CHAPTER II

THE GUIDE : THE ARTISTIC SELF

R.K. Narayan, his name itself gives a clue to his fictional

universe. ‘R’ in his name stands for the place from which he hails
- Rasipuram in Salem district and ‘K’ for Krishnaswamy, his
father’s name. It is this rootedness to tradition which is writ large
in his fiction. There is tacit accomodation of the clash between the
old and the new in his ‘Malgudi’. The semi-westernised middle
class people are found tied to their tradiitonal culture in times of
crisis. The novels treat Indian philosophy and legends
ambiguously leaving the implication that the traditional wisdom
is still true, although its truth is revealed more through
absurdities than through strict application to modern life.

He writes neither about a villager nor a city man, the

protagonist is the town man who still thinks in older ways but
inhabits the new world. Such people seek a break out of their
encircling mediocrity, in their effort to wriggle out of this status, a
new realisation dawns; happiness lies in acceptance of reality. The
general pattern in his novels is that of order-disorder and the
order regained with the revival of life forces. K.R. Iyengar
interprets his theme in terms of "a flight, and uprooting, a
restoration of normalcy: the miracle of transcendence and the
renewal of... peace...."1 Most of Narayan’s novels are almost a
reformation of the character in response to certain provocations,
 31

which might not be revolutionary but is sufficient to make a bend

in the flow of continuity. This new bend for the protagonist is an
effort to achieve a more explicit sense of self. Many a times this
bend is towards renunciation or asceticism. The renunciation at
its various stages in different novels helps the protagonists to
realise his real self. Every novel of Narayan is a perpetual "quest
for reality."2 He exaggerates sometimes in order to make things
more vivid, without distorting reality.

The notion of self in The Guide3 belongs to the realm of

becoming rather than being. Self is an integral part of the
individual consciousness but it is not the mere sum total of such
consciousness. Prompted by external factors, even the beneficent
unseen forces, ‘self evolves, matures and precipitates itself from
out of the cocoon of its abode in the individual perception of
things. Where such perception is dynamic, the individual
concerned grows and contributes to the chameleon-like reality,
where it is at a statis, the individual is spiritually stagnant. Hence
the difference between Raju and Rosie on one hand and Marco,
Raju’s mother and her brother, on the other hand. In fact, the
protagonists (Marco, Raju and Rosie) growth are portrayed in
terms of yearnings, set against the cold reality of a social existence
represented by apparently invincible characters like his mother,
uncle and his trusted friend Gaffur. The trio marches over reason
 32

and rationality in a defiant spirit of adventure. The spirit of

individualism takes an exaggerated form in them and is in
immediate contrast with the community ethos of which mother,
uncle, Gaffur and Velan are the representatives. Raju’s mother
and uncle belong to the old way of life. Life is not a puzzle for
them as they belong to a ‘knowledgeable sect’. Their search for self
is at statis. Just like her brother Raju’s mother has a
semi-unidimensionality to her self. She need not grope for
undefined things and therefore warns Raju about the ‘snake
woman’. Another minor character, Gaffur makes no attempt to
overstep his limits and life goes smooth for him. He does not
approve of Raju’s rendezvous with Rosie. He foresees danger in his
growing infatuation for a married woman and warns him. He
wants to move with the stream of life and does not believe in
breaking the social code and therefore leaves Raju. Another minor
character, Velan, finally acts as the emissary of the essential
spirit of community.

Marco proves to be a foil to Raju. The transitional process of

Raju from childhood innocence to mature wisdom occurs in the
midst of dreams and aspirations set by Marco’s arrival at Malgudi.
The protagonists’ degeneration accompanies their defiance of
time-honoured social codes. The odd-man Marco in The Guide is a
centrally related character who controls and shapes the other two
 33

major characters, Raju and Rosie. Even after his exit from the
scene, for Rosie he still remains on the stage. Marco, a shortened
version of Marco Polo, the great traveller, is the name given by
Raju as he gave the impression of being a ‘space-traveller’ striking
a contrast to all earth bound human beings. He marries Rosie
through a matrimonial advertisement and prefers to peep into the
degree certificate rather than into his companion’s mind. He does
not marry a girl of equal social status, perhaps he fears that such
a girl won’t remain subservient to him. Marco is mostly realised as
a scholar engrossed in his research. To his obsession with his
project C.D. Narasimhaiah says: "Long preoccupation with wall
and stones has made a stone of himself and the stone is in the
midst of him."4 There is simplification of Marco’s character in the
film based on the novel. To justify Rosie’s extra-marital fling
Marco is shown as an adulterous person watching a filmi ‘mujra’.
It is an injustice to a person of intellectual pursuits like Marco.

Marco is a self righteous archaeologist to the extent of

cynicism. As Raju says, "He was a strange man who did not
always care to explain what he was doing" (p.65). His strangeness
is reflected in his dress, his facial expressions and especially in his
treatment of his wife. He expected his wife to be a caretaker of the
house and lead an independent life as and when the occasion
 34

demanded. Raju ironically says that Marco was an unusually

warm person whose nature flourished in solitude. How happy he
would have been to have married a butler like Joseph.

Marco lacks warmth for his life partner and has scant respect
for her emotions. He does not treat his wife cruelly but
indifferently. His cold behaviour is far more painful for Rosie.
Rosie is very passionate while Marco has little emotion. As the
author puts it, "Anything that interested her seemed to irritate
him" (p.76). His sheer neglect of Rosie encourages Raju, the guide,
to make undue advances.

Marco is a renowned scholar who has no time to attend to the

emotional and physical needs of his wife. He has excessive passion
for intellectual pursuit. He is so engrossed in finding out the
buried treasures of India’s rich cultural past that he forgets
completely his vital human surroundings. He believes that, "If a
man has to have peace of mind, it is best that he forget the fair
sex" (p.71). He has a principle in life, not to be bothered with small
things and doesn’t mind the expense. His main concern is to be
busy with his ‘ruin-collecting activities’ (p.82) and writing about
his adventures and discoveries. His basic interest is in historical
monuments. He is a man wedded to the caves — the darkness
there brings sparkle to his eyes. Marco works in a missionary
 35

spirit. He does not bother about comforts of home and physical

comforts are immaterial to him. Like any other human being he
eats, drinks and takes his wife along to Mempi hills but all in a
detached manner. Marco’s cold relation with his wife and his
abnormal passion for ruins may be attributed to the lack of virility
in him. He always maintains a sedentary and passive look.

His intellect is not directed towards material success.

