Meghalaya [email protected]

Received: 16.01.2020 Revised: 22.02.2020 Accepted: 27.03.2020

Abstract: The novel Two leaves and a Bud by Mulk Raj Anand is a poignant portrayal of the socio-economic condition of the tea-workers in Assam. Set in the colonial era, the novel has been a signifier of the dominance of the colonial powers over the poor workers, their atrocities and the subsequent submission of the latter. The tea workers also known as ‘coolies' came to work in the tea gardens in search of a better livelihood and they were treated as the peripheral ‘Other' who were devoid of even the minimum standards of living. The burden of colonisation and the perpetual state of poverty of the workers made them powerless. Although there were several hundreds of workers working together in the tea estates, they did not resist and silently conformed to colonial suppression and cultural brainwashing. This paper attempts to study the ways in which the colonial powers conditioned the mind of the tea workers, their psychology of Occidental dominance with the help of the data gathered from primary and secondary sources.

Keywords: colonisation, occidental dominance, poverty, psychology, cultural brainwashing, other, peripheral

INTRODUCTION Sardar of the estate who gives him high hopes of acquisition of Mulk Raj Anand was one of the distinguished Indian writers in wealth and land.“They will give you a house, and nice house built English whose works permeates into the lives of the marginal with bricks in the Angrezi manner with tin roof they will give you people and their disadvantaged lives. Being a Cambridge everything, everything believe me” (Anand, 7). Gangu went to graduate, the writer is considered to be amongst the prominent work in the garden because he was full of debt which he failed to writers who contributed in the development of the Indo-Anglian repay. He was a victim of circumstance who had to leave his novels. His writings are a realistic portrayal of the lives of the village in order to start a fresh debt- free life. His poverty people crushed under the powers of colonialism and capitalism. stricken life can be considered as one of the primary factors why His works often describes the internal political scenario of the he had to work as a slave for the White men. nation as a backdrop for the exploitation meted upon the poor people. His famous works includes Untouchable, Coolie, Across the The White Men or the colonisers depicted in the novel had no Black Waters, Two Leaves and a Bud. Published in the 1940s prior empathy for the coolies rather they considered them as the to Independence, the novel is a vivid description of how the White Men’s Burden. They facilitated the idea of conformity of colonial forces exploited the tea-workers in their estates. the coolies towards them through the application of force and fear. By depriving them of even the minimum standard of living “Two Leaves and a Bud is a crucially important novel which deals served as a potential tool for control. One exception was Dr. De with the theme of exploitation as a part of the larger colonial La Havre, the white doctor who was quite concerned with the experience. There are oblique colonial references in the first two poor conditions of the coolie lanes. He showed an empathetic novels but in this novel , colonialism is analysed with greater attitude towards the coolies who were ignored as sub-humans by concentration. The entire tragedy is unfolded against the dark the majority of Britishers. backdrop of the tea plantation which symbolizes the might and inhumanity of the British empire. The racial problem looms “No septic tank latrines’, he muttered to himself the picture of larger in this novel. The Indian social life has given a new hookworms among the puddles of Urine formed itself in his dimension. The British officials and their Indian subordinates are mind. There must be thousands of them hatching under such ranged against the defenceless coolies working in the stifling favourable conditions, he thought. If only those syndicates surroundings. The capitalist forces are symbolized in this novel couldstop and think for a minute that the coolies should not by the British . The Englishmen who believes in the ideology of suffer from anaemia and listlessness. If only the director had white man’s burden are pathologically suspicious of all Indians . sanctioned his plan to stem the tide of cholera that has arisen Every coolie is a potential agitator for the British officials. The year after year and carried hundreds of lives away!”(Anand, 15). natural result of this distrust is the despair of the Indians working there” (Mohan 6). These thoughts of the English doctor De La Havre who worked in the garden vividly portrayed the unhygienic conditions in which It gives us a clear picture of how the lives of the marginal people the workers were doomed to live in. The various ailments and are ignored by the mainstream people reducing them to profit epidemic that engulfs the coolie lines was also described in this extracting mediums working endlessly regardless of their health paragraph of the novel. However, away from the dirt and disease, conditions. The novel starts with Gangu and his family migrating was the planters bungalow which was majestic. De La Havre to Macpherson Tea Estate of Assam from Hoshiarpur. He goes persisted in his efforts to improve the lives of the workers. “The there in search of better livelihood and is tricked by Buta, the white doctor becomes the mouthpiece of the writer whose misfortune is depicted at the superstition and stupidity and

