SHATTERED INNOCENCE: THE SILENT SCREAMS OF CHILD LABOR IN MULK RAJ ANAND

Abstract

The novel Coolie (1936) by Mulk Raj Anand is a story about Munno, a child labourer from the Kangra Hills, and the tragedy of child labour in colonial India. Munno's forced entry into a series of roles of exploitation – Domestic servant, Factory worker, Coolie and Rickshaw puller – represent the destruction of childhood and the innocence of others, imposed by the remnants of feudalism, Colonial capitalism and the class hierarchy. The physical exhaustion, malnutrition abuse, making the child a disposable unit of cheap labour, culminating in Munno's early death from TB are described by Anand. The “silent scream” on the title is the voiceless suffering of the labouring child and Anand's humanist protest of a social order which denies education, play and dignity to the young one. The novel's realism, based on Munno's own experience in India, which emphasizes the importance of being a social conscience and a reformist, gives the narrative a wider perspective to criticize systemic injustice, while also remaining relevant to the hardships that Indian people still face today.