Whatever he does, his actions are directed towards a greater end
in view. His actions are devoid of worldliness. He fails to
understand his wife in the manner in which she fails to
understand him. He is a man obsessed. He is madly in love with
his work and the motivating force within him leaves little time for
him to appreciate the feelings of any other being -- even those of
his wife. Close observation for hours, deep thinking without
anyone’s interference and then scribbling — these are the goals of
his life. Marco is stuck up in the stones of the cave paintings from
where the movement of the intellect seems impossible. He is
interested neither in art nor in life but his sole goal is to recollect
and reproduce what is already dead. But we do not get a hint of
his intellect directed towards material success or his research
being projected towards mystic pursuits. His passion delights in
the cave paintings. He represents a case of one dimensional
individual: artistic pursuit in his own field is his goal. Marco lives
 36

a one-dimensional life, the life of a scholar, a student of his

specialized discipline and not the throbbing individual that he
quintessential^ is. The novel is a quest for this uni-dimensional
self on the part of Marco, too. He has no notion of self as a
husband and therefore there is no clash with other selves for these
just don’t exist. Rosie is just a means in Marco’s uni-dimensional
quest — a means of facilitating his own quest. Raju thinks

Marco was just unpractical, 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...
Perhaps he married out of a desire to have someone care
for his practical life, but unfortunately his choice was
wrong — this herself was a dreamer if ever there was
one. She would have greatly benefitted by a husband
who could care for her career (p.113).

Marco treats Rosie as a thing whose presence is taken for

granted. He treats her as a puppet having no right to indulge the
luxury of creative urges or aspirations. He does not prove to be a
real live husband to a lively girl like Rosie. "Dead and decaying
things seemed to unloosen his tongue and fire his imagination,
rather than things that lived and moved and swung their limbs"
(p.82). When Rosie tries to help him in his ruin findings, he rejects
it outrightly. The creative classical dancer (i.e. Rosie) holds little
significance for the passive ‘intellectual archaeologist.’ For him
 37

ruins are more lively than a full-blooded human being. Marco, like
any other social being wants to lead a life of peace and happiness,
the only tragedy is that within the bonds of marriage he wishes to
enjoy full liberty according to his own inclinations.

Raju’s excessive interference in Marco’s life makes the latter

angry. He comes to know about Raju-Rosie relationship and his
morality asks him to leave her. Had Marco shown a little bit of
human consideration for his wife, Rosie, the Karma conscious lady
would never have committed folly. Rosie admits her mistakes and
is ready to sacrifice her own interest but inspite of that Marco
leaves her in an awkward situation. There is look of despair on his
face but he has better and more dedicative pursuit than to indulge
in the story of betrayal. His reaction is the reaction of an egoist.
He put his helmet and spectacles and went past Rosie as if she •<
had not existed. He buys only one ticket and goes back, leaving
Rosie alone. Marco is sincere in his work and has his own set of
values. It is reflected when he sends her jewellery box although he
knows that she is not going to live with him. Raju had been
deceitful in his actions but Marco does not fail to acknowledge his
indebtedness to Raju. It is on a complaint from Marco, Raju gets a
warrant for his arrest. This was not deliberately lodged on Marco’s »
part, rather it was a matter of principles for him. He has no foul
intentions to live a parasitic life like Raju or cheat Rosie as Raju
 38

did. Actually it is the basic honesty in his character and Rosie’s

feminity which makes Rosie think of him even after the clash. Any
reader would accept him as an honest but whimsical character. It
is Marco’s passivity which makes Raju and Rosie learn and
relearn in life. Marco does not suffer any confusion as his self is
directed towards caves only. Marco’s quest as a scholar succeeds
but at the cost of the individual in him, of which he is unaware.
His success is a denial of the complexity of life, multifacetedness of
being, the need for balance, harmony in the process of living. Here
the conservative R.K. Narayan is exposing marriage of the
traditional and the modern.

The career of Raju presents an absorbing case of growth,

maturity and evolution towards self-fulfilment and self-realization
in a most complex and unprecedented manner. Raju, as a child
has firm roots in reality and tradition. The novel traces the growth
of a simple fellow into a roguish character who ultimately tries to
turn into a genuine human being. From the very beginning of his
life Raju has been a romantic individualist, filled with a love for
adventure. He is an opportunist who wants to carve out a ‘bright’
career for himself. He always gets involved in other people’s
interests and activities because of his "old, old habit of affording
guidance to others" (p.8). Raju who was stuck up in ancestral
hut-shop all at once becomes a guide with the advent of the
 39

railways: "The railways got into my blood very early in life... I felt
at home on the railway platform" (p.10). The railway brings
dynamism to his life which was lacking in his dull routine at the
hut shop. With a fast movement Raju is at the railway stall acting
as a guide to the incoming tourists. He grows in rapidly changing
town of Malgudi watching the development of the Railway station.
His over-ambitious nature prevents him from taking any interest
in his father’s shop. Raju’s father is just a bundle of platitudes
who lives out his role as a father, a shopkeeper, a husband. He
represents the repressed, dormant self in the father. His father,
who was a stern disciplinarian did not send him to a missionary
school, but tried his best to educate his son. Raju was least
interested in studies and liked to play with his torn books. With
the development of Railways, Raju’s father got a new shop on the
platform where, after his death, Raju started selling school books
and other commodities. Raju has an excessive instinct to appear
distinct and loses the ease and grace of the community as he
moves away from his old life-style. He also began to read books in
his spare time:

"I read stuff that interested me, bored me, baffled me and
dozed off in my seat. I read stuff that pricked up a noble thought,
a philosophy that appealed, I gazed on pictures, on old temples
and ruins and new buildings and battleships and soldiers, and
 40

pretty girls around whom my thoughts lingered, I learnt much

from scrap" (p.49). It is the railways and books that give him
modern notions. Though a guide, Raju is fond of speech-act. He
likes to talk to people and ‘to hear people talk* (p.48). He longs
that everybody should engage him as a guide as if he was the most
important person. It is a kind of ego satisfaction that he seeks. As
a guide, he is like the person who manipulates reality to suit his
own purpose. He is an impresario who hankers after recognition,
money, sexual gratification, not content just to live out the role
assigned to him in routine by life. When the tourists ask him
about a particular tourist spot in the town, he never says to
anyone, "I don’t know" (p.55).

At first it seemed to him "silly to go a hundred miles to see

the source of Sarayu when it had taken the trouble to tumble
down the mountain and come to our door" (p.57). But later on
because of his rising ambition, he finds the job of a tourist guide
more enchanting. Tourists from all parts insist on ‘Railway Raju’s’
services and he does everything for them with a certain
detachment. Raju learns to make distinctions among his patrons:
"I had classified all my patrons. They were very varied, I can tell
you" (p.60). He also learns to manipulate the reality of Malgudi to
suit the convenience of his patrons: Malgudi and its surroundings
were my special show. I could let a men have a peep at it or a
 41

whole panorama.... I could not really decide how much to give or

withhold until I knew how much cash the man carried or if she
carried a cheque-book how good it was" (p.60).

