Element of Pathos in Mulk Raj Anand’s Novels: An Analysis with reference to Two Leaves and a Bud

Abstract

The Lord of tragedy, Sir Leo Tolstoy says: “Man lives consciously for himself but unconsciously he serves as an instrument for the accomplishment of historical and social ends.”     

Dr. Mulk Raj Anand is one of the reputed novelist and a master story teller. His short stories are very popular and are read with immense interest till date. This a pioneer of Indian English Literature was born in 1905 in Peshawar, the central city of North West Frontier Province. He inherited the story narration concept from his mother who also enriched young Mulk raj with the stories related to history and nationalism. Though he was sophisticated and cosmopolitan  in his outlook, yet most of his novels are set in rural background. Some critics are skeptical of his novels being satirical, yet they reveal the great Indian generosity of heart, one cannot help but sympathize with the unfortunate and the helpless characters of his stories. He revealed through his writings that in addition to the foreign colonialism of Britain there existed layers of colonialism within Indian society also which interfered in the way of India's transition to a developed civil society. While exposing the overarching divide between the British and a colonized India, he reveals an Indian society creating its own layers of colonizers and colonized thereby rendering the fledgling Indian nationalism an extremely problematic concept. This paper aims to make an analysis to bring out the tragic element in his novel, Two Leaves and a Bud (1998)