The Barber's Trade Union.pptx

it is a famous short story by an Indian author Mulk Raj Anand.

1. The Barber’s trade union (Short Story) - Mulk Raj Anand

2. Let’s Discuss….. What is an Insult ? How one feels after experiencing an Insult ? Is insulting someone is good ? Can Insult be taken positively ? Can insult be turned into a passion for progress ? Insult = progress/development… Agree ?

3. Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004)- Assistant. Prof. of English, Lal Bahadur Shastri Mahavidyalaya , Dharmabada , was born into a Kshatriya household in Peshawar. He moved overseas after finishing his schooling in India to pursue higher study, which included a doctorate in philosophy. Many notable honours have been bestowed upon him, including the Padma Bhushan , the International Peace Prize, and the Sahitya Academy Award. As a novelist, short story writer, and critic, he has been prolific. Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936), Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1940), and The Sword and the Sickle (1941) are among his works.

4. In Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘The Barber’s Trade Union’ , aspects like status image alienation pride cleverness independence respect freedom explored . 

5. Themes caste or social status  Caste discrimination by High Caste people Insult Protest/Opposition to injustice

6. Characters :- Chandhu - protagonist, Chandu was senior by about six months to the narrator. He is a barber by profession in a village. He is from a low caste.his father died of plague so he has to leave his education after fifth primary class and do the work of barber. He visits door to door for grooming. wants to take revenge of the insult by Sahukar The Narrator- he is from a high caste, does not believe in casteism , good friend of Chandu , plays and imitates Chandu, does not believe in Casteism, Chandu is a hero for him Chandu’s Mother- old woman, kind to the narrator Narrator’s Mother- She does not like Chandu as he is a low-caste barber’s son and that they must keep up the status of their high caste and class. She puts  red caste mark put on narrator’s forehead every morning, asks narrator not to be with Chandu The Sahukar - aged, he is from high caste and follows casteism, he insults Chandu on his caste publicly, he has a very young wife younger than her husband by twenty years, he alwats has a clean shave with a moustache The Villagers- they follow casteism, they threatened Chandu to do work of a barber Lalla Hukam Chand- the lawyer of the village, kind to Chandu, allows Chandu a ride to town with him, six miles away, on the foot-rest of his closed carriage

7. The Story.... At a tender age, Chandu embarks upon full-fledged domestic responsibility. Every morning Chandu has to make door to door visits to the notables in the village for shaving and hair-cutting. He was a genius at catching wasps, and at pressing the poison out of their tails, at tying their tiny legs to cotton thread and flying them, while I always got stung on the cheeks if I dared to go anywhere near the platform of the village well where these insects settled on the puddles to drink water . He could make and fly paper kites of such delicate design and the narrator fails to do all such things, so he is envious of Chandu . Chandu is his role model. His father apprenticed Chandu early to the hereditary profession of the barber’s caste and sent him out hair-cutting in the village, and he had no time for the home tasks/home work which our school master gave us.

8. The Story......(2) Narrator’s mother resented the fact that Chandu won a scholarship at school while I had to pay fee to be taught. And she constantly banned him from playing with Chandu, saying that chandu was a low-caste barber’s son and that narrator ought to keep up the status of my caste and class. But whatever innate ideas I had inherited from my forefathers I certainly hadn’t inherited any sense of superiority. I was always rather ashamed of the red caste mark which my mother put on my forehead every morning, and of the formalized pattern of the uchkin, the tight cotton trousers, the gold- worked shoes and the silk turban in which I dressed. I longed for the right to wear all the spectacular conglomeration of clothes which Chandu wore-a pair of khaki shorts which the retired subedar had given him, a frayed black velvet waistcoat, decorated all over with shell buttons, and a round felt cap which had once belonged to Lalla Hukam Chand, the lawyer of our village..

9. The Story......(3) Chandu’s father died of plague. For then he would do the round of saving and hair-cutting at the houses of the high-caste notables in the morning, bathe and dress. He left the school. Then steal a ride to town, six miles away, on the foot-rest of the closed carriage in which Lalla Hukam Chand Travelled to town. So he always brought me some gift or other from the town-a paint brush, or gold ink, or white chalk, or a double-edged penknife to sharpen pencils, and he would entertain me with long merry descriptions of the variety of things he saw in the bazaar. At district, he loved English styles in clothes which he saw the sahibs and the lawyers, the chaprasis and the policemen wearing at the District Court, where he had to wait for the journey home at the back of Lalla Hukam Chand.

