R.

K Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan is one of the founding pillars of Indian Writing in English. On October 10, 1906 R.K.
Narayan was born to the couple, Rasipuram Venkatarama Krishnaswami Iyer and Gnanambal in Chennai, India. He was
brought up by his grandmother, Parvathi who also took care of his early education. He was interested in reading English
literature, but he struggled with formal education.

Narayan received his B.A. degree from Maharaja’s College (later the University of Mysore) in 1930. After completing his
graduation, Narayan took a job as a school teacher in a local school. Soon after, he realized that the only career for him was
in writing, and he decided to stay at home and write novels. He was supported in every way by his family. In 1933 Narayan
married Rajam whom he loved, against the Indian custom of arranged marriage. They had only child, a daughter named
Hema in 1938. Narayan’s domestic happiness was short lived. Unfortunately, his wife, Rajam died of typhoid in 1939. He
never remarried. He created a number of female characters in his writings based on Rajm.

Narayan is credited with bringing Indian literature in English to the rest of the world, and is regarded as one of novelists.
Narayan broke India's greatest English language through with the help of his mentor and friend, Graham Greene, who was
instrumental in getting publishers for Narayan’s first four books, including the semi-autobiographical trilogy of Swami and
Friends, The Bechelor of Arts and The English Teacher. Narayan’s works also include The Financial Expert, hailed as one of
the most original works of 1951, and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide, which was adapted for films in Hindi and
English languages.

R. K. Narayan may not be a philosopher, but his subject matter related to the basic philosophy of Hinduism, i.e. the stories,
myths, legends and incidents from the Vedas, the Puranas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the
Bhagawad Gita. One can find Indian culture and tradition, ideologies and views of Indian philosophy and thought in
Narayan’s writings.

Narayan’s the themes in his stories and novels find a vivid life from historical observation of common place incidents and
humdrum life. It presents the basic theme of Narayan’s stories and novels as the place of man in this universe and its
predicament and Narayan as the first and foremost an artist in his presentation of Indian life, culture and tradition. It
highlights Narayan’s stories as quite attractive. He covers the wide gamut of human experience from the innocent pranks
of children to serious communal riots, misery of common man to filial relationship, superstitions and orthodox social
traditions to the supernatural elements. He is actually a sensible novelist and short story writer who deeply loves his
country and his countrymen. His criticism can never be violent, even when it is bitter and far- reaching. What one gets in
his novels perfectly illustrates the gentleness and humanity of his country.

Narayan's stories begin with realistic settings and everyday happenings in the lives of a crosssection of Indian society, with
characters of all classes. Gradually fate or chance, oversight or blunder, transforms mundane events to preposterous
happenings. Unexpected disasters befall the hero as easily as unforeseen good fortune. The characters accept their fates
with an equanimity that suggests the faith that things will somehow turn out happily, whatever their own motivations or
actions. Progress, in the form of Western-imported goods and attitudes, combined with bureaucratic institutions, meets in
Malgudi with long-held conventions, beliefs, and ways of doing things.

Malgudi is a fictional town of R.K. Narayan, where his literary works take origin. It is like a landscape as alive and active as a
personified character. The fictitious region is woven in such a smooth thread that it creates a fine fabric of inseparable part
of Narayan’s realistic art. It is as remarkable a place in literature as Border Countries of Sir Walter Scott, Lake District of
Wordsworth, and The Wessex of Thomas Hardy. It is a town created from Narayan’s own experiences, his childhood, and
his upbringing. The people in Malgudi are the people he meets every day. He thus creates a place which every Indian could
relate to. A place where you could go “into those loved and shabby streets and see with excitement and a certainty of
pleasure, a stranger approaching past the bank, the cinema, the hair cutting saloon, a stranger who will greet you, we
know, with some unexpected and revealing phrase that will open the door to yet another human existence”

Most of Narayan's stories are set in Malgudi. Critics have attempted to find out the origin of this mythical town. K.R.S.
Iyengar speculates that it might be Lalgudi on the Kavery or Yadavagiri in Mysore. Uma Parameswaran believes that the
city of Coimbatore largely satisfies the local colour portrayed in Malgudi. However, one is not likely to arrive at any definite
answer as to its geographical location even if one refers to all the references to the town in his novels and stories. The
simple reason is that Narayan has not drawn any map or framework of reference for his Malgudi, as Faulkner, for example,
did for his Yoknapatawpha or Hardy had set for his Wassex novels. Iyengar devotes three pages of careful descriptions of
Malgudi and its environs. That Malgudi is not Narayan's perversion of Lalgudi (as suggested by Iyengar) has been ruled out
by Narayan himself both in his autobiography My Days and in an interview with Ved Mehta. All the same, Narayan has
given it an entity of its own and made it a convincing town with its local and regional trappings.
R. K. Narayan’s stories reveal a variety of human life. One can find the artistic zeal, integrity, craftsman and imaginative
power in his work. The assessment that “Narayan is a story teller, nothing less and seldom more” points out to the source
of R. K. Narayan’s strength rather than that of his weakness. Narayan state: I’d be quite happy if no more is claimed from
me than being just a story teller, only the story matter, that’s all.

Novel Summaries

Swami and Friends

The novel Swami and Friends is an episodic narrative that follows the daily life of Swaminatharian, a charismatic and lazy
schoolboy, in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi with his father, mother, and granny. He attends the Albert Mission
School and has an established cadre of friends, including Samuel "the Pea," Sankar, Somu, and Mani, but the arrival of a
new boy in school, Rajam, son of the police superintendent who speaks English like a European, threatens Swami’s popular
status. They become rivals, enemies even, but swiftly reconcile and become fast friends. Swami invites Rajam over to his
house and gives orders for his family to change their behavior and clean up to put a good face for Rajam, whose family
comes from more money. Swami’s old friends—the Pea, Sankar, and Somu—feel abandoned by his budding friendship with
Rajam and begin calling Swami “Rajam’s tail” to humiliate him. Rajam eventually brings everyone together to his house and
urges them to reconcile and get along, bribing them with prizes, which ends up working.

Swami and Rajam, along with Mani, a tall strong boy who can beat up almost anyone, become a loyal trio. Swami gets into
some trouble with another boy, the coachman’s son, after trying to get enough money to buy a wheel. Interrupting their
provincial play is a nationalist strike as part of Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. Swami is swept up in the frenzy of the
crowd and throws stones at the window of the headmaster's room, breaking it. The crowd of protestors is broken up by
the policemen who violently beat the protestors, led by Rajam’s father, the superintendent.

The next day, the headmaster questions and punishes him and all the students who were missing from school. Swami,
acutely distressed, runs away from the school, muttering, “I don’t care for your dirty school.” He is kicked out of the
missionary school and enrolls in the Board High School, deemed a more inferior institution. Rajam forgives Swami for his
“political sins” and posits that they start a cricket club, which he crowns the Malgudi Cricket Club or M.C.C. for short. They
gather their friends together and practice, but Swami arrives late to every practice because he is kept at school until late in
the afternoon. Rajam grows exasperated by Swami’s tardiness and, with a friendly match coming up, coerces Swami to
plead with the headmaster to let Swami leave class early for his cricket practice. The headmaster declines. Swami becomes
desperate and asks a doctor to give him a certificate allowing him to leave early. The doctor refuses, but says that he will
speak to the headmaster. Swami begins leaving class early for cricket class, until the headmaster comes in and calls his
truancy out in front of the classroom. The headmaster begins beating Swami, who is overcome with a mix of rage and
humiliation. He takes the cane out of the headmaster’s hands, throws it out the window, and runs away.

After the incident, Swami believes that he is doomed, kicked out of the two high schools, unable to face his father’s wrath
at home. He sees his only option is to escape the town entirely, only coming back anonymously to play the cricket game.
He wanders off but gets lost and very hungry and begins to miss his home. He regrets his decision to escape. He begins
having wild, scary dreams and falls asleep on the road, where he is picked up by a man carrying a cart. Meanwhile, his
father has been roaming the town looking for him and his mother and granny are very anxious. When the man identifies
Swami, he calls his parents and they pick him up. Swami is relieved to be found but upset when Mani tells him that he
missed the cricket match and that M.C.C. lost. Rajam declares that he no longer cares for Swami and they stop being
friends. One night, Mani divulges to Swami that Rajam and his family are leaving Malgudi permanently because his father
got transferred to another city. Swami wakes up early the next day to say goodbye to Rajam at the train station and give
him a gift, a volume of Hans Christen Anderson’s Fairy Tales. They manage to wriggle their way through the crowd of police
officers who are sending Rajam's family off, and Swami and Rajam face each other. Swami cries out that Rajam is going
away and when will he ever come back? Rajam opens his mouth to respond, but his response is lost in the locomotion of
the trains as it chugs away. Mani runs alongside the train and gives Rajam the gift of books. The train leaves, and Swami
cries, wondering if Rajam will ever think about him again, and Mani tries to console him by saying that Rajam will write
letters to Swami, but his answer seems flimsy and his face inscrutable.

Bachelor of Arts

Chandran Graduates

The protagonist of the story is Chandran, a student of History. He lives quite a stereotypical life with a loving family
(mother, father and a brother) and trusting friend Ramu. His college life is full of pre-exam anxiety, friendly banter and
hotly contested debates.
However, college friendships often last only until one graduate and the same happens with Chandran. He graduates college
and is primed to join the professional life designed in the mould of post-colonial India fighting to find a balance between a
chaotic past, uncharted present and an uncertain future.

He hails from Tamil Nadu and has lived a life as per the traditions and conventions of his place and time. However, his
education has kindled a desire within him to break the chains of conservatism and look for an escape into the freedom of
the world. This change is triggered by heartburn, a loss.

His Love for Malathi

Chandran is lovesick for a girl named Malathi who he meets at the village river. He falls hopelessly in love with her and
spends all his time immersed in her thoughts. The situation becomes apparent to his parents and they try to surrender to
his wishes.

Vivified by a burning desire to wed the girl, Chandran impels them to go to Malathi’s house and approach her parents.
However, the stars in their horoscopes are crossed and his marriage proposal is declined. Malathi is married off to another
suitor soon.

Chandran feels hurt and helpless in the hand of fate. Dazed by such heartache, he decides to give up control and throw
caution to the wind. He leaves his home in a spirit of the rebellion reaches Madras. Residing in a hotel at first he quickly
weans off a unique path.

Asceticism

Ultimately, he decides to commit to a life of asceticism and cuts off his hair. During his travels, he acquires fame as an
accomplished sage. His defiance lasts for nearly eight months and then it starts to wear off. He feels guilty about deserting
his family and parents.

The toil and aimlessness of life as hermit dawn over Chandran and soon he returns to the mundane life as a householder.
He gets a job in publishing and decides to marry according to his parents’ bidding. He is still afflicted by the memory and
lost life with  Malathi and still pines when looking at her pictures.

Marriage With Susila

Finally, his father finds a young Brahmin girl named Susila for him. He is still gripped with uncertainty and initially refuses to
marry her. However, fate turns a circle and he ends up falling in love with Susila on his visit to her house.

One glance at her he is imprisoned by the same desire and yearning he had long forgotten. Interestingly, she comes laden
with considerable dowry too.

Back to Normal Life

Surrendering his spirit of adventure he finds peace and tranquillity in the domesticated life and returns to his roots and
social function as prescribed by his Brahminical society. The youth and itinerant whims of a young man finally find
restitution in the domestic responsibilities and familial relationships.

Key Thoughts in  The Bachelor of Arts

Set in the backdrop of South India, the story is autobiographical in nature with Narayan heavily utilizing his own experience
in the sketch of Chandran. The tale successfully enmeshes the post-colonial mix of traditional and modern life values and
thoughts.

Narayan depicts the strands of suffering and humour in a beautiful tapestry of Malgudi and its vibrant characters. The story
is part of a Malgudi based trilogy starting with Swami and Friends and ending with The English Teacher.

The English Teacher

Introduction

RK Narayan’s The English Teacher came sometime after The Dark Room as the author had a tough time dealing with the
death of his wife Rajam.
This story is an autobiography of Narayan and he has used his pain and travails into the narration. This is a unique love
story of a 30 something, English lecturer named Krishna in Malgudi’s Albert Mission College.

The Hostel

The story starts in the hostel of Albert Mission College located in Malgudi. Krishna had been a student in the same college.
Now, he is a lecturer. He finds his job and life tiresome and filled with boredom.

One of the reasons being that he cannot work on his own poems and intellectual pursuits as teaching demands its own
energy and time. He is uninterested in his students is happy to hear the bell ring to the end of the class.

He is self-critical compares himself to a “cow” that does nothing but ruminate on dead grass. He is particular about his
ways and almost trying too hard to fit himself in a Western mould.

This adds to his frustrations and makes him feel pessimistic about his circumstance. It is a dream to become a poet even
though he struggles to write voraciously. But he has a good sense of humour and uses it cleverly to always spread cheer in
his college and students.

The Reunion

Krishna is going through a midlife crisis and feels uninspired and lonely. He is away from his family and misses living with
his loving wife, Susila and young daughter, Lela.

One day he gets a letter from his father telling about his wife and daughter. They are coming to live with him in Malgudi.
His mother also comes to stay with them. Krishna is happy, at least for some time.

He seems to get a new lease on life. Susila is an exact opposite of Krishna, spiritual and impulsive. The character sketch of
Susila is emblematic of Indian woman, culture and tradition.

Krishna is a dreamer and lacks a grasp of the practical life while Susila exhibits common sense and practical wisdom. She
compliments and fulfils the shortcomings of Krishna. This is what makes their bond strong and enduring.

The Loss

But soon the tide turns for the worst. First, due to the number of bodies, the current house is not suited and fit for their
family. Hence, they look for a new house.

While they are on their search, Susila is stung by an insect and falls sick. She gets typhoid and unfortunately cannot
recover. Tragedy strikes their home and Susila dies due to her illness. The loss of his beloved wife derails Krishna.

He is disconsolate and stricken with incurable grief. He becomes disenchanted with his job and personal life. His only
refuge and reason to live is his baby daughter. Therefore, he spends all his energy and affection on her as she becomes the
centre of his world.

Communication Beyond Veil

Krishna often loiters around a pond. On his frequent visits, he encounters a hermit or Sanyasi. The Sanyasi claims to
necromancy or his ability to communicate with the dead and their spirits.

Unable to resist the temptation, he decides to try the spiritual route in order to reach his beloved wife. Krishna yearns to
talk to his departed wife and entertains the Sanyasi’s claim.

He successfully communicates with Susila’s spirit. This acts as a shot in the arm of Krishna who is reinvigorated to turn his
life for the better.

New Beginning

Revitalized Krishna goes and interviews for a job at a new children’s school. It is the same place where his daughter Leela
studies. Interestingly the headmaster of the school has a contrasting character is to Krishna.

He is eccentric in his approach and committed to his students. He has a far more optimistic outlook on life and is a lot
happier than Krishna. He knows that the beauty of life is in enjoying brief moments of happiness.

He is spiritual and pursues to obtain inner satisfaction. But Krishna is a changed man by now. The headmaster of the school
is delighted to learn about Krishna’s inspired theories and plans for imparting education to the young kids.
Krishna quits his job in the college and joins the new school. To add another boost to his spirits he is directly converse with
the spirit of his dead wife for the first time. He forgets his sorrows and develops a fresh and positive outlook on life,
vocation and purpose.

English Teacher: Key Thoughts

The English Teacher is a remarkably exultant account of the love shared between a man and his wife. It honours the
mundane details of a homely life infused with momentary tiffs, activities like reading and shopping together, childcare,
house hunting etc.

Narayan is able to extract and use the tranquil contentment out of his own marital experience. He, too, was an uninspired
and unsatisfied English teacher once. His wife Rajam and their marriage transformed him both as a person and writer.

The story of Krishna’s life, happiness and grief are both relatable and inspirational for many. Even the flirtations with the
supernatural, philosophical and metaphysical are understandable.

The tragedy of human loss and the yearning to regain the lost love is not subject to the mortality of flesh and bones.
Narayan gives a theory of death where it is just the culmination of the physical existence. The soul remains eternal and
preserves the emotional synapses within it

The Dark Room

Introduction

The Dark Room Novel by RK Narayan is about the discord of a troubled family. It paints a grim picture of a disturbed
household plagued with domestic conflict.

The story revolves around Ramani who is a secretary in a company located in Malgudi called Engladia Insurance Company.
He is a man who is consumed by cynicism and is very controlling in his outlook. In his self-interest and arrogance, he runs a
very tight ship in his house.

Due to his irascible and rude attitude, there is always a sense of dreadful misfortune and sadness permeating his house. He
is like a tyrant in his conduct with his wife Savitri, daughters and domestic help.

The Wife

Savitri is the antithetical or polar opposite of her husband. She embodies the characteristics of a dutiful and faithful wife.
She is immersed in the traditions of Indian womanhood and exhibits qualities of loyalty, honesty and devotion to her
husband.

She suffers her husband’s wrath in meek silence and relegates her presence to her darkroom i.e. the kitchen. Even though
she is beautiful, Ramani does not appreciate her.

His reaction to her is devoid of any warmth and affection. On the contrary, he abuses and condemns her often. Even after
15 years of marriage and commitment, Ramani can only see flaws and errors in his wife’s service to him.

Ramani is a bad husband and an even worse father. He frequently reprimands his children even on trivial matters. Being
self-obsessed that he does not show any kind of love and care for his own flesh and blood.

The Other Lady

Soon the story gets a new character named Shanta Bai. She is a beautiful, middle-aged woman who has left her husband.
She is an ambitious lady and starts work at Ramani’s company. She has loose morals and loves to flirt with men and make
them fall for her beauty.

Unable to fend off the advances and seductive ways of Shanta Bai, Ramani is transfixed by her beauty and machinations.
He starts visiting her house and starts an adulterous and illegitimate affair.

Savitri is told about the affair by a teacher named Gangu. She is heartbroken and devastated by the news of her husband’s
infidelity. She decides to suffer the torment in silence.

Instead of rebuking her husband she wallows in self-pity. She questions her own beauty and inability to give more children
to Ramani.
The Final Straw

Savitri is still strong in her constitution and decides to win her husband back from the claws of her concubine. She prepares
and dresses in order to seduce her husband and make him desire her as before.

She is naïve in thinking that she can turn the clock back on their relationship and get back to the amorous passions of the
first week of their marriage. Unfortunately, all her hope is ruthlessly crippled when she fails in her attempts.

She gets angry and loses her calm when Ramani tries to touch her. All her deep-seated and repressed anger and anguish
come out in the form of meltdown. Charged with emotions and pain, she leaves her husband’s house with the intention of
ending her life.

The River

Savitri reaches the river and jumps into its fast currents. However, a blacksmith and burglar, is crossing the river at the
same time. He sees and rescues her. She is saved by Mari’s bravery and sheer good luck.

Savitri is overcome with guilt and pity and narrates her story to Mari and his wife. Ponni, Mari’s wife, entreats Savitri to
come with them to their village and live a life devoted to the temple Gods.

Savitri agrees. In the village, Savitri becomes a Hindu nun and starts working in the village temple. She hopes it is the start
of an independent life away from the tyranny of her husband and married life.

The Return

However, soon Savitri finds herself broken by various inner conflicts. She is perturbed by the attitude of the temple priest
who molests her and hates the fact a woman is working in a place dominated by male Brahmin priests.

She also feels homesick. Her biggest worry, however, is her daughters whom she left at home. She becomes more restless
by every passing day and finally succumbs to her grief and motherly sentiment.

The inevitability of fate and the futility of her exile dawn on her and she decides to go back to her family and house. She
returns to the same dark room that was her prison before.

Nothing alters. Her husband gloats in the glory of what he considers his victory. He continues to be callous to her devotion
and she continues to live a life of pain, shame, self-loathing and devoid of affection.

The Dark Room: Key Thoughts

The tale of The Dark Room paints the ideal Indian wife-submissive, obedient, self-sacrificial and beautiful. The story depicts
Savitri has the lacking courage to leave her husband and resigned to a life of pain and embarrassment.

This is representative of so many Indian women who live under the dominance of the patriarchal system. They sacrifice
their personal destiny for the betterment of their husband and children. The present condition of women in India is not far
from that of Narayan’s time.

Even though there are more opportunities for women and girls, there are still millions who suffer in silence. They are
victims of domestic abuse, intimidation, sexual harassment, physical violence and materialistic greed.

The Financial Expert

The book follows the rise and fall of the protagonist Margayya. Our anti-hero begins his journey as a relatively obscure
middleman. Under a Banyan tree in Malgudi, he unofficially connects banks with borrowers while earning a deceitfully
generous margin from the difference in interest rates.

His irksome practice quickly earns the contempt of the local bank (as well as readers). Margayya, believing that his
persecution is motivated by lack of means and lower social status, vows to become a wealthy man; a financial equal of the
bank’s secretary.

After dwelling on the nature of money and the position it affords its owners in society, Margayya has a revelation. He
senses that a new scheme; a financial innovation of sorts, with the potential to revolutionise his life, was approaching
fruition.
Margayya meets Dr Pal, an author, at a ruined temple with the River Saryu as a backdrop. He is persuaded to invest in the
rights to Dr Pal’s latest book; a Karma Suture style manual. Through no effort of his own, the book becomes a fabulous
success and this makes Margayya comfortably wealthy.

But this brings a little comfort to Margayya. He grows unsatisfied with the publishing business. He becomes weary of the
“endless correspondence over trivialities” with book buyers.

Margayya’s dreams move quickly on. Using his own substantial capital, he forms a bank and begins lending directly
borrowers in his own right.

With his business career flying high, Margayya’s family relationships make for a poor contrast.

His only son; Balu shows apathy towards his academic studies. Despite the sums that Margayya spends on private tuition
to encourage this pursuit, Balu develops a fondness for tobacco over textbooks. To flex his rising status, Margayya wrangles
the position of school secretary (chair of school governors) and uses this power to bully teachers to extort preferential
treatment for his son

Notwithstanding these efforts, Balu repeatedly fails the matriculation exam. Much to his father’s displeasure, he embodies
little remorse or shame in failure. Balu’s disgraceful progression to adulthood appears to emanate from the spoilt
childhood he has enjoyed under his father’s success.

The failure of the son to fulfil his father’s selfish ambition to have a son in university creates a rift between Margayya and
Balu, who subsequently runs away.

Fake news circulates of Balu’s untimely death. As he considers travelling to Madras to plan funeral arrangements, a
poignant moment occurs which reveals how the toxicity of Margayya’s money obsession has become pervasive. Margayya
dismisses a kind offer of an escort from his brother, on the basis that he assumed it was merely an opportunity for the
brother to enjoy a free trip.

In the context of growing animosity between Margayya and Dr Pal, the latter decides to spread alarming rumours to the
detriment of Margayya’s bank. This triggers a run on the bank. The financial catastrophe which ensues brings the journey
around to a full circle. An impoverished Margayya is left to dwell on what could have been.

Margayya’s final act is devoid of wisdom and is perhaps a sign of the inescapable mindset that has found a home in his self.
With vigour, he implores his son to take up residence beneath the Banyan tree in Malgudi and begin dealing in loans, just
as he once had.

Themes and Motifs

The rights afforded to those with wealth and a class advantage

Margayya frequently incurs the wrath of other characters in this tale. He regularly dismisses this hostility as being the
product of his lower social status and wealth. The reader, somewhat distant from Margayya, can see through this
rationalisation, however, the grim reality of Malgudi’s hierarchy is not up for dispute.

The story is set in the decades after 1920, when the colonial rule in India was drawing to an end and by which point the
British legacy of bureaucracy had been increasingly entrenched.

The discontent caused by this order rings loudly through the text. It is particularly resonant in the context of India’s
notoriously durable caste system which continues to impact people today.

The deceit of those who are in the pursuit of money

Narayan uses a broad brush to paint a very bleak image of the strand of humanity who blindly pursue wealth. With virtually
no subtlety, the reader witnesses the destruction of institutions:

 Margayya appears to follow religious custom with a cynical motivation. He values only the output; the potential
rewards, rather than the humble application of faith and worship itself.

 The institution of the family is also reduced to being a mere vessel for advancement. Margayya acts
disrespectfully towards a horoscope pundit when an unwealthy match is suggested as a wife for his son.
Margayya treats his brother, who lives next door, practically like a stranger.

 In a sober reflection of Margayya’s single-mindedness, the author gives no name to his wife, despite her
featuring prominently throughout the novel.
Margayya is the characterisation of an evil money man. The reader struggles to note any discernable silver lining in his
character or personality. In fact, the protagonist is positively loathsome and does not endear himself to readers even by
the close of the story.

The Vendor of Sweets

In R.K. Narayan’s novel The Vendor of Sweets, the tension between old and young India is the backdrop against which a
father and son clash. Jagan, a 55-year-old man who is steeped in tradition, is a bundle of contradictions. He is a passionate
follower of Gandhi, embracing non-violent cooperation and an ascetic lifestyle. However, he is also boastful when it comes
to his own self-control. It is not enough that he has renounced sugar and salt, he is compelled to tell others about it.
Furthering the irony is that Jagan works as the titular vendor of sweets. Although he believes indulging in sugar is both
unhealthy and contrary to Gandhi’s teachings, he earns his living selling sugary confections to others. More complicated
yet is the fact that Jagan skims a portion of each day’s profits, hoarding it away so that he will not have to pay taxes on his
unreported income.

Jagan’s son Mali throws Jagan’s life into tumult when he announces that he no longer wants to study at the university. Mali
has been a great source of pride to Jagan, but this is largely because he has never shown signs of independence. His
decision to leave school threatens Jagan’s ideas about his son, and the example that he has set for him. But Mali reveals
that he is quitting school to become a writer. Jagan has also written a book—a compendium of natural cures—that has
been in limbo for years with a local printer. It is revealed that Jagan’s insistence that his wife not take traditional medicine
for a headache led to her death from a brain condition. Mali has always blamed Jagan for her death.

The growing separation between them becomes literal when Mali announces that he is going to America to study writing.
He has enrolled in a class that teaches novel writing. Jagan is anxious about his decision, and greatly saddened when he
sees that Mali has been secretly stealing money from him to pay for his trip. They correspond sporadically by letters for the
next three years. Then Mali suddenly announces that he is coming home. Not only that, he is bringing someone with him.

