The Guide by R. K. Narayan - Essay Example

Th Guid by R. K. Nryn R.K.Nryn cn b bst dscribd s n uthor tht cn simply put humn motions in words. Whil rding his book you will idntify yourslf with ch nd vry chrctr. In Th Guid th uthor is tking us through th lif of child, mn nd finlly guid who in his lif nd dth tchs us in subtl wy th cor of our xistnc. Th uthor criticizs to som xtnt rligious lif nd s rsult rligious ldrship, but it lso giv vry good insights into th Hindu cst systm, nd populr blifs nd rituls in th Hindu rligious trdition. R K Nryn propgts Orintl philosophy in Th Guid, whr th rliztion of th truth coms ftr going through th cid tst of illusion or 'my'. Th story is st in smll town whr th hro is tourist guid nd mts girl who is ccompnid by hr husbnd. H gts fscintd by tht girl nd with his chrm nd tlnt h mngs to gt th girl wy from hr husbnd nd uss hr dncing tlnts to rn mony nd nds in prison nd onc h gts out of th prison h gos in to villg nd strts living nothr fls lif bcus of his chrm nd tlnt th villgrs worship him s god, but how th hro trnsforms himslf in to somon who rlly ttins sttus of GOD. On my opinion, most of th srious thoughts nd ids of th uthor r not stright in this book. To fully undrstnd it, on nds to possss littl bit of mturity to rlly pprcit it, nd I mn mturity in trms of spiritulity. Th grtst problm tht is dpictd in this book is th low qulity of indignous ldrship in his own socity. H dscribs Brhmns s clss or vn politicl group with rsponsibility for th brkdown of trditionl Hindu vlus nd institutions of govrnnc. It should b notd tht Nryn is not dvout Hindu, nd h oftn ccuss Wstrnrs of wrongly supposing tht ll Indins r dply spiritul bings. In his novl Nryn undrtons Gndhism ,whr h points out to th phrs of Vln, "Your pnnc is similr to Mhtm Gndhi's. H hs lft us discipl in you to sv us " (Nryn , p 93). cntrl topic of th novl is th convrsion of Rju from his rol s tour guid to tht of spiritul guid, whr s tour guid nd lovr, h is imptuous, immorl, nd vn hdonistic. s rsult, ftr his imprisonmnt nd wholly trnsformtion h turns into holy, crful nd slf-disciplind mn. Th novl potrys two storis, tht of Rju's rltionship with Rosi, nd tht of Rju's rltionship with th villgrs s holy mn. Th novl thn ltrnts btwn n ccount of Rju's crr s holy mn, which is told in th third-prson, nd Rju's ccount to Vln of his prvious crr s tour guid nd lovr. This dulism of th story is sign of th dulism in Rju's chrctr. Rju is dpictd s sympthtic chrctr throughout th novl. Th illusion in Rju's lif is Rosi, who dtrcts him wy from th dily routin of norml lif. Whn Rju ss hr for th first tim, h dscribs hr by using words lik "complxion not whit, but dusky, which md hr only hlf visibl, s if you sw hr through film of tndr coconut juic" (Nryn ,p 29). It is n opn ndd novl whr nothing is vr rvld. If you think it is right, it will b so. You will probbly sk yourslf if th msk bcom so ovrpowring, tht it tks ovr Rju's rl chrctr nd stblishs it s th truth. Nryn's drk irony is dpictd through th mking of Mhtm in this novl, howvr, Rju's ws cs whr th physicl guid indd bcm spiritul guid, Swmi nd finlly th msk hs tkn ovr th chrctr. No on would sy tht it is simply just pssiv tking ovr, bcus in this cs th chrctr hs cquird th msk nd bcom on with it. Rju's rscu lis in his brvry to ccpt ll his follis nd pologiz for thm. I prsonlly nvr found Rju s immorl bcus in th intil prt, Rosi's sttus s wif is so pitiful tht I lmost wntd Rju nd Rosi to fll in lov. Hnc I don't s Rju's downfll s punishmnt for his immorlity. Rju's trgdy ws tht h could nvr sy no. h just ccptd ll tht ws thrust upon him nd thus plyd diffrnt rols. Hnc h bcm shop ownr, tourist guid nd ltr on n gnt to Nlini lis Rosi's dnc prformnc. Howvr, not tking dcision is dcision in itslf nd indd, if Rju couldn't sy no, lso mns tht h wntd to sy no. Th nding is prhps th most nticing nd I bliv in Rju's trnsformtion from swindlr to sint. If I don't gr with it, I will b stigmtizd s n thist. nd I m nithr, so I will lv th intrprttion of Rju's chrctr for ltr, cus I nd som tim to fully procss th informtion in this novr. But I would lik to bliv tht Rju nvr did. In fct, with flir for drm, I bliv tht it rind just whn Rju fll down, thus rssuring th world of Rju's surrndr nd rscu. So, Th Guid is th story of on mn's journy through lif tht cn b dscribd s journy through mz of illusions nd th chivmnts. Hr w my us th concpt of moksh, or frdom, s sttd by th Hindu philosophr nd thologin Shnkr, who sid tht xistnc is struggl for 'tmn' (th individul slf) to bcom 'Brhmn'* (th pur bing). Nryn is vry succssful in portrying th pculiritis of humn rltionships nd th irony of Indin dily lif, in which modrn urbn xistnc dos not find much in common with ncint trditions. His styl is xtrordinry nd is fully mrkd by spcil humor, grc, nd simplicity t th sm tim. Bibliogrphy: 1. Xingjin, Go. Soul Mountin. Trnsltd by Mbl L. 1990 2. Nryn, R. K. Th Guid. 1975 (First publishd 1958) Read More