Raju, the narrator is aware of his own degeneration, under

the pressures of an economy conditioned by Time and Money. He
compromises his honesty and sincerity to pursue money and
success. He learns to theorize about fiction and says: "The thing to
do is to start from a corner and go on patch by patch. Never work
from the top to the horizon, but always the other way. He was
evolving a theory" (p.16). But Raju can’t go from patch to patch, he
goes for high jumps — jumps for fame. About his profession as a
tourist guide he thinks, ‘I learned while I taught and earned while
I learned, and the whole thing was most enjoyable."11

Though he finds the job enjoyable, yet he is not committed to

his profession. He has no personal interest in the place which he
shows to his customers. His chief aim as a guide is to become
famous. He gains popularity for his art of story-telling. His
instinct to sound different from others leads him to be incharge of
other’s affairs. He cannot resist the temptation of pleasing his
audience, "It is not because I wanted to utter a falsehood, but only
because I wanted to be pleasant" (p.55). He learns to distort
reality and is suspicious of those "with a scholarly turn of mind"
 42

(p.57). Though Raju learns to falsify reality, he is aware of the

varied responses of his patrons. He learns for example that "no
two persons were interested in the same thing. Tastes as in food
also differ in sight seeing..." (p.62). The guidance of Raju does not
remain merely a matter of showing and telling, it gives a sense of
detachment that comes from maturity and experience: "well it was
not my business to comment. My business stopped with taking
them there" (p.63). But his ego does not let him stop and he
continuously craves for name, fame and money. He wants to leave
his impact everywhere^/l)o you know how well known I am?
People come asking for me from Bombay, Madras, and other
places, hundreds of miles away. They call me Railway Raju and
have told me that even in Lucknow there are persons who are
familiar with my name. It is something to become so famous..."
(p.59). It needs to be noted that how he longs for distinction.

The arrival of the odd couple, Marco and, Rosie, marks a

turning point in Raju’s life. The diviner instinct in him helps him
in his very first encounter to judge that they were an ill-matched
couple. As soon as she sets a foot on the platform Raju came under
a spell of infatuation. He starts ‘waxing poetic’ from the moment
he sees her. He seduces her by praising ‘her art:’ ‘I spoke out my
love and sandwiched it conveniently between my appreciation of
 43

her art:" (p.84). He tells her that his life was a ‘blank’ without her
presence. Now Raju’s guidance is directed towards only one
family. The manner in which he ignores advises of Gaffur and his
mother indicates his single minded approach towards physical
gratification. The movement in Raju is from craving for fame,
distinction to craving for physical gratification. Raju prefers to call
the other tourist (i.e. Rosie’s husband) as Marco Polo. He dressed
like a man about to undertake an expedition. "If a man has to
have peace of mind, it is best that he forget the fair sex," (p.71)
says Marco at one point. Marco’s wall-gazing and ruin collecting
encourages Raju to seduce the love-starved creature. He feigns
interest in the art of dancing and Rosie succumbs to his design.

Raju’s interest in Rosie is so strong that "the only reality in

life and consciousness was Rosie. All his mental powers were now
turned to keep her within reach, and keep her smiling all the
time, neither of which was at all easy. I would willingly have kept
at her side all the time, as a sort of parasite" (p.118). Rosie’s
adultery enrages Marco and he goes away leaving Rosie. She
comes to Raju with a desire to perfect her art of dancing. Though
this was a shock for Rosie but a blessing for Raju. "He neglects his
business as a guide and had almost become a sort of concentrated
guide of a single family" (p.113). Lessening of interest in fame is
 44

the result of his increasing interest in the person of Rosie. He

exploits Rosie’s ‘weakness’ for dancing: "Her eyes lit up with a new

fervour at the mention of dancing. So I set up with her, helping

her to day dream. I found out the clue to her affection, and utilized

it to the utmost" (p.122).

Now he plays the role of a lover and a genuine appreciator of

her dance. Raju, infatuated by Rosie, could hardly ponder over his

mother’s comment on her as ‘a snake woman’ and ‘a bad sort’

(p.69). In disregarding her advice, Raju was in fact disrespecting

the traditionally followed morality symbolized by his mother and

her brother. Raju’s mother and uncle are happy with their

sedentary lives, and transform their hell into heaven with their

rationale. As such, they do not feel like moving out of it. Their ego

is satisfied there. Raju shows his grit and does not enter the dark

hell of tradition as he is sure of his inability to transform it into

heaven. Rosie’s stay in Raju’s house may be interpreted as

rejection of social code on part of Raju. Raju does not pay any

attention to Gaffur’s advice: "Send her away and try to get back to

ordinary, real life. Don’t talk all this art business. It is not for us"

(p.163). But for him: "She is a gold-mine. You know Bharat

 45

Natyam is really the greatest art business today" (p.162). Raju,

though a romantic, is practical minded enough to utilise Rosie and
her art to make money.

There is a rise in the fortunes of Raju with Rosie’s success as

Nalini. Admirers surround him for Rosie’s programme. "They all
liked to be seen talking to me. They felt almost as gratified as if
they spoke to Nalini herself' (p.183). He becomes a celebrity. His
possessive self begins to own Nalini: "She was my property. This
idea was beginning to take root in my mind" (p.189). Gratification
of physical desires leads to the rise of the hunger for money and
social respectability, power which money alone brings. Raju,
recounts his experiences with Rosie: The only reality in my life
and consciousness was Rosie. All my mental powers were now
turned to keep her within my reach’ (p.118). Relationship with
Rosie gives him an insight into his own personality. He is aware,
for example, that every art form has an ‘idiom’ and admits his
inability to ‘keep pace with her idiom’ (p.123). Raju observed
Rosie’s fervour for dancing when she declared that she considered
the audience nothing more than log heads. It is not acceptable to
his ego that she becomes self-reliant. He is not ready to accept his
defeat as he has become accustomed to a romantic existence. In
the latter phase of their relationship he had realised
 46

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

Raju’s ambition as a rich, famous and much sought after

person is fulfilled but he hardly cares for Rosie’s personal feelings.

He becomes so possessive and jealous that he committed a forgery

to keep her within his reach. We can say that he was not

interested in fame rather physical aspect and money matters a lot,

for which he commits a forgery. Rosie suggested a suicidal pact for

both of them and gives her apprehension that Raju might deceive

again (p.221). This type of comment doesn’t perturb Raju which

reflects his non-commitment to Rosie. While Rosie like a typical

traditional woman accepts the situation with calm resignation. "I

felt all along you were not doing right things. This is Karma. What

can we do?" (p.216). Raju does not feel comfortable when he finds

Rosie unaffected at the core and completely self-reliant. He feels

insecure as he realises that he has used Rosie.