When Jagan meets his son at the train station, Mali is with Grace, an American woman. Jagan is astonished to learn that
they are married. Grace is an amiable bride and quickly inserts herself into Jagan’s life. She cleans his house, asks to cook
for him, and so threatens his self-satisfied air of self-reliance that he quickly grows uneasy around her. But Grace is the
least of his challenges. Mali has come back from America with an idea for a company. He wants to invest in the
manufacture of what he calls story-writing machines. In the West, he says that 10,000 books are published every season.
His company will allow India and other eastern countries to compete in the literary arena. All he needs is for Jagan to invest
in the company. Jagan does what he can to ignore the request, but soon Mali forces the question on him. Will you help me
or not? Jagan says that the best he can do is to leave the sweet shop to him. Mali is mocking and furious in his
condemnation of his father’s low aspirations.

When Jagan meets a hair-dyer named Chinna Dorai, he finds an unexpected peace. Chinna is a sculptor. It is his life’s
ambition to finish a sculpture of the goddess Gayatri. He takes Jagan to the secret grove where he resides, and where he
pursues his art. As Jagan sees the tranquility of Chinna’s life, his own problems suddenly seem trivial. He agrees to buy the
grove and become Chinna’s patron, allowing him to finish the image of the goddess.

At the novel’s climax, Jagan learns that Mali and Grace never actually married. Ashamed at the moral pollution they
brought into his home, and angry at his own inability to see it, Jagan retires from his business and flees to Chinna’s
grove. His superficial renunciations—his abstinence with salt and sugar, for instance—are now realized in the path of an
ancient Hindu tradition: Vanaprastha. He will no longer have any connection to the world of material objects.

His commitment is briefly tested when he learns that Mali has been jailed for public drunkenness. India was in a state of
prohibition during the period in which the novel is set, and Mali has therefore committed a crime. Jagan does not change
his plans to retreat to the grove. He asks his cousin to help Mali when it is time, but to ensure that Mali spends enough
time in prison that he will learn from the consequences of his actions. As the story concludes, he buys a ticket for Grace
that will allow her to return to America.

The Vendor of Sweets is both serious and playful, which is common to Narayan’s literary work. It is both a challenge to
India’s resistance to change, and an affectionate portrayal of the comfort that traditions and rituals can provide. 

Waiting for the Mahatma

In Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), Narayan uses as background the Indian Freedom Movement, from which he, like so
many other Indian writers of the time, had derived the basic nationalism that sense of place and time and some idea of
who you are so necessary to the writing of realist fiction.

Narayan, as a young man, was forbidden by his family to have anything to do with the agitators for freedom. The more
benign aspects of the British presence in India the new educational institutions, the new career opportunities had brought
their own kind of freedom to many Indians, including people in Narayan’s family.

His father, the headmaster, knew where his future lay when he adopted modern ways and turned his back on his tradition-
minded parents and brothers; and then, too, Narayan’s own writing came to depend heavily on patronage by British
publishers and readers. He, like many members of the new and insecure colonial bourgeoisie, could not but feel a
profound ambivalence about the mass movement against the British ambivalence never clearly expressed but always
present in his writings.

There is a short story he wrote soon after independence, “Lawley Road,” which portrays some of the confused impulses
and blind nationalism of that mass movement. The story, which is included in Malgudi Days, describes how the statue of a
British man called Lawley is scornfully dismantled and sold and then reinstated by the municipal authorities after Lawley is
discovered to be the creator of Malgudi.

But it is in Waiting for the Mahatma that you find a franker ambivalence about that anti-colonial struggle and its impact on
the Indian masses. Here many more Indians are making of the Freedom Movement whatever suits their private narrow
ends: men eager to revere Gandhi as a mahatma, eager to be touched by his aura of holiness, while remaining indifferent
to, or simply uncomprehending of, his emphasis on developing an individual self- awareness and vision.

There is the corrupt chairman of the municipal corporation who has replaced, just before Gandhi’s visit to Malgudi, the
pictures of English kings and hunting gentry in his house with portraits of Congress leaders; he then worries about the low-
caste boy Gandhi talks to sullying his “Kashmir counterpane.” There is the novel’s chief protagonist, Sriram, another
feckless young man in Malgudi, who joins the 1942 Quit India movement after falling for Bharati, an attractively gentle and
idealistic young woman in Gandhi’s entourage.

Sriram drifts around the derelict, famine-stricken countryside, painting the words “Quit India” everywhere, arguing with
apathetic and hostile villagers about the need to throw out the British. His weak grasp of Gandhi’s message is confirmed by
the fact that he lets himself be persuaded by an egotistical terrorist to become a saboteur. He is arrested and spends years
in jail, longing for Bharati. His abandoned grandmother almost dies and then goes off to live her last years in Benares; and
then Gandhi himself, devastated by the massacres and rapes of Partition, is assassinated on the last page of the novel.

Even before his death, as Waiting for the Mahatma shows, Gandhi’s spirit had been absorbed into the ostentatious
puritanism of the men who came to rule India, the uniqueness of his life and ideas appropriated into the strident Indian
claim to the moral high ground a claim first advanced through Gandhi’s asceticism and emphasis on nonviolence, and then,
later, through the grand rhetoric of socialism, secularism, and nonalignment.

In fact, Gandhi alone emerges as the active, self-aware Indian in the novel, struggling and failing to awaken an intellectually
and emotionally torpid colonial society, a society made up overwhelmingly of people who have surrendered all individual
and conscious choice, and are led instead by decayed custom and herd impulses, in whose dull, marginal lives Gandhi
comes as yet another kind of periodic distraction.

The one other person who embodies individual initiative and positive endeavour in the novel and he makes a fleeting
appearance turns out to be a British tea planter; and Narayan makes him come out very much on top in his encounter with
Sriram. He is friendly and hospitable to Sriram, who has painted the words “Quit India” on his property. Sriram, unsettled
by the tea planter’s composure, tries to assume a morally superior position. Narayan shows him floundering, resorting
fatuously to half-remembered bits and pieces of other people’s aggressive anti-British rhetoric.

Painter of Signs

The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Narayan, R.K. The Painter of Signs. Penguin Classics,
2006.

The Painter of Signs tells the story of Raman, a sign-painter, and Daisy, who works at a Family Planning Clinic, who form a
romantic relationship after Daisy hires Raman to paint a sign for the clinic. In Part One, Raman has a disagreement with a
lawyer about a sign he is painting for him and the lawyer does not pay him in full. Raman lives with his aging Aunt who
takes care of all of the cooking and cleaning in their home. Raman visits a bangle-seller who also refuses to pay Raman for a
sign he has completed, complaining about the coloring of some of the letters. Raman listens to an eccentric preacher, the
Town Hall Professor, in a public square. The Professor criticizes one of Raman’s signs, which uses the words “Strictly Cash”
and exchanges it with Raman for one of his own messages, which reads “This will pass.”

Raman begins work on a sign for the local Family Planning Clinic but is preoccupied with thoughts about Daisy, the woman
who commissioned him to do the work. He invents a reason to visit Daisy at her home to ask her some questions about the
sign, but Daisy tells him that he can make any decisions himself. Raman buys a pair of sunglasses so that he does not have
to look directly at Daisy the next time he sees her, but she takes the glasses away from him when he comes inside. Raman
becomes constantly preoccupied with thoughts about Daisy. He delivers the sign to the Family Planning Clinic and is
grateful that he will no longer have to see Daisy.

In Part Two, Daisy visits Raman at home and asks him to accompany her on a trip around local villages to scout locations to
paint signs spreading information about family planning. Raman agrees. During the trip, Raman notices that he is becoming
very considerate of Daisy’s feelings and wonders if she will one day be his wife. Raman and Daisy are driven to the nearest
bus station by a man with a cart pulled by a bull. When the bull is injured, the driver, believing Daisy and Raman to be a
married couple, leaves them alone together overnight while he searches for help. Raman cannot sleep because of his
desire for Daisy and eventually climbs into the cart where she is sleeping, telling himself that he will hold her down if she
resists him, but Daisy is not there. The next day, Daisy is very angry with Raman for the way he behaved the previous night
and tells him that she intends to report him to the police when they get back to Malgudi.

In Part Three, Raman worries obsessively about whether he will be arrested. He speaks to friends and family members to
try to find out if there is any gossip about him and Daisy, but no one seems to know anything. He goes to the police station
and the inspector tells Raman he has been looking for him, but the inspector leaves without explaining himself, and Raman
is convinced that no report has been made against him when he leaves the police station without anyone trying to stop
him.

Weeks later, Daisy visits Raman at home and tells him about her life: she grew up in overcrowded conditions and ran away
from home after disappointing her family when she did not behave in the way expected of her while her family were trying
to arrange for her marriage. Daisy abruptly cuts short her conversation with Raman when she realizes what time it is.
Raman comes up with another excuse to visit Daisy at home and they begin a romantic relationship.

In Part Four, Raman tells his Aunt that he intends to marry Daisy and his Aunt does not support the marriage because of
Daisy’s religion and cultural background. Raman’s Aunt announces that she is going on a pilgrimage to the city of Benares
and intends to stay there until she dies. Raman pleads with her to stay, but she is adamant. Raman suddenly realizes how
much work his Aunt has put into taking care of him over the years.

Raman prepares his house for Daisy to move in and they spend the night together in his bedroom. However, on the day
Daisy is due to move to Raman’s house, she is called away to work in a different town. Daisy ends her relationship with
Raman because she believes her work is more important. She gets into a taxi and Raman watches as she leaves Malgudi for
good.

The Maneater of Malgudi

Meet Nataraj

Nataraj owns a printing shop on Market road in Malgudi. He is a popular man and his business is flourishing enough that he
does not need to rent a front room of his shop which for many is an object of envy.

He is helped by his colleague Sastri and Kandan (Binder). He is also on the best terms with his neighbour who also runs a
printing shop and owns the latest printing technology.

We are introduced to Nataraj’s family which consists of his wife and son, little Babu. His mother and grand auntie live with
his brother in Madras.

He lives in his ancestral home on Kabir Street which was once inhabited by a family of 15 people with his father and his
four uncles with their families. Nataraj is a content man with his Queen Anne chair and Heidelberg press in the neighboring
shop.

He has a coterie of friends like the local lawyer famous for adjournments, a journalist named Sen who is critical of Nehru’s
politics, a writer who is writing an epic on Krishna, a 70-year-old man who owns many houses in the village, the Taluk
officer, milkman etc.

Nataraj follows a strict routine every day, getting up before 4 am and going to the river to wash his clothes and start his day
with the rising sun.
A New Visitor

Sastri had to leave early that day to attend puja at his house on Vinayak Street. The printing of new KJ Drinks’ cards was to
be moved to its second colouring and Nataraj was handed the task by him.

Inside the shop, the usual cast was immersed in their own work. The poet was busy with his monosyllabic poetry and Sen
was busy critiquing the 3 Five Year Plan of Nehru.

He was joined by a Congressman and patriot and they entered into a heated debate. While Nataraj was busy with the
press, beyond the blue curtain between the parlour and the press, he was startled to see a new face entering his
workplace. The man was called Vasu, a taxidermist.

He was tall and muscular and intimidated Nataraj. He had come to get his visiting cards printed. Even though they have an
uncomfortable first meeting where Vasu is unseemly and aggressive, Nataraj takes his order on the second visit. However,
Nataraj and his friends have a bad feeling about the man.

A Forceful Tenant

Even though Nataraj is irked by the bullying ways of Vasu he cannot prevent him from moving into the attic of his shop.
Clearing all the junk and old scrap paper, Vasu is meticulous with giving the attic a makeover.

He is staying in it till the time he gets a new Bungalow in New Extension area of Malgudi. Vasu is often absent from the
place but when he does come, he makes a ruckus with Sen and the poet.

One day he brings a Forest Officer at Mempi forest and introduces him to Nataraj. The officer wants to get his boo—Golden
Thoughts-get printed. Nataraj is not keen on helping a contact of Vasu.

On the other hand, Vasu wants to brown-nose to the officer to get a permit to shoot in the forest. After a while Nataraj
relents but Vasu only gets a permit to shoot fowl. This gets under his skin as he wanted to hunt bigger animals like
elephants etc.

A Visit to Mempi

Nataraj was going over the details of the wedding invitation of the adjournment lawyer’s daughter when Vasu dropped at
the shop in his jeep. He coerced Nataraj to hop into the jeep and drove off, leaving the lawyer stranded in the shop.

Nataraj was scared that he was being abducted. Vasu calmed him down telling him about the Mempi forest. They were
going on a tiger hunting trip. The journey ended at the Mempi village.

Here, Vasu discussed the whereabouts about the tiger and Nataraj went to the tea stall near the temple. He was hungry
but did not have any money as he was forced to come in this unplanned trip.

Vasu drove off with his companions, asking Nataraj to wait for his return. Nataraj hoped to catch a bus to Malgudi before
Vasu returned. He became friends with the tea-stall owner, Muthu. He was a self-made man who had wanted to print
cards for a temple ceremony.

The temple had a pet elephant called Kumar which everybody adored in the village. He gave Nataraj tea and some buns to
satiate his hunger. He also arranged for him a trip back on the bus, who conductor was a friend. The bus took eight hours
to reach Malgudi.

The next day when the lawyer came back to the shop, Nataraj was embarrassed about leaving him unannounced the
previous day. Nonetheless, they finalized the order for wedding invitations. The same day Vasu returned with the dead
tiger.

He dragged Nataraj to the attic where he had set up shop. It was racked with dead animals, their carcasses and foul smells.
Nataraj was perturbed and thought of devising a way to get rid of the nuisance named Vasu from his shop and life.

The Talk and the Summons

Finally, gathering enough courage and composure, Nataraj sat with Vasu to discuss his stay. Vasu was rude as ever but
Nataraj politely asked about if he had arranged for a new place of accommodation.

Vasu declined and counter questioned his intentions. Nataraj lied to him saying he had a relative who needed the attic
space. Vasu took the entire conversation indifferently and stormed off without giving a proper reply.
After a few days, Nataraj received a brown letter. It was a legal summons from the Court of Rent Controller. He was
charged with two accounts: renting a place without proper formalities and wrongful eviction of the tenant.

He realized this was Vasu’s doing. He felt desperate and resigned to his fate. The next morning he caught hold of the
adjournment lawyer who had been avoiding his shop as he had not paid his bill yet.

Nataraj asked for his legal counsel. They went to his office in Abu Lane. Here, Nataraj discussed the entire predicament and
the lawyer agreed to help him as per his usual charges.

They were able to avoid the appearance in the court the next day and Nataraj sends the lawyer his well earned 10 rupees.

The Dog, the Forester and Rangi

A couple of weeks rolled off when Nataraj had a new visitor at his shop. It was the septuagenarian that he used to meet on
his morning strolls. His grandson Ramu’s dog had been shot in the streets and he was enquiring about the shooter.

He knew Sastri and Sastri told him about Vasu. Nataraj tried to settle the passions and offered to buy a new dog for Ramu.
Nataraj was missing having a relationship with Vasu even if it is of cynicism and sarcasm.

One day the forester who Vasu had brought earlier came back to the shop. He had come to meet Vasu and warn him about
his illegal hunting expeditions in Mempi.

Vasu was curt with him and challenged him to prove any misdoing. This made things worse between Vasu and Nataraj as
the former suspected him of helping the forester against him.

Due to strict oversight at the Mempi forest, Vasu could not continue his hunting spree. To offset this he started bringing
working women and prostitutes to the attic.

One of them was Rangi whose mother was the former dancer at the temple and infamous as a temptress. Sastri knew
about the mother and Rangi and was appalled to see the shop turn into a disreputable place.

A Visitor from Mempi

One lazy afternoon, Nataraj saw a familiar face enter his shop for the first time. It was Muthu, the teashop owner of Mempi
village. Remembering all his help, Nataraj offered him money for tea and buns but he felt discomfited by the gesture. They
continued their chat and it became clear that even people of Mempi was as irritated by Vasu as in Malgudi.

Muthu came for help. The elephant at the Mempi temple, Kumar, had fallen sick. The villagers knew about an animal
speciality hospital in Malgudi and so came to Nataraj.

The next few days Nataraj searched for any information regarding the animal shelter and hospital. His journalist friend, Sen
finally helped him with a newspaper article mentioning it. He visited the dilapidated place and met Dr Joshi.

The doctor asked him to bring Kumar (elephant) to the hospital for a checkup. Nataraj went to Mempi to convince the
villagers to allow the elephant to visit the doctor in the city. He faced opposition from the village folks, especially the tailor.

Eventually, they came to an agreement and with the help of a Mahout (elephant handler) got the elephant up and about.
Vasu also reached the spot and offered Nataraj a ride to the city.

Reluctantly he agreed and they sped away in Vasu’s jeep. Vasu mentioned his intention of printing a monograph on wildlife
to Nataraj who feigned interest in his latest endeavour.

The Poet’s Celebration

Nataraj’s pet friend had finally finished his monosyllabic epic on Krishna and his wife Radha. The whole group was excited.
They wanted to through a big gala around the festival to celebrate the launch of his epic.

An astrologer was arranged and he fixed date in a month’s time. Meanwhile, the owner of KJ Drinks was growing impatient
with his unfinished print order.

Nataraj tried to reason with him and appealed to him to contribute to the auspicious ceremony that was going to organize.
In fact, Nataraj and Sastri were knees- deep in their effort to raise money. They printed flyers for the event with the text
from Sen.
However; they were struggling to make people loosen their purse strings. Finally, it was Vasu who offered to help. Through
his uniquely rough and unpolished ways, he was able to force or coax people to pledge greater sums. All looked
ceremonious and dandy for the poet and his function.

The Big Reveal and Confrontation

It was all hands to the deck, Sastri, the poet and Nataraj were racing against time to finish the first printed copy of the
book. They were half-sleep and tired but could not stop the work. The function was scheduled for the next day and all
other arrangements had been made.

There would be a speech form Municipal Chairman, dance from Rangi, music form pipers and drummers, coconut rice and
KJ Drinks for the gathering etc. Gradually both Sastri and the poet dozed off and Nataraj was the only one slogging through
the work.

He heard a call from a feminine voice. He looked over the grille and it was Rangi. She was talking in whispers. Nataraj was
unusually taken by her physical attraction but she had other important news to share.

Rangi informed him that Vasu had hatched a scheme to shoot the elephant, Kumar during the procession. She was to
perform in the same event and was worried about the hallowed creature and the sanctity of the temple ritual.

Vasu had decided to shoot the elephant as he passed in front of his attic window during next day’s procession. The next
morning Nataraj decided to confront Vasu. Starting off with some pleasantries he eased into the conversation.

Vasu was not in a good mood and Nataraj had to come clean. He warned him against doing any harm to the animal but
Vasu was undeterred. He claimed he had a written claim to the animal’s dead body.

Nataraj grew worried about the prospect of a wild and reckless animal and the ensuing panic in the crowd. He reached the
temple where the festivities had already started. He looked at Kumar dotingly and racked his brains to find a solution.

In his desperation, he let out a massive scream pleading to Gods to intervene. This startled the carousing crowd and gave
Nataraj some respite to have a word with the Municipal Chairman who approached him out of concern.

He told him about the situation and then asked his family to leave the event and return to the safety of their home.

The Last Attempt

Nataraj came back to his house with his wife and son. His friends: Muthu, Sen, poet and Dr Joshi also came to visit him. He
told them about Vasu’s plane.

They still had time before the procession started and decided to contact the Deputy Superintendent of Police who was the
Sen’s friend. The DSP ordered an Inspector to accompany them to Vasu’s place.

Vasu was unflinching in his defiance. He was confident in the paperwork for the guns and was not ready to be intimidated
by the Inspector. In trying to heckle Vasu, the Inspector broke his wrist and the team of four had to leave Vasu’s place.

They could not do anything until any crime had been perpetrated. Meanwhile, Rangi visited Nataraj at his house. His wife
was surprised and grumbled to see a prostitute in her house.

Rangi had come to learn about Nataraj’s well being and told him that Vasu had left a message at her house. He wanted to
see her and she was afraid if she did not oblige,

Vasu would light, her house and her deaf mother in it, on fire. Nataraj’s wife growing frustrated at his husband new
friendship with Rangi stormed off to the procession with their son, Babu. Rangi left the printer too.

He waited for his wife to return furtively and started mind-jogging through the procession. A couple of passersby told him
that the procession had started late. He could not take the suspense any longer and decided to stop Vasu at any cost.

Nataraj reached the attic filled with frightful determination. He saw Vasu sleeping in his long chair and swiftly grabbed his
gun which was lying on the floor. At the same time, the procession also crossed his shop.

The Investigation and the Aftermath

Even though it did not occur to Nataraj what had actually happened, it became clear the next morning. Thanappa, the
postman, came to Nataraj looking spooked.
He told him he had gone to the attic to give Vasu his mail but only found his cold dead body, Nataraj asked him to remain
quiet and leave the place.

He went upstairs and scanned the crime scene. He found his folder (funds for the event) and the stuffed tiger cub (valued
at Rs 2000) and hurried to his office downstairs.

For the whole of the next day, the place was a hotbed of investigation and speculation. The DSP was perched on the Queen
Anne chair and was questioning everyone from Muthu to Rangi.

Even Nataraj’s wife was interrogated but he stuck to what her husband advised to say. Vasu’s body was examined by the
forensic team and taken to the mortuary for post-mortem.

There was small tiffin lying beside his body. This was Rangi’s and had the pulav she made him. But neither Nataraj nor
Rangi dared to speak a word about its owner.

The medical report confirms that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the side of Vasu’s head. The whole town gossiped
about the possible murderer.

For some, it was Sen the journalist or Muthu the village teashop owner. But for most, including his wife, it was Nataraj who
had finally snapped after being subjected to Vasu’s belligerence for so many months.

The Murderous Press

Now, Nataraj became the talk of the town. He was the subject of all the gossips and hushed rumours. This affected his
relationship with his friends like Sen and the poet who never returned to their fixed spots in the parlour of his press.

Muthu and the villagers disowned any connection to Nataraj as well. Sastri had left for a wedding in Karaikudi and had not
come back yet. For all intents and purposes, he had deserted his employer too.

The press became known as the Murderous Press and the stigma attached to it really fell hard on Nataraj and his psyche.
One day he caught hold of the poet, coaxed him to come to the press and offered him the stuffed tiger cub to thaw the
frost of indifference.

To his utter dismay, the poet scampered out of Queen Anne and the press as soon as he laid eyes on Vasu’s masterpiece.
He considered Nataraj had lost his marbles and was suffering from lunacy, a deranged killer.

It became clear to Nataraj that even though Vasu had killed many tigers and wild beasts, it was he who was the real man-
eater. Vasu, even after his death, had killed Nataraj’s hard-earned reputation and place in his beloved Malgudi.

When all hope had been lost, Nataraj had a visit from an old friend. It was Sastri who had returned from his extended trip.
Nataraj opened up to him about the troubles that beset his life, work and reputation.  Sastri calmed him down and
revealed the mystery behind Vasu’s death.

He said that Rangi had come to his house the previous evening and described how Vasu died. She was with him at the time
of the procession and he succumbed to the flat of his palm when trying to swat away an army of mosquitoes.

In a poetic sense, Sastri quoted the scriptures that expatiate that every demon, even the man-eater Vasu, has a particle of
self0destruction in them. It is the power of the tyrant itself that brings the end of his tyranny once and for all.

The Man Eater of Malgudi: Key Thoughts

The Man Eater of Malgudi is considered to be an outstanding allegory that puts the struggle between good and evil at the
forefront. In the end, it triumphantly declares the victory of good when evil meets its end by self-destruction.

The titular man-eater is not an animal but a man, Vasu, who has no limits of contrition and compassion and is consumed by
guilt, gore and pleasure-seeking. The story has a detailed plot with a diverse cast of vivid characters.

The character of Vasu, the antagonist and Nataraj, the meek protagonist are crafted with masterful skill and patience. The
words evoke a response of pathos mixed with some moments of comic relief. It is certainly one of Narayan’s best works.

A Tiger for Malgudi

A Tiger for Malgudi is a 1984 novel by Indian author R.K. Narayan, written from the perspective of a tiger named Raja, who
recounts his life, up to and including his uneventful elderly life in an exhibit in the Malgudi zoo. Raja speaks nostalgically
about his memories of the wild before being captured by humans, while acknowledging the meditative life his carceral
existence now affords. Through its personification of Raja, the novel validates the experiences and emotions of animals
who are too often neglected by their captors, promoting cultures of nonviolence between humans and animals.

The novel begins as Raja remembers his early life. He was born in the Indian jungle. Growing quickly, he seized his rightful
place at the top of the food chain. He recalls the other creatures of the jungle feared him. Raja lived most of his young life
in the broad swath of jungle called the Mempi Range. He was not an indiscriminate killer or despotic ruler, but was surely a
dominant and occasionally ruthless one: he punishes those animals who deny him respect, and feasts on other animals
liberally. At the same time, he has compassion for certain creatures. One day, Raja’s sense of supremacy is undermined
when a female tiger challenges his arrogance. They fight and are an equal match, nearly killing each other. A wise jackal
inspires them to speak to each other rather than fight. Obeying his words, they surprisingly become friends, then become
mates and bear children.

One day, Raja’s three cubs are tragically killed by a group of hunters. He seeks revenge by stalking human villages and
eating their livestock but is captured by a man called “Captain” who runs a traveling circus. Captain and his wife, Rita, train
Raja to perform stunts. In the stunt that comes to be Raja’s most famous, he drinks milk alongside a goat. The stunt goes
awry one day when Raja embraces his predatory impulse and kills the goat. Enraged, Captain takes him out of the show.

Madan, a film director, comes to Captain asking to feature Raja in a film. They strike a deal, but Captain delays for so long
that he irritates Madan. Finally, they start filming. In one scene, Raja is to stage a fake fight with the strongman Jaggu.
Jaggu, afraid of Raju, almost backs out of filming. In one attempt to film, Raja upsets Captain, who electrocutes him with a
cattle prod. The rod does not subdue Raja as intended; the tiger retaliates by killing Captain. The film set erupts into chaos,
and Raja flees.

Raja makes it to the city of Malgudi. He roams throughout the city, terrifying its denizens. Yet, Raja has given up using
violence to influence humans and hopes only to be free again. Nevertheless, deeply curious about humans, he visits many
cafes and businesses. He even visits a school after following a group of children. He falls asleep in the headmaster’s office;
when he wakes, the principal and other staff are cowering and call for help.

Alphonse appears with a gun but doesn’t dare to enter the office. A spiritual leader known only as “the Master” also
appears, attempting to placate the people assembled outside the office door. Alphonse drinks too much rum before
attempting his rescue mission for the headmaster. He passes out, and the Master enters the office instead. Raja is
surprised that he is able to understand the Master’s speech, unlike other humans. The Master orders Raja to leave calmly
with him, and he complies, amazing the onlookers.

