Moustaches and class

Mulk Raj Anand's story 'A Pair of Mustachios' begins with a joke. In Europe, the narrator says, clothes show which class a man belongs to. In his own country, it is moustaches that do this.

He then lists the styles, each belonging to a different class:

• The lion moustache, for rajas, nawabs and English generals: men of power.
• The tiger moustache, for old noble families who have lost their wealth and have only their pride left.
• The goat moustache, for the newly rich traders and shopkeepers. Its tips can go up or down, as needed.
• The Charlie Chaplin moustache, for clerks.
• The sheep moustache, for labourers.
• The mouse moustache, for peasants.

Copying the moustache of another class, the narrator jokes, causes anger, quarrels, and even murders.

The comic, mock-serious tone of this list mocks people who judge others by symbols of status, instead of by what they really are.