Essay Questions for Exam
•
•
•
A How important is the setting of a particular time and place to the development
of the characters? Choose two characters to discuss.
B Discuss one of the following themes in the novel and how it Discuss two
characters
•
–
–
–
–
–
•
•
•
•
The conflict between traditionalism and individualistic values.
Conflict between traditional India and modern India
Quest for self-fulfillment/spiritual fulfillment
Self-deception
Playing the roles that are expected of us.
C Discuss Narayan's narrative technique of using a braided narrative. Why is it
effective and how does it contribute to the novel as a whole?
The Guide as a Hindu work
• Spiritual asscent
• Viney Kirpal’s The Archetypal Four-Stage
Journey according to Hindu philosophy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Student life (bramacharya
Life of the householder (garhasthya
Gradual withdrawl from life (vanaprastha)
Final ascetic surrender of the self ( sannyasa)
Hindu terms
• Maya: role playing
• “The world is a stage, (lila) and people are
merely playing roles.”
• Bhagavad Gita values moral action according
to one’s dhama (duty) even above learning
and acts of piety.
• Critic Viney Kirpal believes that although he is
netiher a mystic or sage, Raju attains moksha
(liberation) through good action, renunciation
of the self, and a return to the life of dharma.
Dharma
• Hindu concept that includes both social duty
and a sense of vocation.
• In the introduction to the novel Michael Gorra
asks how dharma “affects the novelist’s sense
of the relation between plot and character?
Rasipuram Krishnawamy Narayan
1906- 2001
“I'd be quite happy if no more is claimed from
me than being just a story-teller. Only the story
matters, that is all. If readers read more
significance into my stories than was meant
originally, then that's the
reader's understanding of things. But if a story
is in tune completely with the truth of life, truth
as I perceive it, then itt will be automatically
significant."
• A celebrated Indian writer who writes in
English
• Known for his simple and unpretentious
writing
• Was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Guide
Takes place in a fictional town called Magudisome place near Mysore:
“Malgudi is a land of fantasy, not as in a dream,
colored and brilliant; but the reverie of relaxed
awakening, a contemplation of commonness.
Life there is reduced, or elevated, to the lowest
common denominator of living, which remains
the same in nearly all places and times.”
–Nandan Datta (California Literary Review)
• The Rockefeller Foundation selected Narayan for
a travel grant.
• He left for the United States, in October 1956.”
• In the Hotel Carlton, Berkeley, California, Narayan
wrote the most famous of his novels, “The
Guide”. Sometimes he wrote with a typewriter,
sometimes with paper and pen, cooking his own
food on a hot plate in the hotel room every day.
Based on true incident
• A recent situation in Mysore offered a setting for such
story. A severe drought had dried up all the rivers and
tanks; Krishnaraja Sagar, an enormous reservoir feeding
channels that irrigated thousands of acres, had also
become dry, and its bed, a hundred and fifty feet deep, was
now exposed to the sky with fissures and cracks, revealing
an ancient submerged temple, coconut stumps, and
dehydrated crocodiles. As a desperate measure, the
municipal council organized prayers for rains. A group of
Brahmans stood knee-deep in water (procured at great
cost) on the dry bed of Kaveri, fasted, prayed and chanted
certain mantras continuously for eleven days. On the
twelfth day it rained. It was really the starting point of The
Guide.
Agenda
• Looking at benefits of third person pov. How
does it highlight incongruities between action
and thought? How does the objective pov also
support the satirical tone and irony?
Point of View
•
•
•
•
Pay attention to the switch in Point of View
First and third person is used.
Braided pov
Narrative switches from time when narrator
tells us about his childhood and then returns
to the present time of the narrative and his
current problem.
Tone
• Satirical
– the use of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to expose,
denounce or poke fun at human folly.
