The Role of Anglophilia for Bakha

From the very start of Untouchable, Bakha is introduced as an "anglophile," through his deep interest in the English way of life, or at least his perception of English life. "The leather-worker's son, who oiled his hair profusely, and parted it like the Englishmen on one side, wore a pair of shorts at hockey and smoked cigarettes like them" (10) introduces Bakha. The use of "like the Englishmen" and "like them" is interesting as the narrator draws a deep distinction between the Untouchables and the Englishmen, a distinction that Bakha seems determined to overcome, despite the clear difficulty. He sacrifices his own comfort to use more English products, in his mind elevated himself from his class and towards the sahibs. However, spending his little money on English clothes and enduring sleepless nights shivering from refusal to use the warm Indian quilt over the thin English blanket, does not bring Bakha any closer to actually moving up in the social class system. Perhaps as a child of modern India, Bakha has new ideas on how to break the caste system and escape his "non-congenial" life through acquiring a full English suit. However, the English clothes are also tied to a fantasy that offer Bakha a mental escape, if not an actual escape. Remaining crisply dressed while doing the lowest jobs of the untouchables, like sweeping the latrines allows Bakha to believe he is different and above those who he is technically equal with in the eyes of the upperclass. Buttoning his shirt each morning and carrying himself as he perceives an Englishman would, he allows himself to take pride in his work, imagining that it is work worthy of the way he is dressed.