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illiteracy and ignorance of the peasants (Rashmi 755). He spoke decades of Independence. In the text The Intimate Enemy, Ashish to Croft-Cooke for improvising their lives to which he said, Nandy throws some light about the psychology of Colonialism. “These coolies are sub-human and they do not altogether value the benefits of hygiene...” (Anand,27). De La Havre tries to “The example I shall use will be that of India, where a colonial inculcate a change and serve the poor workers. He did not want political economy began to operate seventy years before the full to rule them but eradicate the barriers of discrimination and blown ideology of British imperialism became dominant, and exploitation of the coolies. The entire family of Croft-Cooke had where thirty-five years later after theformal ending of the Raj, lived with their ideologies which regarded the workers as sub- the ideology of colonialism is still triumphant in many sectors of humans and unworthy of care and nutrition. Just like the division life...As a state of mind, it is an indigenous process released by of the ‘One’ and ‘the Other’ is structured in Edward Said’s theory external forces. It’s sources lie deep in the minds of the ruler and of Orientalism, the Macpherson Tea Estate was also divided into the ruled”(Nandy 2). the One and the Other where the latter is deprived of even the basic necessities of life. The coolies were considered as the He gives the example of India which internalized itself as a insignificant and peripheral ‘Other’ who were insignificant, sub- colony even before seventy years and thirty years after the humans unworthy of facilities. The intentional negligence formal British rule. Similarly the tea-workers also viewed towards the workers can also be interpreted as a mode of themselves as the inferior, submissive race who are bound to asserting their authority and a tool for subduing them by follow orders of their masters. Emily Cummins has defined depriving them of the basic necessities. They White men feared Internal Colonisation as a theory that explains how inequality that if the insignificant ‘Other’ was bestowed with facilities then and domination are maintained in a society when there is not they would use those resources to retaliate against their masters necessarily a foreign power ruling. The people such as the Neogi and assert their freedom. Sardar, Buta Sardar who mercilessly exploits their own people are some of the examples why the process of internalising of the Conformity is the act of fitting in with the group. As a group- supremacy of the master still goes on. living species, much of our behaviour is focused on preserving group cohesion. The tendency to change one’s behaviour tp The groups of coolies acted and thought together. In the novel we match the responses of others is often adaptive (Cialdini and found instances of secret group meetings at night where the Goldstein). The protagonist Gangu in the initial part of the novel coolies discussed the ways to flee from the tea estate. Its is the is seen to be hopeful about a better life but as he comes in contact natural fear for the White Men that was a barrier between them with his fellow workers he also seems to have accepted his and their freedom. The coolies were large in number but they poverty stricken and inferior state. He withstands humiliation of still did not dare to go against their Master. They sought the help his masters with resignation. He develops the idea of the of Dr De La Havre who urged them to fight for their own rights. powerful state of the White people in his mind and accepts his “You want a coolie raj, you people. Why do you let them beat inferior state as his fate. You? Why can’t you beat back, all of you together?” (Anand 187) Their minds were deeply colonised and enslaved that is why they There are certain other factors which facilitates this thought of could not retaliate. This happens because the Occident’s are conformity. It is not just the White men who exploits them but always regarded as the superpower by the Orients. If we also the Indian intermediaries who earned their commission by consider Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism where the East as a trafficking coolies to the tea estates. They were the Indian middle whole is ‘feminised', deemed passive, submissive while West class bourgeoisie whose blood was Indian but their thinking becomes- Masculine that is active, dominant, heroic...(McLeod aligned with the British. They are the examples of the fact that 45). These notions are internalized by the workers who find it as colonialism was not the root problem but rather the natives who their duty to serve their Master. The hegemony of the British tricked their own men into falsehood in exchange of some favour planters upon the workers primarily functioned due to the deep from the Whites. The coolies were subjected to physical and fear psychosis and rumour mongering amongst them. They were social exploitation. With low wages and long hours of work, their also controlled by goons and policemen who caught and thrashed life was nothing less then a living hell. Gangu’s world went upside them if they tried to escape. The British has particularly bribed down when he suffered from Malaria and he somehow fought the government officials and local goons so that they keep a back his fever but his wife Sajani caught Cholera which proved check on the workers. fatal for her. Gangu promised himself that he would live a debt free life away from the village but he had to take loan in order to Another method of domination was by luring the women and arrange the cremation. His wage did not suffice the living daughters of the tea workers. The wife of the Neogi Sardar expense in the tea-estate. He was trashed by his Sahib for bartered her body in exchange of gifts to the monstrous Reggie meeting him in a diseased state. He suffered utter humiliation Hunt who raped her. This rape which was described horrifically and pain and went to a money-lender to ask for a loan who refers to the manner in which Reggie tried to overpower his charged a higher rate of interest. Thus , Gangu was gradually mistress. diving deep into the cycle of poverty and debt. “The tea garden in “She yielded to him, her body limp and contorted into a silent Assam had become a symbol of his slavery and this world of tea despair, her eyes agaze at the wild sensual beat in his face, her plantation was like a prison house” (Mishra 5256). The vicious heart turned inwards towards at the cold virginity that seemed circle of moneylenders charging exorbitant interest rates further to freeze her at the contact with him. He made a sudden pushed him into the debt cycle where his mere wages were not upcharge, as if he were dealing a death blow to himself and to her enough to come out of this debt-ridden poverty. This situation and he swung her body hard, hard, harder, tearing the flesh of was not only suffered by Gangu but also those thousands of her breasts, biting her cheeks.... till she was red and purple like a workers who could never escape from the gardens i.e. they were mangled corpse” (Anand 186). anchored by invisible chains of slavery. The rape which was described was a form of physical The novel bears its significance even in the present times and it domination meted upon the coolie women. Those who did not had not lost its context post Independence. While the freedom agree to sleep with him were badly exploited. Reggie’s obsession movement brought liberation and rights for the indigenous for Gangu’s daughter Leila proved fatal for Gangu who came people, a section of people is yet to be freed from the trend of forward to protect his own daughter. “Gangu is an exemplary colonialism. They are still psychologically colonised even after figure of underclass and his death is symbolic as an upshot of the