Humorous
irreverent
Temple near Ghat (steps to river)
Another temple
Bharatnatyam
Dancer
Duel POV
• Ist person Represents voice of the modern
individual with desire for self-assertion
• Third person represents the community and
demand for civic responsibility
• Sympathy and judgment for Raju are in
delicate balance
Techniques
• The shift in points of view highlight the irony
and satire in the novel…
• Naryan is an ironist who uses humor to expose
the absurdity of the situation (this is
accomplished through third person pov)
• 1st person draws sympathy toward Raju
– We see him as a lovable rogue
Technique
• first person narrative during the past action
of the story
• fast forward talking about Rosie. (ch. 1 p.4-8)
• Third person past during the present action
• Cinematic techniques: jump cut, flashback,
flash forward…link between the two periods is
his confession to Velan
1st person
-Subjective
Creates sympathy for Raju
we see him as lovable rouge
Represents the modern voice with
desire for assertion
3rd person
Objective detached view allows
“observation, exposure and deflation.”
Increases the irony between what the
character is perceiving and what is
actually happening.
Represents voice of community/
demand for civic responsibility
“Humor is achieved through this duel narrative shifting reader’s perspective
closer to , and then further away from Raju”. (Middle Distance.)
Third person : Most common for short stories (space, one
reality, one climax, one turning point.)
•
•
•
•
•
Anonymous narrator
eyewitness; confidant,
- One person’s perspective only.
- Can’t enter another person’s internal reality
- 3rd person is the protagonist. It is his or her
conflict
The narrator or lens of the story
• Can travel inside the character, and outside,
making judgements on the character’s actions.
• This can increase the irony between what the
character is perceiving and what is actually
happening.
Advantages of third person
• Immediacy and identification with that
character.
• We are in that character’s story.
In third
• Question of distance
• How close is the narrator?
• In a close third, the narrator is able to move in
and out of the protagonist’s head and
intimately knows the character’s feelings and
thoughts.
•
Advantages of First Person
• 1. All observations must be consistent with what
character knows, see, and believes to be true
about the world.
• 2. Everything is filtered through the
consciousness of the I.
• 3. Tighter focus can limit what is told.
• 4. But 1st person can be exploited in interesting
ways through irony, discrepancy, and
contradiction
• 5. Issues of reliability. How much can the narrator be
trusted? Reliable or Unreliable narrator?
• Advantages of unreliable narrator: gives reader the job
of getting involved.
• Discrepancy of what the narrator says and what the
reader perceives.
• 6.When you have 1st person narrator the I is the
protagonist.
• Central character or observer. When the I is an
observer, there needs to be a reason for telling the
story. The narrator has to be changed in some way.
What they have witnessed has changed them.
• 7. Can’t have a passive protagonist.
1. What do we learn about the Raju?
• appears to be honest.
• he doesn’t like to be stared at, and tells Velan “I’m not
as great as you imagine, just an ordinary man.” (4).
• “old habit of “affording guidance to others”
• his nature to involve himself into interest of others.
• p. 10 “I hope she is uninteresting.” Sense of trouble
with women? Rosie
• P. 14 felt irritated by the responsiblities the villagers
were placing on him.
Ch 1p. 12 pov• “Felt like an actor…(9).”
• “He was of the stuff that disciples are made
of; an unfinished story or an incomplete moral
never bothered him; it was all in the scheme
of life ” (12)
• “Felt he was growing wings (14)’
Raju? How does Narayan take us
to the heart of his character?
1. Braided pov creates delicate balance
between sympathy and judgment:
a Third person(allows more objective view of
character)
b. First person (more subjective, creates
sympathy)
2. Creates a Flawed character who finds
redemption at end (that is debatable)
a. Emerging from jail
b. covets another man’s wife
c. fasts for good of the village
Agenda
• Shared Inquiry: How does pov contriubute to
irony and humor in novel?
• Homework for tomorrow or (Thursday)
• Read hand out on The Guide as a PostColonial novel. Then read chapter 7 and find
examples of your assigned character
Ch 2
• First person past through p. 20
• Then switches back to third person pov
present action
• Raju tries to debunk his own greatness:
• “There is nothing extraordinary in my guess.
Still mistaken for a yogi.
• He realizes “ that he had no alternative; he
must play the rolde that Velan had given him.”
