Professor

English Department

Ch. Ballu Ram Godara Govt. Girls College,

Sri Ganga Nagar  Rajasthan, India 

Abstract

This paper discusses one of the representative stories of Indian short story writer, Mulk Raj Anand, titled, ‘The Barber’s Trade Union’. The story is knitted with the structural element of social realism. Many times, it happens that many incidents that happen before us, we cannot forget those. Such kind of things become a part of our memory and whenever they get similar associations, those memories come back and reflect in our conversation or behavior. The Indian society has its past and though the time has changed but we cannot forget the different social forms and circumstances through which Indian society has passed. This story acknowledges the readers of the difference of castes and their behavior-pattern that was prevalent in twentieth century. It also makes the readers to meditate whether those circumstances still exist in our society or we have eradicated those evils that made the people behave unequally. At one side, we the readers feel excited with the genius of protagonist, Chandu as a clever and active boy but at the same time, we feel sympathized with him for mistreating him socially just because he belonged to lower class. So, in upper level, the story is written in a mocking and narrating way but it has deeper meanings as a representative story of socially crushed and misbehaved people, more significantly having a message to reject and control the domination.

Word-meanings- Structural, behavior, realism, prevalent, socially    

Mulk Raj Anand’s story,‘The Barber’s Trade Union’ is about the exploits of a barber’s young son named Chandu. The motif behind the story is to arouse social awareness and show the then real and existing social situations. The story includes the human beings and their behavioral aspects, caste-discrimination, self-respect and victory of humanism. The people who are thought as useless or having no respect of them as they are poor and thought as belonging to lower strata of society are mistreated by the so-called rich or high caste society but in the end, it is well illustrated through the marvelous narration and exquisite framework of the story that no one is lower or higher to other in society.

In the story, Chandu, a young son of a barber, lived in a small village. His father used to go the big ones of the village for hair-cutting and shaving. He taught Chandu also his family profession and started sending him for shaving and cutting hair. He also taught him how to cure pimples, boils and cuts.

Chandu could not get much education because his father died of plague suddenly and he had to earn his living by doing whole-time work. However, being young and enthusiastic, he often had novel ideas. He wanted to earn more money by doing other works also. He was very much attracted by city-life. He saw a city-man- Kallan Khan a dentist wearing a new type of dress and shoes. It was a rubber coat worn by doctors. He somehow bought such a coat for himself. He bought a pant and pump shoes also. He bought new set of his professional things and a leather bag. With this new dress, he went to the Zamindar’s house early morning for shaving as usual.  The landlord became furious to see him in the new dress. He turned him out—

“Ram!Ram!Ram!” said Bijay Chand, the burly landlord, touching the sacred thread which hung over his ear since he had just been to the lavatory. ‘The son of a pig! He is bringing a leather bag of cow-hide into our house and a coat of the marrow of, I don’t know, some other animals and those evil black Angrezi shoes. Get out! You son of a devil! You will defile my religion. I suppose you have no fear of anyone now that your father is dead.

‘But I am wearing the clothes of a doctor, Jagirdar Sahib,’ said Chandu.

`Go away you swine, go away and wear clothes befitting your low status as a barber, and don’t let me see you practicing any of your new-fangled notions, or else I will have you flogged.’

Chandu was insulted by the Sahukar and others also. He ran away from them and earned some money by shaving roadside people and people in the district court where he went sitting on the pedestal of the lawyer’s carriage. From the lawyer’s son he bought a cycle for five rupees. His plan was to go to the city on cycle and work there. He could earn more there. He started learning how to ride a cycle with the help of his friend. He fell down once or twice. The people- the Sahukar and the landlord’s men saw him and laughed at him. They again abused him. He felt hurt. He decided to teach them a lesson. He decided to strike and not go for shaving or hair-cutting in the houses of the village people for three days. He went to the district court sitting on the pedestal of the lawyer’s carriage. He went to the city and earned more than he did in the village. He bought new clothes and new tools. He bought gifts for his friend.

People of the village-the landlord, the Sahukar and others had to go without shaving for three days. Their faces looked awkward. Chandu took his friend to the bazar to show him their faces. He said that they had laughed at him that day. They had insulted him so much. Now it was his turn to laugh at them. They would now realize their pitiful condition. Chandu and his friend went to the Sahukar’s shop. The peasants and the landlord were also there. With his beard unshaved for three days he looked shabby. He dyed his hair and moustache. His beard was white. He looked ugly. The Sahukar with is brown moustache looked like a leper. Chandu told his friend to go past the shop running saying loudly “bearers, bearers”. He did so. The peasants could not help laughing. The landlord with his white beard looked an old man. He had married young girl. The girl threatened to go away leaving him and marry a younger person. The village elders went to Chandu’s mother and said that they would get Chandu arrested by the police. However, Chandu’s mother was a sharp-tongued lady. She sent them away insulting them. The villagers thought of inviting a barber from a nearby village, Verka by paying him higher remuneration. Chandu was too short for them. He thought of a new plan. Having seen the shop of Nirangan  Das, the barber of the town, he made a scheme of opening a shop on the way side at the head of the bazar, in partnership with his cousin, the barber of Verka and with Dhunoo and the other barbers within a range of seven miles from his village. He called a special meeting of all the barbers. He was a gifted speaker. He convinced them all that it was the time that the elders of the village came to them to be shaved rather then they should go to them from house to house like their slaves. Thus Rajkot District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon was started. This was the Barber’s Trade Union. It was followed by many other active trade unions of working men.

The narrator regards Chandu, the barber boy of his village as a maker of modern India: Due to his peculiar action a new social movement started which became a special feature of modern India. Through the common observations of life, Anand’s writing becomes realistic and shows signs of hope in the times of trial and darkness and a concern for society. The story very well depicts the child psychology as there is no difference between children, and in them, the difference is created by the elders. The caste-discrimination is created by human beings. For, the betterment of society, it is necessary for us to be humane for others and behave in a just way. The story provides a complete  structure- theme, conflict, characters, solution and motif.  

References:-

Bhatnagar, M.K. and Mittapalli Rajeshwar. (Eds) The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand: A Critical Study: Atlantic Publisher. New Delhi. 2000 Print.

George, C. J. Mulk Raj Anand- His Art and Concerns: A Study of His Non-Autobiographical Novels. Atlantic Publisher. New Delhi. 2008 Print.

Singh, Ram Sewak and CharuSheel Singh. Spectrum History of Indian English Literature In English. Atlantic Publisher. New Delhi. 1997 Print.

http://ijellh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/23.-Dr.-Durga-Prasad-Dash-paper-final.pdf

http://foundationenglish20172018.blogspot.com/2017/03/summary-barbers- trade-union.html