10. The Story......(4) He expressed to me a secret wish he had to steal some money from the pitcher of his mother to buy himself a rig-out like that of Kalan Khan , the dentist , who , he said, performed miracles in the town, fitting people with rows of teeth and new eyes. He described to me the appearance of Kalan Khan, a young man with hair parted on one side, with an ivory collar and bow tie, a black coat and striped trousers, and a wonderful rubber overcoat and pumps. Khan also had an Angrezi leather hand-bag and flourished his shining steel instruments used by Dentists. Chandu wanted to looke like Kalan Khan. He told the narrator that he learnt how to treat pimples, boils and cuts on people’s bodies from his late father, who learnt fronm his father before him. One day Chandu at the door of narrator’s house in the morning. He was dressed up in a white turban, a white rubber coat (a little too big for him, but nevertheless very splendid), a pair or pumps , and he had a leather bag in his hand he was setting off on his round and had come to show grand.

11. The Story......(5) Chandu visited the house of the landlord, whom he shaved every morning. The narrator also following admiringly behind. When the landlord who was of high caste watched the dress of Chandu. He was angry and started insulting Chandu. He used the words like ‘The son of a pig!’ He insults Chandu for 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. He said ‘Get out! Get out! You son of a devi! You will defile my religion. I suppose you have no fear of anyone now that your father is dead.’‘Go away you swine, go away and wear clothes befitting your low status as a barber’. We will have to treat the whole house with the sacred cow-dung to purify it’ Go and come back in your own clothes! Then I shall let you cut may hair’ Chandu was very upset and about to cry. He had decided something. He went up town way and says he earned some money shaving people on the roadside.

12. The Story......(6) Chandu made a plan and informed it to the narrator Chandu was going to each these orthodox idiots a lesson . He was going on strike and shall not go to their houses to attend to them. He was going to by Japanese bicycle from the gambling son of Lalla Hukam Chand for five rupees. He shall learn to riding it and go to town on it every day in the attire like of Kalan Khan. The narrator was also excited and supported him. He desired to take a ride on the cycle with Chandu. Chandu got support from the narrator to learn bicycle riding. The Sahukar and the villagers made fun of Chandu and advised him not to do such things and do the work of a barber. But Chandu ignores them.

13. The Story......(7) Chandu was still on strike. As he was the only barber in the village, the villagers and the Sahukar were unshaved and without grooming. Chandu showed the faces of the villagers to the narrator. The narrator failed to recognize them because of their long hair and unshaved faces. Their faces started itching. The Sahukar looked shabby with his long –jawed face dirtied by the white scum of his unshaved beard The Sahukar had grew big thick moustache (Which I knew the landlord Dyed) with the prickly white bush on his jowls (lower jaw). His sharp moustache was without trimming. Chandu and the narrator made fun of Sahukar... ‘Ha! Ha! I roared a sick lion! He looks seedy.’ and “beavers, beavers” and run away. Even those who were of high castes, even the members of the families of the elders, began to giggle with laughter at the shabby appearance of the great ones and made rude remarks about their persons.

14. The Story......(8) And it was said that at least the lanlord’s wife threatened to run away with somebody, because, being younger than her husband by twenty years , she had born with him as long as he kept himself in trim , but was now disgusted with him beyond the limits of reconciliation . His strike was successful. Chandu did good business in town during these days and saved money, even though he bought new clothes and new tools for himself and gave the narrator various presents. The village elders threatened to have Chandu sent to prison for his offences, and ordered his mother to force him to obey before they committed him to the police for a breach of the peace. But his mother rejected it. The villagers thought of getting the barber of Verka (nearby village) to come and attend them , and offered him an anna instead of the two pice they had usually paid to Chandu .

15. The Story......(9) Chandu had seen the shop of Nringan Das, the barber of the town. He opened his own shop at the town like Nringan Das on the wayside at the head of the bazaar Dhunoo(bazaar spot). Chandu created ‘Rajkot District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon’ with other barbers in the town. This Union was the first one in the pre-independent country followed by other such unions in the country.

16. Plot Chandu was a barber by caste. He adopted the profession of his father . As he was considered a member of a low caste, the other people of high caste used to insult him. In the end he decided to go on strike and stop visiting people's homes. He opened his own shop and the villagers had to go there to get themselves shaved.

17. Plot Construction 1. Exposition - ? 2. Rising Action- ? 3. Climax- ? 4. Falling Action- ? 5. Denouement/ Solution - ?

18. Plot Construction 1 . Exposition - Information about major characters, protagonist, hint about the story, setting 2. Rising Action- Chandu gets the clothes like Dr. Kalan Khan 3. Climax- Chandu is insulted by Sahukar and decides to go on strike 4. Falling Action- the villagers are unshaved and faced troubles due to the strike 5. Denouement/ Solution - Chandu rejects to withdraw the strike. Buyies a cycle and successfully opens an own shop at town

19. Conflict A) Internal - ? or B) External - ? & Between Whom.......?

20. Conflict A) Internal - in the mind of Chandu. He wanted to take revenge of his insult against the villagers and specially the Sahukar or B) External - No external conflict in the story & Between Whom....... Internal conflict is between Chandu and the villagers