The Guide : Themes.
R. K. Narayan is primarily concerned with man's
existence in the cosmos. His concern is human destiny, and he discusses man's
position in the world, his interpersonal interactions, and the life of man in
relation to human relationships. R.K. Narayan's writings reflect his thorough
observation of Indian social life. His work "The Guide" contains
several important Themes :
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is a prominent subject in the work.
Raju has been an immoral guy since the beginning of his existence. As a tour
guide, he misinforms people at will, as if he had no concept of right and
wrong. His remarks raise ordinary old structures to the status of ancient
wonders of architecture while lowering incredible historical accomplishments.
As a tour guide, he tells whatever stories he wants.
He assists Rosie just for his personal benefit
and eventually pretends as a swami, showing his fraudulent character. However,
according to the Hindu idea of karma, Raju will eventually reap the
consequences he deserves. He loses his power and money and is forced to fast,
nearly dying. He seemed to understand that hypocrisy is ethically poisonous and
will ultimately catch up with anybody.
Dishonesty
Raju, the protagonist, has always been
dishonest. As a youngster, he chews green peppermints from his father's
business despite being sternly banned to do so. Growing up, he becomes a tour
guide who deceives and misleads his customers in order to extract more money
from them.
He misleads Rosie into falling in love with him
by telling her everything she wants to hear. He receives a two-year jail term
for forgery. After being released from jail, he disguises himself as a sage in
an old temple distant from his hometown. Even though he is fasting, he consumes
a stack of food disguised in a metal pot on the first day. Raju's dishonesty
runs deep, and it is not until the conclusion of the story that he has to face
up to it.
Materialism
Raju is a highly materialistic individual who
just cares about money and places no emphasis on emotions or feelings. He just
cares about getting money from others. He has no sense of morals or religion,
which allows him to worry entirely about material goods without difficulty. For
him, money is more important than people, and he feels like a failure if he is
not making the most of it.
Finally, his activities bring him to a point
where money is no longer reachable, and he must adjust to his new situation.
Narayan contends that money does not, in fact, provide happiness, and that
people should exercise wisdom when valuing money over other things.
Feminism
Narayan is not a "feminist" writer,
yet his character Rosie exemplifies what current feminists advocated for. Rosie
is an intelligent lady who makes her own decisions. First, she takes the
traditional road of marriage, but she does so to liberate herself from caste
limits.
She does her best to maintain her selfhood in a miserable, patriarchal
marriage, and while she is at her lowest point when she allows Raju to manipulate
her into a relationship . she eventually allows this to serve as a
springboard to achieving her great dream of becoming a dancer. In the end, she
takes care of herself by letting go of Raju and all other baggage and live her
life as she chooses. She isn't the ideal feminine protagonist, but she is a
very contemporary lady.
A Compromise between Moral and Aesthetic Values
To summarise, the work strikes a balance between educational and aesthetic
aspects from a thematic perspective. The book attempts to express some values
in a very lovely manner: the negative consequences of immorality, the people'
blind faith in paying devotion to fake Swamis, and the evil of
commercialization are all mentioned indirectly.
The goal is to educate and entertain, to instruct and amuse. The morals, on the
other hand, are revealed in a softly suggestive manner rather than plain. The
artist did not provide the conclusions; we learned about them at the end of the
novel.
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