Write the explanation of the story named "The Barber's Trade Union

Write the explanation of the story named “The Barber’s Trade Union”.

Ans.

Explanations

(1) To be sure he was not …………….. seemed like poetry.

Reference: These lines have been taken from the story The Barber’s Trade Union, written by Mulk Raj Anand, a famous Indian novelist and story writer writing in English.

Context: This is a story of a barber boy named Chandu who is oppressed, abused and ostracized because he wears clothes like those of a gentleman. The people belonging to high caste can’t see him wearing nice clothes and so they abused him and threaten him to bear the consequence of his daring gesture. In revenge, Chandu stops cutting their hair and shaving them. Chandu is a classmate of the author of the story.

Explanation: The author says that Chandu was not so good at mathematics as he (the author) was. Perhaps the reason of his being weak was that his father engaged him in the traditional family occupation of hair dressing. He was sent out for hair cutting at an early age. He had no time to complete the home work which the teacher gave them. But he had better memory than the author had. He could easily recite long verses any day. Not only verses, he could also recite numerous pages of prose from the book. That was why, the teachers seemed to like him.

(2) Then he asked ………………………. before him.

Reference : This passage appears in the short story, The Barber’s Trade Union, by Mulk Raj Anand, a famous Indian novelist and short story writer.

Context: Chandu, the barber stopped serving to the zamindar and sahukar and other big men of upper castes. He started going to the town where he earned a good amount of money by shaving and hair cutting sahibs and well to do men. He was most impressed with the fashionable life style of city people and there arose in his heart the desire of imitating their style.

Explanation: One day Chandu sought the author’s advice on the question if he would not look more like the men holding high position in case he started dressing himself like Dr. Kalan Khan. He justified himself in doing so saying that he was educated upto fifth standard. He admitted that though he was not a highly qualified doctor, he had some knowledge of the profession as he had learnt from his father the art of curing pimples boils and cuts on people’s bodies. It was his family profession which his father learned from his father.

(3) But Chandu was ………………… bazaars of civilization.

Reference: These lines have been taken from the story The Barber’s Trade Union, written by Mulk Raj Anand.

Context: The Barber’s Trade Union is a story of a barber’s boy named Chandu who is a friend of the author. Chandu belongs to a low caste. He is abused and insulted only because he wears nice fashionable clothes. In revenge, Chandu stops serving high caste people of the village.

Explanation: The author says that Chandu had great affection for him. He was kind to him. He knew that he (the author) rarely got a chance to go to the town and that he had to walk a distance of three miles to attend his class. Chandu was free from this troublesome task of going to school after his father’s death. Thus he got rid of the punishment which the cruel teachers gave to students. Instead of going to school, he went to the town to shave and hair cut town people. He earned good amount of money and brought many items to the author as a gift. He also entertained the author by describing to him fashionable and pleasant life of the town people who were supposed to be living in the centres of civilization.