The coming of the railway at Malgudi is symbolic of an industrial and urban society on a predominantly simple agricultural community. The high values of traditional life give way to the modern ways and their attendant evils. This would mean the undoing of old ways of living and the cherishedContinue Reading
R. K. Narayan portrays a South-Indian conservative society in the village, Mangal, in the novel The Guide. Though the contact of Western culture brought many changes in the village, castes and traditional occupations continue to exist. Marriages are still arranged. Astrology is accepted there. Washing the feet before visiting aContinue Reading
It should be mentioned that ‘Marco’ is not the real name of the scholarly husband of Rosie. The research scholar with his Eurocentric culture has been satirized. To Raju, he appears to be a space traveler or an astronaut. Marco is a shortened version of Marco Polo who is anContinue Reading
The title of the R.K Narayan’s novel, The Guide, has a double meaning, and Raju, the protagonist, is in a sense a double character. As a tour guide and lover, he is impulsive, unprincipled, and self-indulgent. After his transformation as a holy man, he is careful, thoughtful, and self-disciplined. ItContinue Reading
Bildungsroman is a special kind of novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of its main character from his or her youth to adulthood. A Bildungsroman relates the growing up or “coming of age” of a sensitive person who goes in search of answers to life’s questions withContinue Reading
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami, better known as R. K. Narayan (1906–2001), was one of India’s most prominent English-language novelists. Celebrated for his simple yet profound storytelling, Narayan captured the essence of middle-class South Indian life through his fictional town of Malgudi—a setting that became iconic in Indian literature. Narayan’s literaryContinue Reading
Rosie in R. K. Narayan’s The Guide is a complex female character – a hybrid of tradition and modernity of Indian Culture. She challenges the Hindu orthodox stereotype of how a woman should be and yet a part of her complex nature is intensely orthodox. In her we can seeContinue Reading
R. K. Narayan’s antihero in The Guide, Raju, explores the complexities of a ‘Reluctant Guru’. His multifaceted career is inevitably controlled by his destiny, as ironically he turns into a true hermit. Through Raju, he tried to highlight the problems and possibilities of spiritual transcendence in a materialist world. OriginallyContinue Reading