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evils of capitalism that divides society into numerous sections. REFERENCES: The death of Gangu arouses the conscience of humanity against 1. Anand, Mulk Raj (1946). Two Leaves And A Bud. Kutub the ruthless dictatorship of the capitalist who are exploiting and Publishers, Bombay., 1:15-49. humiliating the underclass for time immemorial.”(Bartwal 398). 2. Bartwal, Dhanesh M.(2014). Reflection of throbbing and He shot Gangu in the coolie lane itself yet none of his fellow suffering of an underclass protagonist in Mulk Raj Anand’s workers came forward to retaliate. “He looked to see if anyone Two leaves and a Bud. Research Scholar: An International was approaching. Not a soul in sight, though the noise of profuse Referred Journal of Literary explorations pp. 397-398 coughing, talk and the bubbling of hubble-bubbles came from 3. Cialdini, R.B., & Goldstein, N. j. (2004). Social influence: every side. (Anand 256) Nobody among the hundred coolies Conformity and compliance. Annual Review of Psychology, dared to raise a voice against one single person because they 55, 591-621. were instilled with fear. They internalised their powerless state 4. George,C.J (1994). Mulk Raj Anand His Art and Concerns. and accepted the exploitation with resignation. Atlantic Publishers, New delhi., 1: 51-77 5. Purkait, R., Prasad, A., Bhadra, R., Basu, A.Massive “Although Anand’s early works were faulted by some critics for pericardial effusion as the only manifestation of primary stereotypical characterisation, didacticism and melodrama, hypothyroidism(2013) Journal of Cardiovascular Disease critiques have noted a restraint in later novels that enhances the Research, 4 (4), pp. 248-250. persuasiveness of his appeals.” (Sudhakar 2). Dr. P.K.Rajan, an DOI: 10.1016/j.jcdr.2014.01.001 Indian literary critic observes: “The achievement of Anand as a 6. McLeod, John (2015). Beginning Postcolonialism.Viva Books, novelist in Indian English literature has a three-fold significance. India., 3:45-46 First, he is the forerunner of the protest novel in India and the 7. Mohan, Indra (2005). The novels of Mulk Raj Anand: A new third world with the underdog in society at the very centre of the critical spectrum. Atlantic Publishers, New Delhi., 1: 5-6 narrative delineating the suffering of the poor in a colonial 8. Chavda HV, Patel CN, Anand IS. "Biopharmaceutics situation projecting the hope of a change at hand in terms of the Classification System." Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy 1.1 desire image. In this respect his early works became (2010), 62-69. Print. doi:10.4103/0975-8453.59514 ―archetypal‖ in nature, ushering in similar traditions not only in 9. Rashmi (2017). Mulk Raj Anand’s Two Leaves And A Bud: A Indian languages but in other countries of the third world Study of social exploitation. International Journal of English too…”(Mulk Raj Anand, 49). While reviewing his novel Goronwy Language, Literature in Humanities., 5:755-756 Ree appreciated the author for exposing colonial brutality 10. Sudhakar, Venkata P (2016). A critical reception on selected effortlessly. “He further commented: I have no doubt that Dr. novels of Mulk Raj Anand. Research Journal of English Anand’s account on the tea planters is true”. And his remark Language and Literature., 4:2-3 provoked protests from the planters. The white men refused to acknowledge their inhumanity towards the coolies and challenged Anand. In the fear of being blatantly exposed of their misdeeds the novel was banned for quite a few time in India. This was done in order to keep the people in darkness and unaware of what goes inside those gardens and attracted manpower by making false promises.

Thus, the perpetual state of poverty, chain of debt, lack of alternate employment methods, vicious circle of middle men, social discrimination, physical exploitation, inhumane treatment by the British, illiteracy, fear instilled minds of the workers were some of the key factors why the tea-workers could not retaliate against their masters. The idea of total conformity was difficult to associate with the tea workers because we can see certain instances of non-conformity amongst the characters. One such character was Gangu who met his untimely death due to his courage to speak up against injustice. His death was not investigated upon because his co-workers did not raise a voice against their master or even demanded justice. The construction of the invisible barrier by the Occidents in terms of living standards and their attitude towards the workers helped in normalising the inhumane treatment meted out by them. The colonisers on the other hand took advantage of their pathetic state and in the guise of providing employment they had continued this stream of psychological dominance which had internalized their minds to such an extent that even after decades of Independence, the process still goes on. Their minds are yet to be decolonised from the colonial notion of slave and master; it is only then when they will achieve their liberation in true form.

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