In jail, he gives up his old habit of idleness and non-activity,

he works hard and later on his sentence is reduced from seven to

two years for his model behaviour. To be a model prisoner is

totally different than those incidents where he plans for fame. In

fact, Raju’s discovery of his creative self begins in jail. He visits
 47

the various departments as a "sort of benevolent supervisor", and

talks even to hardened criminals "out of their blackest moods.
When there was a respite, I told them stories and philosophies
and what not. They come to refer to me as Vadhyar, that is
teacher" (p.226). He indulges in his old habit of involving himself
in other people’s affairs but not for selfish reasons. His company in
jail helps other prisoners to change, this indicates his presence is
saintly. There are no boundations or compulsions but even then he
works sincerely. Upto now he was engrossed in various
gratifications but the contact with the creative nature i.e. earth is
an affirmation of his being in harmony with life force. His
association with the creative aspect of nature is indicative of the
affirmative changes in him.

I loved every piece of this work, the blue sky and

sunshine and the shade of the house in which I sat and
worked, the feel of cold water; it produced in me a
luxurious sensation. Oh, it seemed to be so good to be
alive and feeling all turned earth filled me with the
greatest delight... I dug the earth and drew water from
the well and tended it (vegetable path) carefully.... I
grew huge brinjals and beans and cabbages when they
appeared on their stalks as tiny buds. I was filled with
excitement (p.227).

The greatest delight, excitement he gets from natural things,

he observed it only after he worked. Hard work, the blue sky,
 48

sunshine, the feel of cold water, the smell of freshly turned earth
filled him with the greatest delight and a feeling to be alive with
nature. To some extent Raju is trying to shed his pretensions. His
being sent to the jail works in the manner of divine intervention.
He realises that all his life has been hankering after material
gains. He was sent to a place where he was to lose everything so
far acquired in the world.

Divine intervention, through chance works at this stage. Just

out of the jail and reluctant to pick the burnt ends of his life at
Malgudi, Raju finds himself mistaken for a holy man at a shrine
by the river near village Mangala. The aura of Raju’s saintly
presence is reflected in Velan’s behaviour. Velan look at Raju
reverentially, wash his feet and face before being seated two steps
below the granite slab on which Raju was sitting cross legged as if
it were a throne (p.5). In return for pretending to detachment he
does not possess, he gets all the food and attention he could
possibly want. As Meenakshi Mukherjee rightly puts it," not once
does he deliberately try to pass himself off for a holy man, but
when he finds that people want to believe in his spiritual power,
he cannot disappoint them."5 He wants to let the villagers know
that he is just an ordinary man out of jail, but cannot because, "it
looked as though he would be hurting the other’s deepest
 49

sentiment if he so much as whispered the word" (p.8). Out of

regard Velan gestures to touch his feet, but he says: "I’ll not
permit anyone to do this. God alone is entitled to such a
prostration. He will destroy us if we attempt to usurp. His rights"
(p.16). He feels that he is attaining the stature of a saint by his
witty remarks. A casual remark by Raju about fate: "Whatever is
written here will happen. How can we ever help it?" helped
Valan’s siter to change her attitude for benevolence in family.
Statements like "and to arrive at a proper understanding, time is
needed." Raju has a feeling of floating in the air. He questioned
himself, "Have I been in a prisogjS*#?^^ some sort of
transmigration?" (p.22). Next day Velafibrm|^ Ipme fruits as gift

and Raju first offered it to the deity, the time he was

aware that he will eat up all the offerings. Comments like: "Let
the offering go to Him, first; and we will eat the remnant. By
giving to God, do you know how it multiplies rather than divides?"
(p.18). ensures constant supply of offerings. Oblivious of his
ultimate commitment he learns to enjoy his new role. He accepts
their gifts gracefully and is contented with his present situation
because he was never trained for hard work.

Sometimes Raju’s conscience does not allow him to cheat the

villagers any more, he tries to run away. One day he hid himself
 50

behind a Hibiscus bush but he hears people saying that he is ‘a big

man’ and ‘a great soul’ who has ‘renounced the world’ (p.32).
Seeing their blind faith in him he stayed on. He now gets fully
involved in the lives of the villagers. He starts teaching the village
boys. "He was hypnotised by his own voice; No one was more
impressed with the grandeur of the whole thing than Raju
himself1 (p.47). He feels that "his spiritual status would be
enhanced if he grew a beard and long hair to fall on his nape. A
clean shaven close-haired saint was an anomaly" (p.53). There is
an ironic distance in what Raju seems like and what he is. Raju
himself is aware of the mysterious impact his words have on his
audience. It indicates he is still an impressario but the mask will
eventually become the face. Raju seeks sainthood in the ability to
make mystifying statements and merely growing a beard.

The role of sanyasi not only provides Raju with an adequate

living but also fills him with self love. He is hypnotised by his own
voice, and imagines himself growing in stature. The signs are
unmistakeable that something hidden is guiding his destiny. Such
is the compulsion of his make-up that he attempts to live quite
close to it, an attempt which takes a serious dimension
afterwards. He adjusts to the enforced sainthood and things go
smoothly till famine conditions strike the area and food and water
 51

become scarce. Velan persuades the swami to have a look at the

buffalo which has died obviously of starvation. Here he lies again
and attributes the death to an insect bite. People start fighting,
prices shoot up, and human relationship lose their warmth. People
become selfish. "They quarrelled at the water-hole for priorities,
and there was fear, desperation, and lamentation in their voices"
(p.93). He has got bewitched by his own make-up, which blinds
him to the limitations of the man hiding inside the great mask of a
saint.

Villagers sought Swami’s help for they thought that only this
soul could lessen their grief and sorrow. They make a desperate
search for some comforting faith. Raju hears complaints about
quarrels for the satisfaction of basic needs, though his needs of
food and shelter are being provided to him. At such a juncture he
longs for an escape from the confronting situation. So long as
there was smooth sailing, Raju took a vital interest in the village
life. Now when there is tension and sorrow he wants to leave them
alone in distress. Instead of establishing peace between the
feuding parties he thinks that the best thing for the villagers
"would be to blow each other’s brains out. That’d keep them from
bothering too much about the drought" (p.97). When things begin
to slip out of his grip Raju asks Velan’s brother to tell the villagers
 52

that he doesn’t want them to fight. He won’t eat unless they are
good. But the message got distorted: "The Swami, the swami does
not want food any more... because... it doesn’t rain" (p.101). This
thoughtless remark conforms to the image that he has been
steadily building for himself. Sacrifices are demanded of him in
the very manner in which they were demanded from others in the
stories that he had narrated to the villagers. Raju could hardly
comprehend that Velan’s idiot brother would force upon his acting
an unforeseen closure. He is now more worried about physical
survival than tackling their social problems. He had said, "When
the time comes, everything will be all right. Even the man who
would bring you the rain will appear, all of a sudden" (p.109). He
recollects his mother’s words: "If there is one good man anywhere,
the rains would descend for his sake and benefit the whole world"
(p.110). But Raju is a criminal, who is fond of adventures. This is a
new adventure for him. Velan has given a clear account of what
saviour was expected to do. He is the emissary of the essential
spirit of community. Raju is in deep trouble and feels that he could
not get out of that position of a saint.

