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CHAPTER: V
Conclusion
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Narayan’s short stories are based on some particular themes
which persist and which are liked. But only for the sake of
Anatya’s they have to be separated. When we talk about the
frequent themes of his short stories the family, personal
relationships and renunciation, animals theme, children theme
come first and foremost. These are to be seen honestly in all his
stories, whether they belong to early middle or later phase. As a
great writer, Narayan is very much interested in human beings and
relationship of at inside as well as outside world. A Hariprasanna
in The World of Malgudi A Study of R.K. Narayan’s Novels writes:
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...his consideration in relation to the everyday lives and
experiences of men and women, and never in abstract. His
imaginary town Malgudi which is the locate for all his novels, and
the family provide him manageable and convenient context to the
study different types of people, human relationships and human
behaviour. Just as he limits himself by and large to the little world
of Malgudi and its surroundings for the locate of his fiction, he
also intentionally limits himself to the middle- class of society
which he knows first-hand and intimately (194).
It is the special gift of Narayan that he shows rich, variety
and engaging event in the simple lives of his characters. And he is
sound enough to show his fictional characters logically, even when
considerable imaginary products gets mixed with the narrative.
Narayan’s characters, be they children, young and old, wacky or
crazy, appeal us as human beings. Hence their exists universal
appeal in his fiction.
Malgudi with all the authentic and geographical details and
the behavioural detail of its people presents an intense impression
of its society. The atmosphere of the town. Malgudi is convinced
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with elusive and delicate strokes. Malgudi's appearance is made in
detail not only by giving mere geographical details but also by the
fats of the continuous awareness of its external presence. In The
World of Malgudi A study of R.K. Narayan’s Novels A.
Hariprasanna writes:
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Here the legend of Sri Rama and how the river Sarayu is formed.
The Sarayu river the Lawley Statue. The grandmother, all these
and others convey a sense of the external reality of Malgudi. And
what is more the world of Malgudi is based on certain social values
which are more traditional than modern (195).
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In many of his stories, a conflict is presented between old values
and sometime by abolition of old values. Therefore, we find the
town slowly awakening to modernity. But, however, the
permanence of the traditional values becomes obvious at the end.
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Stories have been a part and parcel of the human being lives
for thousands of years. Though short stories are, the recent
development in Indian English literature yet informally telling
stories and listening to them is must be as old as language itself.
The short stories are a helpful option for novel for it offers on a
smaller scale and in a brief manner, the same pleasures that the
novel does. Though short story is the recent development, yet in
the present reveries of life it is making its place very rapidly.
Many, Indian English writers are trying their hand on it. R.K.
Narayan is the foremost Indian English writer of today. The short
stories of Narayan are famous for various reasons. Dr. Disha
Sharma in Short Stories of R.K. Narayan Themes and Techniques
says:
The short stories of Narayan are remarkable more of their
workmanship and finish than for the quality of the reading of life
they offer, and one of the chief reasons for this is the limited role
played by irony in them, though a persistent ironic note is, by and
large, their distinguishing feature. These stories belong to the
native Indian soil and are redolent of its culture. They mainly
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depict the south Indian life and clearly express his view of the
world and those who live in it (250).
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Malgudi Days is the first collection of the short stories of R.
K. Narayan. It was published in 1942. There are eight stories in this
collection. These are “Naga”, “Selvi”, “Second Opinion”, “Cat
Within”, “The Edge”, “God and the Cobbler”, “Hungry Child” and
“Emden”, “Naga” presents the journey of a small boy whose
father, a snake charmer, leaves him for the sake of his illegal
relationship with a woman. Nothing is left for the boy except for an
old snake. This story shows forcefully the pathos in the life of the
little boy. The boy tries a lot that the snake should leave him as he
has nothing to feed him but he comes back to him again and again.
The cruel and selfish behaviour of the father is contrasted with the
human relationship between the boy and the snake. This contrast is
presented to enhance the beauty of the story. The second story
“Selvi” is about a well known singer Selvi. Her assistant cum
husband interferes in her. His character is shown as a selfish and a
self-centered man. For him money is all in all. This short story
attracts our attention towards Narayan’s award winning novel The
Guide. Mohan of Selvi is the replica of Raju, the central character
of The Guide. Mohan is behind the success of Selvi as a singer,
Raju was behind making Rosie a famous dancer. Mohan tries to
control the life of Selvi in the same way as Raju did. “Second
opinion” deals with the character of Sambu who refuses to marry
his mother’s cousin’s daughter. But when he comes to know from
his family doctor Kishan that his mother would not live long he
agrees to marry. He decides to take second opinion on his mother’s
condition from doctor Natwar, a cardiologist and neurosurgeon.
Sambu takes a sigh of great relief when doctor Natwar tells him
that there is nothing wrong with his mother. Taking into account all
this he again refuses to marry, as he is afraid of losing his freedom.
In this story, Sambu’s self centered individualism gets proper
focus.
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“Cat Within” presents the story of superstitious and false
belief in spirit. It is typical example of Malgudi village mentality
where people have blind belief in ghosts and witches. This story is
one of the finest examples of Narayan's typical humour. The
presentation of the exorcist in the story attaches gives an
illustration of the village astrologers whose predictions are not
based on their science of astrology but on hearsay only. “The
Edge” is famous for its particular feature of India’s socio-political
situations at a particular time. This is not very common in
Narayan’s stories. It seems that the story was obviously written
during the period of emergency in the mid 1970. At that time
Indian government had started the family planning campaign at its
full swing. That time family planning target used to be given to the
convened people. They adopted both fair and foul means to achieve
their desired target. In other words, by hook or by crook they had
to achieve their target. Lower section people are specially attracted
by the promise of money and gift to undergo family planning
operation. All these things are depicted in the story. Ranga is the
central character of the story. Though he has only one daughter yet
the officer has written four children in the column of children. But
after realising the whole truth, he runs away from the camp. “God
and Cobbler” is the story of a cobbler and a hippy. A Hippy from
America is a very common sight on Indian roads. Hippies are
young men and wanders who leave their country and their home in
search of spiritual satisfaction and peace. One such hippy is
presented in the story. He goes to the cobbler but the cobbler sees
the image of Lord Shiva in him. About this story Dr. Disha Sharma
writes:
R.K. Narayan also takes up the clue from the earlier novel the
Painter of Signs. The central character of that novel, Raman is also
the central character of this story. The story is all about a lost child
in a fair whom Raman meets Narayan describes the activities of
the lost child (251).
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“Emden” deals with the condition of Rao whose age is ninety and
he wants to meet his old beloved but due to the impact of age he
cannot search her house. In this story at many places, Narayan's
skill of humour can be seen.