Quick Write
• P. 24: (after the girl agrees to marry)
• “He realized that he had no alternative: he
must play the role that Velan had given him.”
• Describe the significance of this line as it
relates to theme and character.
Ch. 3
• Railroad opens’ symbol of modernity
Ch. 4 Plays the role expected of him
• p. 34: “What can a crocodile do to you if your
mind is clear and you conscience is untroubled?”
• “He was amazed at the amount of wisdom
welling up from the depths of his being.”
•
• “He was hypnotized by his own voice…”
• No one was more impressed with the grandeur of
the whole thing than Raju himself
• (Authorial comment)
• Does the narrator seem to believe that acting
like a holy man can give us holy man
thoughts? Or is he commenting on how
gullible people are when it comes to wanting
to believe in the wisdom of others?
• P. 40: “With the exception of Velan, and a few
others, Raju never bothered to remember
faces or names or even to know to whom he
was talking. He seemed to belong to the world
now. His influence was unlimited.”
•
Chapter 5: Railroad Raju
• When people asked him questions, he never
admitted that he didn’t know
• Doesn’t mean to lie, just trying to be pleasant
• He makes comments about travelers:
• “Travelers are an enthusiastic lot. They do not
mind any inconvenience as long as they have
something to see.”
Scared of the man who acted as “the
examiner”
• Then he played meek and self-effacing
• He learned as he taught
Meet Rosie
• P.48-51
• The cobra:
• “She stretched out her arm slightlyand swayed
it in imitation of the movement; she swayed
her whole body to the rhythm-for just a
second, but that was sufficient to tell me what
she was, the greatest dancer of the century.”
• “I felt annoyed with him at this stage. What
did he take me for?... A tout? It made me ver
angty, but the fact was that I really was a
tout….”
– (someone who solicits business in an annoying
way)
– The next day he ingratiates himself a bit by
offering to ask Rosie to join them on the ride to
the cave.
p.55 Going to the Peak House
• He flirts with Rosie:
• “You may come out as you are and no one will
mind it. Who would decorate a rainbow?”
• Irony: Marco knew everything about the cave
and didn’t need Raju to be his guide
p. 64 History of Rosie’s family
• Raju expresses his love and admiration
• She tells him about the quarrels with her
husband
• She was a temple dancer
• “viewed as public women”
– Not viewed as respectable or civilized.
Rosie went to school
• Earned her master’s in economics
• Saw an ad for a wife that Marco placed
• Is she happy in her marriage?
Ch. 6
• Deepavali (Divali) is the festival celebrating the
return of the sun after the rainy season.
• Sawmiji: ji is an honorific suffix
• Sadhuy: holy man
Part of the comedy
• He is regarded as a sage for making expected
guesses and mouthing certain platitudes.
• Comic irony is obvious in this chapter.
• Raju’s contrived, false mysticism becomes a
problem for him in this chapter.
Ch. 6
• From his perspective: 72
• “They were clearly losing their head. They were
entering a nightmare phase”
– Why does he fail to recognize the severity of the
drought?
– Women tell him that he “must show us the way.”
– He waves his hand and says, “Be peaceful;
everything will be all right; I wil fix it with the gods”
(73).
•
p. 73
• When taken to look at the dead buffalo Raju
learns that the buffalo didn’t belong to
anyone in the village.
– “Raju felt relieved a the possibility of there being
other solutions and explanations.
• Raju says:
– “It must have been bitten by a poisonous insect.”
• Why does he deny the obvious signs?
Fight over the price of rice with the
shopman p. 74
• Conflict develops between relatives of the
man who was attacked by the shopman and
the shopman’s relatives
• How does this affect Raju and his feelings for
the villagers?
POV examples
• P 74
• Velan and his men..
• P77
• Velan’s brother
Read pages
• 82-87 How does 3rd person pov create humor
and irony in these pages? Find examples of
irony and moments of change in Raju’s
thinking
• place a post it by significant passage
• P-pov
• C -change in character
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alex: 85.” Did they expect him to starve? His view of his demands
Peter 84: What was this new subject? He doesn’t know what’s going on
82 he Felt ridiculous playing hide and seek with his feet.