Raja and the Master travel throughout India spreading a philosophy of nonviolence. They travel into the mountains and live
for a while in a cave. There, they are visited by many people who want to emulate the Master. One day, a woman appears
and demands that the Master returns to her and their children, whom he abandoned. The Master replies that he is now a
different person, just as Raja is no longer a violent beast. Disheartened, the woman returns to the city.

Raja becomes an old tiger. He finds it more difficult to hunt and protect himself. To help his friend along, the Master invites
a zookeeper from Malgudi to their cave. The zookeeper offers to take care of Raja and proves to be friendly and
compassionate. The Master gives Raja a final assignment: to move into the zoo and make children happy. The zoo will also
render hunting unnecessary, enabling a nonviolent life for him. Now two old friends, Raja and the Master part ways. The
Master tells him that their spirits will meet again, when their bodies are no longer necessary. A Tiger for Malgudi ends with
this philosophical union between man and animal, suggesting that all creatures can and should strive for peace.

Narayan’s Themes and Characters

Narayan's stories belong to the native Indian soil and are reminiscent of its culture. They mainly depict the Indian life and
clearly express his view of the world and those who live in it, simple but a fascinating plot, lively characterization, strict
economy of narration and subtle simplicity of language are some of the most outstanding features of these stories.

The themes of Narayan’s stories and novels seem to be of perennial interest especially to a sensitive mind interested in
human beings. The themes of Narayan are all dependently interrelated and inter-connected. One of them is man’s
susceptibility to self-deception which is the most recurrent providing excellent field for Narayan’s comedy. The study of
the family and various family relationships, the renunciation, generational disaffiliation, conflict between tradition and
modernity, the East-West encounter, education, etc. are his other themes. Through his themes Narayan reinforced the
concerns and motifs of his writing in his long career like exile and return, education (in the widest sense of the term),
woman and her status in the society, myths and the ancient Indian past, tradition and modernity, Malgudi and its culture,
appearance and reality, the family and so on.

The average and the middle-class milieu of Malgudi and the family provide Narayan to study at close quarters human
individuals and human relationships in all variety and intricacy:

The mainspring of Narayan’s fictional art is his abiding, humane and responsible interest in varieties of people, especially
the vast majority of the average and the ordinary, and in the limitless possibilities of their lives. In fact Malgudi which is
wholly imaginary suburban town and the locale of the bulk of his fiction is a richly peopled world.

Here indeed one finds “God’s plenty.” Along with Malgudi the family provides the novelist with a convenient and
manageable context, concrete and particular, to study at close quarter’s human individuals and human relationships in all
variety and intricacy. It also helps him in creating the illusion of realism, so very necessary for the success of his kind of
fiction in which the fabulous figures frequently.

The fictional world of R.K. Narayan in is largely devoted to the study of the family and various family relationships in
detail:

The fictional world of R.K. Narayan in its exploration of the familial relationship of the domestic world is largely devoted to
the study of the family and various family relationships in detail, as the family forms the basic unit for any society. Narayan
presents his protagonists against the background of their families and familial relations. He skillfully draws particular
attention to the various details of their families. Many of them are seen as rooted in the traditions, customs, beliefs, and
superstitions of their families. Thus, every one of the important characters is given a recognizable identity and helped to
come alive.

The first two novels of Narayan, Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts illustrate this point. The central theme of
either novel is growth towards emotional maturity which involves a crisis involving relations with others and the growth is
made possible largely by the stability, solidarity and security of their respective families. The family is a secondary but
significant theme in both the novels.

The Dark Room and The English Teacher appear chronologically after the first two novels and present the obverse and
reverse of the theme of married life, the second of the traditional stages or garhasthya,( Grihastha (Sanskrit: gr̥hastha)
literally means "being in and occupied with home, family" or "householder". It refers to the second phase of an
individual's life in a four age-based stages of the Hindu ashram system. In Indian traditions, Grihastha stage of life is a
recommendation, but not a requirement.) according to the Hindu way of life. While The English Teacher presents the song of
love in marriage, The Dark Room offers “a study of domestic harmony.” These two are pre-eminently domestic novels, and
sensitive studies of husband-wife relationship, and they give ample scope for comparison and contrast.

Some of the novels examine the father-son relationship and grandmother-grandson and grandaunt-grandnephew
relationships:

The Financial Expert and The Vendor of Sweets explore the father-son relationship and the generation gap. While
Margayya sheds his love of money and returns to the family fold, Jagan seeks release from the family bonds by taking to
the stage of vanaprasthya,(Vanaprastha is a Sanskrit term derived from vana, meaning "forest," and prastha, meaning
"going to." Therefore, it may be translated as “retiring to the forest.” This life stage begins when one passes the
responsibilities of running a household over to the next generation. One goes from being a householder and being engaged in
family life to a more introspective and meditative stage of life. Initially, one will act as a wise elder, providing advice and
guidance to those in need. As time passes, he/she will gradually withdraw from the world to live a more spiritual and solitary
life. It is also possible to enter vanaprastha straight from the brahmacharya (student) life stage.The transition to this stage
marks a profound shift in the goals of the person. From being focused on the material pursuits of wealth and pleasure, the
yogi now looks inward toward moksha (spiritual liberation), Self-realization and unity with the Divine.)the third of the
traditional stages. Waiting for the Mahatma and Painter of Signs novel delineate the grandmother-grandson and the
grandaunt-grandnephew relationship peculiar to Indian culture and family.

Some of the novels deal with characters who become estranged from the conventions, codes and mores of the family
who go out of the family fold:

Certain individuals deliberately choose to isolate themselves from any and every form of family relationship and defy the
norms and conditions of society, to seek their individual potential, only to render their services to the said society in one
way or other, though they are termed “misfits.” The Guide, The Man-Eater of Malgudi, and The Painter of Signs present
such characters who become estranged from the conventions, codes and mores of the family and society, who go out of
the family fold either by necessity or by choice to live their lives independent of every one of the bonds. It is, as it were for
them, the demand of the family and by the same token, society proves an obstacle to the development of their selves and
to full realization of their potentialities.

Some of the novels deal with characters who strive to realize their absurd aims and ambitions, irrespective of the
consequences:

There are others who in spite of the obstacles, obligations and limitations placed over them by the bonds of family and
restricted by a strict social code, strive to realize their absurd aims and ambitions, irrespective of the consequences.
However, it is brought home to them that society does not tolerate any such folly and finally they return to the folds of the
society.

For, despite their absurd follies and foibles most of the characters remain conformists and tradition-bound, if not at the
first at least towards the end, like Chandran, Savitri, Margayya (The Bachelor of arts, The Dark Room, The Financial
Expert.) and a multitude of other characters, who appear absurd and pathetic in their struggle with the tradition-bound
society.

They are of course ultimately led to a stage where their illusions crumble and normalcy is restored. Thus, they mature and
are all the wiser for their follies. For, to preserve the harmony between all individuals and society, individual ambitions
have to be subdued.

Some of the novels deal with the theme of renunciation:

The protagonists of some of the novels feel impelled to try some form of renunciation because of frustration,
disappointment, failure, irreparable loss, and failure of relationship. Here Narayan tells us of the fraudulent holy man or
guru, ideal sainthood and about the real ascetic or sanyasi. To start with, The Bachelor of Arts and The Dark Room
grouped together to facilitate the purpose of study; explore the premature and ignorant renunciation taken up to escape
certain emotional crises and subsequent upheaval in their lives.

The English Teacher which comes chronologically after the other two novels depicts Krishna’s grief at the premature death
of his wife, and his coming to terms with the tragic fact. His coming into psychic contact with the spirit of his wife enables
him gradually to accept her death as well as develop equanimity of mind and inner calm, considerable degree of non-
attachment, and serenity of mind associated with the sthithaprajna. ( Sthitaprajna is a Sanskrit term that means
“contented,” “calm” and “firm in judgment and wisdom.” It is a combination of two words: sthita, meaning “existing,”
“being” and “firmly resolved to,” and prajna, meaning “wise,” “clever” and “intelligent.” In the Bhagavad Gita, sthitaprajna
refers to a man of steady wisdom.) In Waiting for the Mahatma Narayan takes the risk of introducing Mahatma Gandhi as a
character.

The Mahatma belongs to the class of the extraordinary while the ordinary and average are Narayan’s forte. The Mahatma’s
humanity and compassion are stressed, he is seen as the living embodiment of the very essence of renunciation—ideal
sainthood. Living in the midst of people whose joys and sorrows he shares; he also cultivates at the same time an inner
calm. The Guide presents the theme of the fraudulent holy man or guru from a fresh angle.

The novelist makes a satiric exposure of the false sanyasi far less important than focusing attention on the role of faith that
a credulous community places in one who is believed to be a holy man, and its consequences to both the ascetic as an
individual and as a public figure, and to the humanity. The Vendor of Sweets tells the story of Jagan, an eccentric and an
obscurantist father, who can be devoted to Gandhi and the Gita, and also make handsome profits as a sweet-vendor, his
absurd affection for his son, and his disillusionment and withdrawal from familial attachment and entering of
vanaprasthasrama.

A Tiger for Malgudi, written sixteen years after the Vendor of Sweets, is in many ways an unusual and challenging novel.
This is because under the guise of telling the apparently fantastic and improbable story of a jungle tiger attaining true
enlightenment, Narayan actually tells a story whose real theme is renunciation or sanyasa.( Sanskrit term that refers to a
stage in a person’s life, or spiritual development, in which one renounces material possessions to concentrate purely on
spiritual matters. Their goal at this point is to achieve moksha, which is liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. In
English, sannyasa translates to “abandonment," “to put down everything" or “renunciation of the world." This is the final of
the four life stages in Hindu philosophy. After reaching sannyasa, a person lives a simple, spiritual life that is inspired by
love and peacefulness.

In Hinduism, there is a high degree of freedom over the type of lifestyle and pursuits that can be carried out at this stage.
However, those who adopt it typically drift from one place to another, with no worldly possessions and no emotional ties.
There is a lot of flexibility in Hindu texts in regards to how sannyasa can be reached. For those who practice yoga with a
spiritual intent, the journey to this life stage can be one of their main goals.Very advanced yogis may seek out this sort of
lifestyle to deepen or even complete their spiritual yoga journey. For most practitioners, however, sannyasa is a future goal,
which individuals can work toward by letting go of unnecessary possessions and minimizing clutter.)

Narayan uses of various myths and legends from the classical Indian traditional Indian literature, epics and tales in his
fiction by improving and improvising to suit the modern times:

Narayan renders into modern fiction various myths and legends drawn from the classical Indian traditional literature, epics
and tales such as the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata, Jataka tales and the Panchatantra, the world famous and
internationally known collection of animal stories. Taken from these various traditional sources the myths and legends are
improved and improvised to suit the modern times and contemporary situation.

Through these stories Narayan tries to present a view of life and a moral vision in terms of the comic mode, though never
didactic or instructive anywhere. In the words of George Woodcock: “The ancient Indian myths which Narayan began to
read within his middle years are not merely plots for films; his novels recreate them.” Therefore, one can that Narayan’s
view of is essentially Indian and that his novels offer a recreation of the traditional imagination as it acts upon the
individual consciousness with the contemporary society.

Narayan’s vision is characterized by a unique Indian sensibility:

Narayan is a writer with a full commitment to certain spiritual and religious ideas with which Indians are normally familiar
and he has been able to penetrate into the core of Indian life without being hampered by problems of regionalism, religion,
caste and class with which an Indian writer has to come to grips. What is characteristically great about him is that he has
been able to capture the essence that is Indian.

That Narayan’s vision is characterized by a unique Indian sensibility is of no doubt. And his adherence to the ancient Indian
tradition—(as reflected in his fictional world) a tradition which is deeply rooted in the beliefs of the transmigration of the
soul, karma, reincarnation and renunciation, becomes clear through a perceptive study of his fiction.

The religious sense of Indian myth is part of Narayan’s grip of reality and his particular of view of human life and way of
placing and ordering human experience:

Almost all his novels touch upon the above mentioned themes. The only difference being that while in some of the novels
they form the major themes, in others they provide a significant and added meaning to the narration. As one of his
characters in the novels comments, he always finds “some ancient model.” He always comes upon an ancient myth or
legend which lends itself to him to express his moral vision of life. As William Walsh observes: “The religious sense of
Indian myth is part of Narayan’s grip of reality and his particular view of human life and his individual way of placing and
ordering human experience.”

The Guide

Themes

Hypocrisy and Disguise

Raju, the protagonist and occasional narrator of N.K. Narayan’s The Guide, is a character whose entire life is built upon the
sins of hypocrisy and dissimulation. His multiple careers—including his work as a tourist guide in his hometown of Malgudi,
southern India, his career as a “dance manager” for Rosie/Nalini (the seductive dancer he begins an affair with when she
visits Malgudi with her husband, Marco), and his final reincarnation as a holy man in a small village in southern India—are
all premised on deceptions and lies. The novel dramatizes the ways in which Raju’s propensity for deceit leads him into
trouble. Ultimately, Narayan suggests that Raju’s deceptions not only lead to his complete corruption, but also to the
destruction of everything he holds dear.

The various roles that Raju invents for himself—a tourist guide, dance manager, and holy man, respectively—all rely upon
the spinning of fabricated stories and illusions. In recounting to Velan, the villager to whom Raju tells his life story, his past
life as tourist guide in Malgudi, Raju emphasizes that he felt no qualms about spinning tales on a regular basis. Raju tells
Velan that his lectures to the visitors about the sights depended largely on the mood he was in on the day he escorted
clients. He ascribes different ages to the same site, for instance, according to his humour. He exaggerates the singularity of
some of the sights, contending that a particular spot in town is “the greatest, the highest, the only one in the world,” when
this is not necessarily true. He also adjusts his stories and “facts” according to his customers, depending on what he thinks
they want to hear. Raju’s dissimulation and consistent misinformation is so successful that his reputation only grows as a
result, leading tourists, innocent of his deceptions, to seek him out in droves, asking for him by his nickname,
“Railway Raju.”

Raju’s tendency toward deceit and disguise continues when he takes on the role of promoting Rosie’s classical dance
career, in his capacity as her manager. He changes his appearance—dressing “soberly” for the part of classical dance
manager and sporting rimless glasses—all to play more convincingly the new part that he has assumed. Much of his work
managing Rosie’s career consists of creating an illusion of importance. Raju takes to sitting in a particular spot at each of
Rosie’s performances, and he inquires in great detail about the preparations for each show, so as to create a tension that
further supports Rosie’s career. He speaks, acts, and moves as though he is an immensely important man, and even begins
to believe in this illusion himself—taking full credit for Rosie’s immense success. It is only later, in retrospect, that he
realizes that Rosie was responsible for her own success.

After being released from prison for forging Rosie’s signature, Raju reinvents himself once more, this time as a spiritual
guide on a riverbank by a small village. When he finds that the villagers’ misguided faith in his spiritual powers means that
he is well-nourished by the offerings they bring him, without him having to do much, he embraces the role enthusiastically,
again dissimulating his true identity. He changes his appearance accordingly—growing his beard and hair long to more
convincingly resemble a holy man, all the while keeping his past a secret from the villagers. He takes to uttering “mystifying
statements” to the villagers who gather around him every day, and in this way manages to project an aura of wisdom and
sainthood that has no basis in reality.

Raju’s dissimulation and hypocrisy is not only limited to his work, however. This tendency extends to his personal
relationships as well. Raju’s hypocrisy in particular becomes apparent when he escorts Marco, the scholar of ancient
civilizations who comes to Malgudi to study cave paintings, bringing along his beautiful wife Rosie. On the one hand, Raju
plays the part of the consummate tourist guide to Marco, arranging his travels, showing him the sites, and organizing his
comfortable stay at Peak House, the house at the top of the Mempi hills near Malgudi where Marco spends some time
examining nearby cave paintings. On the other hand, Raju deceives and betrays Marco ruthlessly by courting and
successfully seducing his beautiful young wife, Rosie. Under the pretence of entertaining her by showing her the sites while
Marco is at work, Raju flatters and courts Rosie, taking advantage of her dissatisfaction with her husband. Raju ends up
winning Rosie after Marco abandons her upon discovering her affair with his tourist guide. However, Raju’s inability to
reign in his deceitful tendencies ultimately ends up destroying his own relationship to Rosie. Jealous of Marco’s
reappearance in their lives after the publication of Marco’s book on ancient civilizations, Raju hides news of Marco from
Rosie and lies to her about the correspondence he receives from Marco’s lawyers addressed to her.

Raju’s hypocrisy and lies ultimately lead to his complete corruption and the destruction of his relationships. This is reflected
in the criminal act that Raju commits—when he forges Rosie’s signature on a document that Marco’s lawyers send to
Rosie, in order to procure a jewelry box belonging to her without her knowledge. Ultimately, it is discovery of this deceit by
the police—and Raju’s subsequent trial and imprisonment—that leads him to lose everything, including his reputation and
the love of his life, Rosie.

The Guide takes a critical view towards the failings of its protagonist. While Raju’s deceptions and exaggerations seem
harmless at first, merely a means through which he cleverly reinvents himself time and again, his propensity for deceit
ends up infecting all aspects of his existence. In this way, Raju not only corrupts himself, but also destroys his most
cherished relationships, and ends up losing everything that he holds dear as a result.

Dishonesty

The protagonist, Raju, has always been a dishonest character. As a child, he eats the green peppermints from his father’s
shop even though he was strictly forbidden to. Growing up, he becomes a tour guide who misinforms and misguides his
tourists to get more money out of them. He misleads Rosie into falling in love with him by telling her all the things she
wanted to hear, all for his own interest in getting her into bed. He gets a two-year prison sentence for forgery. Coming out
of prison, he poses as a sage at a ruined shrine far away from the locality. Even as he fasts, he eats a stack of food hidden
away in an aluminum pot on the very first day. Dishonesty is embedded in Raju's very marrow, and it is not until the end of
the novel that he has to come to terms with it.

Materialism

Raju is a highly materialistic character, as he only hankers after money and does not at all value any emotion or feeling. He
tricks people to extract money out of them and that is all that matters to him. He lacks all sense of morality or religion and
that permits him to solely care about worldly things without hesitation. For him, money means more than people and he
feels like a failure if he is not earning the maximum amount of it. Finally his actions lead him to a place where money is no
longer attainable, and he has to orient himself to this new reality. Narayan suggests that money does not, after all, bring
happiness and that a person should be careful about how much they value it over other things.

Transformation and Redemption

In tracing the metamorphosis of Raju—the protagonist of The Guide—from shopkeeper to tourist guide to stage manager
to holy man, Narayan’s novel delves both into the pitfalls and the redemptive potential of transformation. While Raju’s
many guises are framed by deceit and illusion, Narayan suggests that throughout these transformations, Raju moves
towards fulfilling his destiny, redeeming himself in his final role as a spiritual guide. In this way, the novel also affirms the
Hindu principle of dharma—understood as a law or principle along which an individual acts out their fate.

Transformation is at the heart of Raju’s journey from shopkeeper to holy man. Over the course of the novel, he adopts
different identities, slipping in and out of various careers, often dishonestly, in his pursuit of money and prestige. Although
Raju adopts many different guises, a common thread underpins his transformations—in one form or another, he always
plays the role of “guide,” suggesting that being a guide is his calling. His work showing tourists around Malgudi sees him
“guiding” visitors through, and to, the town’s sites and geography. This is the role Raju plays in relation to Marco, the
scholar who visits Malgudi to undertake research, and whom Raju leads to the cave paintings. After Raju betrays Marco by
starting an affair with his young and beautiful wife, Rosie, he again takes up the role of a kind of “guide” by managing
Rosie’s career as a dancer. In orchestrating Rosie’s performances and engagements, Raju also contributes to guiding Rosie
towards stardom.

Finally, Raju willingly adopts the role of spiritual “guide” foisted upon him by the locals of the small village in which he ends
up after his release from prison. Although Raju is far removed from spirituality or mysticism, the villagers do not know this,
and blindly put their faith in his spiritual powers. Towards the end of the novel, an American television producer arrives in
the small village to make a film about the fast that Raju undertakes to bring about drought-ending rains. The producer asks
Raju, “Have you always been a yogi?” and Raju answers, “Yes, more or less.” That the role of “guide”—in one form or
another—always frames and underpins Raju’s transformations suggests that being a guide is Raju’s destined vocation.

Indeed, through his final transformation into a yogi, Raju seems to fulfill the destiny or dharma of “guide” in its highest,
most noble sense. While Raju is at first reluctant to take on the fast for the rains that the villagers expect him to, he finds
that he has no choice but to succumb to their expectations—he simply has no access to food. Finding himself cornered,
Raju finally commits to undertaking the fast genuinely, subjecting himself to a great sacrifice and risking his life in the
process, all for the purpose of fulfilling the villagers’ hopes for rains. Notably, Velan’s continued faith in him—even after
Raju discloses his full life-story and shares with Velan his history of deceit—leads him to attempt to live up to Velan’s and
the villagers’ trust in him. By finally submitting to the two-week fast, then, Raju acts for the first time in his life as a “guide”
not out of pure self-interest, but for the good of others.

Raju’s authentic attempt to “guide” the villagers out of the drought through the act of fasting not only represents him
fulfilling his fate in the noblest sense, but it also leads to his redemption. While Raju has spent much of his life deceiving
and swindling others under various guises of a guide, this life of deceit is mitigated through the sacrifice he undertakes by
fasting. Raju’s redemption through this act of sacrifice is suggested in the final image of the novel. A young villager named
Velan helps Raju, who is weakened by the fast to the point of being unable to stand in the dry river bed where he holds
vigil every day on his own. The last scene shows Raju thinking that he sees rain coming over the hills. While the ending of
the novel is ambiguous (the reader does not know whether Raju is hallucinating or whether rain is in fact coming; and the
reader is also left in the dark about whether Raju lives or dies), this image of rain suggests a spiritual nourishment or
reawakening—indeed, Raju tells Velan that he feels the rain rising in his body. Thus, irrespective of whether or not the
rain does actually come, Raju’s vision of rain in this final scene alludes to the great change that has come over him. In
authentically taking on the role of a spiritual guide by undergoing the fast, he fulfills the role of “guide” in its highest sense,
and redeems himself in the process.

The Guide portrays the journey of a man who, even as he transforms himself often dishonestly, moves towards the
fulfillment of his destiny. By finally and authentically taking on the responsibilities of a holy man to help the villagers who
have sustained him, Raju acts according to the dharma that governs his life: playing the role of “guide” in its most
benevolent and selfless sense. In this regard, Raju not only fulfills his destiny, but he also redeems himself through his self-
sacrifice.

This spiritual conversion is a compound of many elements. It is typical of Narayan's unsentimental realism that compulsion
also has a role in events: Raju would have run away, but realizes "they might drag him back and punish him" (p. 97). Next
he devises methods whereby he might soften his ordeal, but is pushed however unwillingly to a total commitment. If
compulsion were die only element in the situation however Raju would remain merely an unlucky rogue.
Raju's acceptance appears also to be moved by a feeling for nature. He feels his sacrifice would be worthwhile if it would
"help the trees to bloom and the grass grow" (p. 213). One recollects that he and Rosie had found 'a common idiom' in
their enthusiasm for the natural beauty of Memphi hills, moving Marco to remark ". . . so you are a poet too" (p. 68). In
prison he is happy gardening, enjoying the "blue sky and sunshine" and also "the smell of freshly turned earth" (p. 203). His
cultivation of his vegetables is lovingly described: "I watched them grow and develop . . . I plucked them, wiped them to a
clean polish . . . arranged them artistically" (p. 203). In boyhood he had detested working "while the birds were out flying
and chirping in the cool air"

Most important, an extremely subtle change is shown establishing itself in Raju's mental outlook. His narration of past
events bears the marked clarity of the chastened vision. So he honestly acknowledges that Rosie became famous "because
she had the genius in her, but that he had been 'puffed up' with his own importance" (p. 162). Again he admits, "I can see
now that it was a very wrong line of thought to adopt" (p. 195). Clearly, Raju the narrator has progressed in understanding
beyond Raju the actor in those past events. Moreover as Swami, his life begins to lose its purely selfish bias almost in spite
of himself. In ministering to the villagers, "his life had lost its personal limitations" (p. 47); he is obliged "to be up early and
rush through all his personal routine" (p. 48); only when left alone, is he able to "sigh a deep sigh of relief . . . and be
himself (p. 48).

Subtler, more mysterious forces also have a part in Raju's transformation. Here Narayan exploits the suggestiveness of
images and symbols which while being deeply rooted in traditional Indian life, also possess a more universal resonance.
There is the village, a symbol of the pristine innocence of an unspoiled way of life; the river, synonymous with purification
and regeneration; the temple associated with supernatural and redemptive influences; all have a role in Raju's conversion.
He is latterly subjected almost exclusively to these spiritually regenerating forces. Raju is touched by the simple generosity
of the peasants, and the thought of them helps prevent his running away. He had hoped that the revelation of his past
would relieve him of the expected sacrifice and is flabbergasted at the strength of the faith which survives even this
discovery. The guilelessness of the villager makes him an incalculable quantity to the wily Raju, who feels "This man will
finish me" (p. 209). At the shrine, mysterious influences appear to affect Raju's fate. Velan naturally takes him for a
religious recluse, and from this all subsequent events flow. Raju is himself impressed by the spiritual insights he begins to
express and once he "felt he was growing wings. Shortly he felt he might float in the air and perch himself on the tower of
the ancient temple" (p. 20). The purificatory significance of Raju's daily ritual in the river is readily apparent.

Past and Present

The Guide shows the intersection of past and present in numerous ways. First, there is the coming of the railroad and the
railway station, which changes jobs, communication, travel, and more. Second, Rosie is a dancer in the classical manner but
it is the conditions of modernity that allow her fame to spread as it does. Her dance, even though it is classical in theme, is
also juxtaposed against Marco's focus on "dead and decaying things." Rosie's sexuality and independence are fully of the
modern moment while Marco's paternalism is of the past. As critic John Thieme writes, Marco is "resistant to any
suggestion that the classical and the contemporary may be related" even when he sees the dancing motif on the cave
walls. Third, there is a confluence of past and present when the ancient temple is unearthed by the receding waters in the
present-day drought, which serves "as a metonym for the notion of an archeologically layered India, albeit one in which the
different strata were coming to exist contiguously rather than in a temporal sequence, since an ancient infrastructure was
now present on the surface."