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Another Collection of Narayan’s short stories An
Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories was published in 1947. The
title story “An Astrologer's Day” proves that the prediction of the
astrologer are based on the hearsay or the information they gather
from their client. As far as their knowledge of stars is concerned it
is many times not so sound. This is the story of such a town
astrologer. Once he tells one of his clients that the person who
knifed him is dead and predicts that he can force once again great
danger in his life if he goes away from his home. At the end, the
readers are in great shock bear that the astrologer one the who
stabbed him several years back. “Missing Mail” is the story of
match making for a bright girl. Every thing settles Amen but one of
the relative of girl’s party dies and news of his death comes to the
postman but he hides the news, as the marriage cannot be
postponed. The bride's father comes to know the truth only at the
end. “The Doctor’s World” is the story of an expert doctor who is
famous for his talent as well as his truthfulness. He never hides
truth from his patients. Once his best friend suffers from a heart
attack and there is no chance of his survival. The friend asks him
the reality of his case and wants his advice about his will. Despite
realising his approaching death, the doctor tells a lie and his words
does a miracle as his friend comes back from the clutches of death.
“Gateman's Gift” is the story of an illiterate watchman who gets a
registered letter and in his ignorance; he considers it as bad news
for himself. He is not willing even to open the letter. He is
disturbed so much that he goes mad, and his sanity is back on
learning that the letter contains a cheque presented to him by his
boss. “The Blind Dog” shows faithfulness of the dog inspite of the
selfish nature of his master. This is the story of a blind man who
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shows mercy on a street dog and becomes the master of that dog.
With the help of the dog he starts earning a good amount but after
some time the blind man treats his dog in a very cruel manner but
the dog is faithful to him till the end of its life. “Attila” is also
another dog story. It is a domestic dog and is famous for its
extreme nature. It loves all. Its extreme polite nature is the trouble
to the lady of the family. But one day Attila accidentally catches
the man with whom it is friendly and the man is traced as a thief.
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In “Fellow Feeling”, a typical scene in a crowded train
compartment is presented. This story mocks on the hypocrisy of
the superior caste (Brahmins). These people pretend to be very
pious but if no one notices they even take non-vegetarian foods.
The most interesting thing that the story reveals is that the
Brahmins think that no one knows about their hidden eating
practices but the fact is that non-Brahmin know everything about
them. How a Brahmin in the story feels embarrassment due to the
comment of a non-Brahmin is beautifully presented in the story.
“The Roman Image” which revolves around an image. It is
discovered by the assistant of the great archaeologist. Both of them
consider that image as the image of Tiberius II, a Roman Emperor.
They work for that image for day and nights. They consider that it
will prove to be master-piece for their future. The irony presented
in this story is that it is neither a Roman image nor has Tiberius II
ever existed. The image is of a dwarpalaka of a nearby village
temple. “The Watchman” is the story of a girl and a watchman. The
girl considers herself all alone in this world as her real mother has
died and her father who had remarried is also no more. She
considers herself as a burden on her step mother. Her Step mother’s
behaviour is extremely good to her. For this reason, she wants to
reduce her burden from her step mother's life. She does not want to
live on anybody's scholarship. Someone is coming to look at her.
The watchman tells her the reality of life and asks her to marry the
girl follows his advice after many years he witnesses the result of
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his advice. The girl did not commit suicide and become mother of
four children. “The Tiger’s Claw” describes the talkative man’s
encounter with a tiger all alone and that too bare handly. In that
battle, he wins with the help of his brain. He takes the help of
heavy railway furniture.
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“The Performing Child” is the story of a little girl who is
very talented in singing and dancing. Two cinema men contact her
father, as they are willing to give her role in their film. The parents
of the girl consider it a golden opportunity. But the child
psychology is very different. She wants to dance and sing
according to her wishes. When the film makers suggest that she
should wear a frock and let her hair down, she just disappears
causing a scare. The parents have no idea where she might have
gone her mother gets hysterical and father feels helpless until they
find her. The story shows the difference between child psychology
and thinking of grown ups. In “Father’s Help” Swami is helped by
his father. He complains to his father against his teacher and the
father writes a complaint letter to his principal. Swami has
exaggerated the complaints of his teacher. But when he goes in the
principal office, he finds that the teacher is discharging the duty as
acting principal for that day as the actual principal is on leave that
day. The story ends with the point where his father does not
believe him. “Crime and Punishment” is the story of a poor
teacher, extremely ambitious parents and an over pampered and
naughty child. The child is below average but his parents have big
ambitions from him. For only thirty rupees a month the teacher has
to bears patiently the lectures on child psychology, delivered
almost everyday by the educated parents. This story is a direct
comment on the interfering nature of the parents. “Iswaran” is very
interesting and a psychological study of the behaviour of a different
boy who is laughed at by others. He could not pass intermediate
examination. Of getting this news, he gets over excited and jumps
in the river so that he can reach his home early but he cannot come
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out from the water. Though he dies due to an accident but people
consider it as suicide.
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“Evening Gift” is a very different story. Here one drunkard
employs a companion to check his drinks after nine. It seems a
very odd job but Sankar belongs to a very poor family and needs
the job that is why he accepts it. One night he is dismissed from his
service by his master while in his drunken state-with an advance
salary for four months. Sankar is very happy to get three months
salary. His nature is not also for that job. Keeping company to a
drunkard is not at all a healthy work. He accepts money, decides to
get back to his village, and next morning is seen doing some
shopping buying things for his mother, his sister and the small
child at home. But when he is about to leave the place, he is
arrested by the police on the charge of robbing his master taking
advantage of his weakness. “The Snake Song” proves the great
Indian value i.e. if someone asks some help he should be
entertained otherwise one has to be ready to suffer the
consequences. Once the talkative man is practising music at night,
one sadhu comes and requests for some edible. He refuses his
request. Then he asks for his permission to listen to his music. He
insults the sadhu and chases him away. The sadhu curses him that
he will no more be able to play his music. After that, one snake
comes and does not allow him to stop his music. Whole night he
has to play music. The story ends at the point where the talkative
man searches for that sadhu so that he can repent and get back his
music again. “A Snake In the Grass” is another snake story. But it
is not mystical in nature. In the afternoon all, the members of a
bungalow are at rest. The servant is also sleeping. Suddenly one
cyclist informs them that a big cobra has got into their compound.
Narayan describes their efforts to get rid of that cobra. The
description is full of comic appeal.
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“An Accident” is a ghost story. In it, a car which for no
conceivable reason suddenly stalls is set right by a fellow who
turns up from nowhere, gives out his name as Arul Doss, and is
later identified as a driver of the same name who had died in a car
accident a month earlier at that very place. This is a typical Ghost
Story. The reality of the ghost is not proved. But in “Old Man of
the Temple” and “Old Bones”, the ghost of persons long dead enter
the body of the living persons. Due to this, the living persons talk
and act exactly as the dead would have. In “Old Man of the
Temple”, the middle aged driver gives the past details. The pipes
and trebles of an old man and in “Old Bones” the twelve-year old
Raju provoked, takes his massive uncle roughly by the neck and
flings him out of the room. “Such Perfection” proves that
extremely perfect things are not fit for our imperfect world. As
some alloy is necessary in Gold, in the same manner some
imperfect elements are required in everything to give it a lively
taste. The story “Career” proves the selfishness of a servant who
cheats his master. The master gives him power, shelter and
reputation. He believes in him but the servant cheats him for the
sake of a girl. The story ends with a poetic justice. The servant
Ramu is all alone at the fag end of his life, and also loses his eye
sight. “Forty Five a Month” describes the story of a poor clerk
working for years and years on forty rupees a month. One day he
decides to take up his little girl to the cinema, this is possible only
if he leaves his office at the stroke of five. But the father is unable
to keep his promise.
