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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hind Swaraj, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passive Resistance and Indian Independence
Modern Civilization and Colonialism
The Personal and the Political
Indian Nationhood and Identity
Summary
Analysis
The reader asks if the editor condones the unrest that followed the Partition of Bengal. The editor compares the awakening now occurring in India to someone waking up from sleep: they will stretch and shake their limbs so that they can fully wake up. The current unrest is an expression of Indians’ discontent with English rule, and it will continue as long as that discontent does.
Gandhi emphasizes that civic unrest is a symptom of the underlying problem—English rule—and not the problem itself. The unrest will only end when Indians are able to fully wake up, or build the independent democracy they’ve finally realized they ought to have. Notably, although the reader previously voiced more extreme opinions and called for an armed rebellion, here he represents the moderates’ view by asking about popular unrest. This shows how Gandhi uses the reader as a stand-in for all the possible questions his audience might have, no matter what their political affiliation.
Themes
