Author: Dr Ritu Tomer Rathi, Shivani Pawar

Abstract: The photograph, ‘The Vulture and the Little Girl’, also known as the ‘Struggling Girl’, taken by renowned photographer Kevin Carter, first appeared in the New York Times on 26 March 1993, which depicts a young girl in Sudan, crouching on the ground in a state of malnutrition while a vulture stands nearby. This stark and haunting image encapsulates the grim realities of hunger, poverty and death that affect millions across the globe. Mulk Raj Anand’s Coolie, a seminal work of Indian literature, shares similar themes of exploitation, suffering and the brutality of societal systems. The novel, set in pre-independence India, explores the life of Munoo, a young boy who faces the harsh realities of poverty, child labour and an oppressive social hierarchy. This research paper will delve into the connections between the photograph and the themes portrayed in Coolie, drawing parallels between the image of the little girl and the tragic journey of Munoo, in Anand’s novel. The paper brings out how life across art, history and real world go hand in hand regardless of time, clime and space. This paper aims to explore the different facets of predation in human society, analyzing how these "predators" operate within a framework of power, influence, and survival.

Keywords: malnutrition, oppressive hierarchy, predator, struggling girl, vulture

Article Info: Received: 23 Mar 2025; Received in revised form: 20 Apr 2025; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025; Available online: 30 Apr 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.102.60