Caste mobility------
*Hockey stick-
The
novel Untouchable highlights the denial
of upward mobility by showing us that upper caste men do not want lower caste men
to own any sort of property. Ownership of valuables such as English products,
clothes, land , etc., gave a man value. If that man obtained value
then they could no longer say that he is of lower status. This is shown when
Bakha receives an almost new hockey stick from an Upper Caste men, Charat Singh,
who then tells him that he must hide it and not tell anyone where he got it.
Afterwards Bakha meets with upper caste children who have also received hockey
sticks from Charact Singh, Bakha states, “The Babu’s sons were the Babu’s sons.
He would, of course, give them sticks. That he had given one to him, a sweeper,
was an extraordinary favour” (Anand 112) Bakha realizes that children of upper caste
men were expected to have ownership of various valuable items and that he was
not.
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Many people would agree with my
claim that the process of Colonization was not only a forceful process but a psychological
one. Based on Bakha’s behavior, we learn that he praises the English way of
life above his own because he is constantly exposed to the social project of
white superiority.
·
Colonial Hutchinson
·
When the British came into India
they found in play a paradigm that consisted of a strict caste system. As long
as the Indian people were divided they could easily pit one group against another,
successfully diverting attention away from the real issues. In the novel Untouchable it wasn’t until Ghandi
ousted the British government’s attempt to further divide the nation by exempting
Untouchables from political bodies did the Indian people understand the caste
system was hindering their freedom. Ghandi states “ The British Government
sought to pursue a policy of divide and rule in giving to our brethren of the
depressed classes separate electorates in the councils that will be created
under the new constitution” (Anand 146). In other words the British Government
wanted to segregate the Untouchables from the other castes in the new council
as a means to continue to divide and conquer them. In this way the British
would be able to continue to manipulate the psyche of the Indian people. However
diving the people was not the only way that the Bristish psychologically colonized
the Indian people.
Based
on Bakha’s behavior, we learn that the youth of the lower caste system place a
high value on the English way of life and English material items.
A common strategy of Colonization is “divide and conquer” and it was very effective.
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SCRAP
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