Ben 87 : I am no saint:
Serena 83: he had already had two meals that day.
Natalie: Press dust into my own eyes: maybe I am
Grrace 84: come to attach value to his own words
Stephen: significance of what he says.Casey 86 moved by the recollection
of the crowd touching his feet…moved by their attention
• Peter: got down from his pedestal. “
• N: Velan tries to sitbelow Raju, and Raju moves down so he isn’t seen as
above him
•
•
•
•
•
•
P. 82 He tried to cover his feet.
83: began to feel it right that they should touch his feet
83 Where is the stuff for my Bonda
Allowed to touch my feet: he would press the dust to his eyes
(change) starting to believe that he is the holyt man. Accepting his role
Eva: p. 86:”But he felt moved by the recollection of the villagers touching
his feet.”
• 82-83 POV from both (Nick) Raju is angry that they don’t come/ villagers
are so faithful
• Aidan ( change in Raju: moved by their gratitude. Realizing how much he
means to him.
• Jesse: 87:Begins to be truthful protect himself. + change
• Change: P 84:”To attch value to his own words.”
• Stepped down from his pedastl. The seat had acquired his glamour.
• Joey: Skyler 83: He himsellf… press dust to his eyes creates irony
begins believe in his own glory
• Piper 85: “Did they expect him to starbve?”
• Nick: 85: It is alone that I shall be alone tonight…” The throne had
acquiried authority. Doesn’t want to be seen as amore than he is.
• Khradh. : 82 womean kissing her feet Mahatamah.Not accepting
that position.
• Elizabeth: Helps us understand how ambigious .
• Changes
• Mahida: 84: to attach value to his own words: shift from previous
self.
• Henry: 86 shift: But he moved by the recollection of people trying
to touch feet
• Mikael altrusim
• Olivia 87: Took his seat, Raju sat down. Trying to make himself level
with Velan.
Read 84-85
• He felt that he had worked himself into a
position from which he could not get out.
• He needed to attach value to his own words.
• He now saw the enormity of his own creation.
• He had created a giant with his puny self, a
throne of authority with that slab of stone.
Reactions
• Alarmed at how agitated they were becoming
• Thinks the village people don’t know hot to be
peaceful
• Considers finding a new place.
• Learns that Valen was injured. Did not know
what was expected of him.
– (felt the best thing for them would be to blow one
another’s brains out.)
Reactions continued
• Why doesn’t he go to see Velan?
– People will expect him to visit other injured
• Villagers plan to burn down the houses
• Raju Worried that so much commotion could
attract the police.
• Raju tells Velan’s brother:
• “Not to fight.”
“Unless they are good I’ll never eat.”
• The boy could not understand the connection
• Between the fight and the man’s food.
• The boy said, that Raju’s message was:
“Tell your brother not to bring me any more
food. I won’t eat. If I don’t eat, it’ll be all right;
and then everything will be all right.”
Villagers misinterpret the boy- they
think: p. 79
• If he fasts it will rain.
• “Only great souls that take upon themselves
tasks such as this-”
P. 80-81
• Raju is waiting for his food and gifts and feels
even more satisfied with himself thinking that
people were jubilant over the fact that’he had
prevented a fight.”
• “He felt happy that he had achieved
something, and saved the village.”
82
• “Your prayers will surely be answered and
save our village. Every one of us in the village
prays night and day that you come through it
safely.”
• Now they tell him he is “Mahatma” (great
soul=saint)
Why does he try to cover his feet? (82)
• And then:
• (83) It seemed possible that he himself might
bow low, take the dust of his own feet, and
press it tohis eyes. He began to think that his
personality radiated a glory….”
• “We Derive merit from your face”
– Hindu belief in darshan” by witnessing holy objects
or person, is a spiritual blessing.
• At this point he thinks they are grateful that he
stopped the fight.
Where does he begin to change?
• p. 86: But he felt moved by the recollection of
the big crowd of women and children
touching his feet. He felt moved by the
thought of their gratitude,”
• “By habit, his nature avoided the direct and
bald truth even now. ..I want to know what
has made you think so about me.?”