"He now saw the enormity of his own creation. He had

created a giant with his punny self (p.109). He thinks over all
means of escape but finds no alternative except to come out with
 53

his confession before Velan: "... it was the only way in which he

could hope to escape the ordeal" (p.112). Raju says: Tm prepared

to fast for the sake of your people and do anything if I can help

this country but it is to be done by a saint. I am no saint" (p.112).

He unfolded his story to escape fasting but this confession raised

him high in esteem in Velan’s mind as only a pure soul could

admit its frailties. The confession proves to be Raju’s chance of

looking back at his life, examining it for what it really has been, a

futile concentricity of egotism and then eventually facing the truth

of his situation. Raju fails to share his agony with Velan as he has

intuitively felt the benediction. Raju has begun to free himself of

pretensions. The superficialities of the modern civilisation are

brought close to a serious quest for salvation. In the process of

confession to Velan Raju grows in self awareness. He realises that

fasting here means an act of blind faith in his swamihood. He is

conscious of his speech and what impact it has on villagers. Even

in forced penance he is not able to give up his cravings for food

and looks on the crowd in the manner he looked on Rosie’s dancing

feats meant to feed his ego. His adventure becomes a spiritual

adventure when for the first time he feels, "If by avoiding food I

should help trees bloom and the grass grow, why not do it
thoroughly?" (pp.237-38). This resolution gave him a peculiar
 54

strength. When the mind is one pointed, it ceases to fluctuate. The

senses cease to act. This is the highest control of the senses. Thus
the highest sense control means resolution of the senses into the
tranquility of the mind, and it flows from within. From the
moment when he feels forced to renounce food to the moment he
decides to kill thoughts of hunger, reflects his continuous fight
against ego. Raju, the fake swami is gone deep in sainthood. The
unquestioning and collective faith of the people of Mangala, make
him worthy of their devotion and drives him until he identifies
himself as an instrument of their will. The religious conversion in
Raju comes through his communion with the innocent villagers.
Earlier he concealed facts about Marco and his book from Rosie
and this act of his undid him. He conceals his true identity from
the villagers, successfully presents himself as the great man and
this also undoes him. Revelation of his true identity raises the
curtain in his spiritual life. His real self bows to the falsehood he
professed because the falsehood carried the weight of the belief of
innocent sincerity. Raju goes on with fast even against medical
warnings. As the narrator tells us, Raju "felt moved by their
gratitude" (p.lll). The power the villagers’ unselfconscious life
style exerts on Raju is best seen in the interview he grants to an
American T.V. man. In the interview he utters many falsities and
 55

superstitious cliches - It will certainly rain, fasting can solve

many international problems, he has been fasting for eleven days
and he has always been a saint -- It appears confusing at first, but
it is not so, as Raju is now acting not according to his knowledge
he is acting the way the villagers would like him to do. He is not
voicing his feelings; he has none now; he is simply the spokesman
of the community.

Though he is aware that there is no escape for him now, "On

the deeply unconscious level, however, he is drifting imperceptibly
into a state where his personal ego is gradually diminishing under
the impact of a strong and powerful onslaught of the collective
psychic forces."6 For Narayan, the very conditions of human
growth are individual discrepancy and communal collaboration.
Now Raju has to strive in his daily living to know the self in
relation to other people and the world. To know the self is enforced
through the pressure of events working on him, and the climax of
the action sees the yielding up of whatever has long been
considered important and of absorbing interest. His mind, body
and soul work in unison for the srvice of mankind. Physical,
mental and spiritual purity is essential for their harmonious
working and therefore his thinking, imagination and psyche plays
to the whims of innocent villagers. Raju forgets his vulgar wants
 56

and ignoble appetites. It is a state of infinite bliss where his self

expands, he now identifies himself with any known or unknown
situation conveniently. The doer in Raju completely disappears
and every action is now proceeding spontaneously, naturally
without any planning, without any concept of possession or
acquisition. The seeking of something stops, the process of
becoming stops and the process of floating begins; Raju living in
the world simultaneously lives out of the world (doesn’t mean
death) With this orientation towards activity, humility flows out of
Raju for the benefit of mankind. Every unplanned action is now
directed towards the betterment of society - life is meant for
others; which is the first step to realisation of one’s real self. He is
beginning to recoil from his disorderly world. The ingrained Hindu
belief of priority of supiritural over material, highlights Raju’s
efforts to clutch to his roots i.e. order in life. And it is something of
immense importance becoming aware of one’s own
unconsciousness. This is the beginning of the dawn. The
unauthentic becomes the authentic, fake becomes the genuine.
The gap between appearance and reality dwindles. "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; for the first time he was doing a thing in which he was not
 57

personally interested" (p.238). It is his victory over egotistical self.

It is the realization of the stage of the selfless self where he
assumes the collective self of the community. The lack of food
causes weakness yet spiritually he is enthusiastic and it gives him
strength, a peculiar floating feeling. As he is engrossed in the act
of attaining spiritual strength, the material and worldly pleasures
seem secondary to him. Raju, though in the midst of village
carnival, is ironically, aloof from all these. It is the utter loneliness
of a man who is on the verge of self-realisation. This is the
loneliness of all greatmen, who choose to be different, yet cast
their lot for the sake of humanity. As Williams Walsh puts it,

For Narayan, then the very conditions of human growth

are individual discrepancy and communal collaboration.
It is this double insight which the career of Raju
embodies and justifies.7

Detachment follows after engagement with living. Only by

becoming involved in ‘chaos of human relationships and activities’
has Raju become detached. He is achieving success in his fight
against ego. K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar aptly says,

He is now — at last — dead to his old self, he is like one

reborn. Hasn’t the faith of the people made a new man
of him? Isn’t he redeemed, indeed? Some are born
saints, some achieve sanctity, and some have sanctity
thrust upon them. Perhaps, Raju is one of these last!8
 58

On the last day of his fast he feels weak and is supported by

two people to stand in the river water, he has created a belief in
his mind that his sacrifice would be fruitful. According to Hindu
tradition, sacrifice gives one freedom and salvation from this
material world, sacrifice lifts the ordinary and the average human
being into the domain of the extraordinary. On the last day of his
fast Raju finds it difficult to hold on his feet and so They held him
as if he were a baby’ (p.247). This physical situation symbolises
his amalgamation with childhood. Beneath this fact of the
physical condition of Raju, the fact of Raju’s new birth into
spirituality is subtly hinted at by the use of the cliches like the
‘morning sun’ was out now, a ‘great shaft of light’ illuminated the
surrounding and they held him as if he were ‘a baby’. The
metaphysical quality of the sentences suggest a freedom for Raju
from his deception. All his life, he projected images befitting
requirement of the various situations. The joys and sorrows were
of the projected image. When he realises this in the last phase of
his life, he strives to regain his real self.

