Poverty and its Representation in Literature and Creative Expressions

Abstract

The theme of poverty can be seen as one of the common themes in English Literature. But, poverty itself is rarely depicted as the central theme of a literary work. Though poverty was there before Industrial Revolution, it was not a social issue.Many writers use poverty as a minor theme only to construct his story or todevelop a majortheme. Innineteenth century, just after the industrial revolution poverty was clearly viewed when Charles Dickens was a young boy. He faced the distinction of classes due to urbanization in England. He felt the poverty of England and very realistically portrayed it in many of his novels.As poverty is a biggest challenge towards humanity,there is a vast representation of it in Indian English Literature too. Major themes of Indian writer’s are-hunger, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, Indian landscape, caste- system,Indian myth etc. Anand is certainly a great novelist who represents the world around him.Mulk Raj Anand chose his protagonists from the lower strata of the society.My paper tries to reflect the extreme sufferings and poverty of an underclass protagonist Gangu who is exploited in the hands of capitalists and the colonizers in Mulk Raj Anand’s notabletext Two Leaves and a Bud.