Karma

Though he's not violent or "evil," Raju is without a doubt an amoral, obnoxious, and self-interested character. He's a
hypocrite and a liar, a charlatan and a greedy, materialistic person. He uses other people to make himself feel good and to
make him money. He ignores his obligations, his family, and his community to pursue what he wants. However, Narayan
doesn't allow Raju to continue on like this forever. He shows how Raju's greed leads him to lose Rosie, his money, and his
influence and land in jail. And more than that, he has Raju's gig as a holy man result in a real act of redemption and
transformation. Karma catches up with all of us eventually, Narayan suggests.

Gender and Feminism

The Guide tells the story of Raju, the trickster-charlatan who, in his final reincarnation as a holy man, ends up redeeming
himself by undergoing a heroic fast to save Indian villagers from a drought. But while this male character (and occasional
narrator) is at the heart of the story, it is the brilliant dancer Rosie/Nalini—Raju’s love interest—who steals the show.
While various men—including Rosie’s first husband Marco, and later her lover Raju—attempt to control Rosie and direct
her fate, she proves mightier and more resilient than both, ultimately taking her destiny into her own hands. While mostly
told by a male narrator, Narayan’s novel can in fact be read as a feminist tract that traces a woman’s journey from
dependence on men and imprisonment within patriarchal constraints to her transformation into an independent woman
who assumes her full powers and thereby achieves her liberation.

Rosie enters the story as the wife of Marco, the scholar of ancient civilizations who arrives in Malgudi, Raju’s hometown in
southern India, and seeks Raju’s help as a tour guide to explore the caves around the town. The extent to which Rosie is
constrained by her marriage is revealed in the fact that she is forced to give up her passion—the classical Indian dance
practiced by generations of women in her family—under her husband’s orders. Rosie makes this sacrifice in exchange for
marrying an upper-caste man who can provide her with a comfortable life. As such, Rosie is condemned to spend her time
watching her husband pursue his passion—the study of ancient civilizations—while denying her own. Marco’s complete
preoccupation with his research, as well as his ban on her dancing, leaves Rosie feeling lonely, unloved, and unfulfilled. And
yet, as his dependent, she is completely reliant on his material support. Consequently, not only is she unfulfilled and lonely,
she is also powerless.

Although Rosie begins to fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer once she begins a relationship with Raju (who recognizes
her immense talent when he sees her imitating the movements of a snake one day), her new relationship also ultimately
leads to her subjugation. At first, Raju’s support of Rosie’s career provides her with opportunity: she begins to perform
publicly as Raju takes on the role of her “dance manager,” organizing and arranging shows and performances for her. But
as Rosie becomes more successful, Raju increasingly exploits her, taking advantage of her incredible talent and the public’s
insatiable demand for her performances to enrich himself hugely. He subjects Rosie to a cruel schedule of performances
that leave her depleted and unhappy. In this way, Raju treats Rosie as though she were his property—using her to serve
the impulses of his greed. Furthermore, as Rosie becomes more popular, Raju grows more jealous, seeking to control her
contact with others. He is particularly jealous of the artist friends she likes to spend time with, and comes up with excuses
to keep her from them, thus isolating her even further from the few nourishing relationships that sustain her. Moreover,
he takes to hiding letters and correspondence addressed to her from Marco and his lawyers, jealous of the reappearance
of Rosie’s husband in their lives. Raju’s desire to control Rosie grows to such a degree that he commits a serious act of
deceit as a result: he forges her signature in order to acquire valuable jewelry from her husband, Marco, without informing
Rosie. As such, Rosie’s relationship with Raju eventually proves to be as limiting and oppressive as her relationship with
Marco. With Raju, as with Marco, Rosie finds herself an imprisoned woman.

While both Marco and Raju attempt to control Rosie and to shape her destiny in different ways, she ultimately challenges
both men, escaping their clutches to take charge of her own fate. Firstly, she challenges her husband on his ban on her
dancing by asserting her right to follow her passion, though ultimately it leads her nowhere with Marco. She rebels further
against him, however, by beginning an affair with Raju—a man who, initially at least, conveys an appreciation for her talent
and her art. Rosie further defies social conventions by continuing a relationship with Raju in spite of not being married to
him. This is scandalous by the standards of the society in which Rosie lives, as reflected in the reproach that Rosie
experiences from Raju’s mother, who condemns the relationship, going so far as to move out of her own house in protest.
Furthermore, Rosie’s huge success as a dancer is largely due to her own powers and talents. While Raju, in his role as her
manager, takes credit for the success of Rosie’s dance career, he himself later comes to realize and to acknowledge that it
is in fact Rosie’s own genius as a dancer and devotion to her art that led to her success.

By the end of the novel, Rosie has proven herself to be an independent, resilient, and powerful woman. She is dependent
on neither Marco nor Raju, instead maintaining and growing her reputation as a brilliant and successful dancer without the
aid or support of any man. As such, the novel can be understood as one that traces a woman’s journey of empowerment
by following the ways in which Rosie breaks the patriarchal chains that bind her through hard work, resilience, and
independence of spirit.

Tradition vs. Modernity

Narayan’s The Guide depicts modernization overtaking protagonist-narrator Raju’s hometown of Malgudi in southern India

during the early twentieth century. Not only are new technologies associated with industrialization—such as the railroad—
introduced during this period, but social relations are also upended as hierarchies of caste and gender are re-negotiated.
The novel’s attitude towards the relationship between tradition and modernity is complex and ambiguous. These forces are
sometimes depicted as in conflict, and sometimes in harmony. As all of the characters grapple with tradition and
modernity, The Guide suggests that both have their merits, though ultimately the novel implies that there is a particularly
special power embedded in tradition.

The coming of modernization is indicated in the novel by the sweeping changes that overtake the town of Malgudi during
Raju’s childhood. Primary among these changes is the construction of the railroad. As an emblem of modernization, the
railroad brings about numerous changes to Malgudi. For one, the railroad opens Malgudi up to a wider world, as people
from all parts of India and even further afield begin visiting the town. The railroad also leads to greater economic
prosperity. Raju’s father, who previously made a living from a modest shop, grows richer when he opens another shop in
the newly built railway station. The family, therefore, benefits from the developments that overtake the town. Raju’s own
move from a shopkeeper (like his father) to a tourist guide after the opening of the railroad reflects the way in which the
railroad leads to greater and more varied opportunities for the townspeople. Raju’s work as a tourist guide would not have
been possible without the railroad, which brings the visitors who become his clients.

In opening up the town to a wider world, the railroad also reveals the ways in which modernity leads to the re-negotiation
of traditional gender and caste hierarchies. One of the people who appears in the town thanks to the railroad is Rosie, wife
of Marco—the scholar who arrives in Malgudi to undertake research. In many senses, Rosie represents the ways in which
gender and caste hierarchies are being upended in modern times. She is an educated woman, having gone so far in her
studies as to gain a master’s degree. Furthermore, she is a woman who has married outside of her caste—allying herself to
Marco, and later to Raju. Although she does not marry Raju, her relationship to him is unusual not only because they are an
unmarried couple—which, by the standards of the time and the society, is scandalous—but because Raju, like Marco, is
also of a higher caste.

The tension between Rosie’s modern identity and the traditional constraints of the society in which she lives is embodied
in the conflict between Rosie and Raju’s mother. While Raju’s mother has not left the immediate vicinity of her home in
decades, she is surprised to see Rosie appear alone one day on her doorstep. “Girls these days!” she tells her. “In our day
we wouldn’t go to the street corner without an escort.” Indeed, when Raju’s mother realizes the nature of the relationship
between Raju and Rosie, she condemns her son and his lover, not only because of their unmarried state, but also because
Rosie belongs to a lower caste than her son.

Rosie’s embrace of a modern identity and life is ultimately reflected in the fact that she ends up as an independent woman
making a career for herself as a dancer. Unlike a traditional woman, she escapes dependence on men, leaving behind both
Marco and Raju. And yet, the art that Rosie practices is the classical art of temple dancing—an ancient art form practiced
by generations of women in her family. It is through this art that she achieves her liberation. Indeed, her power as an
independent woman and an artist is associated with the traditional “snake dance” that she performs only on rare
occasions. As such, Rosie represents a melding of the traditional with the modern: she uses an ancestral art—classical
dance—in order to achieve her liberation as a woman. Through the figure of Rosie, the novel suggests that tradition and
modernity are not always in conflict, but can also complement one another and work in tandem.

While Rosie represents the melding of the modern and the traditional, Raju’s own journey reflects his return to, and
embrace of, the traditional. Raju initially rejects the traditions of his family and upbringing. Not only does he neglect his
father’s occupation by giving up shop-keeping to become a tourist guide, but he also turns his back on his mother’s wishes
for him to marry his cousin, instead allying himself with Rosie. The great wealth that Raju accumulates as a result of Rosie’s
dance career is then used to collect luxuries associated with modernity. Raju and Rosie move into a larger and more
modern house than the modest one built by his father, and they travel everywhere by car or by train. As they grow
wealthier, therefore, their lifestyle changes to reflect the luxuries of modern life.

And yet, Raju’s final transformation into a holy man on the riverbank near a small village suggests that he is ultimately
drawn back into the traditional. While at first Raju is reluctant to take on this role, he ends up adopting it authentically, as
reflected in the fast that he undertakes on behalf of the villagers in order to bring an end to the drought that has been
plaguing them. The spiritual transformation that he undergoes as a result—one very closely connected with his adoption of
the traditional role of holy man—suggests that the power of tradition is, ultimately, greater than that of modernity.

Narayan’s attitude towards the relationship between tradition and modernity in The Guide  is complex and ambiguous. On
the one hand, the novel depicts the forces of tradition and modernity as deeply in conflict. On the other hand, both forces
seem to achieve balance in a figure like Rosie, who deploys the traditional art of classical dance—practiced by generations
of her family—to achieve her liberation as a modern woman. Raju, however, is drawn back into the traditional in spite of
himself—ending his life as a holy man providing spiritual guidance to destitute villagers. The spiritual transformation that
Raju undergoes in this traditional role suggests that the novel does ultimately privilege tradition (even if only slightly) over
modernity.

Greed and Materialism

Raju, the protagonist of Narayan’s The Guide, is deeply motivated by his desire for material wealth. Living in the town
of Malgudi in southern India, he constantly reinvents himself—taking on the role of a tourist guide and dance manager—in
his pursuit of money. However, the novel ultimately suggests that it is only when Raju gives up his greed and materialism
entirely in his final role as a holy man that he achieves something of the spiritual fulfillment that eluded him in his previous
life.
Raju’s obsession with material wealth becomes manifest when he leaves behind his father’s railway shop and transforms
himself into a tourist guide, taking advantage of the many tourists that the railway brings to Malgudi. In recounting his
career as a tourist guide to the young villager Velan, Raju explains that his primary motivation when seeking out new
customers was money. Raju immediately sizes up arriving tourists according to their means, and exploits them accordingly
to ensure for himself the greatest monetary gain possible.

Likewise, in taking on the role of Rosie’s dance manager, Raju becomes obsessed with making more and more money.
Realizing the immense draw that Rosie has on the public, he exploits her talents, arranging endless performances and
shows that enrich him further, completely neglecting Rosie’s own needs in the process. Raju’s greed corrupts him. He
comes to treat Rosie as a means to end; she is primarily an instrument through which he can enrich himself. This is
reflected in the most serious act of betrayal he commits, when he forges Rosie’s signature in order to procure a box of
valuable jewelry from her estranged husband Marco. Furthermore, while Raju grows rich from Rosie’s performances, he
squanders the money on a large house, servants, and a lavish lifestyle that nonetheless do not bring him satisfaction, given
that he continues to be consumed with enriching himself further.

In his final act of reincarnation, Raju reinvents himself as a holy man in the small village where he finds himself after his
release from prison, taking on the role imposed on him by a young villager named Velan. Raju’s motivations in adopting
this persona are initially also motivated by greed. At a key moment in the novel, in which he considers running away from
the village, Raju decides that he will play the part of spiritual guide primarily because it is lucrative: he does not have to
work, and can rely on the offerings that the villagers bring to him to sustain himself. In this way, Raju’s greed motivates
him to exploit the villagers’ trust in him in order to further his own self-interest.

Ultimately, however, Raju’s play-acting as a spiritual guide actually compels him to give up his greed and materialism.
When Raju finds himself accidentally drawn into a two-week fast by the villagers, which is intended to bring
about rains and relieve them of the drought under which they have been suffering, Raju has no choice but to give up even
the most basic necessities, including food. By agreeing to undertake the fast, Raju thus sacrifices his own comfort and
health for the sake of the villagers. While the novel is ambiguous about whether Raju actually survives the fast or not, the
image of him on the brink of death as he goes to the river to hold vigil at the end of the novel represents the moment in
which he achieves his most noble and purest identity. By acting out of benevolence towards others, rather than out of self-
interest and greed, he seems to achieve something of a spiritual redemption—as reflected in the vision of rain that he sees
at the end of the novel.

Throughout The Guide, Raju’s actions are largely motivated by greed and materialism. These impulses prove to be self-
perpetuating, as they lead Raju only into greater greed and self-interest. It is only when he is forced to give up all material
comforts and necessities—including food—that Raju seems to find spiritual satisfaction and redemption. In this way, the
novel seems to privilege selflessness, generosity, and benevolence as the only meaningful values through which one can
achieve fulfillment and peace.

Characters

Raju

The protagonist and part-narrator of The Guide, Raju is a trickster-charlatan whose greatest talent lies in re-inventing
himself. With roots in a modest household in the town of Malgudi in southern India, Raju knows how to make the best of
opportunities—as evidenced, for instance, in the way that he takes advantage of the railway that is newly constructed in
Malgudi to create a career for himself as a tourist guide. Articulate and persuasive, Raju has no qualms about twisting facts
—and even reality—to suit his interests, a skill which he deploys relentlessly in his role as host to tourists in Malgudi. Raju’s
penchant for duplicity is also evidenced in the affair that he commences with Rosie behind the back of her
husband, Marco, who also happens to be one of Raju’s customers. Driven by a desire for wealth, Raju’s greed is apparent in
the way that he exploits Rosie’s immense talents as a dancer to enrich himself once he again reinvents himself as her
manager. Jealousy and a desire for control are the other hallmarks of his character, qualities which, along with his deceitful
tendencies, ultimately land him in prison. And yet, as low as Raju may go, he seems always able to rise again. In his final
reinvention as a holy man or spiritual guide on the riverbank near a small village after his release from prison, Raju comes
to fulfill the destiny of “a guide” in the highest sense. Although initially playing the role of “swami” so as to exploit the
villagers’ generosity, Raju ultimately lives up to the villagers’ faith in him by risking everything to save them.

It is this self-interest which has remained the other constant element through all his varied roles. His response to the
observed need of others has never been altruistic. Rather, he deliberately exploits the situation to his own profit. As guide,
he enjoys "seeing a lot of places and getting paid for it" (p. 52); as Rosie's lover, and as her agent, his gratifications are
many. Later, in prison, he enjoys a favorite's privileges, and he accepts the role of Swamireasoning: "Food was coming to
him unasked now. If he went away somewhere else nobody was going to take the trouble to bring him food in return for
just waiting for it" (p. 30). Only at the last, when he foregoes all considerations of self, making indeed the ultimate sacrifice
of life itself in the service of others that he becomes transformed from social parasite to saviour.

Despite the varied roles he has played, Raju remains recognizably the same person throughout. In fact he is faced with the
dilemma of an unwilling martyrdom because, true to his nature, he is unable to refuse the demands made upon him. The
change that does come about is in the area of his consistent self-concern. Whether Raju's death does in fact bring the
desired rain is irrelevant. What is important is his belief that his sacrifice will benefit the community. So the bogus sadhu
becomes a true saint.

Rosie / Nalini

The young and beautiful wife of Marco, and love object of Raju, Rosie’s most striking quality is her immense genius for
dance—most clearly manifested in the “serpent dance” she performs only on rare occasions. Descended from a poor,
lower-caste family who have traditionally devoted themselves to the art of temple dancing, Rosie, in spite of her own
passion for dance, attempts to escape the constraints of her caste and poverty by marrying a wealthy, educated, upper-
caste man. And yet, rather than providing Rosie with deliverance, the men with whom she becomes entangled inevitably
attempt to repress her creativity and independence. Not only does Marco condemn and ban Rosie’s pursuit of dance, but
Raju, with whom she commences an affair soon after she arrives in Malgudi with her husband, also lets her down. While
Raju genuinely supports and encourages Rosie’s pursuit of her art at first, once she achieves fame as the dancer “Nalini,”
he begins to exploit her success in his role as her manager to enrich himself. Not only that, but Raju repeatedly lies to and
deceives Rosie, and attempts to control her contact with others because of his jealousy. And yet, try as they might, the
men in Rosie’s lives ultimately fail to contain and control her. Forceful, free-spirited, and a brilliant artist, her artistic and
feminine powers are such that, by the end of the novel, she has discarded the chains that both men have sought to confine
her in, and is outshining both as a free and independent woman, successful beyond measure.

As a character she covers many grounds in the novel. Despite her being the daughter of a dancing caste she has a pure
soul, if not the body. The novelist sets the white off against a dark sinister shade. The suggestion is that she is snakish, a
snake up the sleeve of one who has to possess her, a husband or her lover. But it is not true. The tragedy of Raju lies more
in his own faults and lacuna and in the rigid frame of society. She is not to be blamed for getting severed from her husband,
for he is callous and not of a type which could please the soul of a woman. She is not a snake-woman, but one bitten by the
snakes of society and ignored by a husband. The sinister shade cast across her by the novelist in not justified by the fact
which refutes this possibility at once.

Her psychic life is interesting from the point of view of its search for adjustment, which is evidently denied to her. In her
case the marriage is a failure. Marco, her husband understands the language of the ruins much better than the requisites of
a woman‟s soul. When she should be in the arms of the man, she is appalled to note that he is still poring over the cryptic
meanings of the researches in his room. The spiritual void is pathetic indeed. Then she turns towards her lover for
fulfillment. The physical fulfillment is gained at his hand, but not the spiritual one because it gets tainted by rank
commercialism. It is a threat to her sex life again. She endeavours to seek the psychic solution which is denied to her by the
odd circumstances. Rosie is a spiritual failure indeed; she has not been able to adjust herself to the elusive forces of life.
Her soul is a round peg in square hole.

On coming into contact with Raju she feels that she has been unbottled, her ecstasy gushing out all frothing, effervescent
and buoyant, from the choking atmosphere, but her hopes are soon belied because Raju‟s disposition is made of material
values, for which she has scarcely and need. Her broadly based soul fails to adjust itself in such a case. The theory that if
one gets sexually adjusted well nothing else matters seems to have been exploded by Narayan in the novel. Raju‟s affair
with her is just a holiday in the inclement weather of her spiritual life.

She is a quaint admixture of a domestic woman and harlot. She comes up to the principle of D.H. Lawrence that an ideal
should have something of a „harlot‟ in her. She has it and that in quantity. Inhibitions are none of her concern. She has a
free soul and in the hand of a different type in the hand of a different type of artist she might be challenging, Rosie in Cakes
and Ale of W.S. Somerset Maugham, too generous even in lavishing sexual pleasure to others. The moralist like Narayan
curbs this freedom to a large extent. Marco says to Rosie that she is not his wife; she is a woman who will go to bed with
anyone that flatters her antics

As a body, Rosie is immaterial, she is essentially a soul. Her exterior is deceptive, she lives in her aspiration and desire. She
may give her body to anyone without caring for it. She gives it to Raju and they live like man and wife outside wedlock.
Passion pertaining to body does not perturb her; it is the soul which does. She is an uninhibited creature, and she is bold
because of this fact. Her soul gets injured at the hand of her husband and scalded at the hand of her lover. She remains a
little indifferent to society, for her real world is that of the inside.
Rosie in certain aspects of her personality appears to be pugnacious, and also sweet. She is seldom normal. She is
pugnacious because of the rough treatment she gets from her husband. She scarcely shows any such thing to Raju. Even
when she discovers that he is hiding things from her, she adopts a tone which is not pugnacious. A bruised soul is often
pugnacious, and she is one. Pugnacity gets development in her because of her spiritual need warped by Marco.

Though she appears lovely in her yellow crepe saree, she is not a rage by any chance. The way she has been described
shows that the writer does not want to present her as an exceptionally pretty woman. The strength of the character lies in
the personality of the woman, and not in her physical features. She is a brunette and not a blonde. She is dusky in
complexion. She is nice from the point of view of her contours. She has a supple body like that of any woman dancer. It
becomes prominent when she dances to the tune of a snake-music.

Rosie‟s character has been conceived romantically. In body she has been marvelously sculptured. She has a fascinating
child-like habit. The character has been delineated by the novelist with the consciousness of feminine rhythm. She is the
living music on earth – half plaintive and half-bubbling with life. While viewing her in The Guide, we become aware of a
certain rhythm in her personality. She is above the common women of our planet. She is half-dream and half-existence.
Though she is not very glamorous, she touches us like some warm battery current. This character could only have been
conceived by one who is aware of the form like some great sculptor.

The personality of Rosie is action-packed. Something quivers in her like a jelly. In our Indo-Anglican fiction, Rosie, as a
character, has a place. She could adorn any gallery of the feminine portraits in any literature. In her action-packed
personality she shares some traits of Rabecca (Becky sharp) of W.M. Thackeray in Vanity Fair, and that with some
advantage. She is not cunning like her. She draws the strength of her personality from some inner saintliness despite the
want of chastity. She has been created by the artist on the principle of active life. She is replete with life.

Rosie is a little brash in her behaviour with the people. She is a bold and brash brunette. In this the life element glimmers. It
is not to her discredit, but credit. She remains unconcerned with the social impact in her. She beards society in its den. She
neither feels elated on success nor feels depressed in the untoward circumstances. She behaves boldly with the people.

Rosie, the dancer is fatigued in the company of a dead, unreal husband who is completely absorbed in his own wanderings
into the stone-walls discarding a live, real woman and neglecting her natural passions: „what is your interest? Raju asked,
„Anything except cold, old stonewalls” she said (The Guide 120). This brings out Rosie‟s predicament, and it also brings on
to the surface the contrast between the mechanical mode of existence, and the living, organic needs of a human-being.
Raju comes in between as a symbol of the world outside so full of gaiety and human warmth to invade into the placid,
mechanical existence of Rosie. Narayan‟s story could also be seen as Rosie‟s struggle to come out of the womb of sterility
and darkness into the pulsating air of the blue canopy.

Her marriage with Marco is not a success, but we find something strange in her relation with him. She has been able to
strike a spiritual chord, for when disillusioned with the commercial motives of her lover she thinks of him. Still marital
relations in this character remain unfulfilled. Bodily she is more married with Raju than with Marco. In certain phases she is
even spiritually married to him though not within the legal wedlock. The actual marriage just happens and is not designed
by her.

She is interested in the classical dance both on the side of theory and practice. She is devoted to the subject in one way less
than her husband to his subject. They should have met on this ground but they don‟t. Her husband is unimaginative. The
tragedy occurs due to the lack of sense of proportion. As a pundit of dance, she studies Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni, a
thing as old as thousand years.

Rosie has all the weaknesses of a woman, a human female. Biologically she is a healthy organism. The novelist has
conceived this character with a sense of fine delicacy. He adds more romantic colours to her already romantic attitudes.
Her intricate personality has been delineated with cantour. The novelist, however, is not interested in the elaborate
emotional side of the woman. The social motif soon invades the possibility of an elaborate emotional life. The question of
her loyalty to a man lies embedded in the psychological difficulties is essentially a tragic character for the men with whom
she comes into contact in the novel are not interested in her emotional life. Marco, her husband remains unconcerned
with it, and the commercial perversions of Raju abuse it. She remains above her body which is a trash. Spiritually she
transcends her living state. She is an unfulfilled heroine in the sense that she is not lucky enough to find real fulfillment in
life. Materialism is none of her concern; it is trash like her body. Her aspirations are nobly pitched. She is the artist who
becomes emotionally frustrated. Her tragedy is the failure of an artist. Though Narayan has strained all nerves to depict the
character faithfully, it has not been done with that subtlety with which the heroines of some of the great artists,
particularly the French, are painted. Here the externals look much more prominent than the inner nuances.
The mother of Raju is a symbol of Indian tradition, one who has lived her life in a hide-bound manner. She is one who
cannot understand the liaison of her son with the wife of another person. She seethes with anger though she feels all along
that she cannot undo it. When her brother arrives from the village, she gives vent to her inner feelings. She loathes Rosie in
the heart of her hearts. While Raju‟s mother is of one piece, Rosie is the symbol of revolt against the tradition.

Narayan‟s story has other implications also. Rosie, the dancer is fatigued in the company of a dead, unreal husband who is
completely absorbed in his own wanderings into the stone-walls discarding a live, real woman and neglecting her natural
passions: “What is your interest? Raju asked, „Anything except cold, old stone walls” she said. (The Guide 120). This brings
out Rosie‟s predicament, and it also brings on to the surface the contrast between the mechanical mode of existence and
the living, organic needs of a human being. Raju comes in between as a symbol of the world outside so full of gaiety and
human warmth to invade into the placid, mechanical existence of Rosie, Narayan‟s story could also be seen as Rosie‟s
struggle to come out of the womb of sterility and darkness into the pulsating air of the blue canopy.

a craftsman Narayan develops his characters well. The coverage of the novel is wide indeed and it needs a variety which is
supplied by him with the variety of characters. Every single character is led to his destiny as he deserves. The principle of
poetic justice is observed by the writer in the building of the various characters. They have clear distinction of individuality
about them. Some of them have been drawn intensely and some not. The major characters naturally receive the best
strength of the talent of the writer. Genius Narayan is not. He achieves effects through labored contrivance, through the
art of narrative is powerful enough. which redeems him from this shortcoming. Except the character of Rosie which is
roundish all are flat. Even the hero has been drawn flatly

Marco Polo

The husband of Rosie, Marco is a serious, studious, reticent scholar of ancient civilizations whose only passion is for his
work. His research into the sites of ancient civilization has turned him into an eternal tourist, as evidenced by the traveler’s
clothes that he always wears. Arriving in the town of Malgudi on the railway one day to examine cave paintings, Marco
hires Raju to show him the sights. His insensitivity and callousness towards everything other than his work is reflected in
his neglect of Rosie during their visit to Malgudi. Marco’s controlling and dominant nature is also reflected in the ban that
he imposes on Rosie, forbidding her to pursue the passion for classical dance which she nurtures. Marco’s rigidity and
cruelty become apparent when, upon discovering that his unhappy and dissatisfied younger wife has commenced an affair
with his tourist guide, he completely ignores her for three weeks, and then abandons her at the railway station of Malgudi
as punishment. And yet, although he leaves his wife, Marco is clearly unable to let her go entirely, as suggested in the
communication that he attempts to commence with her, via his lawyers, once she establishes herself as a famous dancer
managed by Raju.