“Dasi the Bridegroom” is a very moving tale of an ugly,
strong and mentally retarded young man Dasi. He falls a victim to
a heartless joke of the people that Bamini Bai, a famous celebrity
of Madras film industry is his wife. With his good luck, she has
arrived in town. He expresses his love to her but in return, he gets a
slap from her. His desire to marry her ends in a mental hospital.
“Out of Business” is the story of a frustrated man who loses his job
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due to the economic break down. Later on he decides to solve this
financial problem by solving a cross-word puzzle. But in this
process, he does not get anything and wastes a good amount of
money. Inspite of all these things, he is indifferent towards the
necessities of his family. The story ends with a positive note where
he realises his mistakes and starts completing his responsibilities.
In “The Axe”, an old gardener, who is fondly attached to a
sprawling house loses his job when the ownership changes. The
new owner is not interested to a afford space for gardening. One
day the gardener is asked to go back home because the house has
been sold to a company. The biggest problem is that the company
is not interested in maintaing a garden. The gardener then hears the
sound of an axe, and finds four men engaged in hacking the old
margosa tree; he expresses his reactions because he has planted the
tree and leaves it as a helpless child. Hurriedly he quits the place
before the tree is demolished. Dr. Disha Sharma writes: “We find a
verisimilitude in “The Cherry Orchard” of Chekhov, but Narayan
has avoided the challenge of his tragic theme in this story”(255).
In “Engine Trouble” Narayan laughs at the pathetic
condition of the winner. He presents a comic expression of a
proverb about gifting an elephant to a poor man. He wins a road
engine but it is a white elephant for him. He requests many of them
to remove the road engine but none is ready help him. It is ironical
enough that to get the prize is not so celebrated but he is happy to
get rid of it. “All Avoidable Talk” deals the character Shastri who
works in a shop. His astrologer friend advises him to avoid all
avoidable talk on the following day. Shastri tries to follow the
advice but unfortunately, he finds himself in a mess. “Fruition of
Forty” presents an office clerk who wants to offer gifts to other’s
on his birthday. He plans to purchase something for all the
members of the family. He goes to the market for the same
purpose but to his surprise someone picks up his pockets. He has
planned to celebrate his fortieth birthday with full zeal and
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enthusiasm but unfortunately that day he has to walk from market
to his home. The story ends when he goes to his office instead of
celebrating his birthday.
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Narayan's next collection of short stories is Lawley Road
And Other Stories. It was published in 1956. It has twenty eight
stories out of which fourteen have been reprinted from the previous
collections. In Narayan’s stories character plays a very important
role. As far as plot is concerned, it comes always at secondary
position. The title story of the collection is very interesting. It is
named after the imaginary town of Malgudi. This story shows how
Kabir Lane is named as Lawley Road. About this story, Dr. Disha
Sharma in Short Stories of R. K. Narayan Themes and Techniques
writes:
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This story seems at first to be a mere variation of “Engine
Trouble”. Instead of Road engine, we have here an equally
improbable object, a huge status of molten lead, which the narrator
gets free of cost from the Malgudi Municipality. The two stories
have more or less the same pattern of development and rely on
fantasy for much their effect. And in both, there is a good deal of
satire (256).
This story tells how a lane's name is changed from Kabir Lane to
Lawley Road. “The Martyr's Corner” is another interesting story
where the attention is focused on a humble seller of bondas, and
chapattis. He used to sell edible. He is satisfied with his life as he is
earning sufficient amount with honest means. But he loses his
business and earning because of some sort of community struggle.
This story ends on a serious note. It also deals with the irony of life
but the irony in this story takes away all happiness from the life of
the protagonist of the story. He has to suffer because of his
innocence. The social system does not do any justice to him.
“Trail of the green Blazer” is the story of a pickpocket Raju,
who is very smart in taking out other’s purse from their pockets. In
a fair, he cuts one person’s pocket. He keeps cash and is about to
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throw the purse but suddenly he sees a balloon in it. He starts
thinking about the child whose balloon he has stolen. His heart is
filled with filial affection and pity for the child. He decides to
return the purse. When he is keeping the purse in his pocket, he is
caught red-handed. This story presents a very good example of
irony. When he picks up the pocket, nobody suspects him but when
he tries to return that, he is in trouble. Dr. Disha Sharma comments
in this connection, “Life is full of contradiction and this is what the
story conveys to us in a typical Aryan’s way. The pickpocket was
successful so far he was caught” (257).
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“Wife’s Holiday” is the story of Kanna, a gambler. He wants
to celebrate the temporary absence of his wife. Though he misses
his son, yet he doesn’t hesitate to smash his son's money box for
gambling. There he loses all money. As he returns from the
gambling area, his wife also returns to her home. The story ends a
the point where he is all alone to suffer the consequence of
smashing the money box. In “A Shadow” a boy’s sorrow for his
recently dead father who was a film-star, is presented. When his
father’s last film comes in cinema hall, he is filled with pride and
enthusiasm. He is very happy to see his father’s come back but he
has the feeling of losse also when he sees the last show of that film.
His longing to see his father's last film, his delighted recognition of
details in it, remind him of their real-life relationship. The boy’s
feelings for his father are contrasted with his mother’s feeling for
her husband. His mother mourns and suffers the unbearable pain on
seeing her husband on the screen. This story shows a difference
between child psychology and adult psychology. The mother is in
pain to see her husband on the screen, as she knows that her happy
time with her husband will not come back to her but the child is
happy, as it’s a temporary refuge for him to run away from the hard
core realities of life that is the loss of his father. But the movie does
not give any relationship to the mother. She starts morning, as the
pain she suffers on seeing her husband in the screen is unbearable.
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Narayan has written a few stories which show the adult love
for children. “Sweet for Angels” is the story based on the same
theme. This is the story of Kali who is an urchin. Once he earns
sufficient money and wants to rest on the next day. In this idle
time, he purchases some sweet. Suddenly he plans to save some
sweet for nearby school children. He gives them sweet but their
parents misunderstand him as a kidnapper of children. He suffers
their violence. The story ends with an ironic decision of Kali. He
decides not to talk to any child in his life. “A Willing Slave” is
another story where an elderly person shows love and affection
towards child. This is the story of Ayah and Radha. Ayah is the
servant of the family but she loves Radha like anything. All the
time she is on her heels for her. “Leela’s Friend” is also a story
demonstrating a devoted and faithful servant. His love for the child
of the family “Leela” is remarkable. In spite of tiresome household work, he tells Leela stories and used to play with her. This
gives his relaxation. He becomes the best friend of Leela within no
time. But the ironic thing is that the parents cannot understand him.
