Untouchable

Said’s idea of resistance as mentioned by professor Mufti is “the orientation of mind and body that pushes back power”. This idea is present in the novel by Mulk Raj Anand “Untouchable” when Bakha the main character refuses to accept mainstream society and attempts to imitate the Tommies which were the British soldiers that occupied India at the time. Bakha is part of the lower class in India and is considered to be an outcastes or an “untouchable” meaning he could not touch or be touched because he was considered to be contaminated. Bakha represented the resistance in this novel because he denies his position inherited by his forefathers of a sweeper and latrine cleaner to become like the British soldiers in order to challenge his superiors which were the Hindus. The British soldiers were Bakha’s heroes because they were free to roam around the country and he was a slave to his lower class status that did not allow him to have freedom. He believed that by wearing clothes like the soldiers and acting like a soldier gave him capitol and relieved him of his “outcaste” status in society. He wants this freedom and resists his lower class status given to him by his culture by imitating another.