Gaffur

A rather grumpy taxi driver, who is often hired by Raju to act as driver on the tours on which Raju takes the many tourists
arriving in Malgudi on the railway. In his role as driver, Gaffur is the first to notice Raju’s designs on Marco’s wife, Rosie.
Gaffur is an honest, upright man with principles, as evidenced in his repeated warnings to Raju to leave Rosie alone.

Raju’s Father

A modest shopkeeper in the town of Malgudi, Raju’s father is by turns soft and severe with his son, whom he takes
shopping with him at times, and whom he threatens with violence at others—particularly when Raju misbehaves or fails to
learn the lessons that his father attempts to teach him. He is a social man who likes chatting with the customers who stop
at his shop. When he opens a second shop in the railway station that is built across from his house, he prospers. However,
Raju’s father doesn’t survive long—taken ill during the rainy season one year, he dies before his son reaches full adulthood.

Raju’s Mother

An uneducated, traditional woman, Raju’s mother is a devoted wife and mother, who barely leaves the immediate vicinity
of the house that her husband has built in Malgudi. Although she seems to be a meek, pliant woman, she is in fact strong-
willed. She frequently butts heads with her son, particularly after he ruins the railway shop business that her husband had
built before his death. She also rebels against the presence of Rosie in her house when Raju invites her to live with him and
his mother. Clinging fast to her principles relating to caste and family honor to the last, Raju’s mother goes so far as to
leave her own house with her brother in order to protest her son’s disgrace.

Raju’s Uncle
Elder brother to Raju’s mother, Raju’s uncle arrives in Malgudi to set his nephew straight, once the latter ruins
his father’s railway shop business and takes up with Rosie, whom he also invites to live with him and his mother. Strong-
willed, confrontational, and embodying strong principles of caste and family honor, Raju’s uncle acts as a support to his
sister, providing her with shelter once her son refuses to follow her counsel.

Velan

Velan, a local from the small village of Mangal in southern India, comes across Raju sitting on the banks of the river one
day. Velan is trusting and respectful. Upon setting eyes on Raju, he seems to identify something spiritual, and immediately
puts his faith in him as a holy man. It is Velan’s faith in Raju that precipitates the latter’s transformation into a holy man of
renown, as other villagers also begin to put their trust in his powers. Velan’s trust is such that, even after Raju confesses to
him his life of deceit and trickery, his faith remains unshaken: and it is this act of trust that motivates Raju to genuinely try
to help the villagers by undertaking a fast to bring about rains to end the drought under which they suffer. Velan acts as
Raju’s support to the very last, helping him down to the river to hold vigil on the final day of the fast.

The Villagers

Residents of the village of Mangal in southern India, located not far from a river bank. The villagers, following Velan’s
example, put their faith in Raju as a spiritual guide. They suffer especially under a severe drought that afflicts them one
year and puts their livelihoods in jeopardy. Turning to Raju for guidance, they draw him into a long fast to alleviate the
drought.

Velan’s Brother

A rather dull-witted 21-year-old who goes to inform Raju that his brother Velan has been injured in a fight, which has
broken out as a result of a drought that afflicts the villagers. In relaying Raju’s words back to village elders, Velan’s brother
muddles up the message, inadvertently communicating to the villagers that Raju has undertaken to fast until rains arrive.

The Sait

A merchant who acts as Raju’s creditor in Malgudi, and from whom Raju supplies the railway shop. When Raju, busy
with Rosie and Marco, fails to repay his debts, the Sait is relentless in his pursuit of Raju through the courts, eventually
managing to have the house that Raju’s father had built mortgaged to him.

Mani

Raju’s secretary, who works for him once Raju reinvents himself as the manager of Rosie/Nalini’s dance career. Raju’s trust
in Mani begins to waver once Rosie discovers that Raju has hidden Marco’s book from her. He suspects Mani as the
revealer of the secret. However, Mani’s loyalty to Raju is reflected in the fact that he is the only visitor who comes to see
Raju in prison.

Important Aspects

Dharma

Dharma is a concept based in various South Asian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism, which alludes to an order or
a law that controls the universe. For an individual, following one’s dharma—in a sense, one’s destiny or fate—leads to
spiritual transformation and fulfillment. In The Guide, the notion of dharma is closely associated with Raju, who in spite of
his various transformations, always occupies a position of guide in some form or another—as a tourist guide in Malgudi, a
dance manager (and hence an artistic “guide” of sorts), and finally as a spiritual guide on the riverbank of a small village.
Thus, a law or a destiny seems to govern Raju’s life, which ultimately leads him to fulfill his destiny, or dharma, in the
highest sense—as a holy man who sacrifices himself to “guide” others out of their suffering.

Caste

A system of hereditary classes in Hindu society, which distinguishes between people on the basis of social status in relation
to notions of hereditary purity and pollution. One’s caste often also determines one’s occupation. For instance, Rosie, who
belongs to a lower caste in the novel, is a dancer by virtue of her place in the social hierarchy: members of her caste (and
of her family) traditionally devote themselves to the temples as dancers. Transgressing caste divides, for instance by
marrying outside of one’s caste, is frowned upon in Hindu society. This is one reason why Raju’s mother is outraged by the
relationship between Rosie and her son Raju—as Rosie belongs to a lower caste than that of her own family.

The Railway

The railway, which comes to Raju’s hometown of Malgudi when he is still a child, represents modernization and
industrialization. Raju and his family watch in awe as construction workers appear to build the tracks and the railway
station which is located right across from Raju’s family home. On the day the railway is completed and the station is
officially opened, the town is given a holiday in celebration. Indeed, the construction of the railway line to Malgudi changes
the villagers’ lives in many ways. Raju’s family, for instance, grows wealthier as a result of the second shop that Raju’s
father opens in the station. Raju’s own career prospects are transformed by the railway, when visitors who arrive by train
become the customers that he leads as a tourist guide. The railway not only improves the financial prospects of Raju’s
family; it also opens the family and the town’s inhabitants to a broader world beyond Malgudi—exposing them to people
from all over India, and from different walks of life. As such, in symbolizing modernization and industrialization, the
depiction of the railway in the novel alludes to the ways in which these forces have the capacity to transform people’s
material, social, and cultural prospects.

The Serpent

The serpent, closely associated with Rosie, symbolizes feminine power and energy in the novel. The animal first makes an
appearance when Rosie asks to see a dancing cobra, and Raju, playing the tourist guide, duly locates one for her on the
outskirts of Malgudi. Rosie is fascinated by the cobra as it rises from the ground to the tune of a flute, and imitates its
movement. It is at this moment that Raju realizes that Rosie is amongst the greatest dancers he has ever seen—Rosie’s
imitation of the snake seems to reveal her full feminine as well as artistic power, and Raju is completely captivated.
Towards the end of novel, Rosie—now the famous dancer Nalini—performs her “snake dance” before an auditorium
packed with a thousand spectators. She rarely performs the dance, which is special because of the incredible dexterity that
it requires. Again, as Raju watches her, he is completely captivated by the beauty and power of her snake-mimicry, as are
the other spectators in the auditorium. The close link established between the serpent and Rosie, therefore, indicates that
the serpent represents Rosie’s energy and power not only as a dancer, but as a woman. By the end of the novel, after all,
Rosie looms larger than both the men—Marco Polo and Raju—who have tried to contain and control her. As such, the
sliding, dexterous movements of the snake seem to point to the suppleness and dexterity of Rosie’s own feminine and
artistic powers.

Water

Water is an integral part of Raju’s final incarnation as a holy man, or “swami,” in the small village of Malgam. He ends up
here after his release from prison, and as such the water associated with his new life represents his purification and
redemption. It is by the river that Raju meets Velan, the villager who innocently puts his faith in his healing powers. The
significance of water as a symbol of purification and redemption becomes apparent towards the end of the novel, when a
drought afflicts the villagers, who then draw Raju into a long fast in the hope that his sacrifice will bring about rains. Raju,
who at first reluctantly, and then willingly, accepts the responsibility, stands in the river each day during the fast to hold
vigil, chanting incantations. For the first time in his life, Raju acts out of self-sacrifice, on behalf of others, not out of self-
interest. As such, his immersion in the river signals the transformation and purification that he undergoes in his final role as
a holy man. The significance of water as a symbol for redemption is further reinforced in the final image of the novel, which
depicts a famished and weakened Raju, possibly on the brink of death, standing in the river with the help of Velan,
perceiving rain coming over the hills. Although Narayan doesn’t confirm or deny whether rain does actually arrive, Raju’s
perception of water coming from the sky is significant: whether real or imagined, he feels as though he is about to be
drenched in rain, and indeed feels the water in his body, coming up his feet and legs. This imagery of rain suggests that, at
the climax of his act of self-sacrifice, Raju is purified and transformed.

Malgudi

The fictional town of Malgudi represents India in miniature. Like the country of which it is a part, Malgudi undergoes
tremendous changes, including the arrival of industrialization and modernization, as symbolized by the railway line that is
newly built there. Furthermore, it is a microcosm of the society at large, as it is home to people who occupy various social
and economic positions. The Sait, for instance, is clearly wealthier than Raju and his family, while the poor people who
occupy the huts outside of town, where Raju takes Rosie to meet the snake charmer, are much poorer, and most likely of
low caste. Malgudi’s geography also reflects the wider country: the town itself, with its condensed population, recalls the
large urban centers of India, while the beautiful wild landscape that surrounds it, such as that found at Mempi Hills, where
Raju takes Marco and Rosie to look at cave paintings, suggests the country’s extravagant natural scenery.
Temple

Temple. After his imprisonment Raju undergoes a transformation from a travel guide to a spiritual guide. This duality,
which takes Raju from the mundane to the spiritual, serves as the book’s theme. Thus, in his new life the temple, not the
railway station, becomes his office. India is dotted with temples, so many, in fact, that it should not be difficult to find a
deserted one, as Raju does. In the novel’s first paragraph Raju is described assitting beside an ancient shrine, whose
original significance has probably been long forgotten. From this point onward, though, the ancient shrine takes on new
meaning, which is typical of Narayan’s focus on spiritual progression in his fiction. As the opening dialogue proceeds, the
appearance of the temple and its setting slowly and subtly emerge, with one detail building on another.

Symbols

Symbol: Nataraja The Railway

The railway, which comes to Raju’s hometown of Malgudi when he is still a child, represents modernization and
industrialization. Raju and his family watch in awe as construction workers appear to build the tracks and the railway
station which is located right across from Raju’s family home. On the day the railway is completed and the station is
officially opened, the town is given a holiday in celebration. Indeed, the construction of the railway line to Malgudi changes
the villagers’ lives in many ways. Raju’s family, for instance, grows wealthier as a result of the second shop that Raju’s
father opens in the station. Raju’s own career prospects are transformed by the railway, when visitors who arrive by train
become the customers that he leads as a tourist guide. The railway not only improves the financial prospects of Raju’s
family; it also opens the family and the town’s inhabitants to a broader world beyond Malgudi—exposing them to people
from all over India, and from different walks of life. As such, in symbolizing modernization and industrialization, the
depiction of the railway in the novel alludes to the ways in which these forces have the capacity to transform people’s
material, social, and cultural prospects.

The Serpent

The serpent, closely associated with Rosie, symbolizes feminine power and energy in the novel. The animal first makes an
appearance when Rosie asks to see a dancing cobra, and Raju, playing the tourist guide, duly locates one for her on the
outskirts of Malgudi. Rosie is fascinated by the cobra as it rises from the ground to the tune of a flute, and imitates its
movement. It is at this moment that Raju realizes that Rosie is amongst the greatest dancers he has ever seen—Rosie’s
imitation of the snake seems to reveal her full feminine as well as artistic power, and Raju is completely captivated.
Towards the end of novel, Rosie—now the famous dancer Nalini—performs her “snake dance” before an auditorium
packed with a thousand spectators. She rarely performs the dance, which is special because of the incredible dexterity
that it requires. Again, as Raju watches her, he is completely captivated by the beauty and power of her snake-mimicry, as
are the other spectators in the auditorium. The close link established between the serpent and Rosie, therefore, indicates
that the serpent represents Rosie’s energy and power not only as a dancer, but as a woman. By the end of the novel, after
all, Rosie looms larger than both the men—Marco Polo and Raju—who have tried to contain and control her. As such, the
sliding, dexterous movements of the snake seem to point to the suppleness and dexterity of Rosie’s own feminine and
artistic powers.

Water

Water is an integral part of Raju’s final incarnation as a holy man, or “swami,” in the small village of Malgam. He ends up
here after his release from prison, and as such the water associated with his new life represents his purification and
redemption. It is by the river that Raju meets Velan, the villager who innocently puts his faith in his healing powers. The
significance of water as a symbol of purification and redemption becomes apparent towards the end of the novel, when a
drought afflicts the villagers, who then draw Raju into a long fast in the hope that his sacrifice will bring about rains. Raju,
who at first reluctantly, and then willingly, accepts the responsibility, stands in the river each day during the fast to hold
vigil, chanting incantations. For the first time in his life, Raju acts out of self-sacrifice, on behalf of others, not out of self-
interest. As such, his immersion in the river signals the transformation and purification that he undergoes in his final role as
a holy man. The significance of water as a symbol for redemption is further reinforced in the final image of the novel, which
depicts a famished and weakened Raju, possibly on the brink of death, standing in the river with the help of Velan,
perceiving rain coming over the hills. Although Narayan doesn’t confirm or deny whether rain does actually arrive, Raju’s
perception of water coming from the sky is significant: whether real or imagined, he feels as though he is about to be
drenched in rain, and indeed feels the water in his body, coming up his feet and legs. This imagery of rain suggests that, at
the climax of his act of self-sacrifice, Raju is purified and transformed.

Malgudi

The fictional town of Malgudi represents India in miniature. Like the country of which it is a part, Malgudi undergoes
tremendous changes, including the arrival of industrialization and modernization, as symbolized by the railway line that is
newly built there. Furthermore, it is a microcosm of the society at large, as it is home to people who occupy various social
and economic positions. The Sait, for instance, is clearly wealthier than Raju and his family, while the poor people who
occupy the huts outside of town, where Raju takes Rosie to meet the snake charmer, are much poorer, and most likely of
low caste. Malgudi’s geography also reflects the wider country: the town itself, with its condensed population, recalls the
large urban centers of India, while the beautiful wild landscape that surrounds it, such as that found at Mempi Hills, where
Raju takes Marco and Rosie to look at cave paintings, suggests the country’s extravagant natural scenery.

The Nataraja statue comes up on various occasions in the novel and it symbolizes dancing as a holy thing, which contradicts
the societal assumption that dancers are from a lower cast of the Hindu society. Nataraja or “the lord of dance” is a form of
Hindu god; Shiva's dance is mostly destructive. This symbol marks Rosie’s rebellion against social traditions and norms
through embracing her true calling of dancing. In the destructive mode, she breaks all the shackles and becomes free. She
needs neither Marco nor Raju to live her life.

Symbol: Raju's Old Home

Rosie's discomfort with selling the old house and Raju's realization later that she seemed almost happier there even when
she was being berated by his mother and uncle reveals the old house as a potent symbol of tradition, comfort, safety, and
security. Outside that old house is where Raju begins to embrace even more devious patterns of behavior and lets his
greed cloud his understanding of right and wrong. In the old home, his mother still had some sway, and the memory of his
father did as well. Now, bereft of that connection to family and tradition, Raju is adrift.

Allegory and Motifs

Allegory: Sheep

Flocks of sheep grazing behind a shepherd outside the old shrine Raju chose to meditate in is the Narayan’s commentary
that people also often do the same. Soon the villagers take Raju to be some divine sage and started flooding in and
crowding in front of the shrine. They listen to what he has to say and never question him. The classic allegory of sheep and
their shepherd, something that is ancient and part of numerous cultures, allows Narayan to suggest that people blindly
follow others in the name of religion.

Motif: Crocodile

The crocodile motif is very prominent throughout the novel. There is a subtle suggestion at one point of the narrative that
Raju might be the mythical crocodile none had ever seen but all feared (the villagers believe it lives near the bank the old
shrine was on, and Raju comes to occupy this shrine). Later, the crocodile motif develops further. There is the dead
crocodile auguring the diminishing health of the society. There is then the crocodile's body revealing male and female
jewelry in its belly in unequal amounts; it becomes clear that this crocodile could be the society that eats alive females
more often than males, stripping them off their personalities and uniqueness. This is what happens to Rosie until she
manages to free herself.

Similes and Metaphor

Metaphor: Cave

When Marco goes to visit the cave to probe for new archaeological discoveries, his wife Rosie falls in love with their tour
guide Raju. The two lovers find ways to keep themselves away while Marco is busy in the cave. The cave here stands for
ignorance and Marco remains in the darkness until it is too late. To an extent, Marco chooses to be in the cave in the same
way he never quite understands his wife’s mind. He is always in the darkness of his own choosing.

Simile: Parrot
Once Rosie gains fame through her dancing, she grows conscious of what really matters to her and what her life is like now.
She states, “I feel like one of those parrots in a cage taken around village fairs" (160). With this simile, Rosie reveals that
she believes she is not free—she was a parrot in cage built by Raju. Dancing stopped liberating her to some extent and she
doesn’t like that. Rosie flies away in the end, leaving behind her “caged parrot” life.

Metaphor: Raju as Bird

As Raju embraces his role as Swami, Narayan writes, "Raju felt he was growing wings. Shortly, he felt, he might float in the
air and perch himself on the tower of an ancient temple" (14). This is in reference to the wise words he delivers to Velan,
showing that he is beginning to feel the power of being listened to and revered. This is the same feeling he gets when
tourists seek him out and praise him, and when he becomes famous for controlling Rosie's career. In this case, it is based
on a false persona he has established for himself and comes across as ironic and amusing to the reader.

Simile: Raju as Actor

As time goes on and Raju remains the Swami to the villagers, he has to come to terms with the fact that he is actually an
imposter. Narayan writes, "Raju felt like an actor who had come on the stage, and, while the audience waited, had no lines
to utter or gestures to make" (37). He actually is  an actor, and he doesn't have any real lines. He will have to improvise to
curry favor with his audience, and as this is one of his particular skills, he does manage to continue his performance.

Metaphor: Fog

Raju alternates between delighting in his pithy, wise-sounding statements and his conviction that perhaps he is not actually
doing the visitors a service: "He was dragging those innocent men deeper and deeper into the fog of unclear thoughts"
(38). Just as he noticed Rosie wasn't happy but did nothing about it though, he continues to brush away these thoughts and
remain the role of swami. It is too easy to stay in the ruins and be fed and cared for and revered.

Irony

Situational Irony: The Title

Raju was a tour guide, tried guiding Rosie's career as a dancer, and posed as a sage who was supposed to guide people to
spirituality. He as the title character/protagonist never quite succeeded in his responsibility; rather, he violated the
definition of guidance. Ironically, Velan, a minor character, guides the protagonist to his transformation by designating him
a sage, holding him accountable, and believing in him.

Situational Irony: Fasting

Raju telling the story of a swami who fasted for greater good is highly ironic since he finally has to fast himself. He had
become used to telling stories, making up stories, and generally saying whatever sounded good to the people listening to
him without ever thinking it might come back around to him. Indeed, it does karmically come back to him in the most
dramatic fashion in that he has to become the very swami that he fabricated and nearly dies (or perhaps does die) in the
process.

Verbal Irony: Raju's Intelligence

Raju hates school and does not finish it. He avoids education and scoffs at academics. His learning only comes from random
books that filter into the railway station that he works at for a few years. Thus, it is amusing and ironic that Narayan writes,
"The thing that had really bothered him was that he might sound too brilliant in everything he said" (24). Raju is far from
being brilliant and he is mostly making up, fudging, or confusing the stories he tells to the gullible villagers.

Situational and Verbal Irony: Marco and Raju

Marco hires Raju to help him explore the caves so he can carry out his studies. On the way to them, Marco takes the lead
even though Raju is the guide. Raju calls him out on this and says he is not a guide. The irony is subtle, but it is clearly
present. Raju may be the official guide but he is clueless. He can take Marco to the caves but he neither knows what the
markings within them truly mean (he grows very bored) nor does he have any idea how to guide himself through life.

Imagery

Malgudi
Narayan's Malgudi is a significant fictional creation, and he takes pains in each of his novels to describe this place. In The
Guide  he writes of small shops, the new railway station, wagons and shopkeepers, and the bustling marketplace. It is this
"panorama of life" (8) that enchants Raju.

The Railway

Narayan writes, "Our world was neatly divided into this side of the railway line and that side" (27). This is a simple but
potent image that creates a sense of order and neatness belied by actual life. The railway station changes everything for
Raju as it brings the tourists to town that give him his reputation, and, of course, brings Rosie and Marco into his life.

Peak House

Narayan describes the glory that is Peak House. He writes of the House's perching on the edge of a cliff looking out to a
lush valley below, the glass wall, the wild life, the tall trees, the fecund vegetation, and more. This place conjures up the
glory of India's natural surroundings and it is no wonder Marco is intellectually stimulated there.

Raju as Holy Man

Narayan writes of Raju, "His beard now caressed his chest, his hair covered his back, and round his neck he wore a necklace
of prayer beads. His eyes shone with softness and compassion and light of wisdom emanated from them" (69). This is an
uncanny and near stereotypical image of a holy man. It is all the more amusing and compelling because it is a reminder
that Raju is all surface and appearance; he is not actually a holy man but if he looks like one and sounds like one then he
can beguile people into thinking he is one.

Fictonal Town Malgudi

One of the things most commonly associated with R.K. Narayan is Malgudi, the Indian town where he set many of his
novels and short stories. Malgudi is not a real place, but has attained fame and nostalgic approbation over the decades; in
fact, as the New Yorker claims, it “put modern Indian fiction on the map.” We will look at Narayan’s creation to better
understand The Guide.

Malgudi is bustling but not overly crowded; it is full of scooter-riding boys and rickshaws, hotels with European food, and
small and large shops selling all manner of wares. Scholar M. Parvathi writes, “With each of the works of R.K. Narayan,
Malgudi unfolds new vistas of life. A simple, innocent and conservative society undergoes fast changes because of the
incursions of the modem civilization. From a sleepy, silent and small town atmosphere on the bank of river Sarayu to a fast
developing metropolitan ethos with modem streets, banking corporations, talkies and smuggler's den, and even a circus,
Malgudi marks a movement in time. The movement not only affects the geography of the place, but also the social and
cultural milieu.” It is, Charles Nicholl writes, “trapped in a dusty miasma of daily preoccupations in which pre- and post-
independence are only hazily distinguishable. Narayan is sometimes called the Indian Chekhov: a master of the
inconsequential and its hidden depths.” Fellow Indian novelist V.S. Naipaul sees Narayan’s work as full of “stasis” and as
more “fable” than realistic, but admires how Narayan was interested in "the lesser life that goes on below: small men,
small schemes, big talk, limited means.”

Narayan’s friend and novelist Graham Greene loved Malgudi, and once wrote, “Whom next shall I meet in Malgudi? That is
the thought that comes to me when I close a novel of Mr. Narayan’s. I do not wait for another novel. I wait to go out of my
door into those loved and shabby streets and see with excitement and a certainty of pleasure a stranger approaching, past
the bank, the cinema, the haircutting saloon, a stranger who will greet me I know with some unexpected and revealing
phrase that will open a door on to yet another human existence.”

Many journalists and scholars have endeavored to find the “real” Malgudi—i.e., the place that so inspired Narayan. For
a National Geographic article, writer Zac O’Yeah visited and ruminated on places like Bengaluru, Agumbe, and Mysore, but
ultimately concluded, “I realise that perhaps in the end, Malgudi is both a geographical space and a state of mind, a place
where we can all go to if we find the right door to step through.” Narayan himself said something similar in his introduction
to Malgudi Days: “I am often asked, ‘Where is Malgudi?’ All I can say is that it is imaginary and not to be found on any map
(although the University of Chicago Press has published a literary atlas with a map of India indicating the location of
Malgudi). If I explain that Malgudi is a small town in South India, I shall only be expressing a half-truth, for the
characteristics of Malgudi seem to me universal.”

Is Raju a transformed man by the end of the novel?

Raju seems to be a transformed man at the very end of the novel due to the imagery of water as purification. The author
keeps the novel open-ended, though, as the readers can freely interpret what actually happened as Raju felt that the rain
was coming and sagged down. He could have died right there and it could have rained, or he could have lived and it could
have never rained, or there are a few more possibilities in between. Raju may have died as the hypocrite he always was
and the message may be how some imposters fool people in the name of religion; or, Raju may have lived and the rain
could stand for the purification of his soul.

Is Velan a mere fool or a major accessory to Raju’s transformation?

Velan seems like a fool throughout the novel being largely manipulated by Raju. But in the last section of the novel, Velan’s
reaction to Raju’s early life story full of dishonesty and hypocrisy might have spurred the real upheaval of morality in Raju.
He trusted Velan with his past life’s secrets even with the risk of blowing his cover, which makes Velan a very close friend
of Raju. He was only pretending to be fasting for a few days but Velan’s sincere faith in Raju may have encouraged him to
be sincere about something in his life for once, thus forgetting his own interest. This self-realization must have played a
huge part in Raju’s salvation (if he was saved). Different interpretations of the ending may present Velan in different lights:
had Raju been saved, Velan was the key but had Raju somehow lied his way out of it, Velan was a fool.

What does Rosie's fate say about her as a character?

Rosie ends up successful, on her own, and continuing to flourish. As Mani tells Raju, "She had settled down at Madras and
was looking after herself quite well... What a huge crowd had gathered to see her off" (182). Rosie doesn't need Marco and
she doesn't need Raju. She did everything above board by paying off Raju and her debts, and set Raju adrift. She knows
that she does not need a man, especially one who does not value her or treat her well. Her fame is her own to manage
now; she can perform as often or as little as she wants. She can hobnob with whomever she pleases without being treated
like property. Rosie is a mid-century feminist example in that respect, for she is true to herself, sloughs off the irrelevant
men around her, and makes her own life. Her natural effervescence and energy can now express themselves without
fetters.

