Representation of Cultural Trauma :A Comparative Study of Anand’s Untouchable and Murugan’s Season of the Palm

Abstract

Mulk Raj Anand’sUntouchable and Perumal Murugan’s Season of the Palm deal mainly with caste discrimination, economic inequalities, superstition and children exploitation to awake social consciousness in India. Caste system affects the moral, social, cultural, psychological and even aesthetic values of the outcaste people in the society. The conflict of caste system is not resolved but the possibility of a solution in future is hinted out in both novels. The cultural trauma is mainly applied to clarify the transgression of the lower caste characters, Bakha and Shortie. This type of trauma shapes different societies and exposes the way victims cope up with it afterwards. The decision of Bakha to listen the speech of Gandhi and his keen interests on the conversation between poet and lawyer is an attempt to overcome the cultural trauma of the pre-independent India. Likewise, Shortie’s decision to leave his Master's house after getting punishment is an attempt to overcome the cultural trauma of the independent India which shows the possibility of social change. The research concludes with the finding that the two novelists have not only represent the marginalized position of so called untouchables but also provide agency for progressive consciousness.