A materialistic careerist like Raju unconsciously became a

part of a larger pattern and accepted their verdict. He discovers
the self by passing through an illusion that he is serving society at
large. Meenakshi Mukherjee comments: "towards the end Raju
loses the feelings of an actor performing an act, the act becomes
 59

the reality, the mask becomes the man."9 Near the end Narayan
almost stops using the name Raju for him; and shifts to using the
‘sage’ or the ‘swami’ which reflects merging of the three. What
remains is a Swami on spiritual pilgrimage. Here R.K. Narayan
draws an ironic gap between Raju, the narrator and the
omniscient narrator which is an acceptance of Raju as a saint. In
the end self (swami) separated from the non-self (narrator) and
discovered itself.

Rosie is a Master’s degree holder with a modern look on the

world. The novel deals with the tribulations and torments in the
life of Rosie who belonged to a dancers’ family and tried to work
herself out of the tradition. She has broken off from a long line of
Devadasi — her mother, and her grandmother had been temple
dancers. Devadasi degenerated into public women and were not
considered respectable. To raise Rosie above her class, her mother
had her educated upto the master’s degree in Economics. Having
failed to erase the social stigma Rosie believes, "We are not
considered respectable; we are not considered civilised" (p.84).
Rosie’s and her mother’s quest is for social respectability. They
want to escape the stigma of Devdasi. A different life was planned
for her by her mother. Marco’s willingness to marry her was
welcomed by her people. Her marriage was planned after
 60

discussion -- what was preferable for her, marriage or dance.

Rosie’s mother married her off to a ‘respectable and civilised
person.’

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 (p.85).

Now she was a socially accepted and respected married

woman whose husband had wealth and status. Marco offered her
a luxurious life: "He had a house outside Madras, he was living in
it all alone" and as Raju puts there was no mother-in-law. But
Rosie would "have preferred any kind of mother-in-law if it had
meant one real live husband" (p.85). "Dead and decaying things
seemed to unloosen his tongue and fire his imagination, rather
than things that lived and moved and swung their limbs" (p.82).
Rosie marries Marco out of a desire and necessity for social
respectability but there is no love right from the beginning. For
Marco marriage was for objective reasons, the question for love
does not arise. He does not feel an urge to relate to his wife on any
other plane except functional. There is a point in Raju’s fanciful
thought that Marco would have been a happy man had he Joseph
the caretaker for his wife (p. 127). He marries Rosie on the basis of
 61

a newspaper advertisement and his criteria for selection are her

looks and M.A. Economics, which he hopes would be beneficial in
the management of his house. He needs a caretaker and not a
wife. He has no time or inclination for marital life. Rosie found
herself an outsider, a stranger in Marco’s world. Rosie believed
that her education and marriage would help her to get out of the
social trap (i.e. Devadasi system) but was unaware of the trap
which was in the form of marriage to a person for whom Rosie’s
independent entity or individuality did not count.

Rosie’s own admission about her married life gives a clear

idea about their conflicts. "When we are alone and start talking,
we argue and quarrel over everything. We don’t agree on most
matters, and then he leaves me alone and comes back and we are
all right, that’s all" (p.83).

Marriage with Marco creates two kinds of conflict for her.

Conflict between husband and wife because of temperamental
incompatibility and conflict between the housewife and the
devoted artist in her. Her urge for passion and unconscious
bondage to her heritage pull against her role to be a wife. Her
attempts to contain all her needs within marriage fail miserably.
Marco fails to communicate with her at any level and inflicts an
unbearable loneliness on her. He doesn’t give any weightage to her
 62

mind, thoughts or intelligence. When she offers to help him in

‘musical notations, he has discovered, he tells her, "I doubt if you
can. It’s more difficult than you imagine" (p.112). Marco refused to
treat her as his equal although expected matrimonial fidelity.
Marco tells Raju, "If a man has to have peace of mind, it is best
that he forget the fair sex" (p.71). Not only emotionally bankrupt
as far as marriage was concerned, he refused her simple pleasures
of life. "She liked to loaf in the market, eat in a crowded hotel,
wander about, see a cinema - these common pleasures seemed to
have been beyond her reach" (p.88). Attainment of social self
provokes her to attain recognition as a human being, as a married
person. Individual freedom simmers into revolt if too much *>
restricted by social norms. In Rosie’s case marriage was a bondage
and not a bond as it was a marriage of convenience for both the
partners. Her awareness of the futility and frustration of trying to
be a ‘life partner’ and her consequent defeat forces her to separate
her world into - married and private, and she is content to allow
herself the freedom in latter. However much she might dislike
certain goings on in the married life, she wants to remain an
ordinary housewife and fill the emotional void by her art of
dancing (to be practised only at home).

Rosie’s obsession with dance and Marco’s indifference

towards her art is one of the underlying factors of marital
 63

incompatibility. Rosie is a woman in search of full-blooded life.

Although divested of earlier status - the instinct survives in her.
Married in high society but it was a formal change - her essence
lingered on. She unconsciously longs for her dance. She wanted to
be a dancer in pursuit of art and not in pursuit of money. Marco’s
dry life repels her. Marco is content to see the sedentary rocks and
the living thing failed to hold his attention. She has too much
movement in her blood, the dance element is imprinted in her
genes. In contrast Marco has extracted a promise from her that
she will not even mention dance as he dismisses it contempously
as "street acrobatics" (p.147). Marco refuses to recognise her as an
individual. Marco’s excessive preoccupation with his own studies
forced Rosie to lock herself in a room. Marco didn’t try to bring her
along rather it is ironical that he sends Raju to bring her out of
the locked room. This itself reflects Marco as a highly
inconsiderate husband. He has a disregard for the quest for self in
her. Rosie has a zest for life and he doesn’t prove to be a "real live
husband" "Dead and decaying things seemed to unloosen his
tongue and fire his imagination, rather than things that lived,
moved and swung their limbs" (p.82). She has a creative urge and
interest in natural surroundings. On the ‘Peak House’ "she ran
like a child from plant to plant with cries of joy, while the man
looked on with no emotion. Anything that interested her seemed
 64