Snippets? Ch 6
• “I think I’ll look for a new place.”
• “Unless they are good I’ll never eat.”
• I am no saint
“I am not a saint”
• “Raju felt really sorry to be shattering his faith;
but it was the only way in which he could
hope to escape the ordeal.
How does pov help reveal character?
What type of person is Raju?
How is Raju depicted? Techniques of
characterization
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Internal or external representation?
Actions?
Use of Language
Interactions with other characters?
Dialogue?
Symbolism?
Physical description?
Interaction with environment?
Setting?
What character says about themselves
What others say about them
Monday
•
•
•
•
•
Stamp notes
Background
Point of view
Looking for irony and shifts in attitude in ch. 6
Tomorrow: reading day in class ch. 7 answer
study guide questions
• Quiz on Thursday: chapters 1-6 and vocab.
• ( list coming tomorrow)
Agenda
• Read essay on The Guide as a Post-Colonial
Novel when you finish-mark important ideas
that would be useful for exam. What does the
writer say about Narayan’s juxtaposition of :
• Traditional way of life and modernity?
• How does this relate to Rosie, Raju and
Marco?
• Discuss Bharatanatyam dance
Agenda
• Review points of The Guide as a Post-Colonial
Novel
• Characters in Ch. 7: How do they represent
the conflict between traditional India and an
emerging Modern India?
Bharatanatyam Dance
• Classical South Indian Dance
• Performed in temples by a class of dancers
(devadasis)
• Bha' - Bhavam (means expression),
• 'Ra' - Ragam (means music),
• 'Ta - Talam (means beat or rhythm) and
Natyam (means dance) in Tamil.
• The dancer uses the space as her own sacred
temple and brings the audience into her
magical circle as she performs and acts out
stories with Gods and Goddesses from Indian
mythology, folk tales and stories with
emotional content.
• The dance originated 5000 years
• Young girls were dedicated to the temples at
the early age of eight years
• underwent a strict teaching, related to the
arts to fully understand and evoke the
sentiments required of them as dancers.
Devadasis
• Servant of god
• Outlawed in 1988. but parents sell daughters
(usually of the dalit or untouchable cast) into
the practice.
Narayan in a Post-Colonial world
• His early novels show that Indian culture
existed independently of colonial power (108)
• P. 109: Sees intrusion of the modern into
traditional India. Hindu world-view absorbs all
contradictions.
• Sen argues that Narayan does not ignore
distress of poor India (111)
Ch 7 tradition/Modernity
• Emerging theme of transformation and selffulfillment.
• Characters in Ch. 7: How do they represent
the conflict between traditional India and an
emerging Modern India?
Sen asserts on 117 that Narayan Navigates the “contradictions of the
post-colonial world. He is not only aware of the inevitability of change,
but also of the problems that attend the processes of change in a
traditional society.”
How is this true in The Guide? How are the situations and the main
characters a reflection of changing times in Post-Colonial India? (1948)
2 What other significant pts do we learn about them?
Four groups
• Rosie:
• Raju
• Marco
• Raju’s mother
Four groups
1.What do we learn about your character?
2 Find examples of the conflict between traditional
India and post-colonial India.
3. Examples of self-fulfillment.
2. Where is there a discrepancy between Raju’s
attitude and the reader’s sense that his account is
shaded by self interest?
3.Where in ch. 7 would you like to hear Rosie’s or
Marco’s side of the story?
Rosie 7th hr
• After all he has been so good to me. Traditional value of DUTY!!
Yet, she has freedom. Name is a western name…Changes It so that
it sounds more traditional. Before she was rich and
famous…dreamed of having riches, but found a balance.
• She takes the traditional dance and makes it a career.
• Has college education. Finds fulfillment through tradition. RajuStarts trying to be a ‘modern’ business man, but finds fulfillment by
becoming a guru. Marco-Marries outside caste, indicating
progressive, but still treats wife poorly. Scientific man who loves
history.