Is Narayan saying there are really divine/paranormal forces at work?

Like many aspects of Narayan's novel, there are some ambiguities and questions to be answered. One of them is whether
or not Narayan is actually saying that Raju is a holy man who has the power to influence divine forces to send rain. Narayan
seems to be straddling both sides of the fence: this is a Hindu fable, but also a novel about modernity. Critic John Thieme
posits, "Thus as a Hindu fable The Guide is inscrutably enigmatic, but it does allow for the possibility that paranormal
forces. allied with ancient beliefs, could  be efficacious in averting an ecological disaster; and it also works within the
conventions of social realism." We do not know if Raju attains the status of holy man but it is possible. We do not know if
God listens to him, but it is possible. Narayan allows for the principles of dharma and karma to ring true, but in the context
of modernity.

What roles do dharma and karma play in the text?

Dharma is the totality of what a person is capable of, talented at, and limited by; it is not, though, enough to dictate how
an individual lives and does not negate individual responsibility. There is karma, which is the law of causation in the
physical and moral realm. As critic David Atkinson writes, "with the concepts of dharma and karma in mind, Narayan
stresses how each individual stresses how each individual, limited by inherent capabilities but gifted with freedom of
choice, determines his/her own actions and thus who he/she is." Though no one in the novel ends up totally free from
carnal and material desires, there is a sense of transformation in both Rosie and Raju. Rosie decides to cut loose those who
hold her back; Raju finally stops begin selfish and may attain sainthood at the end.

Adaptability of Raju

Nevertheless, raju—a tout as he seems to be in all the phases of his life—has some uniquely good sides of his character. He
is a self made man, a type of his own, having enormous capacity of adopting himself to all circumstances. Very much like
camus’ meursault, raju has the unique capacity to love life wherever he is and to enjoy things around him in all situations.
Despite his unedifying past raju lives the present in its every moment and accepts everything it offers. He even finds the
prison “not a bad place” and feels sorry when released. When he is to play the part of a saint, he so successfully adopts
himself to the circumstance that not only velan and the simple villagers but also the village school master come under his
guidance.  However, while meursault is introvert and selfish, always working for his own pleasure and never getting
involved in other people’s interests and emotions and is guided by an exalted philosophy of life, raju is extrovert and 
always works for others’ interests at the cost of his own freedom of choice. When he was a tourist guide, he had to act in
accordance with the expectations of the tourists. His own likings and disliking were not important there. And when he is a
spiritual guide, he has to come up to what the role thrust upon him demands. Therefore, if raju as tourist guide tells lies, he
lies not for his personal benefit; rather the tourists want him to do so. And as sage, though a fake sage he is, he works for
the wellbeing of the villagers and guides them to the right path as a true sage would have done. Thus raju is not basically
corrupt at heart but appears so only because of his failure to say ‘no’ to what he does not like. As he says: “if i had had the
inclination to say, ‘i don’t know what you are talking about, my life would have taken a different turn” (55).  This latent
goodness of raju’s heart for sacrificing his own interests for others’ gradually leads him to what can be called his
martyrdom. Mary beatina (1993:105) comments that “in the character of raju, narayan portrays the enormous proportion
of the mundane in every man, which is constantly in conflict with transcendent urges, and which ever attempts to
postpone or delay the integration to the very end”.

Representing the ‘other’: the politics of nation and gender in R. K. Narayan’s The Guide

For the most part, Rosie is constructed to suit either Marco or later Raju’s patriarchal anxieties. Her name, Rosie, conforms
to a particular model of wifeliness that is anticipated from the intellectual, dry, Marco, and he has configured her to suit his
temperament and expectations of a wife. The westernised name, though inscribing the dictates of the anglicised Marco,
has particular connotations when it is confronted with ‘tradition’ as demonstrated when Rosie goes to Raju’s house and
encounters his mother.

in the narrative the politics of ‘tradition’ are unveiled and determine relations within social and familial frameworks. As the
embodiment of ‘tradition’, Raju’s mother exposes the potency of deeprooted prejudice towards everything the younger
woman embodies – in particular, modernity and westernisation. She is constructed as docile, religious, uneducated and
confined within the domestic space of the home. The older woman’s compliance in perpetuating patriarchal practices, such
as the asceticism expected of a widow, affirms her ideological commitment to this value system through the explicit details
of the Hindu traditions. One can argue that within the older woman’s role as the self-sacrificing mother, is inscribed the
anxieties of the decolonised nation. Her anxiety to safeguard the stability of the home at any cost signifies the ‘nurturance
of national culture’ which has to be achieved by building ‘proper homes’ (Lakshmi, 1996). Thus, even when her home is
destabilised through the occupation of it by an ‘outsider’, Rosie, the onus of maintaining a facade of ‘respectability’ is
placed upon the older woman. Respectability is linked to an idealistic vision of motherhood. One of the responsibilities
conferred upon motherhood involves acting as the repository of tradition and maintaining the domestic sphere as the
proper and rightful domain of the family. Such idealisations, as Sen (1993) explains, were and continue to be, based on,

“a general valorisation of motherhood as the creator and protector of the sanctuary of the home, as the good and chaste
wife, and as the iconic representation of the nation derived from classical mythology.”

The other in tradition

As a result, women are policed by standards of ‘respectability’. For instance, the attributes of ‘true womanhood’, by which
a woman judges herself and is judged by society, are ascribed as the norm. The virtues of piety, purity, submissiveness and
domesticity entrap women and dominant myths of femininity become a vehicle for mediating notions of female behaviour.
‘Respectability’ of the ideal woman is the counterpoint of the ‘crude’ and ‘licentious’ behaviour of the ‘other’ – in this case
the temple dancer, while in contexts such as Sri Lanka, the woman of mixed ancestry or the ethnic ‘other’ (Tharu & Lalita,
1993). Characters who refuse to comply with the majoritarian dictates are cast as rebellious and ‘disobedient’.

The ideal in the patriarchal system.

The argument of modernity vs. tradition is forcefully and blatantly invoked by Raju’s mother, and her allusions to the
goddesses “Savitri, Sita and all the well-known heroines” (Narayan, 1958) are reproduced as the ‘ideal’ for the Indian
woman. The capacity for endurance of pain and suffering revealed in the mother accentuates the qualities associated with
certain religious icons in South Asia. Patience, acceptance and the ability to wait are identified with the goddess Sita.
Indeed, the ‘ideal’ woman’s behaviour may be seen to be an emulation of Sita herself. As Dube (2003) comments, the
images of Sita and Savitri are posited as ‘ideal wives who seek fulfilment through selfless service to their husbands’

Branching into Nationalism

Viewed from the discourse of nationalism, ‘traditional’ gender roles offer purchase to the demands of the new nation.
Tradition plays a determining role in nationalist politics and a vigorous critique, and nationalist vocabulary sets up an
interdependence with tradition, myth and legend, and allocates a space for rehabilitating and reinforcing ‘traditional’
practices. One of nationalism’s ‘obligations’, Sunder Rajan (1993) argues,

“... is developing an idiom which equates its discourses with a valorisation of the tradition because, by implication, tradition
serves the need of promoting and safeguarding the ethnic identity of the community/nation.

Even in the new nation, what is evident here is that the Sita image continues to be played as a controlling motif in the
ideological underpinnings of the cultural consciousness. While trying to disrupt its ideological hold on the mindset of the
Indian woman, even

Indira Gandhi claimed that the mythical Sita was the “exemplary Indian woman” (Pouchpadass, 1981) “whose total identity
is structured by a hierarchical authoritarian patriarchal system” (Gandhy &Thomas, 1991). One of the attractions of the
mythical figures for women is the perceived ‘selfless’ servitude, which Raju’s mother also stresses in the narrative. These
images are continually played out in the modern arena and according to Lau (2006) :

“The notion of acceptance being a sign of strength (especially on the part of the women), has long permeated the South
Asian mentality, from mythologies which eulogise suffering as a virtue .... and grimly celebrate women who are wronged
but who triumph by dint of patience and endurance.”

Rosie as Subaltern -Double Oppression

Rosie’s looks, confidence, education and seemingly liberal lifestyle become points of contestation between the two
women, even if, according to Spivak (1994), Rosie’s profession marks her as the ‘subaltern’ in the novel. Even if Narayan
(1958) sanctions education for women, there is also a tacit approbation of the need to ‘protect’ and circumscribe women
within the patriarchal system. While it is possible to read Rosie’s attempt to defy the patriarchal system by securing an
education and venturing out to perform in public, signifying her dissatisfaction with her state and necessitates breaking
away from it, it is ineffectual since Narayan does not disrupt patriarchal ideals.\

Historically oppressed

Though Rosie is authoritative on the subject of the temple dance rituals and their significance, for the most part she is
denied voice or agency and what is demanded of her is to be the ‘subservient’ model wife. Spivak (1994) argues that Rosie
is represented in a manner that marginalises her, but this reading focuses entirely on Rosie as the historically oppressed
figure. According to Spivak (1994),

“If the subaltern - and the contemporary devadasi is an example - is listened to as agent and not simply as victim, we might
not be obliged to rehearse decolonization interminably from above, as agendas for new schools of post-colonial criticism.
But the subaltern is not heard. And one of the most interesting philosophical questions about decolonizing remains: who
decolonizes, and how?

“it is not easy to disagree with Spivak. Her account of the tradition of temple dancing is, for the most part, accurate.
Equally true are her comments about the oppression of temple dancers. That the novel does not choose to foreground the
life of the dancer Rosie is also evident.”

When Rosie is dancing publicly, Raju controls her every movement including her private associations. His ego reaches such
proportions that, when she is at the peak of her career, he does not refer to Rosie, but arranges her engagements as
though he is the performer, not the manager.

Thus the oppression of the subaltern is real and the text serves the limited purpose of providing the occasion to historicise
marginalised figures. Rosie’s position is predetermined by her caste and even though she has transgressed the limitations
of this caste, by acquiring an education, she is not privy to the privileges of asserting her identity and individuality. In fact,
identity as a construction that undergoes alterations during particular moments of patriarchal control is made manifest in
the text. When Rosie is with Marco, her identity as a dancer is suppressed. Economic power derived from Marco subsumes
her true profession. Raju, then supplants this authority and her identity goes through a further mutation. He decides she
must resume her profession, but these are transacted on his terms, for instance, her name has to be changed.

Cultural and national consciousness of oppression

“Rosie is a silly name. … The trouble with you is that although your people are a traditional dance family, they didn’t know
how to call you. For our public purpose your name must be changed. … It’s not a sober or sensible name. If you are going to
appear before the public with that name, they will think it’s someone with cheap tricks.” (Narayan 1958)

This episode not only reveals the politics of the heterosexual relationship, but also the dictates of the nation, which, in
order to recoup its ‘cultural traditions’ such as temple dance, it can only be enacted by subscribing to certain hegemonic
constructions of name and image.

Patriarchal institutions Marriage

Although they are not legally married, as Raju reveals, they behave as husband and wife. In the conventional marriage, the
change of a woman’s name is customary. Here too, the name change can be read as a symbolic enactment of the
relinquishing of identity that is transacted in marriage. Along with the name, other facets of Rosie’s personality are also
changed after her ‘marriage’ to Raju. She adopts a more traditional role configured through dress and behaviour.

“She had tied her hair into a knot, decorated her forehead with a small vermillion dot, lightly sprinkled a little powder on
her face, and clad herself in a blue cotton sari.” (Narayan, 1958)

At this stage of her life with Raju, Rosie is denied the power to make her own decisions and this is particularly palpable in
the manner in which financial matters are solely within Raju’s ambit. She does not show interest in the business side of her
profession and her sole concern is to keep dancing and in adopting the traditional persona. Hence, the reader is lulled into
a state of thinking that Rosie has conformed to the role of ‘wifely duty’

However, it is not only the trope of wife that gets stressed in the narrative, Narayan appears to be working with several
cultural tropes - the householder, the wife, the dancer, and the renouncer, all of which have a certain purchase within the
national project. All these are literary tropes and cultural and national markers (Kanaganayagam, 2005). Raju’s involvement
with Rosie violates several codes and the text deliberately makes her a married woman to problematise her role and her
position in the house, as wife reveals the politics of marriage. Though this may not be intentional on the part of the writer,
what Rosie’s character represents is what Mohanty (1993) describes as

“the way women are constituted as a group via dependency relationships, vis-à-vis men who are implicitly held responsible
for these relationships.”

Transfer of power

By the same token, Raju’s act of establishing Rosie in his home makes him a de facto householder, although his position of
authority gets diffused and is tenuous at the moment when Rosie’s status as a dancer rises and Raju has to relinquish
authority. This may be read as a symbolic enactment of the transfer of power from one party to another in the national
narrative. Rosie seizes agency when she becomes famous. She starts fraternising with dancers and musicians, and when
Raju tries to intervene, she refuses to act as the acquiescent wife. For instance, in one episode, when he demands how
long the musicians are going to stay in the house, she replies peremptorily, “I like their company, how can I tell them to
go.” Protest as he might, Raju becomes helpless and admits “I could do nothing about it.” (Narayan, 1958)

By the same token, Raju’s act of establishing Rosie in his home makes him a de facto householder, although his position of
authority gets diffused and is tenuous at the moment when Rosie’s status as a dancer rises and Raju has to relinquish
authority. This may be read as a symbolic enactment of the transfer of power from one party to another in the national
narrative. Rosie seizes agency when she becomes famous. She starts fraternising with dancers and musicians, and when
Raju tries to intervene, she refuses to act as the acquiescent wife. For instance, in one episode, when he demands how
long the musicians are going to stay in the house, she replies peremptorily, “I like their company, how can I tell them to
go.” Protest as he might, Raju becomes helpless and admits “I could do nothing about it.”

Even if the focal point in Narayan’s story is that of Raju, it offers the reader a nuanced portrayal of Rosie, unveiling the
problematic, of female subjectivity and identity. Though she is yoked to patriarchal structures and power relations, there
are indications that she transcends the bounds of these structures and establishes herself as a dancer of repute. It is for
this reason that she makes an interesting case for analysis, reminding us that though her role is culturally predetermined
she can negotiate a space for recognition and autonomy. In the midst of a dialectic between the collective of family and
marriage, there are independent individuals like Rosie whose social inflection is one of the strongest marks left by the
colonial project and Europeanisation.

When she adopts the identity of ‘Nalini’, she discards her ‘private’ image and dependency on man and instead, becomes a
career woman and the middleclass, non-hereditary dancer. Here it is simplistic to view her entirely as a victim, for she
appropriates agency to distinguish herself as an artist without any need of a man (Chambers, 2005). Thus, Nalini is an
individual who carves out her space within the national frame, where the post-colonial landscape valorises and validates
‘traditional’ art forms and appropriates these forms to promote the ‘authentic’ and essentialist within the nationalist
discourse. Characters like Rosie, despite being marginalised within these discourses can be inscribed within them to serve
the national agenda. Even if he fails to present a female character who embodies a positive intermingling of tradition and
modernity, her advancement in both status and economic power marks Narayan’s ambivalence and reveals the social and
cultural formations that problematise reading this character through rigid parameters.

Narayan’s women

Narayan‟s women move steadily from their age-old tradition defined subordinate position to a secular position where they
are woman, but not heavily chained by patriarchal shackles. India‟s historical and sociological studies on woman‟s
condition of the writers‟ time show that Narayan‟s portrayal of women in his novels is, no doubt, fictionalized, but not
imagined, rather based on his observation of the matter of facts of the prevalent condition of women in India‟s age-old
tradition-bound patriarchal society. Narayan‟s women are true to what they were in society. He has just imagined his
women characters but has not imagined their problems and their attitudes to their problems. He has objectivity observed
the problems of women of his time and their attitudes to those problems and reflected them accordingly in his writings. As
a result, Narayan has been called an objective chronicler of Malgudi since what he has said of his women is actually what
he saw in and of them in the society. In his early three novels: Swami and Friends, The Bachelor Of Arts, and The Bachelor
Of Arts, and The English Teacher, women are traditional having sita -like syndrome and being loyal to the time-honored
and age-old traditions of India, but over time his women change following the changes come on different aspects of social
life of Malgudi.
Narayan‟s women characters are the authentic representation of women of his time. Narayan‟s women behave just as
they behaved in their social positions and situations. Narayan began by portraying tradition-bound women and gradually
transformed his women into Draupadi images.

Rosie though a post-graduate is never a modern woman. She is not corrupted with modern and materialistic values. She is
a traditional Indian wife, longs for affection and care from her husband. She cannot cope up with the archaeological
interests of her husband, Marco. Marco dislikes being disturbed by anyone, even his wife in his studies and professional
activities. Rather he longs for appreciation from his wife.

Craze for Miracles

Religion plays a very important role in India and a person with supposed occult powers is venerated here. Adoration for
such saints or sadhus is implanted in the minds of the Indians and they enjoy acceptability and popularity even in this era
of technology. It is this phenomenon that R.K.Narayan portrays in his novel The Guide. Reverence for a saint or sadhu with
powers can be traced back to the primitive days. People depend on water and without it crops fail hence they looked
towards the miracle-man to bring rains. James Frazer points out that “water is an essential of life, and in most countries
the supply of it depends on showers. Without rain vegetation withers, animals and men languish and die . Hence in savage
communities the rain maker is a very important personage “(60).

This necessity in the ancient man made him dependent on the miracle- man. The admiration for sadhu or swamiji is felt at
the beginning of the novel when Raju is found in the precincts of the temple by Velan”The man stood gazing reverentially
on his face. Raju felt amused and embarrassed”(5). The novelist here portrays how an ordinary man, a criminal is made a
god-man.After some conversation “the villager resumed the study of his face with intense respect. And Raju stroked his
chin thoughtfully to make sure that an apostolic beard had not suddenly grown there”(6). Raju felt a feeling of importance
and decided to play the role of a saint. In accordance with his role he started telling Velan the story of a woman who
approached Buddha with a dead baby in her hands. His intention in narrating this story is to drive the problems are
universal and none can escape them. But the innocent villager, Velan expects a miracle in the story. It is this awe for
miracles on the part of Velan that seals the fate of Raju later in the novel.

Raju for his own reasons of survival reluctantly allowed the innocent villagers build an impression of mahatma around him.
He acted the role of the saint with his usual deftness. He says,”I have to play the part expected of me, there is no
escape”(45).By the time he becomes a full-fledged saint, with a beard down his chest, his popularity has grown beyond his
wildest dreams. Everything was quite well until there came a day when there were no rains. The problem that man
dreaded from times immemorial has surfaced to the ill luck of Raju.

People were desperate and they looked towards the miracle–man for help. Raju tries to comfort them but it is momentary.
All the scenes associated with drought occur. The climax comes with a clash among the villagers. Velan’s brother, a fool,
reports the matter to Raju, the saint. Raju picked the wrong person to convey his message that he won’t touch food until
they stopped fighting. The fool for fear of his elders, for reporting the matter to the mahatma, declares that the saint
would not eat food until it rained. In the ancient days men used to wait curiously for the miracle-man to conjure up a
miracle to bring down rains. All the villagers touch the feet of Raju for taking up the penance. Even before Raju could take
the matter into his hands, Velan gave a clear account of what the savior is expected to do…”stand in knee deep water, look
at the skies, and utter the prayer lines for two weeks, completely fasting during the period-and lo, the rains would come
down, provided the man who performed it was a pure soul, was a great soul”(95).As a last resort ,Raju narrates his life
story to Velan to escape from this enforced sacrifice.

Raju expects disgust from Velan for deceiving them all these days. But to his shock Velan still addresses him as swami. The
reason for this kind of adoration lies in the primitive instinct of Velan. He is not bothered about the past of Raju. He thinks
that Raju is capable of bringing down rains. Further Velan thinks that it is indeed great on the part of Raju to reveal his past
to a humble servant like him. There is no escape for Raju. He resigns himself to his fate and says,” this man will finish me
before I know where I am”(209).

A newspaper reporter gets this information and it becomes the headlines “Holy man’s penance to end the
draught”(209).The news catches fire and people from all parts of the country throng to see the ‘Holy man’. The novelist
says,” never had this part of country seen such a crowd”(215).Special buses and trains are arranged. Shops spring up
around the temple. It is ascene one usually encounters in rural India at fairs. People touch the water at Raju’s feet and
sprinkled it on their heads. Velan stands guard near Raju like a head priest near the altar. He regulates the movement of
the public. Narayan humorously presents the blissful ignorance of the masses. For example, when the health department
shows a huge close up of a mosquito as the cause of malaria, a peasant innocently comments,”sch huge mosquitoes! No
wonder the people get malaria in those countries. Our own mosquitoes are so tiny that they are harmless…”(215). Such are
the Indian masses. Science is another miracle for them.

Then comes the ambiguous end of the novel-“Raju opened his eyes, looked about, and said,Velan, it is raining in the hills. I
can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs-and with that he sagged down”(221).We do not know whether Raju’s
fasting brought down the rains or not. Whatever be the conclusion of the novel, one can understand that reverence
towards sadhus or saints is due o the inner craving for miracles in the minds of the people. It is this craving for miracles
that makes Velan adore Raju as Swami in spite of knowing. Raju’s past. It is also responsible for making Raju a scapegoat
willingly or unwillingly. It is apt to conclude with Max Weber’s comment on the practice of religion in India that” religious
behavior is not worship of God, but rather coercion of God, and invocation is not prayer but rather the exercise of magical
formulae”(2).

Raju: A Need-Base Metamorphosis in R.K. Narayan’s Novel ‘The Guide

Physiological needs are the need at the bottom and include the lowest order need and most basic. This includes the need
to satisfy the fundamental biological drives such as food, air, water and shelter. The body craves food, freedom of
movement and basic needs. In this novel, Raju’s father had a small shop and all day he sat there selling peppermint, fruit,
tobacco, betel leaf, parched gram, and whatever else the wayfarers on the Trunk Road demanded. It was known as the
‘hut- shop’. Occasionally Raju is made the in-charge of this hut-shop and the customers found in him a good companion for
them. Very soon, Raju’s father asks him to handle the business in the new shop at Malgudi Railway Station and it stopped
his schooling. Raju’s father dies and his mother becomes a widow. Raju closed down his father’s hutshop and set the new
shop at Malgudi Railway Station to fulfill the basic needs and to run his home.

Safety needs this occupies the second level of needs. Safety needs are activated after physiological needs are met. They
refer to the need for a security and protection of life. After few days, Raju became famous as ‘Railway Raju’. Perfect
strangers began to ask him about the famous spots around Malgudi. His friend, the old shark is Gaffur, the taxidriver.
Gaffur takes the tourists in his car to various places. In a few months Raju became a seasoned guide. Therefore for the sake
of security and protection of life, he became a part-time shopkeeper and a full time tourist guide for more secure and
protective life by earning more. Physiological and safety need can be called as Existance needs, desires for physiological
and material well-being.

Social needs: This represents the third level of needs. They are activated after safety needs are met. Social needs refer to
the need to be affiliated that is (the needed to be loved and accepted by other people). The love, affection or
belongingness needs come into play after the physiological and security drives are satisfied. Raju came close with Marco
and Rosie and became friend of Marco. Raju did not care for his own shop and his bank balance. The only reality in his life
and consciousness became Rosie. Raju confesses, “I will do anything for you. I will give my life to see you dance…” Rosie
came to Raju’s home. Raju comforted her and said, “You are in the right place. Forget all your past...” Raju falls in love with
Rosy who is interested in Bharat Natyam. Raju was seeking affection, love and belongingness from the others and these
needs came true when he met with Marco and Rosie. It is nothing but a desire for satisfying interpersonal relatedness.

Esteem needs this represents the fourth level of needs. It includes the need for self-respect and approval of others. And
also esteem needs are the needs for Status, recognition, achievement. Raju decided to start a new life with Rosie as a
public dancer. He thought of Rosie as a gold mine as the Bharat Natyam was really the greatest art business. Now Rosie
starts a new phase of her career. As a public dancer she has been christened as Nalini. Raju becomes a man with a mission.
He is on the road to become an impresario. He ceases to be the old Railway Raju. Raju adapts himself into a businesslike
impresario. He is now conferring favour on them by permitting the dancing programmes. Raju is unwilling to stay in his old
house. He rents one at New Extension in keeping with their status. Raju fulfills his esteem needs by getting recognition
from others, holding status and touches the desire. He now becomes a man of status.

Self-actualisation: According Maslow this occupies the last level at the top. This refers to the need to become all that one
is capable of being to develop ones fullest potential. The rationale here holds to the point that selfactualised and Self-
fulfilment. After that, Raju has appointed a large staff of servants- a car driver, two gardeners, a Gurakha sentry and two
cooks. Raju’s office was on the ground floor with a secretary in waiting, a young graduate from a local college

Raju’s philosophy was centred upon all the money in the world. Raju obtained a medical certificate to say that he needed
alcohol for his welfare and became a ‘permit-holder’. Raju played Three- Cards with some men. Raju manages her
programmes and now he becomes her proprietor-cum-manager. As Rosie soars in her career, Raju becomes wealthy and
prosperous man of name and fame.

Spiritual Need is newly included in need hierarchy theory where it defines that after the completion of five needs one
person can be motivated by the spiritual motivation. And in case of Raju, he finally transformed himself from fake saint to
true saint. In this novel, Raju made the resolution that he would give up all his thoughts of food for the next ten days. For
the first time in his life he was making an earnest effort. For the first time he was learning the thrill of full application,
outside money and love. It gave him a new strength to go through with the ordeal. He had been fasting to save humanity
from draught. He almost lost all sensations. He stepped into his basin of water, shut his eyes, and turned towards the
mountains, muttering the prayer. The headman of the village is Velan who regards Raju as a saint. All the villagers believed
in Velan and Raju becomes ‘Swami’ for them, a true saint.

What is of interest is that he is like any average Indian, a flotsam drifting along the stream of life, with least equipment for
any role he assumes. His external appearance and gift of speech carry him this far. But inherently all along in life he has
been guided only by the needs. And at the end of the novel he sits up and thinks to undertake the fast in earnest, to
experiment the veracity of the traditional faith in the efficacy of genuine fasting of a holy man to bring rain for the good of
humanity. ‘Raju opened his eyes, looked about and said, “Velan, it’s raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my
feet, up my legs--”, and with that he sagged down’. His needs start with physiological need as a shop-keeper and ends with
spiritual need being a spiritual guide for the society. It is the need that comes in path our life which plays as a motive of
metamorphosis in Raju like all common people. This shifting of roles in Raju’s life is due to need-based motivation and he is
being pushed by his needs. Transformation is happened willingly or unwilling in Raju’s life for this existence, for the love
and for the need of his growth and development. He lives each stage with fullness and zest from the boyhood to livelihood
to sainthood.

