The Big Heart: by Mulk Raj Anand - Summary

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      The Big Heart, a stream of consciousness novel, published in 1945. It deals with the conflict between the hereditary coppersmiths and the capitalists. It records the events of a single day in the life of Ananta, the coppersmith, a man of big heart, who has been to Bombay where he has participated in the Gandhian freedom struggle, returns to Amritsar. He faces unemployment because Gokal Chand—a capitalist, sets up a factory. However, Ananta has full faith in the power of the machine. There is an element of romance in the story through his relationship with his mistress Janki who is consumed by tuberculosis. She is with him not only in Bombay but also in Amritsar inspite of all things that people say against them. In the factory run by Ananta, one of the factory workers named Ralia caught by a sudden frenzy and begins smashing the machines in the factory. Ananta tries to stop him. In the struggle, his head gets battered against the machine and he dies. And finally it is the machine, the symbol of British Raj that overcomes the man in this tragic novel.

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