• Feels guilty after cheating, so tries to be a better wife to alleviate
guilt.
• Spiritual quests are started by others-guides.
• 5th hr Rose: dancer of traditional dance,
commercialization
• Practices traditional dance, but has a western
name..Nalini. Balance She escaped her duty as a
dancer, but she returns to it. Example of Rosie acting
like a modern woman: xcheating
• Degree Masters in economics Even after Raju is put in
jail she continues to dance and is still successful.
Unmarried, independent
• After all he is my husband… she gives him
respect…traditional view of marriage. Her duty as a
wife
• Rosie embodies india they are both attempting to find
success in amodern world through traditonal methods.
Rosie comes from a traditional background of
devadasi, but seems modern in respects:
• Caste
• MA in economics
• Torn between duty to husband and her own selffulfillment as a dancer
• Feels guilty over affair and tells Marco 93-95
• Art form is very old, she performs it as a cultural art
form outside of its origin
Though modern, desires affection from husband.
7th Raju
• RAJU!! Pg 90-Somethimes felt like in rags-something… not
modern enough…invest in hair face lotion. Wants to appear
modern. Abandons arranged marriage for personal gain.
Begins to be concerned with other’s feelings, but this is
because HE doesn’t want to see others in pain.
• Doesn’t care for Marco. Almost pities Marco. Then resumes
being jerk.
• Raju defies mother. (Individualism vs Collectivism).
• Railway RAJU!! RAJU!! like the train. RAJU!! Embodies
modernization.
• Selfish, individualistic. Contrasts with father’s
traditionalism.
Raju
• Reinventing himself
• Railway Raju, tourist guide, business manager
for Rosie , swami
• Raju (Raillway Raju) Places self interest over
tradition and society.
• could serve for a symbol for the changing
identity of India
Raju
• Railroad Raju…represents the modern with a
more traditional
• P. 90: Clothes: he dresses in a more modern
fashion to attract Rosie
• Railroad is a symbol of modernization..line of
work
• first pov: depicts Marco as focused on work
only. Neglectful husband
5th hr Marco
• 89: all practical affairs of life seem impossible
to him.
• Focuses on the past of India…bit out of place
in the modern age.
• Wealthy, higher solcial classVery authoritative.
Bossing others around
Marco 7th hr
• Symbolizing western orientation. Archaeologist, celebrates western
science but has reverence for ancient things. Ignores caste
prejudice to marry Rosie. Breaks REALLY BIG barrier to marry her.
• Still remains traditional in patriarchal behavior. Very controlling,
denies Rosie her freedom. Third cave… musical notation.. Figure..
Puzzled (98) Ignores Rosie’s knowledge of traditional music. Pg 115not branch of learning, street acrobatics.. Discuss something…
dance like… what creativity?... Monkey... Trick. THEME! PAST!
PRESENT! EFFECT! AFFECT!
• RAJU!! COLORS PERSPECTIVE. Don’t know how Marco feels. Marco
acts reserved when learning about affair.
• Absolutely helpless… Impractical… could barely even buy a ticket.
Marco
• Man of science
• Contradiction: marries out of caste, but
ignores wife’s desire
• P. 115 (Doesn’t see any thing intelligent or
creative in her dancing.)
Raju’s mother
• RAJU!!’s Mother.
• My mother came out of the kitchen… smiled..
Asked kindly. Taken aback by name Rosie…
• Looked anguished for a moment, didn’t know
how to accommodate someone named Rosie
• Whispered… snake woman.. Couldn’t stand Rosie
because of her caste
• RAJU!!’s mother very traditional. Doesn’t
understand Rosie. Gives very traditionalist advice
to Rosie.
5th hr Raju’s mother
•
•
•
•
Traditional views toward women
“Who has come with you?”
“Girls Today.” (141)
Traditional Hindu woman, denied public
exposure. Prohibited and afraid to go out
alone…Rosie is not.
• Thinks Rosie (a tainted woman) should return
to her husband after she hears gossip from
other women. 121
agenda
• Finish Raju’s mother
• Write intro on the setting
• Silent conversation
• 4 passages.
