الإصدار 3 - العدد 8 (2025-11-20)

Annand’s Narrative Strategies, Sociopolitical Commitment, and the Symbolic Power of Language in the Novel of “Untouchable”

Dr: Fahim Cheffat Salman

Mulk Raj Anand’s novel “Untouchable” was written in 1935, and it was the pathfinder literary work in India that bravely faced the brutal reality of cast-based injustice in colonial Indian. The novel tells the reader the story of a day in the life of Bakha, a young boy, whose suffering reflects the systematic injustice against the untouchables in Indian society. This study reveals how much Gandhi’s influence on untouchables, examines the contradictions of British rule, and the invitation to human dignity. 

Anand uses the English language with Indian idioms to show the Dalit character. He is inspired by Gorky and Dickens, and his aim is not only to write but to reform. Anand’s novel challenges the established caste-system through the daily experience of the young sweeper boy, Bakha. The novel also documents how the writer manipulates language to express literary realism, advocating social reformation. The writer gives us a picture of human efforts to change. This change can be achieved through education, modernity, and Gandhian ideals in addition to that, there is a reference to call for justice and social equality.