He is harshly and unfairly treated by her parents and society in
general.
“Mother and Son” is the story of the relationship of mother
and son. The mother is a widow and her son is her only hope. She
wants to see him married but at this point both mother and son are
not same. The son is not ready for marriage because he is
unemployed. He quarrels with his mother, leaves his home and
does not return at night. His mother, with her usual fears and
anxieties that he has gone and drowned himself in the water, but is
finally relieved to trace him in the morning in deep slumber on a
bench near the tank. “The White Flower” presents the
autobiographical touch. The hero of the story Krishna is R.K.
Narayan himself. The story shows the superstitious belief in
horoscope. It presents a picture of an unknown world where
nobody knows whether we should believe in horoscope or not.
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There are two parts on the one hand Krishna's happiness with his
beloved and on the other hand, the unknown fear of horoscopes is
there. Krishna accepts it as his fate and be ready to forget the girl
for all due to the unknown fear of horoscopes. The story resembles
Narayan's novel The Bachelor of Arts.
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Narayan has given a great importance to the child characters.
He has written many stories about children. “The Regal” is one of
them. The story is about a twelve year old child Dodu who is very
fond of playing cricket. But he cannot find place for it. At initial
stage, his team used to play in his house but later on that is not
suitable for their game. This story describes his efforts to find a
proper play ground for their team. Narayan has narrated skillfully
how Dodu made his cricket club by his effort and struggle. “Man
Hunt” is a very remarkable story. It is remarkable because of its
surprise ending. We often come across advertisements in
newspapers about missing persons. Generally, there used to be a
reward for the person who would bring back the missing person.
This is the main theme of this story. Sankar, the central character of
the story comes across one such advertisement which is promising
cash prize for a person who could bring a man called Gopal
Krishna. But it’s very ironical that instead of him, his brother’s
photograph is printed in the newspaper and it creates much
confusion in the story. “The Artist Turn” is the story about an artist
and a shopkeeper. The shopkeeper knows nothing about the art but
he is a fault-finder. He annoys the artist by his unnecessary
comments and at the end of the artist teaches him a nice lesson
without accepting any amount. “A Night of Cyclone” is the story
of a pregnant woman and her husband. In it, the talkative man
describes the storm in a superb manner. The lady feels labour pains
at evening and the whether is extremely hostile that day. Her
husband tries to search some help for her but at last, the child
comes on this earth without the help of any doctor or assistant.
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Narayan's collection of short stories A Horse and Two Goats
was published in 1970. It contains five long stories. All these
stories present elaborated description. The title story is the story of
Munni, a villager and an English man from U.S.A. Language is the
biggest bar between them. Munni does not know English and the
same is the case with the English man regarding Hindi. Munni
thinks that the red man desires to buy his two goats, whereas the
English man asks for the big clay horse in the shade of which
Munni sits. The confusion creates good humour ‘Uncle’ is a
mysterious story. It leads the readers to a growing boy and his
benevolent uncle and aunt. As the child is growing, he hears many
tales about his uncle as he is blamed as the killer of his parents. But
the boy cannot find any short coming in his nature. Uncle is just
like the father of the child. In his whole life, the child could not
question his uncle. After uncle’s death, he leaves everything for the
child, who is grown up at that time. The mysteries related to uncle
die with him. “Annamalai” is also a very long story of this
collection. It is the story of a faithful gardener. He loves his garden
and he doesn’t like any interference in his garden. He never listens
to the advice of his master. “A Breath of Lucifer” is also the story
of a male nurse. It is an autobiographical story. Sam the male nurse
leaves the narrator due to his whim. “Seventh House” is the story
of a devoted husband who loves his wife but is unable to save her
life. He is ready to do everything for the sake of her life. But to be
a false husband is not in his hand. This story again proves the
importance of horoscope in Indian marriages. This story is similar
to the novel The English Teacher. It has autobiographical touch
also.
The next collection of short stories, Under the Banyan Tree
and other stories published was in 1985. The title story is the story
of an aged person Nambi. It tells about the effects of age on human
beings. Aging cannot be stopped. The story shows the respect of
the villagers for the oldest man of the village. In “Nitya” Narayan
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presents the theme of generation gap. The story raises a moral
issue-should parents always decide what the children should do or
let the children do what they like to do? There is an evident
contrast between an adult’s perspectives of life and the worldview
of a child. Nitya a college student of twenty years shows his
unwillingness to offer his fine and well cared hair to fulfill a vow
made by his parents, when he was two year old and stricken with
whooping cough and convulsions. Nitya is unwilling to cut his
hair, still he goes to the place of worship. When all the
arrangements are made for the tonsure ceremony the barber is not
available. The priest suggests a way to cut a lock but later on Nitya
argues with all of them and leaves the place. “House Opposite” is
the story of a hermit who can not concentrat on God due to a
prostitute who lives in opposite direction. He thinks all the time
about her and curses her for her nature. But at the end of the story
his feelings for her change. “A Hero” is the story of Swami and his
father. Swami’s father challenges him to sleep alone in his office.
Helpless Swami has to accept the challenge but luckily, he caught
hold of a notorious thief of the town who was hiding under the
bench. Swami’s brave nature is appreciated a lot but the very next
night Swami sleeps with his grandmother only before the arrival of
his father from the office. In this story, there is a reflection of R.K.
Narayan’s first novel Swami and Friends. The character Swami is
taken from that novel. He is the main character of this story.
“Dodu” is another child story. This boy is very particular about
money. But the elderly members of his family are very indifferent
about his needs. Narayan lightly satirizes the attitude of the elderly
people towards the child. He tries to manage his financial needs by
various means which create humour. Dr. Disha Sharma comments,
“Things collected by Dodu remind us of Tom Sawyer, an immortal
character of Mark Twain, and his choicest treasure” (260).
Narayan has written a few stories about communal blood
baths the story “Another Community” is a very moving story of a
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martyr at the bloody altar of communal blood bath. The narrator
tries to stop the struggle. But in spite of his death, he can’t stop it.
This story reveals Narayan's hatred towards communal riots. “Like
the Sun” is a very different story. It raises a practical question
whether speaking truth is easy or not. The narrator is a teacher who
decides to speak truth in the whole day. How much he has to suffer
because of his speaking truth is the main theme of the story. This
story concludes that speaking truth and hearing truth both the
things are difficult. No one wants to listen to absolute truth. Some
mixing is required to save relationships. If one practices truth
within a few days, he will enjoy no friends and no relatives.