• Monday: Quiz
• Socratic Seminar
• After seminar Read article and see if it changes
their mind
Raju’s Mother
• She enforces the idea of being subserviant in a
marriage to men.
• “Girls today how courageous you are. “
• She follows more traditional values
• The Wife’s resposibility to bring the husband
aroud.
• She thinks Rosie should just fall at his feet.
Raju’s mother
• Traditional
• She never left the house before, her
responsibilities are in the kitchen
• 110: these girls are doing all these brave
things.
• Who is with you? Where is Mr. Rosie. 112:
invites Rosie to well…
(exam question ’06)
• The characters of a novel can only be
individulaized if they are set in a background
of particulari time and place.
• How important is the setting of a particular
time and/or place to the development of the
characters?
• On you homework write a brief introduction
to this question based on either the character
you discussed today or another.
Comments on Intros
• Get to the question right away in topic
sentence
• What type of setting?
• post colonial setting…
Which character will you discuss?
• Two points of discussion and his purpose
In intro…
The particular setting of The Guide by R.K.
Narayan is essential to the development of the
characters. The setting of post-colonial India
contributes to the transformation of his main
character, Raju, who
Points of discussion could choose one or two
Traditional vs. modern society
Community vs. individual desires
Transformation and self-fulfillment
Silent conversation
• When you are done, annotate your passage
and use the guiding question to address the
theme of self-fulfillment and transformation
in the novel
• Write your key insight at bottom.
Switch passage with group member
• Read the passage and the comments made by
the other person
• Add your comments, or add to their
comments.
• Highlight or circle any other lines that also
seem significant.
• Continue ….
Key insights
• Passage A:
-there’s a comparison of rosie to post-colonial India, modernizing yet
sticking to tradition
-there is a discrepancy between what Raju thinks is happening and
what is actually happening (he thinks one thing—about Rosie—when in
fact she’s moved on)
-the moment where Rosie is transformed—from being reliant on
Marco and Raju to being self-reliant and independent
-3rd line: Rosie says she’ll give him something to get him out of jail
but after that she wants him to leave her alone once and for all, to be
truly independent
Passage B:
-self fulfillment for Raju—he’s working with his hands and
connecting to the land. He says he wishes he hadn’t spent all the money
on buying a lawyer, and had accepted full sentence because he wouldn’t
have minded taking all the years in prison
Key insights 7th hr
• Passage A: RAJU!! knows that Rosie has the
potential to be successful even though she
under estimates herself. Tradition/Modern.
Self fulfillment: Dance. “Neither marco nor I
had any place in her life….” Rosie just needed
someone to recognize her capability.
• Passage B: Find fulfillment in prison. “forget
the walls and you will be happy.” Considers
himself more free in prison. Uses loving
diction to describe the growth of the plants.
• The particular setting of The Guide by R.K.
Narayan is essential to the development of the
characters. The setting of post-colonial India
contributes to the transformation of his main
character, Raju, who…
– Give examples of two of the settings and how they
relate to character development
– Villages Malgudi/Mangal
The particular setting of The Guide by R.K. Narayan
is essential to the development of the characters. The
setting of post-colonial India contributes to the
transformation of his main character, Raju, who
symbolizes the contradictions and ironies of a modern
nation emerging from colonial rule.
Raju embodies the modern ambitions of a young
nation, but he is also cast into the role of a swami and
forced to play the traditional part of a religious man in
order to save a village from drought. Narayan
juxtaposes Mangal and Malgudi to reveal the tension
between community needs and individual desires,
and to show that transformation and self-fulfillment
of character is specifically linked to a particularized
time and place.
Agenda
• “Reversal of Fortune”
– Turning point of the character. A point at which
the plot takes an unexpected turn for the
protagonist
Looking at introductions for Paper 2
Practice
Homework: Annotate book. Transformations and
themes.
Agenda
• Socratic Seminar (25 minutes)
– Does Raju find redemption at the end?
The Guide as a Hindu Work (10)
Read..essay on theme/titledoes it change your opinion?