to irritate him" (p.76). Rosie is fed up with his wall gazing and
wants "anything except cold, old stone walls" (p.83). On the other
hand Raju understands and appreciates this side of her
personality. She is drawn to Raju and the hotel room is
transferred into a nuptial room. Interest in Raju is not out of
adulterous proclivity but out of hunger for individual fulfilment as
a dancer. Raju ‘told her at the first opportunity what a great
dancer she was and how she fostered our cultural traditions and it
pleased her’ (p.9). Raju’s "sympathies were all for the girl - she
was so lovely and elegant" (p.58). Their quarrels over trifles make
Raju think that "this man would go on wall-gazing all his life and
leave her to languish in the hotel room" (p.63). Rosie’s contact
with Raju transforms her into a different sort of person. Her life
takes an altogether new turn. The conflict between the housewife
and the devoted artist in her is resolved by Raju when he took her
for cobra dance. Cobra’s movements awakened her suppressed life.
"She watched it swaying with the raptest attention. She stretched
out her arm slightly and swayed it in imitation of the movement:
she swayed her whole body to the rhythm for just a second" (p.68).
She wants to absorb the colour and movement of the whole world.
Raju’s observation of her swaying movement were sufficient to tell
him that she was the greatest dancer of the century. In fact he
praises the dancer in her which brings them close to each other.
 65

To retain her affection he promises to give anything to see her

dance daily. In contrast, Marco asks for a price for respectability
of married life: sacrificing dance forever. Inspite of such a stake
Rosie wants to be a dancer in pursuit of art. She wants to dance
professionally. She inherited dance as a tradition and not as a
means to earn money. Even when Raju is not well acquainted with
Rosie he understands her mind well: "Her art and her husband
could not find a place in her thoughts at the same time; one drove
the other out" (p.122). Raju encourages her to consider dance as a
career and Rosie becomes optimistic about her husband’s consent.

Rosie finds it difficult to adhere to the rules and regulations

imposed by society (viz. married life) as she has to find her
identity as an individual in society. Education makes her aware of
self as a human being. Rosie by trying to become a great artist is
trying to find a meaningful existence. She attempts to fulfil her
inner urge to perfect dancing. Rosie’s individual aspirations are
not at the cost of her domestic duties.

When Rosie comes to live with Raju her position becomes

more ambiguous. She feels secure with him and practises dance
regularly. Raju exploits Rosie’s weakness for dance. "Her eyes lit
up with her, helping her to day dream. I found out the clue to her
affection and utilised it to the utmost" (p.122). Raju, the tourist
 66

guide tries to guide Rosie as "the only reality in life and

consciousness was Rosie. All his mental powers were now turned
to keep her within reach, and keep her smiling all the time,
neither of which was at all easy" (p.118). After becoming intimate
with Raju her attitude towards her husband becomes confused. In
her subconscious she is obliged to her husband for emancipating
her from the class of dancers. Troubled and confused in her
conscience she says:

After all he is my husband I have to respect him. I

cannot leave him there.... Is this right what I am doing?
After all, he has been good to me, given me comfort and
freedom. What husband in this world would let his wife
go and live in a hotel room by herself, a hundred miles
away... As a good man, he may not mind, but is it not a
wife’s duty to guard and help her husband? (p. 120).

Narayan gives us a sympathetic peep into the mind of a

woman torn between the traditional and the modern. C.D.
Narasimhaiah remarks in this context: "... especially in the way he
takes care to preserve Rosie from inner taint Narayan seems to be
affirming what has been hailed in the Indian tradition as the
Feminine Principle in life."10 Rosie is an educated and ambitious
wife but basically an Indian devoted wife in her ideas. Her love for
dance makes her restless and unhappy. When Marco comes to
know about Rosie’s liaison with Raju, he rejects her outrightly:
Rosie realises that her place is not with Raju and this is not the
 67

way for her (as a wife) and decides to give up her passion forever.
The conventional woman in her raises her head. She decides to
renounce dancing and tries to find an easy solution to her
dilemma i.e. ask forgiveness from Marco and keep her as his wife.
She says, "I have come to apologize sincerely. I will do whatever
you ask me to do. I committed a blunder" (p.150). She follows him
day after day but her efforts proved futile. "I could never have
imagined that one human being could ignore the presence of
another human being so completely. I followed him like a shadow,
leaving aside all my own pride and self-respect" (p.151). Perhaps
shock is too great for Marco and he makes the position clear; "you
are not my wife" (p. 151).

In trying to come back to the husband she scorned, she

realises that she is coming to terms with reality. She stifles hard
to stay at Marco’s house but her parental guidance has paved the
way for this eventuality. In the first place her birth and secondly
her education hinders her adjustment as a traditional wife while
any other uneducated person would have stayed with Marco. But
she is aware of her individual entity. Enraged beyond limits and
unable to tolerate his cocooned life (as he never allowed Rosie to
peep out of it). Rosie went to Raju’s place when left alone on the
platform. Rosie is not guilty of arrogance which is visible in
Marco. Marco can’t accept the fact that any woman can be
 68

interested in any study and for Rosie dance is not a source of

money but an evolution of art. Rosie is a glamorous, romantic
existence for Raju. He consoles and offers shelter to her, "You are
in the right place. Forget all your past. We will teach that cad a
lesson by and by... First I’ll make the world recognize you as the
greatest artist of the age" (p.153). The shelter offered to Rosie is a
means to have a hold on her. Rosie feels recognised as a human
being and hopes to be recognised as an artist as he appreciates her
talent. Rosie is no women libber. She is only one who asks for
adequate elbow room to be herself and not to be pushed around as
a mere possession. At Raju’s place she practises dance regularly
and assists Raju’s mother in household chores. Raju’s mother is
sympathetic towards her but objects to her stay in the house as
she was a ‘dancing girl’ and ‘other man’s wife’ (p.153). "You know,
living with a husband is no joke, as these modern girls imagine.
No husband worth the name was ever conquered by powder and
lipstick alone" (p.154).

Raju’s uncle makes the ambiguous situation of Rosie clear to

her: "Are you of our family? Are you of our caste?... After all, you
are a dancing girl. We do not admit them in our families" (p.169).
The traditional home clashes with the modernity of the
westernized (i.e. Rosie and Raju) ideas. The two extremes refuse
to resolve. Raju’s mother and her brother are people who have
 69

allowed the conventional slots allotted to them by society to stifle

their own urge. Finding it difficult to keep Raju bound to her
tradition, his mother leaves with her brother. Here the writer
points to a change in Rosie’s attitude: "her passion for physical
love was falling into place and had ceased to be a primary
obsession with her" (p.164). She works hard to achieve perfection
as a dancer. There is a conflict of being and becoming. She
emerges as a professional dancer and adopts a new name ‘Nalini’.
For Rosie, what choice could be there if one is trapped between
two devils? Choose the one whom you find a little humane at that
moment. Rosie didn’t leave her husband but was left by her
husband. Rosie is engaged in the pursuit of some social
recognition. But gradually she finds herself drawn into a marriage
which involves self-denial. Failure of the wife in her increases her
hunger for individual fulfilment. After realizing the futility of this
illusory (i.e. married) life and gaining fresh insights into her
husband’s nature, she has to stay where she is left.