“Chippy” shows Narayan’s love for animals. Animal is not merely
an animal for Narayan. Animals appear as character in his stories.
Chippy has all the human feelings. It is a very interesting story
about a dog Chippy. Chippy feels jealous of another dog whom his
master has brought home. “Uncle’s Letter” is a special story. This
story is written in epistolary form. Narayan has made use of it in
this story only. This story describes the life of a man from birth to
his eightieth birthday by means of later written by an uncle to his
nephew. His description has a universal appeal. This story is
autobiographical in nature. Indirectly the author is speaking
through uncle. This story is a collection of uncle's letters. Uncle
writes letters to his nephew and gives readers an insight into the
life of an average South Indian.
“The Shelter” is the story of a husband and wife. Their
names are not given. This pair is very quarrelsome. At the end of
the story, the wife leaves her husband. This story gives a message
that proper understanding between husband and wife is required
otherwise this relationship has no meaning. “The Mute
Companion” is a delightful animal story. This is the story of a
monkey and a deaf and dumb beggar. This story shows how this
whole world is divided into two parts i.e. the rich and the poor. The
beggar used to show his programmes with the help of his monkey
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by this he earns sufficient money to live. Though he avoids the big
building for begging yet one day he goes to perform before some
big house and there his monkey disappears and he can’t have his
monkey again. Perhaps the mean rich people caught the monkey.
Sami has to depend again upon alms. “At the Portal” is another
animal story. The story depicts a couple of squirrels, one is the
mother the other one is ten days old inexperienced youth. This
story shows the love of the mother squirrel for her young ones. The
story ends at a point where the mother takes a strict, practical
decision to leave the baby as it is getting dark and it's very risky to
be out at that hour of the day. “Four Rupees” is a beautiful story
with Ranga's adventure for money as its theme. “Flavour of
Coconut” is the story of trapped mouse and a boy's response to it.
At the beginning of the story, it is not clear that this story is about a
mouse. It seems that it is the story of a trial of a criminal.
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"Half a Rupee Worth" describes the story of a rice merchant
Subbiah, who knows nothing except profit. He knows to handle
every hurdle coming across his way. He has master to cash every
situation in his favour. By hook or by crook, he earns only benefits.
Corrupt and corrupting Subbiah does not ignore even the smallest
opportunity of adding to his wealth. The greedy merchant dies only
for half a ruppy worth. "The Antidote" shows a film actor Gopal
who wants to avoid all disagreeable things on his birthday because
one astrologer has told him that he may not see that birthday. So he
denies the director to perform the death scene on his birthday. He
requests to change the story of the film but the director refuses. At
last, he has to face the winking at the camera. In Narayan's stories,
Malgudi is always present as a background but this is not the whole
truth of his stories. Dr. Disha Sharma in Short Stories of R.K.
Narayan Themes and Techniques writes:
Narayan's novels are set in Malgudi but Malgudi is not the locate
of all his short stories. Sometimes the action takes place in Mysore,
sometimes in Banglore, Madras, Kritam and other places. In his
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stories, Narayan has depicted familiar situation and explored ways
of life with which he was intimate. But the people here represent
humanity at large and hence Narayan's short stories have universal
appeal. Some of Narayan's short stories contain parallel characters
(262).
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In Narayan, short stories there are several characters. They
belong to various professions. They are astrologer, postman,
servants, beggars, rickshaw puller, knife sharpner, artists, thieves,
pick-pocketer, doctor, snake charmer, singer, office clerk, priest,
gateman (watchman), shopkeeper, unemployed, housewives,
children, story teller, writers, insurance agents, cook, lock repairers
and many more. All his characters are lively. Whatever role they
are playing they are believable and likeable. Narayan loves his
characters and his characters are also loved by all his readers. He
has presented every type of middle class and few higher middle
class characters also but the most important thing of his stories is
that he doesn’t believe only on his main characters. For him each
and everyone who is present in the story is important. Life is
impossible without small incidents. Society completes with the
presence of each and even major and minor characters. Dr. Disha
Sharma in Short Stories of R.K. Narayan Themes and Techniques
writes:
Narayan's minor characters are more assertive than any of his
major characters. In the brief precious moments allowed to them
they act their part exceedingly well. With the deft strokes of a
clever artist, Narayan creates living and breathing characters which
haunt our memory long after we have finished reading his stories
(262).
We can divide his characters into six parts - 1. Group of
idealist's characters, 2. Group of practical people,
3. Group of
sentimental people, 4. Household servant characters, 5. Group of
women characters, 6. Child characters.
The first group of Narayan's stories deals with idealist
characters. They are the characters who live in a utopia; they want
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perfect idealism from life. They are not ready to compromise with
their conditions. Due to idealism, they have to suffer a lot. This is
shown in story like “Father's Help”; Sadhu “The Snake Song”;
Cobbler “God and Cobbler”; priest “House Opposite”;
archaeologist “The Roman Image”; Narrator “Another
Community” Sastri “All Avoidable Talk”; Sankar “Breath of
Promise” Nambi “Under the Banyan Tree”; Selvi “Selvi”; Sekhar
“Like the Sun”; Doctor Raman “The Doctor’s World”; Soma
“Such Perfection”; Gopal “The Antidote”; Kutti “The Performing
Child”; Krishna “The Artist's Turn” etc. These characters believe
in their self made rules and are ready to suffer to any extent for the
sake of their values. Swami's father always loves truth and is
against school violence, Sadhu of “The Snake Song” is powerful
and intellectual enough to curse someone, the cobbler of “God and
Cobbler” sees the image of Lord Shiva on the hippie’s face, the
priest of “House Opposite” is not ready to tolerate any immoral
work even in his neighbourhood. The archaeologist of “The Roman
Image” forgets to take breakfast, lunch and dinner when he is busy
in his archaeological excavations work; the narrator of “Another
community” attains the supreme place. He is dying but still he
thinks to save the society from communal riots. Sastri decides to
avoid all avoidable things for a day in “All Avoidable Talk” Sankar
in “Breach of Promise” is ready to kill himself in order to fulfil one
vow made to the Goddess; Nambi of “Under the Banyan Tree”
decides not to speak a single word as he is not able to tell stories to
the villagers; Selvi leaves all her status and sacrifices her position,
starts singing for all after the death of her mother. Sekhar decides
not to tell a lie on that day. Though his vow takes him into a
corner. Doctor Raman has developed a blunt truthfulness. He does
not believe that agreeable words ever save life. It is not his
business to provide an unnecessary hope to his patients. Soma is
not ready to break the idol of the Goddess even to save the whole
society. He is ready to die. Krishna the poor artist does not accept
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anything from the greedy shopkeeper and fault finder who knows
little about art Kutti the child dancer hates the cinema men and is
not ready to perform according to their whish. Gopal tries not to do
any disagreeable act on his birthday. He shakes his head and opens
his right eye though he has to play the part of a dead man.
