Godan by Munsi Premchand
Godan is a hindi word which can be interpreted as ‘charity of cow’.The cow in the book is symbolic for all Hori’s problems. He believes that the luxury of having a cow will solve everything, but it actually makes it all worse. At first everyone is excited about the cow, but soon problems arise; Hori’s brothers believe he bought the cow instead of helping his family; one of the brothers poisons the cow and it dies. From this moment, the Hori’s life changes. The cow that was suppose to bring goodness separates the family. Hori realizes that he cannot escape the life that has been given to him by birth. The cow equals Hori’s dream, but for a peasant in India the dream is not something achievable.
The caste system is also at work in the book; Hori has a job that he was born with; Gobar disrespects his father by running away and getting a job outside his caste; even when Gobar returns with money, proving that he has made something of himself, Hori’s pride and belief in the caste makes him unwilling to forgive.
Hori believes in the old way of life, but still he wants the cow because he dreams that things can get better. Hori’s son leaves his family in search of a better life; he doesn’t care about abandoning his caste and furthering his heritage. The city equals a very different kind of life for Gobar,it’s a place where Muslim’s and Hindu’s work together and seems at first a place where one can succeed. Gobar, however, eventually realizes like his father that he cannot escape the hardship. Even in the city where dreams seemed achievable, Gobar fails.
There is little hope in future, but there is redemption in a character like Hori who does good, despite the expatiation to do bad. Premchand creates a character with Hori that is like thousands who had the same struggle but survived.
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