Write an essay on the technique of R.K. Narayan.

Ans.

R.K. Narayan’s technique is regarded as that of a craft man and it is obviously related to the technique of drama. The Guide’ has its beginning. middle and end. Conflict arises from the social side but Raju diverts it to immense material attitude. Raju faces his social misfortune and is imprisoned for tow years. Technique of R.K. Narayan is remarkable in The Guide. To a great extent it is due to his present past technique. The present and past do not intermingled with each other. The novel begins with story of Raju as a swami and with the end of the story life of Raju ends. Middle of the novel is concerned with the romance and professional relation between Raju and Rosie. It is by Narayan’s technique that present and past have been presented separately and do not overlap.

The Beginning

In the beginning we see that Raju, a former tourist guide, has been released after two year’s imprisonment. Raju has taken shelter in an old deserted temple on the bank of river Sarayu. He got himself shaved. After the shave the barber told Raju that he looks like a Maharaja. In this way the barber nerves as the chorus which tells us about the ensuing events, Velan. a villager of Mangala comes to Raju and he is very much impressed by the swami and so on. In this way Raju becomes a well recognized saint.

In the same chapter Raju recalls the memories of his past life He thinks of the old shop of his father and his travelling to market with his father in the bullock cart. His father was very found of talking to the customers. Raju’s mother used to narrate the stories of saints. In these moments Raju used to imagine that he himself was a saint, and so on.

Middle of the Novel

This part of the novel is full of dramatic se quences of the work. It starts from the arrival of Rosie at the Malgudi railway station with her husband Marco. As a railway guide, Raju is requested by Rosie to take her to cobra dance. This part pervades to the imprisonment of Raju: There we find two tragic episodes-Raju as a guide and Raju as swami.

The two revolve on their own pivots. Second tragedy of the hero followers the story of Raju as a guide. The cause of first tragedy of the hero is rose, and in the second it is Velan.

An end

The result of the first tragic episode leads the hero into the prison. In this episode the love between hero and heroine is lost. This is due to jealousy of Raju for Marco. One day Raju got a book. Marco was generous enough to acknowledge the help he had received from Raju during his research. Raju hid this book but Rosie came to know about it through a magazine. She accused Raju for concealing the news. Raju again committed a mistake. He became greedy so much so that he did not hesitate to forge Rosie’s signature on a document sent by Marco. He did not even inform to Rosie. Consequently Raju was arrested and finally awarded two year’s imprisonment. This was the tragedy of a social character which was soothed by the comfortable life in prison and by the lenient attitude of superintendent of jail.

In the second tragedy Raju had to sink his life by the circumstances. The fast made him weak enough “I was difficult to hold Raju on this fact as he had a tendency to flop down’. Such was the condition in which we found him at the end. Towards the climax Raju said to Velan. ‘It is raining in the hills. I am feeling it coming up under my feet, up my legs.’ With that he sagged down in the shallow water of the river. To same extent the loss of reputation is redeemed through the second episode. The last words pull him out of the social stigma.

The circumstances are presented in a comical so much so that no serious emotion develops while the under current of humour survives. Dull emotion is cause when Raju goes to prison. The events do not happen naturally but as the results of a deceitful practice. reader’s basic emotion is not replaced by the higher emotions.

Technical Flaw. Absence of agency to comment on the tragedy of the hero may be a technical flaw. In the classical tragedy this is pronounced by chorus, in a novel either by the characters or novelist himself or both. How ever in The Guide’ there are suggestion from Raju’s mother and Gaffur who advise that he must not act in the way he does. Thus the hero lives on his own significance and has no support to climb upto lofty ideals.