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In Narayan’s world of imagination, there are various
characters who are very practical in their life. These characters play
very important role in his short stories. For such characters work
should be done. They never indulge in useless emotions. Nitya in
“Nitya”, the lady in “House Opposite”; the shopkeeper in “A
Horse and Two Goats”; the watchman in “The Watchman”; shop
owner in “A Career”’; Swami in “A Hero”; Dodu in “Dodu”;
office people in “Another Community”; principal in “Like the
sun”; servant in “A Snake in the grass”; Sankar in “The Evening
Gift”; Sam in “A Breath of Lucifer”; Mother squirrel in “At the
Portal”; Ranga in “Four Rupees”; Rama Rao in “Fruition at
Forty”; Teacher in “crime and Punishment”; Subbiah in “Half a
Rupee Worth”; narrator in “Engine Trouble”; Venkat Rao in
“Forty Five a Month”; Mohan in “Selvi”; the astrologer in “An
Astrologer’s Day”; Thanappa, the postman in “Missing Mail, the
priest in “The White Flower” etc. are examples of such worldly
wise characters. All these characters takes practical decision at
critical junctures. Nitya is not ready to sacrifice his hair for the
sake of his parents' twenty year old vow. He doesn’t find any
practical connection between his hair and his life. The lady in
“House Opposite” doesn’t care about people’s opinion about her
profession. The shopkeeper is interested in geting over his old
debts. He is not willing to see the pathetic condition of Muni. The
watchman of the same titled story doesn’t find any harm in
marriage. He suggests the girl to get married with the boy of her
mother’s choice and later on, he proved right. The shop owner of
“A Career” is practical enough to accept his condition as he is
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completely cheated by his servant but instead of showing emotions,
he starts his life with practical positive approach.
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Swami the child character of “A Hero” tries to divert his
father’s attention by talking useless things. His father is praising
another boy and he doesn’t like this. Dodu the main character of
the same story is a very practical boy. He learns many things from
his mistakes. The office people of “Another Community” are very
practical, as they know how to flow with the current of the stream.
They are not willing to take any risk for their lives. The principal’s
character of “Like the Sun” is very practical. The servant of “A
Snake In the Grass” takes very practical steps to satisfy the
members of family. Sankar wants to earn money for that he is even
ready to give company to a drunkard. Sam also returned the
payment of one day when he could not serve the narrator. Mother
squirrel takes a very practical decision to leave her younger ones
all alone otherwise, her life is at stake and with her all of her,
young ones' life is in danger. Within no time, she decides to save
all instead of a single one. Ranga raises his demand of money as
per the importance of the bowl. Rama Rao forgets his loss of purse
because what is done can not be undone. This shows his practical
approach to life. The tutor in “Crime and Punishment” is doing his
job in spite of the irritating behaviour of the parents; Subbiah the
grain merchant is too practical to be a good human being. Due to
his extreme practical nature, he dies at the end of the story. The
narrator of “Engine Trouble” thinks about many practical solutions
to get rid of the reward that is a road engine. Veankat Rao is ready
to forget the sentiments of his daughter for a cinema outing
because he is getting five rupees increment in his salary. Being a
practical father, he gives importance to her comforts than to her
emotions Mohan in “Selvi” is extremely practical about his profits.
His practical attitude passes the limit of gentleness. The astrologer
accepts Guru Nayak’s challenge without being intimidated. He
takes him into his confidence inspires faith in his knowledge of
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astrology and makes the challenger flee homeward by using a
clever trick. Thanappa, the postman, does not deliver the important
letter and telegram to Ramunujam. He knows the importance of the
Kamakshi’s marriage. He believes that the marriage must not be
postponed under any circumstances. It is only after her marriage
that Ramanujam learns about the death of his uncle. Krishna wants
to marry the girl whom he loves. But the horoscopes do not match.
But the priest suggests a practical solution of flower.
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Narayan’s stories have a few sentimental characters as well.
The narrator in “Another Community”; Nambi in “Under the
Banyan Tree”; Velan in “The Axe”; Raju in“Trail of the Green
Blazers”; Govind Singh in “The Gateman’s Gift”; Iswaran in
“Iswaran”; Sankar in “The Evening Gift” and the girl character of
“The Watchman” are the some of examples of sentimental
characters. The narrator wants to save the whole humanity. No one
understands his feelings but he is very sentimental and inspite of
his death he wants to protect all. Nambi considers his memory loss
due to the disgrace of the Goddess. Though this is because of aging
but for Nambi this is the end of all his happiness. Velan is attached
to his plants. He cares for them like his children. The last sentence
where he requests the people not to cut the tree in front of him but
wait till he leaves the place shows his deep sentiments for his
plants. Due to his sentiments, Raju the pickpocket should not have
a soft corner for an unknown child but he can’t help it. Govind
Singh is not ready to follow the suggestion of the people to open
the registered letter that he has received and to read its contents.
Due to his sentiments, Iswaran assumes that he has failed at the
intermediate examination and is not wiling to see his result.
Though he passes the examination, yet he dies, as he can’t restrain
his sentiments. Sankar is deeply attached for his family and his
family is in extreme need of money. Sentimental Sankar does not
tell his employer a word about his problem but leaves the Wealthy
Drunkard at that point of time when Sankar’s company was badly
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required. He suffers because of his sentimental nature. The girl in
“The Watchman” considers herself to be a burden on her step
mother. She does not want to live on anybody’s charity. She has
decided to commit suicide as she can’t get scholarship and is not
ready for marriage. All the characters who are sentimental suffer a
lot in their lives and because of them their relatives have also to
face many inconvenient situations.
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Another group of Narayan’s characters is of domestic
helpers. Except for Ramu “Career” all, the household servants are
honest, hard working and sincere towards their masters. Velan of
“The Axe” is a little bit whimsical by his nature but he is very
faithful to his owner and considers their problems as his own. The
Ayah in “A Willing Slave” besides doing her own works keeps and
observations over the work of the gardener, cook, other servants
and specially over the tutor. All the time she keeps and eyes over
the above mentioned people for the betterment of the family. No
one instructs her for this. Her love for Radha the youngest member
of the family deserves appreciation. She is all the time on her heels
to serve Radha. Sidda in “Leela’s Friend” is replica of Ayah. He is
also a very sincere servant who completes all his work properly
and loves Leela the child of the family. But he can’t get the same
love and respect in return from Mr. Sivasankar’s family. They hand
him over to police. Ramu in “A Career” is also a devoted servant in
beginning. He does many things for the family. He is not
demanding any salary but later on, he falls in love with a girl and
the girl makes him cheats his master. Dasa in “A Snake In the
Grass” is an ordinary servant. Though he performs many duties for
the family, yet he manages sufficient time for his afternoon nap
also. He is smart as well as an obedient servant. Because of his
smartness, he is not ready to cut the garden grass, as grass cutter is
not available to him. Dasa represents twenty first century servants.