Socio Economic Discourse with a hint of Postcolonialism.

The school

Raju says, “I don’t know on whose advice my father chose to send me here for my education, while the fashionable Albert
Mission School was quite close by. I’d have felt proud to call myself an Albert Mission boy. But I often heard my father
declare, I don’t want to send my boy there; it seems they try to convert our boys into Christians and are all the time
insulting our gods” (86).The entire passage clearly indicates how westernization seeped into the sap of the society. Raju’s
father prefers to send him to the traditional school where as Raju wants to enjoy the ambience and glamour of Christian
School. The change in Raju’s attitude towards education advocates the impact of westernization on society. Raju’s father
adheres to traditional method of education because it is his conviction that Raju would be able to build his career under
the supervision of the ancient master. His father says, “Many students who have passed through the hands of this ancient
master are now big officials at Madras, collectors and men like that…” (25). From the quotation we can deduce the fact
that Raju’s father envisages his son to be financially independent with a social nomenclature. Here Narayan seems to be
influenced by The Second Five Year Plan, Nehru-Mahalanobis Model, as it intended to foster a self-generating path of
development with an assurance to common man that poverty, unemployment, disease and ignorance would be removed
so that individuals could realize their potential with the extension of social and economic opportunities. Nehru in his
economic thought advocates for modern Indian society having international economic and fiscal cooperation.

Class

While Marco and Rosie represent the well-to-do class, Gaffur and Joseph denote the low wage earner. In the character of
Sait, the money-lender, we find a wealthy person one who amasses and hoards wealth thriving upon the troubles of other
persons. Then there are the rich lawyers, who make huge amount of money at the expense of the clients. This class is
shown through the character of the star lawyer of Raju in the case instituted by Marco against him. Further, the whole
episode in which Raju is taken to be the saint is set on the axis of economic life.

Money -Guide- Railway

Raju, the protagonist of the novel, is possessed with greed for money. To ensconce this statement we have to retrace our
steps to the beginning of Raju’s life when he initiates his life as a ‘Guide’. In one of the fascinating passages Raju articulates:
You may want to ask why I became a guide or when. I was a guide for the same reason as someone else is a signaler,
porter, or guard. It is fated thus. Don’t laugh at my railway associations. The railways got into my blood very early in life.
Engines, with their tremendous changing and smoke, ensnared my senses. I felt at home on the railway platform, and
considered the stationmaster and porter the best company for man, and their railway talk the most enlightened. I grew up
in their midst. (26) From the very beginning of his life, Raju identifies himself with the railways-which mark him out as the
post-colonial man. The railway originally symbolizes the intrusion of colonial culture and Western attributes into a
traditional, a non-descript hamlet Malgudi. The new culture, new ideologies, new trends in society, gradually transform the
idyllic mindset of Raju, and he embraces the transformation in society. It is through Raju that Narayan explores the
problems and possibilities of spiritual transcendence in a materialist world. At the onset of his life Raju observes the
extravagance of his father and the frugal nature of his mother. Raju’s father bought a brown pony for the luxury of the
family but his mother shows her displeasure at the unnecessary expense of his father. The author comments “she viewed it
as an extraordinary vanity on my father’s part and no amount of explanation from him ever convinced her otherwise. Her
view was that my father had over-estimated his business, and she nagged him whenever he was found at home and the
horse and carriage were not put to proper use”(10).

Gandhian and Nehruvian thought.

In this context we may say that Narayan was inspired both by Gandhian and Nehruvian economic thought. We can
definitely reiterate the economic philosophy of Gandhiji when we come to the character delineation of Raju’s mother. One
of the ingredients of Gandhian economic thought is simplicity or simple living and high thinking. Raju’s mother has a firm
faith in this thought and so gets extremely displeased with extravagance. In the words of O.P.Misra: Gandhi’s plea for
minimization of wants is the only way that gives an escape from the dilemma of limited resources and unlimited wants. As
he was fully aware of the evils www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN (0976-8165)
Vol. II. Issue. III 2 September 2011of Western Civilization-mad race for money, craze for money, craze for satisfaction of
increasing wants, callous exploitation, sturdy imperialism, bloody carnage, and etche laid stress on curtailment of wants.
(38-39) This shows that in The Guide we observe both traditionalism and westernization in its thematic construction.

If we situate the novel against the backdrop of Post-Independence economic theories of India, we find the prevalence of
both the Gandhian economic thought and the Nehruvian economic thought in the narrative of the novel. Raju’s father and
mother eulogizes the age old values of the society, on the contrary Raju shows his inclination towards the new values,
supported by the influence of Industrial Revolution. Gradually as we move from the domestic life of Raju to his educational
life we once again perceive the impact of Gandhian economic theory. While conversing with his master Raju says, “After
all, self help is the best help… (17)”. The articulation of Raju has great significance. Through Raju Narayan reiterates
another ingredient of Gandhian economic theory – sanctity and dignity of labour.

O.P. Misra observes that “Gandhiji made an advocacy for manual labour for all irrespective of caste, qualification and
occupation. He was a thinker of a different genre who made labour as dignified as mental or intellectual labour (46)”. Here
Narayan reveals the consequences that we would have to face if we rely too much on machines for each and every
requirement of our life. Although Narayan here adheres to the principles of Gandhiji, he is not against Industrialization and
Economic Development of the nation. As we progress with the novel we can also get an idea of varied aspects that the
novelist explores. Raju continues to introduce himself as a guide as from chapter five where he himself says: “I came to be
called Railway Raju (19).The dramatic change in Raju’s simple life comes with the appearance of Rosie. The introduction of
railways paves the way for westernization to percolate into the traditional society of Malgudi. Initially Raju seems to be
dedicated to his profession and considered the couple as the tourist who has come to get the beautiful view of Malgudi,
but when he comes to know about the complexities of Marco and Rosie’s marital life, he seems to empathize with her. As
Raju moves about with them he comprehends the characteristic difference between Marco and Rosie. Rosie appears to
Raju as an embodiment of emotion and sentiments. Her innocence and simplicity can be compared to ‘Duchees’ of ‘My
Last Duchees’ by Robert Browning. She appreciates the beauty of nature and when she observes the rich vegetation, “She
ran like a child from plant to plant and cries of joy, while the man looked on with no emotion. Anything that interested her
seemed to irritate him (55)”.

Socio Economic Discourse and position of woman

This characteristic difference between Rosie and Marco brings a catastrophe in their marital life. Rosie, despite being an
M.A. in Economics and a talented dancer, is abused and ostracized by the patriarchal society as she hails from the class of
‘Devdasis’. Just for being illegitimate she is looked down upon and categorized as a low caste. Even Marco, who willingly
ties wedlock with her in spite of knowing her origin, affirms patriarchal norms by forcing her to lead a submissive life and
also forbids her to perform dance in public functions. This is also an outcome of materialistic society in which values are
compromised for wealth and status. According to Rosie the solemnization of her marriage is occasioned by Marco’s status
and position in society. Rosie says: But all the women in my family were impressed, excited that a man like him was coming
to marry one of our class, and it was decided that if it was necessary to give up our traditional art, it was worth the
sacrifice. He had a big house, a motor-car, he was a man of high social standing; he had a house outside Madras, he was
living in it all alone, no family at all; he lived with his books and papers (76). Here Narayan through Rosie enunciates the
position of women in Indian society. Moreover when Rosie shares her sorrows with Raju and looks down upon herself for
originating from a low class, Raju seriously protests against it. He firmly says: I don’t believe in class or caste. You are an
honour to your caste, whatever it may be (85).This statement of Raju testifies to the fact that he believes in true
modernization. Gandhian revolutions against caste distinction and Nehruvian ideas of advancement in science and
technology perhaps have influenced him and so he breaks the chain of conventions and accepts Rosie. He wants to go
against society. Perhaps ‘Sarvodaya’ (Welfare of All), one of the ingredients of Gandhiji’s economic thought must have
influenced the author and so his spokesperson expresses his respect for every human being irrespective of their caste or
creed. Gandhiji’s ‘Sarvodaya’ (Welfare of All) or Gandhian Socialism, struggled for creating an integrated man instead of
supporting an economic man of Adam Smith and political man of Machiavelli.

The character of Marco is projected in a very interesting way. He is a completely different man, away from the mundane
activities of the world, emotive gestures, and sentimental outbursts. He is an embodiment of impracticability. On the
contrary Rosie is a dreamer, lost in her world of love, emotion and compassion. In accordance with the above mentioned
points we can consider this passage: I was accepted by Marco as a member of the family. From guiding tourists I seemed to
have come to a sort of concentrated guiding of a single family. Marco was just impractical, an absolutely helpless man. All
that he could do was to copy ancient things and write about them. His mind was completely in it. All practical affairs of life
seemed impossible to him; such a simple matter as finding food or shelter or buying a railway ticket seemed to him a
monumental job. Perhaps he married out of desire to have someone care for his practical life, but unfortunately his choice
was wrong – this girl herself was a dreamer if ever there was one. (84)

Narayan wants to evoke Gandhian economic theory through the character of Rosie. In Gandhian economic theory man is a
supreme consideration and life is more than money. He wants to elevate modern economic philosophy from its
materialistic base to a higher spiritual plane where human actions would be motivated by social objectives rather than by
individualistic and selfish considerations. In order to make her understand the significance of money, Raju philosophically
says: “If we don’t work and earn when time is good, we commit a sin. When we have a bad time no one will help us”
(190).In response to this convincing statement Rosie articulates something more philosophically: “Is there no way of living
more simply” (195).This assertive statement of Rosie is a clear indication of her firm faith in Gandhian economic theories of
‘Simple living and High Thinking’. Raju’s ideologies are much more practical, quite oxymoronic to Rosie’s ideas of life.
Breaking away the adamantine chains of rigidity imposed by Marco, Rosie is now like a free bird, exploring her life and art.
Her life force is her art and she is controlled by rationality of Raju. In the words of Prof. Krishna Sen: “The modern Malgudi
society that Raju embraces during his days of prosperity is hardly any better, either from the point of view of morality or
humanity” (195).

Liquor Permit

Raju fully utilizes the power of money to get the permission for liquor from the government which was prohibited at that
time. The author says: ‘Permit Holder’ became a social title in our land and attracted men of importance around me,
because the permit was a different thing to acquire. I showed respect for law by keeping the street window shut when
serving drink to non-permit folk. All kinds of men called me ‘Raj’ and slapped my back…Through my intimacy with all sorts
of people, I knew what was going on behind the scenes in the government, at the market, at Delhi, on the racecourse, and
who was going to be who in the coming week. (184) Thus Narayan endorses a very ruthless and merciless and
uncompromising picture of official and social cooperation existing in the society at that time just after the independence. In
this context Prof. Krishna Sen remarks: To these people culture is a commodity that is valued for the material benefits that
it brings-they would have looked down on Rosie and her dance had she still been a devdasi, but now they lionize her
because she is rich and famous. To a considerable extent, Raju’s moral lapse in bending the law to gain a personal
advantage (when he forges Rosie’s signature) is symptomatic of this morally lax society, and not just an individual
aberration. (196)

Techniques of Narration in the Novel

The Guide divided into two parts, narrates Raju’s childhood, love affair, imprisonment in the first part and growth into a
swamy in the second part. Though the streams move simultaneously, the first part is set in Malgudi. Raju’s past and the
second part is set in Mangla, Raju’s present. While Raju’s past in Malgudi is narrated by Raju himself, his present in Mangla
is narrated by the author. R.K. Narayan is a novelist of common people and common situations. His plot of The Guide is
built of material and incidents that are neither extra-ordinary nor heroic. The Guide is a story of Raju’s romance, his greed
for money, his sin and repentance. It is also the story of everyman’s growth from the ordinary to extra- ordinary, from the
railway guide to the spiritual guide. In Narayan’s plot there is a mixture of the comic and serious, the real and the fantastic.

“Guide,” is therefore telling. (174) Narayan’s has a gift of sketching pen pictures that bring scenes and characters vividly to
life without taking recourse to ornate or excessive description. Narayan’s simplicity of language conceals a sophisticated
level of art. Narayan handles language like an immensely flexible tool that effortlessly conveys both the specific as well as
symbolic and the universal. The tone of The Guide is quite and subdued. Thus the use of flashback, common lifestyle,
comedy, language and the double perspective, Raju’s and the novelist’s make the novel fresh stimulating, provocative and
interesting.

Another technique Narayan uses is imagery and symbolism which is rooted in Indian culture but has universal appeal. At
the end of the story, where Raju is drowning, his eyes engrossed towards the mountains as a brilliant sun rises and villagers
look on. By juxtaposing the simple background of the Indian village at sunrise with the suicide scene, Narayan effectively
communicates Raju's death as an image of hope, consistent with the Indian belief in death and rebirth.

The clash between the ancient Indian traditions and values on the one side and modern western values on the other side
was visible in many novels. The three major characters in The Guide were concerned with the revival of indigenous Indian
art forms. It also mediates through topics like feminism and socio economic perspective in India.

The Two Main Methods

The narrative technique is method of telling the story. Here there are two kinds of narration: the flash back, story told by
the hero, Raju himself and the second method, in which the writer tells the story of Raju, The Guide in the first method the
story begins in the past and comes to the present. In the second method, it begins in the present and goes into the future.
Both these methods are fused in the end of the novel, when Raju sacrifices his life for the sake of the people of the village.

In the first method, the novel begins in the retrospective past. Here Raju beings telling his story, after his release from the
jail. He is sitting in a very pensive mood. He vacantly looks at Velan, the villagers who meet him. Velan mistakes him for a
Swamy, in spite of Raju repeated reminders to him that he is not Swamy at all. Raju tells his past life in a moment of
intense self- analysis. The plot eventually catches up with the present situation.

In the present, Raju is now waiting; he is still undecided about his future course of action. He has grown beard and looking
deeply pensive. He is in meditative mood. This is the second part of the narration. This part of Raju’s story is told by the
novelist. Velan thinks that Raju is a Swamy. From now onwards, the novelist tells us the story of Raju as the Swamyji. Raju
has become a Swamy. First, he protests and tells the villagers that he is not a Swamyji. But, resourceful that he is readily
accepted to play the role of a Swamy. Velan worshipped Raju. All the villagers are greatly benefited by his resourceful
advice. Raju become very popular. He becomes their prophet. He starts enjoy himself in the new role.
Narayan’s treatment of the English language in the novel is Indian in its restraint, particularly where sex is concerned. Sex,
though pervasive in the novel, is implicit always. Even when Raju decides to enter Rosie’s room and stay alone with her for
the night how characteristically Indian and different, he is from his western counterpart! He ‘stepped in and locked the
door on the world.’ “The only time it is explicit, the utmost he has permitted himself on such an occasion is: Marco, the kill-
joy is walking towards the cave swinging his cane and hugging his portfolio and Raju snaps: “If he could show half the
warmth of that hug elsewhere!”” (Narasimhaiah 144-145). Narayan is acclaimed as a Regional or Social novelist. The locale
of The Guide is the small town of Malgui where Raju has his home, the village Mangal from where Velan hails, and Madras
and other big cities where Rosie is invited to dance. As most of the Indians live in rural and semi-urban areas, the locale of
the novel is almost the microcosm of India. The world in The Guide is “structured along simple binaries—Malgudi and
Mangal, the town and the village, urban sophistication versus rural simplicity, modernity versus tradition, cynicism versus
faith” (Sen 86).

With his characteristic humour he was able to capture the spectrum of Indian life, with its superstitions and hypocrisies, its
beliefs and follies, its intricacies and vitalities, its rigidities and flexibilities. The action of the novel proceeded in two distinct
streams, presenting two different aspects of Indian culture. Malgudi, a miniature of India, presented the rich traditions of
classical dances by Rosie-Nalini and the breath-taking paintings that embellish Marco Polo’s the Cultural History of South
India. Mangal, the neighbour town village presented the spiritual dimension of Indian culture, presented through Raju’s
growth into a celebrated Swamy. “Thus Raju, Rosie and Marco Polo become temporal symbols of India’s cultural ethos”
(Goyal 143). While Marco Polo’s aspiration sought their fulfillment in unearthing the buried treasures of India’s rich cultural
past, Rosie’s longing sought satisfaction in the creative channels of classical dancing in the midst of an ever-present, live
audience. Raju was all the time dreaming of an elusive future till a time came when he was irrevocably committed to a
definite future by undertaking a fast in the hope of appeasing the rain-god. “While Marco is cultural historian of the past,
Rosie is a cultural ambassador of the present, and Raju is a cultural prophet of the future”

Many of the structural devices and thematic concerns of the Hindu epics and puranas are displayed in The Guide. In having
a rogue as the hero, there is an element of the folk tale also. Krishna Sen is of opinion that we have the idyllic opening
scene, the dramatic dialogue format, the layered narrative, the multilateral structure compressing time shifts and
interwoven digressions, and the final penance for a divine boon to save humanity. Some elements have been parodied or
ironically subverted by bringing them from the mythic past to the imperfect present, elements such as the guru being
superior to the shishya, or the dialogue leading spiritual illumination (22). Another indigenous pattern working through the
novel is the linear progression or varnasrama, (Varnashrama Dharma is a Sanskrit name given to the divisional structure of
the Indian society. When this order of society is intertwined with the four orders of life or the ashramas, i.e. Brahmacharya
or the student life, Grihastha or the householder’s life, Vanaprastha or the retired life and Sanyasa or the devotional life, it
gives rise to the Varnashrama dharma.  or the Hindu belief in the four stages of the ideal life—student, house holder, recluse
and ascetic (brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha and sansyasa).

The characters in The Guide can be reduced to symbolic meanings. Velan represents the psychological reality of the rural
ethos. He is the spiritual guide of Raju, the professional guide. Raju remains professional even in his mask. Raju, Velan and
Rosie are the central characters in the novel. According to U. P. Sinha from his essay, “Patterns of Myth and Reality in “The
Guide”: Complex Craft of Fiction”: Their implicative or metaphoric roles in the novel make a mythic triangle which is a
triangle with three points, one indicating the height of spiritual-cum-moral triumph. The point indicating the low, the deep
is represented by Rosie, and the vertical one is represented by Velan. The third point at the level, which seems to be
vertical but is not obviously so, represents Raju. The first two points act upon this one so that the whole triangle becomes
mythical—man facing two opposite-worlds; facing always with very little chance of a smooth and painless arrival here or
there. (80)

One can interpret the character portrayal in the novel in terms of gunas. (In yoga and Ayurveda, a guna is a tattva or
element of reality that can affect our psychological, emotional and energetic states. The three gunas were created as an
essential component of Sankhya philosophy but the gunas are now a major concept in most schools of Indian philosophy.
The three gunas are described as being constantly influx and interacting with one another, in a playful state referred to
as maya or illusion. The patterns of the interplay of the gunas can define the essential qualities of someone or something, and
these patterns can highly influence the path and progress of life,

Tamas is a state of darkness, inertia, inactivity, and materiality. Tamas manifests from ignorance and deludes all beings
from their spiritual truths. Other tamasic qualities are laziness, disgust, attachment, depression, helplessness, doubt, guilt,
shame, boredom, addiction, hurt, sadness, apathy, confusion, grief, dependency, ignorance.

Rajas is a state of energy, action, change, and movement. The nature of rajas is of attraction, longing and attachment and
rajas strongly bind us to the fruits of our work. Other rajasic qualities are anger, euphoria, anxiety, fear, irritation, worry,
restlessness, stress, courage, rumination, determination, chaos.

Sattva is a state of harmony, balance, joy, and intelligence. Sattva is the guna that yogis achieve towards as it reduces rajas
and tamas and thus makes liberation possible. Other sattvic qualities are delight, happiness, peace, wellness, freedom, love,
compassion, equanimity, empathy, friendliness, focus, self-control, satisfaction, trust, fulfillment, calmness, bliss,
cheerfulness, gratitude, fearlessness, selflessness.)
In the words of Rama Nair, “Gunas can presuppose the question of basic predisposition called Samskaras(According to
various schools of Indian philosophy, every action, intent or preparation by an individual leaves a samskara ([impression,
impact, imprint] in the deeper structure of the person's mind. [2] These impressions then await volitional fruition in that
individual's future, in the form of hidden expectations, circumstances or a subconscious sense of self-worth.
These Samskaras manifest as tendencies, karmic impulses, subliminal impressions, habitual potencies or innate dispositions.
[2][3]
 In ancient Indian texts, the theory of Samskara explains how and why human beings remember things, and the effect that
memories have on people's suffering, happiness and contentment.) and fate (Karma). In Hindu thought, a mental or physical
act is called Karma. Karma is the sum-total of a man’s past actions, in the present and the previous lives, which determines
his life now. One can achieve liberation only through spiritual self-realization” (44). In Hindu philosophy names of
individuals do not matter. One’s individuality and character are determined by his actions. The names of central characters
in The Guide are not individualistic. They are vague and impersonal. The reader is never told either Raju’s or Marco’s real
name. Raju’s spiritual triumph at the end of the novel is a reaffirmation of the static potential that is innate in every
individual. The same critical frame work can be applied to Rosie’s character also.

The Guide ended in a way which is very typical of an Indian story. In a typical Indian story, the main character narrated his
own story to an acquaintance overnight and by the time he concluded, the cock crowed. In this traditional way of story-
telling, the story-teller, Raju, held the listener. Thus Narayan achieved a supreme triumph through this narration. To quote
C. D. Narasimhaiah from his essay, “R. K. Narayan’s ‘The Guide,’” “It is not surprising when we know that at all times
Narayan writes not merely with an intense social awareness of his own age but with the past of India in his bones. Thanks
to him our social sympathies are broadened and our moral being considerably heightened” (198).

The description of the eastern sky as red and the apparition of the morning sun and the great shaft of light which
illuminated the surroundings do not match with raining in the hills. The readers come across a series of endless questions.
Does it really rain? Does Raju survive to see the miracle? Or does he die with the delusion that his sacrifice has paid off?
The readers have to find out their own answers based on their beliefs and philosophy. In the words of Paranjape, “Are we
people of faith, those who believe that the sacrifice of a well-intentioned individual can solve social problems, even change
the course of natural events? Or are we modern, “scientific” people who refuse to yield to such superstitions? To frame the
choices offered by the novel in an even more complex manner, do we want to believe even though we might be unable
to?” (180)

The traits of Indian manners and customs are also reflected in this novel. Hospitality of Indians is a well known trait all over
the world. Indians are known for their custom of hospitality and altruism. Rosie has been accepted in Raju’s house after
being abandoned by her husband and Raju has been easily sheltered by the villagers of Mangala with the atmost honour of
a sage.

The Self, the Real and the Reality: A Study of Lacanian Subjectivity in R. K. Narayan’s The Guide

R. K. Narayan‘s The Guide, as the unified Lacanian subject who are shifting their symbols incessantly to fill up the void, and
to attain ‗the Self‘. According to Lacan, attaining one‘s self is a process that a person goes through in search of his/her real
self. In this process a subject crosses three phases that are named by Lacan as ‗The Real‘, ‗The Imagery‘ and ‗The
Symbolic‘. Again in this process of attaining self, Lacan focuses on one‘s ‗desire‘ to be the driving force that involves the
constant search for the Real. As we observe in R. K. Narayan‘s The Guide, the protagonists- Raju and Rosie can very
adequately be fitted in the chain/process of Self-Real-Reality. Both Raju and Rosie were driven/governed by their desire in
search of ‗the Real‘ to attain ‗the Self‘ and created their lives‘ ‗Reality‘ that presented us a wonderful story of life- The
Guide.

At the beginning of the novel, we find all these characters in a stable social position considering their social context. The
novel starts with Raju coming out of the prison and telling his life story before imprisonment. And his life story unfolded his
peaceful, self-sufficient life in a secure social position living by the shop his father left for him and small family with his
mother. And Rosie was also leading a flourishing life with comfort and a respectable social position. She herself chooses
this life to come out of her earlier social position (devadasi) as it did not provide her an honourable life. That‘s why R. K.
Narayan remarks, ―my main concern is with human character- a central character from whose point of view the world is
seen and who tries to get over a difficult situation or succumbs to it or fights it in his own setting‖ (qtd. in Khatri, 2006) who
could be considered as Lacan demonstrated the subjects struggle to establish their self.

Lacanian 1st phase

As we can see neither Raju nor Rosie holds the stronger ego or I (Ideal ego) to overpower the unconscious/ the void/the
lack/desire. Following the quest for real self, they are governed by their desire; they started building their identity in the
cultural world. This desire puts a subject in symbolic order and in a universe full of symbols, objects to satisfy the desire of
the subject. But according to Lacan, desire is something that cannot be satisfied fully, because this desire is actually the
desire to attain the unified self – that is the real self and get back to the completeness which it (the subject) experienced as
an infant when it was not aware of the otherness. In Lacan‘s topology of subject formation, a subject is only unified while
staying in the infant stage that Lacan named as the Real stage. The infant does not have the sense that he/she and their
mother has a separate bodies and entities.In fact, the baby is only a kind of blob with no sense of individual identity or self.
In this stage it‘s driven by only its needs and needs can be satisfied by objects. As an infant, the baby takes its mother who
satisfies its needs as a part of its own body. But at age of 6-18 months the baby comes to identify its own body separated
from their mother‘s body. Thus, the baby enters to Imaginary stage being able to recognize itself as a separate entity but
with a central emptiness, void, and a sense of loss by being castrated from its mother. This castration is important in
formation of ‗Self‘. Both Freud and Lacan emphasized in that a subject must separate itself from its mother to form a
separate identity. Entering into the Imaginary order, the subject builds an idea of its own self which is ‗Ego‘ to Freud and
‗Ideal Ego‘ to Lacan. In Freud‘s view, ego helps us to know our ‗self‘ but in Lacan‘s view ego is nothing but an illusion,
misrecognition because ―There is no image of identity, of reflexivity, but a relation of fundamental alterity‖ (Lacan, 1967-
1968). Ego gives the subject the idea of otherness, as the infant grows up and socializes with other people except its
mother, and ultimately realizes the fact that the union with its mother is unattainable. Thus, it shifts its attention towards
others to search its

Symbolic order presents a set of signifiers in front of the subject to fill up the lack or the emptiness. But these signifiers are
full of shifting, sliding images that create a chain of signifiers in front of the subject. And the subject shifts from one
signifier to another, tries to get back to the Real where there is no lack or loss. But as in Lacan‘s view Real is always in some
level a fantasy and ultimately unattainable. This process of shifting from one signifier to another and trying to be settled in
a specific signifier is actually what is called achieving the ‗Self‘. Being in the chain of signifiers the subject comes to know
about things that it didn‘t know earlier and faces different situations that was unfamiliar to it, in this way the subject
becomes adult and creates its social reality with the knowledge of its Self :

―(T)he subject, confronted with the enigma of the desire of the Other, tries to verbalise this desire and thus constitutes
itself by identifying with the signifiers in the field of the Other, without ever succeeding in filling the gap between subject
and Other. Hence, in the continuous movement from signifier to signifier, the subject alternately appears and disappears‖
(ibid).