Raju and Rosie are living as ‘a married couple to all

appearances.’ Rosie’s career brightens and she becomes the most
sought after theatrical celebrity. Raju becomes the most successful
manager whose role is pocketing the most important thing, the
cheque. Rosie’s devotion to dance becomes so total that it
separates her from Raju. She refuses to be a money-minting
 70

machine for Raju. She lets Raju believe in his own inventions but
herself remains unaffected at the core. As A.N. Kaul observes, "...
the moments of their greatest public successes are also the
moments of their greatest isolation."11 Committed totally to her art
she emerges as an artist who refuses to be manipulated by her
audience. She laments: "Do you know the bulls yoked to an
oil-crusher - they keep going round and round and round, in a
circle, without a beginning or an end?" (p.202). She likes to meet
musicians, actors and other artists rather than the eminent men
of society. She considers that "they have the blessing of Goddess
Saraswati on them, they are good people. I like to talk to them"
(p.190). She didn’t know snobbery. Her dance career didn’t give
happiness which she longed for, as it was commercialised by Raju.
Raju tries to monopolize her and believes "nobody had anything to
do with her... She was my property. This idea was beginning to
take root in my mind" (p.189). "I liked to keep her in a citadel"
Rosie realises what her ambition has led her to. She wails, "I feel
like one of those parrots in a cage taken around village fairs, or a
performing monkey, as he used to say —" (p.203). Rosie is
fluttering to fly out of Raju’s cage. She knows that she is being
exploited. Raju’s disregard for Rosie, just like Marco makes her
think about Marco.
 71

After some time the sexual passion satiated and she begins to
show interest in her husband. She says: "After all, he is my
husband, I have to respect him..." She understands her relation
with Raju from being a lover to a money-pocketing materialistic
man. She is fed up with the commercialisation of her art and
pleasure of the flesh. We find that, Rosie, at various stages
narrates her story to Raju. This helps her clarify to the self what
it is and what it seeks. She realizes that acquiring name, fame
and wealth as an artist is not an end in itself. The self has not
only aspirations but duties as well. It is in the process of
actualizing her aspirations as an artist that she discovers her
obligations and duties. She becomes nostalgic of her husband only
when Raju is equally unconcerned of her real self. The
conventional woman in her says about Marco: "anything
happening to him is bound to interest me. I’m pleased he has
made a name now..." (p.201). She says all this despite the fact that
Marco drove her away from his life.

The influence of success and money makes Raju forget

Marco’s existence in this world. He hides Marco’s book from her
view and is disillusioned to see review of the book in ‘The
Illustrated Weekly of India.’ Another shock for him is Marco’s cut
out photograph on Rosie’s dressing table. The indifference of Raju
 72

revived the relationship between Marco and Rosie. She seeks an

explanation from Raju for hiding the book. Although committed
adultery, she still thinks of Marco as a husband. The objective
realisation on the part of Rosie makes her think that Marco was
after all her husband and a better human being than Raju. Raju
fears reconciliation of husband and wife. When he receives a letter
from Marco, he forges Rosie’s signature and despatches the
document to Marco. Rosie feels a sense of shame, his betrayal of
faith induces her to think of Marco. She makes it ample clear that
she is capabale of living an independent life. She is in full control
of her life and affairs just like Daisy in The Painter of Signs. Her
views on togetherness are most unconventional. Daisy is solely
devoted to her job and agrees only to her own ideas of marriage: "I
have planned for myself a different kind of life... If you want to
marry me, you must leave me to my own plans even when I am a
wife."12 For the sake of independence she forges the pleasures and
security of married life. Similarly Rosie rejects both the supports
(Marco and Raju) and becomes her own master. Raju says, "She
would never stop dancing. She would not be able to stop. She
would go from strength to strength. I know, looking at the way she
was going about her business, that she would manage - whether I
was inside the bars or outside; whether her husband approved of
 73

it or not. Neither Marco nor I had any place in her life, which had
its own sustaining vitality and which she herself had
underestimated all along" (pp.222-223). She has reached a point
where social sanction is meaningless to her. Self has evolved. She
is able to identify herself with her ‘idiom’. Her idiom being based
on sound, movement and rhythm, her unconscious identification
had initiated when she expressed her desire to see the snake
dance. Rosie has now the resources (i.e. her experiences) to
sustain her life.

Rosie had to give up the respectability of a married woman,

which was sought by her people, to remain an artist. She wanted
to be protected by Marco but along with it realize her dream as a
dancer. She was forced out of family fold and it was not her own
choice. Raju’s support helped her to become a famous dancer. Once
launched on her career as a dancer she becomes aware of herself
and her passion becomes a devotion for her. Now she could go it
all alone without the support of a husband or a lover.
 74

NOTES & REFERENCES

1. K.R. Srinivas Iyengar, Indian Writing in English (New Delhi:

Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1973), p.378.

2. Trilling, Lionel, The Liberal Imagination (New York:

Doubleday, 1953), p.8.

3. R.K. Narayan. The Guide (1958; rpt. Mysore: Indian Thought

Publications, 1978). Subsequent references are to the same
edition, and the page numbers in all such cases have been
given in parentheses immediately following the quotation.

4. C.D. Narasimhaiah, "R.K. Narayan’s The Guide", Aspects of

Indian Writing in English, ed. M.K. Naik (Delhi: Macmillan,
1979), p.186.

5. Meenakshi Mukherjee, The Twice Born Fiction: Themes and

Techniques of the Indian Novel in English (New Delhi:
Arnold Heinemann Publishers India Pvt. Ltd., 1971), p.124.

6. Atma Ram, ed. Perspectives on R.K. Narayan (Ghaziabad:

Vimal Prakashan, 1981), p.148.

7. William Walsh, Commonwealth Literature (London: Oxford

University Press, 1973), p.17.
 75

8. K.R. Srinivas Iyengar, p.382.

9. Meenakshi Mukherjee, p.124.

10. C.D. Narasimhian, The Swan and the Eagle (Simla: Indian
Institute of Advanced Studies, 1969), p.153.

11. A.N. Kaul, "R.K. Narayan and East-West Theme"

Considerations, ed. Meenakshi Mukherjee (New Delhi: Allied
Publishers Pvt. Ltd.), p.63.

12. R.K. Narayan, The Painter of Signs (Mysore: Indian Thought

Publications, 1977), p.158.