Annamalai is also a faithful servant. He is whole heartedly devoted
and a superstitious man. He has his own logic and reasons for
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every happenings. He never hesitates to give fair opinion to his
master. His master also loves him.
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A society is incomplete without women. Women are a very
important part of a family. Narayan’s short stories will not have
lively touch if women characters are excluded. Narayan's women
have their own qualities as well as limitations. Though women,
whether wife, sister or mother, are very important for the smooth
running of the family yet Narayan has not developed them as
individual characters. In many of his stories, their names are not
mentioned. They are someone’s mother or wife only. The readers
do not know the name of Nitya’s mother. She is only his mother
and doesn’t have any personal identity of her own. This is not a
single case. In Malgudi milieu females are Munni’s wife, Swami’s
mother, Sekhar’s wife, Ramu’s wife, Subbiah’s wife, astrologer’s
wife, Gopal’s wife, Ramanujam’s wife, Govind Singh’s wife,
Ramu’s mother, Sambu’s mother etc. Though Selvi is an exception
as the story is given the same title, yet she does not have an
independent personality and is a puppet in the hands of her
husband Mohan. It seems, in his stories Narayan is not affected by
the woman empowerment in modern India. In the present Indian
social set up, women are not confined to the four walls of their
houses but they are actively involved in economic development of
the society and family. In this Narayan’s point of view is not
justifiable.
The next and the most important group of Narayan’s stories
is child character. His stories are incomplete without child
characters. “Father’s Help”; “Unbreakable Doll”; “A Willing
Slave”; “The Regal”; “The Performing Child”; “Birthday Gift”;
“Dodu”; “Leela’s Friend” etc are the stories about children and
their relationship with grown up men and women. They give us an
insight of the nature and psychology of children. Unlike western
culture, Indian children are closely attached to their parents or the
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elders. They are intelligent and tricky but at the same time, they
have simplicity and innocence. In “Father’s Help” tells the tricks to
Swami to avoid classes. “Unbreakable Doll” presents the feelings
and emotions of a small girl as she goes to purchase a doll with her
parents. She purchases a doll and considers it as a friend of hers
and talks to it as her mother is in habit of talking to her. But the
doll slips out of her hand and is crushed on a crowded street. “The
Birthday Gift” is a very humorous story. It describes the trials and
tribulations of Seenu, a young boy who has lost the costly pen his
father had presented to him on his birthday. He is greatly disturbed
for the loss and is very much concerned about the severe beating he
may get from his father if he comes to know of it. “Dodu” is the
story named after an eight year old boy who is always in need of
money for a hundred reasons. How he arranges money and what
struggles he has to make for it is humoursly described by Narayan.
Whether it is Leela’s attachment to her servant Sidda in “Leela’s
Friend” or the eagerness and anxiety with which a small girl,
Shanta awaits the arrival of her father who has promised to take her
to cinema in “Forty Five A Month” or it is the dramatic
disappearance of Kutti in “The Performing Child” to avoid the film
people, who are expected to take her away in the evening or it is
the story of the team of cricket playing children in “The Regal”
which derives its name from a cricket team started by Dodu and his
friends, those who always experience some trouble in finding a
proper playground for their cricket on it is the story of Swami in
“A hero”, who accepts the challenges of his father to sleep alone.
He does not think that in addition to passing a night of fears and
nightmares, he will encounter a burglar also. These are the finest
example of Narayan’s Indianness presented in his stories. All the
child characters of his stories are simple innocent and absolutely
rooted in Indian soil.
In Narayan's stories plot is always more important than
characters. Narayan’s stories can not be classified as stories of
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characters. They do not describe the psychology of the protagonist.
Narayan’s lack of imagination is seen in his “Animal stories”. “The
Blind Dog” and “Attila” are apt. examples in this regard. Stories
dealing with other animals too are in the same rank. Stories like
“Mute Companions” and “Flavour of Coconut” present a
performing monkey and a little mouse but their expression does not
reach a high level. It offers only passing amusement. The squirrel
story, “At the Portal” is a half-hearted attempt in which the
frustration of the squirrel does not come out properly. At the end of
the story, the presence of the narrator destroys the charm of the
story. M.K. Naik in Twentieth Century Indian English Fiction
writes:
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The intrusive presence of the author as observer in the story further
destroys all chances of an allegorical content. In contrast with this,
in Liam O’Flaherty’s “His First Fligh”, the purely objective
narration of the first flight of blackbird takes on a great allegorical
significance in human terms while the story, at the same time,
remains on the primary level a ‘bird story’ told with accurate
realism. (88)
Another group of stories where Narayan fails to do justice
with the theme and faces the same disastrous failure of imagination
comprises more than a dozen stories with supernatural themes. The
supernatural stories, “The Level-crossing”, “An Accident”, “Old
Bones” ands “Old Man of the Temple” fail to touch the highest
surface of amusement.
The shortcomings of Narayan’s
imagination and his verbal resources are poorly presented in “Such
Perfection”, in which a sculptor fashions an all too perfect image of
Nataraja, which comes out to be true to the belief that such
perfection spells danger for this imperfect world. In that story,
Narayan has presented a scene of ‘End of the World”. A long
paragraph is written to describe the “End of the World” scene.
Commenting on this scene M.K. Naik in Twentieth Century Indian
English Fiction writes:
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This is hardly “The end of the world” only the end of a rather poor
paragraph in which drab, matter-of-fact details are fondly expected
to produce an effect which only a powerful imagination could have
voked, employing appropriate linguistic resources. Contrast this
with Manjeri Isvaran’s description of the same phenomenon in his
short story, “Dance of Shiva”, in which an Englishman sees the
great God’s Dance of Destruction in a dream: “He woke up to sees
a gigantic figure towering to the skies with eyes like fiery globes,
its forehead burst open in the middle like a smoldering planet, and
pillars of flame shot forth and a wilderness of arms with lethal
weapons… A dread combustion roared, with the thunder of a
billion rocket’s exploding; and everything was an endless,
immeasurable furnace into which the hounds of hurricane swept
and swirled.” Isvaran’s description too has its own limitation (like
its wordiness, for example) but it does stir the reader’s imagination
in a way which Narayan’s tame effort totally fails to do (88-89)
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Narayan has written short stories as well as Novels. He
wrote novels as means for short earning for his livelihood. But
writing stories was his passion. He loves depict ordinary characters
whose lives move on the same tracks. He loves to present simple
incidents of their lives. Narayan himself has expressed his opinion
about short stories in "Introduction" to his last collection of short
stories in the following words:
I enjoy writing a short story. Unlike the novel, which emerges
from relevant, minutely worked-out detail, the short story can be
brought into existence through a mere suggestion of detail, the
focus being kept on a central idea or climax (Shrinath, 184).
