Munoo, the Protagonist in “Coolie”, a Victim of Exploitation by M R Anand

Abstract

Coolie is a ravaging account of the poverty and exploitation faced, not just by the protagonist, Munoo, but thousands like him. Anand shows how the racial and class hierarchies imposed by British colonialism have intersected, or overlaid, the existing caste system to make life impossible for “Coolies”. All the common enemies of the suppressed and exploited people in the novel show the real scenario of India. The foundation of the country was built on basis of casteism and classism. Anand portrayed how British colonizers were exploiting the coolies. The protagonist Munoo also was deceived by the high class people. Munoo has no real control over his life; over the work he does or where he lives or how he is treated. The novel takes us to different places and cities showing the inhuman and degrading treatment that the poor Munoo gets at the hands of the socially, economically, and politically affluent and higher classes of Indian society and how he copes with all circumstances alone. As he moves from one place to another in search of a job or a home, he moves from one tragedy to another. In his travels and through the various people he meets and is employed by, he is exposed to the multiplicity of life in India which is made vivid by Anand’s prose. If the novel's portrait of Munoo’s life raises difficult questions about Indian society, Munoo’s death raises the question of whether there can be any future for a “Coolie” if nothing changes.