Lakshmi: Character Analysis in The Novel Coolie

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      Lakshmi is a minor woman character in the novel Coolie. She is a very kind woman. She is the wife of old coolie Hari Har. She accompanied by her husband, children and Munoo lives in Bombay. She is very kind to Munoo and is much obliged to him ever since they met him on a busy road of Bombay and it is Munoo who saved the life of their daughter who was shrieking in the middle of the road behind them. Munoo rescued the child out of danger. She then said with folded hands, “Oh, may you live long, may you live long, my son”. Thus, Lakshmi gives him a maternal love and affection. Although there are hints that there enters some erotic element also into the relations between these two. Lakshmi is a rural woman and she has been brought by her husband Hari in order to work in the factory in Bombay. She appears to be much confused and frightened in the city. She flies in a panic when she sees Madir Khan, the tall Pathan at the mill gate.

      Lakshmi is a very typical Hindu wife devoted to her husband and children. She has to do household work, look after the children and also work in the factory for long hours. But she never gets irritated or complains. She always takes care of Munoo and thinks for his well-being. She has a strange love for Munoo. The writer has hinted of sexual-intercourse between Munoo and Lakshmi.

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