Narayan’s stories are entertaining and very healthy
refreshment for the brain. His stories are never thought provoking
but always provide relaxation. These stories can be read and
enjoyed in every situation and condition. Narayan started his career
by writing stories for newspapers and magazines. The most
important quality of such type of writing is entertainment and its
mass appeal. These two qualities are undoubtedly present in
Narayan’s writing. He fails to develop his talent much beyond that.
While comparing Narayan with other contemporary short story
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writers, Dr. Disha Sharma in Short Stories of R.K. Narayan Themes
and Techniques writes:
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As a short story writer, Narayan’s real strength as a stylist as a
stylist lies in his strong ironic sense. On the other hand, he
obviously “lacks the flair for the imaginative and the passion for
the profundities which Raja Rao offers or the kind of verbal
exuberance and hearty gusto characteristic of ‘Mulk Raj Anand’.
The influence of journalism on the style of Narayan cannot be
neglected-both the virtues and sins of journalistic writing are
evident in his works. But at his best Narayan “Succeeds in turning
his very limitations into artistic assets” Regarding his style in
narration, Narayan seems to be at his strongest.; He is quite
competent in the presentation of his dialogue, while the limitations
of his style are betrayed when he tries to indulge in imaginative
scene-panting, his descriptions of places usually being workman
like rather than evocative.; No doubt, Narayan has written quite a
good number of short stories, but unfortunately none of his short
stori8es deserves the rank of universally acknowledged
masterpieces. In this regard, his stories are inferior to theses of
Mulk Raj Anand or to those of Raja Rao (266).
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There is no doubt that Narayan’s stories are entertaining
package for all times and all generations. All of his stories can be
read in one sitting and can give us surface enjoyment. In story,
every beginning and end is very important. In this regard, Narayan
is very much impressed by O. Henry. H.E. Bates in The Modern
Short Stories in English writes:
In the ‘well-made short story’, the beginning and the end are of
crucial importance and Narayan, like O. Henry, rarely fumbles in
handling either. A typical Narayan story may begin in a variety of
ways but it almost always carefully establishes what H.E. Bates,
referring to O. Henry described as “an instant contact between
reader and writer (63).
Everyone takes inspiration from some great writer's good
and lofty works. Narayan's stories are also influenced by one such
celebrated short story writer O' Henry. All the stories of Narayan in
which irony, either-comic or tragic plays a shaping role have a
surprising end. Most of his ironical stories have a twist. When we
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concentrate on the theme of Narayan’s short stories we see a
corelation between his novels and short stories. Basically, he is a
story writer and his novels are also long stories. To focus on the
thematic connection between the short stories and the novels of
Narayan is very interesting. P.S. Sundaram in R.K. Narayan writes:
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Situation, characters and motifs from each and novel by Narayan
except the Painter of Sign appear in the short stories also, though
in some cases the stories belong to an earlier date. As already
noted, the exploits of the school boys hero in Swami and friends
have spilled into “Father’s Help” and “The Hero” and twelve-yearold Dodu in “The Regal” with his passionate devotion to cricket is
only another incarnation of Swami. The failure of marriage
negotiations owing to the incompatibility of horoscopes in the
Bachelor of Arts is a motif repeated in “The White Flower”.
Savitri’s attempt to drown herself into the river, he rescue by Mari
and her final reluctance to repay her debt to him in the Dark Room
are paralleled in “The Watchman” And the Dark Room situation of
a husband throwing his wife out of the house also appears in “The
Shelter”, Krishna in “Seventh House” finds his wife dying of
typhoid, like Krishnan in “The English Teacher”, though the
remedy suggested by the astrologer in the short story naturally has
no place in the novel (119-120).
Though practically Narayan has written no story which can
be called dull and boaring yet at the same time there is no story
which can really be called a major achievement. If we compare his
stories with Maupassant's “Ball of Fat”, Chekhov’s “The School
Mistress”, Maugham’s “Rain”, Hemingway’s “The Short Happy
Life of Francis Macomber” or Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden
party” he stands nowhere. Even his masterpieces like “The
Doctor’s World”, “Engine Trouble” and “Seventh House” do no
seem to deserve to be ranked with these universally famous short
story writers. If he is compared with other Indian English short
story writers, he has produced nothing in this genre to match the
stories of Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao. While considering all these
things we can say that every writer has his or her limitations. Every
writer has his own priorities. Narayan is also not an exception. He
began his writing career as a short story writer by contributing
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stories to The Hindu and it was difficult for him, under those
conditions to escape the influence of periodical world. The purpose
of magazine or newspaper writing is to provide the average reader
with his dose of half an hour’s amusement alone. In this regard,
Narayan is extremely successful. M. K.Naik describes Narayan’s
greatness as a short story write in the following words:
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This perhaps account for the extremely limited thematic range of
his short stories, though, paradoxically enough, they evince a great
variety of characters, drawn from all the strata of society except the
highest. In these short stories we meet clerks, doctors,
archaeologist, tutors, school and college students, housewives,
shopkeepers, film actors, artists, sculptors, journalists, astrologers,
postmen, ayaha’s, house-servants, gardeners, tree-climbers, foodvendors, coolies, beggars, vagabonds, pick-pocketer and rustic,
apart from dogs, squirrels and parrots. This variety is however,
hardly matched by a corresponding thematic richness, because
though all these characters are presented realistically, their
dilemmas, as their creator sees them, are hardly meaningful
enough in thematic terms and the author is mostly satisfied with
the ironic twist these petty dilemmas provide (Twentieth Century
Indian English Fiction 92).
The stories of Narayan’s early phase deal with animals or child
characters. In some of the stories of this phase, the impact of his
famous novels can easily be seen. The stories of his middle
phase deal with social issues such as casteism, caste and
communal conflicts etc. The stories of his later phase deal with
characters struggling for their livelihood. These characters are
drawn from the lower middle class of Indian society. His
characters are real and life-like.
Though critics have also written about many limitations of
Narayan's short story writing, yet his immense popularity as a short
story writer in India and abroad proves such critics as wrong. The
first and foremost purpose of R. K. Narayan is to entertain his
readers and he has fully succeded in it. He presents his characters
as living human beings. His characters leave a positive message
and provide ways and means to make life hopeful even in harsh
conditions. Narayan has a realistic approach to life. Narayan’s
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short stories, therefore, show a social, moralistic and spiritual
intention. This adds to his stature as a short story writer.
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Works Cited
Biswas, Sravani. A Study of R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Cerebration of
the Carnival. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and
Distributors (P) Ltd.2010. Print.
Hariprasanna, A. The World of Malgudi: A Study of R.K. Narayan’s
Novels. New Delhi: Prestige Books. 1994. Print.
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Naik, M. K. Twentieth Century Indian English Fiction. New Delhi:
Pencraft International 2004. Print.
Sharma, Disha. Short Stories of R.K. Narayan: Themes and Techniques.
New Delhi: Vishal Kaushik Printers. 2010. Print.
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Sundram, P. S. R.K. Narayan. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann India.
1973. Print.
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