Quit India Movement: An Analysis of Bhabani Bhattacharya’s So Many Hungers!

Abstract

Bhabani Bhattacharya is one of the most prominent and widely acclaimed Indian English novelists. His novel entitled So Many Hungers! brings to light the circumstances behind the Bengal Famine of 1943 and the effect of Quit India Movement through the major characters in the novel. He has portrayed the socio-political and economic changes in India on the background of the contemporary historical events and social conditions. The novelist depicts the problems, trials, and tribulations faced by Indian people. The exclamation mark of the end of the title of the novel So many Hungers! justly denotes the writer’s bewilderment at the multiplicity of hungers such as hunger for political freedom, hunger for imperial expansion, hunger for money, hunger for food, hunger for human dignity and self- respect and hunger as a spiritual weapon employed by the freedom fighters. The novel reflects the fact that the national movement affected the lives of all sections of the nation –men and women, young and old, intellectuals and workers, people from the cities and people from the countryside. The present paper attempts to highlight the effects of Quit India Movement in particular.