So, ―what we call reality is associated with the symbolic order or ‗social reality‘‖ (Homer, 2005) and in this symbolic order
a person continues to search the real, through shifting of signifiers and driven by desire. Desire is at the centre of our being
and most essentially is related to the lack we feel to have. Desire and lack are inextricably tied together. Lacan defines
desire as the remainder that arises from the subtraction of need from demand:

―Thus desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for love, but the difference that results from the
subtraction of the first from the second, the phenomenon of their splitting ‖ (qtd.in Homer, 2005).

As the story of The Guide starts, we get Raju, Rosie and Marco in their adulthood. If we put them in the three orders Lacan
demonstrates as the process of creating self, we find them clearly at symbolic order. These three characters already
crossed Imaginary order, taking an image of their self and entering the symbolic order, they have set themselves in the
signifying chain, where a subject shifts from signifier to signifier in search of something they feel is lost from their life. As
we see in Raju and Rosie, the trends of shifting from one goal (symbol) to another and creating a fantasy world, where they
feel everything is under their control. But every time that fantasy world is broken, they again set themselves on the paths
their desires lead them to.

To unfold the chain of desires, R. K. Narayan chooses a village named Malgudi (a fictional town created by Narayan) and
places his protagonist Raju, who has been recently released from prison, sitting on a granite slab beside an ancient shrine
on a bank of the river Sarayu, on the other bank the village Mangala, where people are so simple and gullible as to be
made to accept for granted even the most unbelievable things. Raju is revealed exactly in his Symbolic order or turning
point of his life after exercising and socializing his Ego in his past days, waiting to fill up the lack or the emptiness of his life
or to get back to the real stage where there is no lack or loss to complete the circle of desires.

By recounting the time he left behind, Raju releases all the capricious desires that channeled him to come to this stage of
life. He starts with his childhood when he has no sense of individual identity or self. In the process of forming the self he
was only driven by the needs and his surroundings as he articulates:

―You may want to ask why I became a guide or when. I was a guide for the same reason as someone else is a signaler,
porter, or guard. It is fated thus. Don‘t laugh at my railway associations. The railways got into my blood very early in life.
Engines, with their tremendous changing and smoke, ensnared my senses. I felt at home on the railway platform, and
considered the stationmaster and porter the best company for man, and their railway talk the most enlightened. I grew up
in their midst‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 26).

Raju introduces with that moment of his life when he was not aware of the otherness. The intrusion of new culture, new
ideologies, and new trends in society flourished by the railway, offers a new image of the self in Raju which was different
from the mindset of nondescript Hamlet Malgudi. Raju boarded himself in the voyage of creating owns separate self,
castrating himself from the traditional Malgudian self. In the process of parting the self and other, the first symbol against
his void/ desire thrust upon Raju was his father‘s shop which was known as ‗Hut (Narayan, 1971, p. 10). He was very
enthusiastic to serve in the shop in his father‘s absence. He used to wait eagerly for the time his father will go inside their
home for lunch and call him to serve the customers. He felt himself important. He used to maintain an attitude of
experienced shopkeeper and to uphold this attitude sometimes he ‗‗swallowed the fourth in order to minimize
complications‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 11). He enjoyed his father‘s place in the shop. Sometimes, his father‘s customers greet
him when they pass away. This honour became constantly Raju‘s desirable option to be in the shop. And his vocation as a
shopkeeper is the master signifier to demonstrate how he starts to delineate his self by filling up his inner void. The desire
of becoming a shopkeeper gives him the feeling of completeness as an individual self.

It is mentionable that Raju had been always driven by his desires from the very beginning of his schooling. His father
wanted him to be well-educated. But Raju was not serious about his study and for that reason his father left him with the
remark, ―I have better things to do of a morning than make a genius out of a clay-head‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 12). Instead of
studying, he loves to play and loves to be in the shop most. With intrusion of the train, his life begins to run. His father
decided to take another shop in the railway station. Lacan asserts that a subject moves in the process of signification to
reveal their core emptiness. And Raju starts to move through this process also; he says ―All this business expansion in our
family helped me achieve a very desirable end—the dropping off of my school unobtrusively‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 38). Thus
he shifted his desire from school which was actually the desire of his teacher almost imposed on him and set it finally on
the shop. This way, he introduces his individual self which was waiting to run after desires. His father‘s death means to give
fulfillment of his desire. But Lacan explained desire to be unfulfilled and recurring. So it creates an unsatisfied self, who
carries a void within and shifts the desire towards a new symbol. After the death of Raju‘s father when Raju owned the
shop, he started to feel a lack of interest in it. He himself admits: ―I bargained hard; showed indifference while buying and
solicitude while selling. Strictly speaking, it was an irregular thing to do‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 43). Raju‘s reality in the context
to Malgudi shows that he was in a safe position of life; if he maintains his shop skillfully he has nothing to worry about
future and can lead a happy family life just like his father. But Raju denies that reality and goes for a creating a new reality
following his desires.

After his father‘s death, his desire shifts to pick up a bundle of assorted books and learn from the scrap about the old
temples and ruins and new buildings and battleships and soldiers and pretty girls. As Raju has no fixed desire to be filled up,
he shifts repeatedly until he reaches his symbolic juncture of life. The visitors who used to stand before his shop and ask
―How far….is….?.‘ or ―Which way does one go to reach…..‘ or ‗Are there many historical spots here‖ (Narayan, 1971, p.
49)? Raju got a new break in identifying his self. He becomes ‗Railway Raju‘ (Narayan, 1971, p. 52)—the guide. Becoming a
guide was also very interesting in Raju‘s life. He did not intentionally get involved in this work. In the beginning when the
visitors asked him about the places, Raju even gave them false information and he did not do it to misguide the visitors but
just to heighten his importance among them, he enjoyed their attention-- ―It was not because I wanted to utter a
falsehood, but only because I wanted to be pleasant‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 49). This momentary pleasure of being important
led Raju towards another signifier of the symbolic order. The point we may notice here is Raju‘s response to that
unrecognized self of himself denying a safe and recognized self. This was Raju‘s choice driven by his desire and set him to
create a new reality of life:

―This sort of enquiry soon led me to think that I had not given sufficient thought to the subject. I never said, ‗I don‘t
know.‘ Not in my nature, I suppose if I had had the inclination to say ‗I don‘t know what you are talking about,‘ my life
would have taken different turn‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 40).

The materialist world leads Raju to grow from his infancy (real stage) to his ‗Imaginary stage‘. Being able to recognize the
self as a separate entity, Raju begins to feel the emptiness or the void again that was refilled with another character Rosie
who herself is in the transition to find the ‗Self‘ and establish the ‗Reality‘. Rosie, despite being an M.A. in Economics and
a talented dancer sacrificed her ‗Self‘ to form a new identity of class and cast by uniting herself with Marco. But as she
hails from the class of ‗Devdasis‘, she is categorized as a low caste. Even Marco, who willingly ties wedlock with her in spite
of knowing her origin, affirms patriarchal norms by forcing her to lead a submissive life and also forbids her to perform
dance in public functions. The lack of material satisfaction creates the desire to be wealthy, affluent and the status she
needs. Marco‘s status and position drives the desire of Rosie in process of creating an individual self. The family of Rosie
was ready to sacrifice their tradition to fill up the void they are experiencing. On the other hand, Rosie remarks that Marco
―…was living… all alone, no family at all; he lived with his books and papers‖ (Narayan, 1971, p. 76). This characteristic
difference between Rosie and Marco brings a cataclysm in their wedded life. The complexities of Marco and Rosie‘s marital
life create an empty space to be filled up. And this empty space magnetizes both Raju and Rosie to recognize their new
shifting of desire.

Rosie is one of the vital symbols in formation of Raju as a subject because to Raju, Rosie is an embodiment of emotion and
sentiments. The subjectivity that Raju now wants to form is centered on Rosie. Raju says "The only reality in my life and
consciousness was Rosie‘ (Narayan, 1971, p. 104). But Rosie‘s desire acts like an ambivalent as she shows excessive
consideration for her husband on the hill. In the midst of my caresses she would suddenly free herself and passionately
tells Gaffur to bring the car. She shows the urge to go and see/ meet Marco. As Marco was goal oriented person, he is not
shown in the process of shifting desires. Even when Raju and Rosie‘s covert relationship is exposed, Marco shows extreme
displeasure but he remains indifferent to his desire. This indifference of Marco revitalizes Raju to support Rosie physically
and morally against the codified laws of society. Both Raju and Rosie from now on will start to shift from one goal (symbol)
to another and create a fantasy world where they felt everything is under control. The decision of performing publicly
brings Rosie name, fame and money and her popularity brings Raju the material success. Raju‘s attention shifts from Rosie
to money. Money creates a new machine like individual self of Raju.

The fantastic world of Rosie‘s fame and Raju‘s luxury masked their real self. It is money which brings an enormous
transformation in Raju‘s flourishing life. In the words of Prof. Krishna Sen: ―The modern Malgudi society that Raju
embraces during his days of prosperity is hardly any better, either from the point of view of morality or humanity‖
(Narayan, 1971, p. 195). Raju fully utilizes the power of money to get the permission for liquor from the government which
was prohibited at that time. The author says: ‗Permit Holder‘ became a social title in our land and attracted men of
importance around me, because the permit was a different thing to acquire. I showed respect for law by keeping the street
window shut when serving drink to non-permit folk. All kinds of men called me ‗Raj‘ and slapped my back…Through my
intimacy with all sorts of people, I knew what was going on behind the scenes in the government, at the market, at Delhi,
on the racecourse, and who was going to be who in the coming week. (Narayan, 1971, p. 184) Raju‘s unattainable desires
drive him even to forge Rosie‘s signature with the intention of misappropriating her jewels and converting them into easy
wealth. Raju successfully shifts from his imaginary order to symbolic stage of life. The chain of signifiers in front of Raju
seems to offer the ‗Real‘ but Lacan says that Real is always in some level a fantasy and ultimately unattainable. As we see
the false support of the fantasy was shaken with the entry of Marco‘s book and the legal notice about the ornaments.
Here, Marco is the key signifier or symptom that was being excluded from till now in Raju and Rosie‘s world. The presence
of Marco always gets them back to their shattered self and to the symbolic order. Raju‘s forgery breaks away Rosie‘s
fantasy

Raju and Rosie both characters can be well framed in Lacan‘s concept of subjectivity. As Lacanian subject both Raju and
Rosie as adult experience the chain of signifiers in order to have their new self. Entering into the symbolic order they are
guarded by their desires and sets themselves in the signifying chain where a subject shifts from signifier to signifier in
search of something that they felt lost from their life or they are unfamiliar to it. This is how the symbolic order is
structured to experience the social reality.

Instead of attaining the real to convey the self, the self ultimately is framed by the ‗social reality‘.

FEMINIST SENSIBILITY IN R.K. NARAYAN’S THE GUIDE

Individuality to a woman is a distant dream in a collectivist society such as in India, so the author allows Rosie to enter the
institution of marriage. The preferential quality to Marco for marriage is education and beauty. His matrimonial
advertisement suggests this for he wanted “an educated, good-looking girl to marry a rich bachelor [Marco] of academic
interests. No caste restrictions; good looks and university degree essential” (The Guide, 75). One becomes aware of the
fact that a woman’s worth is measured in terms of her beauty since it is to be considered as a status symbol. Her Degree is
of the same value. No consideration is given to “mutual suitability or unsuitability of the tastes and likeness of the
partners” (Gaur, 63). The manner in which the advertisement is framed and the subsequent examination of Rosie and her
certificates with a business-like determination, reflect the cold attitude of Marco towards the delicate bond. He seems to
be entering into some sort of a transaction he is having in exchange of the social identity and luxury he was to provide to
the lady. Marco wanted someone like his servant Joseph who did everything for him at the right time without bothering
him. Raju reflects the same when he says that Marco “married out of the desire to have someone to care for his practical
life” (The Guide, 100)

Rosie’s identity is now determined by the male in her life to whom she is now subordinate. She is to now fit into an
idealized figure of a ‘home-spun’ woman with great patience and has to maintain equilibrium even if it meant to constrain
her desires. She stood nowhere near the ‘dead and decaying things’ that ‘fire his imagination rather than things that lived
and moved and swung their limbs’ (The Guide, 72). One gets the feel of commoditizationof Rosie by Marco for social status
and by Raju for sexual gratification and as money generation machine. Narayan’s attempt is to highlight the constraining
effect of marriage as a social institution that places a woman in a marginalized position and the ignorance they face at the
hands of their caretakers.

Rosie is now a victim of patriarchal hegemony. The ideology that defines women as inferior debars her from the
possibilities of attaining self satisfaction and independence through education or through art/skill as in Rosie’s case. Her
attempt to convince Marco to allow her to dance and her decision to subside her desire reflects a setup where the male
voice is the law and of which she is a victim. Marco may be seen as liberal-minded taking into account his priority of an
educated woman foregoing all foundations of social structure and marrying a temple-dancer but he fails in the very first
test. It must be understood here that “ideology is not necessarily a direct expression of ruling-class [or gender] interests at
all moments in history and that at certain conjunctures it may even move into contradiction with those interests”(Kuhn,
63). Narayan here, in The Guide sets a beginning to those contradictions. Such contradictions enable us to examine the
power of cultural ideals over our thinking and our lives. Through Marco Narayan reflects his deep understanding of the
dominant male discourse which would look at dancing as a synonym of prostitution. Rosie’s attempts to convince her
husband to allow her to explore her area of interest/her art just the way he was doing, Marco denounces her saying, “Oh,
you want to rival me, is that it? This is a branch of learning, not street-acrobats” (The Guide, 130). Marco may show his
individual strength (of intellect) and weakness (of body), but in capacity as a moral ‘overseer’ he is vigilant in maintaining
the conventional premise of status quo. Such a moral coercion does not benefit to Rosie making her susceptible to Raju.
She sees in him a warm flow of life that ministered vital human needs of which she had been so far starved.

Narayan has used Raju to deal with the sexuality and individuality of Rosie. It is through him that the reader is given
physical appearance of Rosie: “she is not very glamorous, if that is what you expect, but she did have a figure, a slight and
slender one, beautifully fashioned, eyes that sparkled, a complexion, not white, but dusky, which made her only half visible
- as if you saw her through a film of tender coconut juice” (The Guide, 58). When Rosie is seduced by Raju, Narayan’s
purpose is to express his belief in a healthy and life-giving force of free and unrepressed sexual activity. He has given due
recognition to volatile female emotion and sensations and treats them in the way he treats a male. It is significant that
while giving Rosie the physical characteristics of a voluptuous woman, a sexy woman, Narayan did not mean her to be
dumb or loose in morals. He, therefore, stands with conviction with his heroine. Further, Rosie’s sexuality is self indulgent
allowing her the right to control her body. However, to bring the two-sexiness and moral seriousness, together in a single
female has always been considered subversive in society. It seems to hit hard in the face of conventional code and belief.
This is because the ‘conceptual bifurcation’ of a woman has deep influence on society which accepts the concept of two
types of women – one fit for sex and the other for wife. Ironically, such a bifurcation consolidates a division between
women themselves. In the novel we see Raju’s mother warning him against the dancing woman (who are believed to be
low in morals) and expecting Rosie to conform to the norms set by the society for a woman (to go back to her husband). If
Rosie stands for change, Raju’s mother stands for resistance to change.

The constraining social mores and assumptions account for Rosie’s suppression. Marco strips her of her real ‘self’. In
nullifying her needs and desires, he enforces Rosie’s subjugation. For Raju, Rosie is a sexual object and her dance business.
He is the one who makes her passion for dance mechanical making her feel like a bull yoked to an oil-crusher that went
round and round without a beginning or an end (The Guide, 180). He talks of her in monetary terms of utilizing her
‘services and make money’ and adds, ‘she is a gold mine’. Raju’s mother and his uncle represent social disapproval that
Rosie has to face for exploring her talent.

Narayan gives his heroine a role that is active, assertive and self-determined and explores every opportunity that defines
her very ‘Self’ even if it has to be the sway of the cobra. These are preliminary preparations of her birth as an individual.
Rosie schedules her dance practice, perfects it and takes charge of earning a livelihood while Raju is preoccupied with the
physical passion. She does excellently and her genius could not be ignored even by Raju. It is the sexual vitality that infuses
in her animate life vigor of body and mind and from there we witness her intelligence, strength, courage and emotional
generosity. Time and again, it seems Rosie is falling back into her defined role of false values and crumbling ideology when
she remarks.

This is the result of the conflict between ones own ‘self’ that stresses on individuality and moral coercion that stresses
submission. The ingrained ideology makes her guilt-ridden and fearful and her chances of emerging out seem to be distant.
One realizes that overcoming cultural ideology alone cannot liberate one and that psyche must be first overcome since it is
an essential terrain.

Rosie struggles to achieve self-fulfillment in a society that is deeply entrenched in the patriarchal concept of female
submission. The tension, conflict, stress and strain that the events bring in allow Narayan to delineate the new. Rosie thus
takes control of her life which reflects her courage and determination. Raju believed to have ‘monopoly of her and nobody
had anything to do with her…. She was my property’ (The Guide, 168).

He strongly believed that he controlled her and that she was dependent on him. But the truth is that Rosie would have, had
it not been Raju, bloomed the way she had even if she might have returned to Marco. He could not have suppressed her
for long, she was bound to break and make her way. It is Rosie who mentored Raju providing him financial support and
moral if he is thought to have so. Once Rosie takes control of her life and goes about her business, it accounts to her
economic independence. A woman remains dormant as long as she is unaware of her ‘self’. But once she becomes
consciousness of it, it cannot be imprisoned. So is the case with Rosie. Once her emancipation is achieved, the author
leaves her. Narayan has propagated a shift in the contemporary ideology for which “the culturally valued model [for
women] was sweetly reasonable and compliant, not free thinking and rebellious. And, moreover, her highest aim would
be, not only to please the men in her life with her attentive devoted ways, but also to keep herself in constant preparation
for a husband” (Morgan, 157).

Existential Crisis in Indian Women: A Study of R.K. Narayan’s The Guide,

Introduced by Soren Kierkegaard, Sartre and Camus, Existentialism reflects the eternal struggle of man to establish his
identity. It was a revolt against reason, rationality and traditional ways of living. It marked the questioning and assertion of
one’s existence in a world which revolves around the feeling of nothingness. This feeling is prevalent throughout the world
among human beings, men and women alike. This article highlights the concept of existential crisis in Indian women as
depicted in the novels of R.K Narayan’s The Guide.

Identity crisis is present in every person. Indian novels also depict this existential motif keeping par with reality. Literature
is a reflection of life and society. Modern Indian society presents a very vivid picture of one’s existential dilemma-the
eternal question of “to be or not to be” in a society which engulfs an individual in irrelevant norms and values, covering the
visages of harshness andmeaninglessness. Society has always bound man in the limitations of marriage, family and
friendship, leading to interpersonal relationships and intrapersonal emotional conflicts, indecisions and inhibitions

Rosie, one of the protagonists of R.K. Narayan’s The Guide, presents the predicament of Indian women, who have to
undergo a conventional discrimination as the weaker sex, whose only worth in life is measured by her devotion to her
husband and her in-laws. In this novel, we also get the picture of how society treats a woman on the basis of her birth or
familial background, disregarding academic qualification or any cultural potential. Rosie here suffers from identity crisis in
social as well as marital life. Her marital life is tormented by her psychological difference with her husband, which prevents
her from establishing herself as an independent individual. Being entangled in social convictions she faces a lot of obstacles
in realizing her dreams. Her dissatisfactory conjugal life makes her inclined to Raju, a tourist guide, who helps her build a
career in dancing but is betrayed by him later. Frustration, depression, alienation and inability to be in conformity with the
society make her a true existential character. Rosie gets married to Marco, a man of academic pursuit, through an
advertisement in the newspaper. But they are never mentally attached to each other. Marco goes about visiting caves
whereas Rosie is left alone. When she jumps in ecstasy, he remains unmoved

“Anything that interested her seemed to irritate him.”(76)

When once she goes out with Raju, she wishes to spend the whole night in darkness. She expresses her desire to find her
way out of the darkness of her life, which provided her material wealth but no mental comfort. Her unresponsive husband
left her no space to live life with vitality:

y: “I’d have preferred any kind of mother-in-law, if it had meant one real, live husband.”(85)

Seeing Rosie being neglected by her indifferent husband, Raju tries to increase his intimacy with her. Their closeness seems
to rise and he wants to liberate her from her material confinements to help her cherish her goal of being a dancer. But
Rosie seemed to be torn apart between her craving for dance on the one hand and responsibility towards her husband on
the other.

“After all, he is my husband. I have to respect him. I cannot leave him there.”(119)

Yet in this speech, we find a compulsion in her. It is Raju who admires her art form. But, being devoted to her husband, she
cannot cling on to a tourist guide. Her frustration arises out of Marco’s indifference towards her dance form:

“Her art and her husband could not find a place in her thoughts at the same time.”(122)

This reveals the crisis of a true artist on the one hand and a submissive, meek housewife on the other. Later when Raju and
Rosie engage in an affair, Rosie’s inclination comes as result of his appreciation of her art. She also feels that he gives a new
vent to her confined love:

“You are giving me a new lease of life.”(125)

Having been treated as disrespectable due to her background of ‘devdasi’, she tries to acquire an honorable social position
by marrying Marco. But her potential is subdued—her dream of becoming a dancer is totally shattered when she is asked
to leave dance after marriage. When Raju brings her home to give her refuge, after she leaves her husband, Raju’s mother
does not support him. She regards her as ‘a real snake woman’ (154), someone who would trap him, ensnare him to a
poisonous end.

However, she moves on to cherish her dream with a new name ‘Nalini’. This new identity gives her a new way of life. This
suppressed self in Rosie finds a new, vibrant and passionate outlet in Nalini. But later, when Raju forges her signature to
acquire her wealth, she laments having achieved success through his help. It is Raju who helps her to taste fame and it is
Raju again who betrays her. This leaves her nowhere. He even conceals the news of Marco’s publication of “The Cultural
History of South India”. He even hides a copy of the book sent to her by Marco. Rosie laments having left her husband. A
new name brings a new life, a new identity, a new existence for her. But even that is transitory. Raju’s insincerity leaves her
life as a mockery of existence as a whole. As her popularity increases, she becomes more and more indifferent to monetary
benefits. She loves dance like ‘art for art sake’. When she demands the reason behind Raju’s concealing the fact about
Marco’s book, Raju wants to know what makes her moved so much. She replies:

“After all, after all, he is my husband.”(201)

Here we find an Indian woman’s inability to extricate herself from mental confinement of respecting her husband, despite
his indifference towards her. The Indian wives are traditionally torn between the predicament of being dedicated to their
husband on the one hand, and establishing themselves in their profession on the other. Even after reaching the acme of
fame, Rosie is not happy. She regards herself as a monkey, encaged for performing in different shows. At first her
existential crisis lies in her life as a temple dancer, being an object of ridicule everywhere. Even a sound academic
qualification does not improve her social status. Later her crisis lies in leading a loveless life with an unresponsive husband,
though she thought marriage would improve her life. She has to choose either marriage or dance. Marriage does not
provide her stability though she attains economic security. Later she craves for dancing to realize her dreams, nurture her
natural dancing potential. Raju’s insincerity results in the loss of her single support in life. When Raju is released from
prison, he asks Rosie about her future prospects. She replies:

“Perhaps I’ll go back to him.”(220)

Her decision to leave dance and go back to him reveals her unquenched quest for identity. Life never answers women’s
eternal question of their real identity—a self-dependent life of their own or one in the dependence of a husband. Rosie
says:

“…it is far better to end one’s life on his doorstep” (220)

But Raju knows, she can carry on well enough without Marco and him.

“Neither Marco nor I had any place in her life, which had its own sustaining vitality and which she herself had
underestimated all along.”(223)

As a Picarsque Novel

Baisic Info

Genre - Fiction

Setting and Context - Mid-20th-century India; specifically, the fictional town of Malgudi

Narrator and Point of View- Vacillates between first person (Raju) and third person

Tone: direct, unconcerned, ironic, delightful

Mood: easy, restless, amused

Protagonist: Raju | Antagonist: Marco, to an extent

Major Conflict: Will Raju truly embody the role of holy man that he has embraced for himself and manage to do what is
necessary to bring about the rains?

Climax- There are two climaxes in the novel: one when Raju is arrested, and the other at the end of the novel when he
collapses into the river and says the rains are coming.

Foreshadowing: Narayan foreshadows the demise of Raju's relationship and his time in jail throughout the first part of the
novel when Raju is trying to feel out his new role as swami. The reader has the distinct sense that things did not end well
for him with Rosie and that his coming to this secluded space after jail was a result of some dramatic event. Narayan bears
these suppositions out as Raju begins to tell Velan his story.
Allusions

1. Ramayana: an ancient Indian epic poem written in Sanskrit

2. Parvathi: Hindu goddess of beauty, fertility, love, divine power
3. Bhagavad-Gita: a Hindu epic written in Sanskrit
4. Othello and Desdemona: characters in Shakespeare's play "Othello"

Paradox

Raju is a famous guide full of knowledge, intuition, and insight. However, paradoxically he does not know himself
whatsoever and cannot guide himself anywhere near good decisions or enlightenment until the very end of the novel. This
makes the title paradoxical as well.

Parallelism

Rosie's life and Marco's life parallel each other after their split in that both of them achieve fame and financial comfort due
to their respective arts of dancing and archeological study.

Personification

1. "The banana worked a miracle" (33)

2. "Her art and her husband could not find a place in her thoughts at the same time; one drove the other out" (95)
3. "...he picked the most carefully packed evidence between his thumb and forefinger and with a squeeze reduced it to thin
air" (177)