• Voc Quiz (8 minutes)
• Thursday: E110 google/docs and print out essay
– Book and notes allowed, but not critical essay
• Topics are on board
Socratic Seminar
• Opening question: ten second response:
Which theme most interested you in the
novel?
• What would be another good title for the
book?
• Who is the guide in the novel?
Does Raju achieve redemption?
• Yes, because he came clean to Velan for all of his sinsforgiveness
• Yes, through doing something for other people- he got
nothing out of it
• Just doing his job, not doing what he wants, which is
what dictates his actions in the early part of the novel
• He’s acting completely selflessly now
• Emotinoally and physically drained, but still helping
and accepting help
• Light symbolism, rebirth- renewed or reborn as a
spiritual leader, held as a child, baptism, river and
water
Redemption?
• The grinch grew to be a caring person, Raju’s humanity- his
heart grew three sizes that day
• Truly altruistic towards the end of the novel
• Third person makes it less about sympathy, more about
honest truth
• Acting for wholly selfless reasons
• Endurance and journey to seek what is true
• Affect Raju has on other people, and how much he’s
learned
• Always referred to by title, even by third person narrator
• Hated fasting, until the American asked him
• Not redeemed- only going along for his own
personal benefit, conceit, doesn’t
acknowledge what he’s done wrong
• Admits he isn’t a saint, he’s made a mistake
• Raju is the empty vessel, he knows he isn’t
special
How do the following quotes apply to
Raju’s transformation? Or not?
• … “Forget the walls, and you will be happy”
(181).
• “An empty vessel makes much noise.”
• Empty vessel- god, empty demonstrates no
connection, he makes noise through his words,
but with no enforcement
• Tour guide- he knew nothing, but made noise
• He lost his self-control, controlled rosie, Velan has
taken away his power, was forced to take it but
did it thoroughly and intentionally
• What is redemption? He has changed is what
counts
• He says nothing at the end, so it implies he is a
full vessel- much different than the beginning
• Did his experiences with Rosie help him
evolve?
• Traditionalism vs modernism, thought Rosie
was a traditional woman, but he discovered
modern elements
• What is the relationship between Velan and
Raju?
• Some people are born to greatness, some
have it handed to them, some are ‘guided’ to
it. Velan guided Raju
• Raju has been living with himself, but he does
not know who he is until the end
Closing question
• Read the essay on theme and title and write
on the back of your ticket if the essay
reinforced your opinion, or persuaded you to
change your original answer and why?
The Guide as a Hindu work
• Spiritual asscent
• Viney Kirpal’s The Archetypal Four-Stage
Journey according to Hindu philosophy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Student life (bramacharya)
Life of the householder (garhasthya)
Gradual withdrawl from life (vanaprastha)
Final ascetic surrender of the self ( sannyasa)
The ending is ambiguous
• “Velan, it’s raining in the hills. I can feel it
coming up under my fee, up my legs-” He
sagged down.”
• Is it raining or is Raju delusional? Why does
Narayan end the novel this way?
Hindu terms
• Maya: role playing
• “The world is a stage, (lila) and people are
merely playing roles.”
• Bhagavad Gita values moral action according
to one’s dhama (duty) even above learning
and acts of piety.
• Critic Viney Kirpal believes that although he is
netiher a mystic or sage, Raju attains moksha
(liberation) through good action, renunciation
of the self, and a return to the life of dharma.
Themes
The conflict between traditionalism and individualistic
values.
Conflict between traditional India and modern India
Quest for self-fulfillment/spiritual fulfillment
Self-deception
Playin the roles that are expected of us.
How do Raju’s fortunes begin to
change?
• “Reversal of Fortune”
– Turning point of the character. A point at which
the plot takes an unexpected turn for the
protagonist
How is Rosie beginning to transform/
Groups
• dissect question
• In groups which books would work best for
this with The Guide as one choice?
• Make an outline of answers. Keep this.
Agenda
• Outline introductions
• Writing in class
• Finish book for tomorrow:
– Answer assigned question on handout
3 points of comparison
• Point of comparison #1
– Novel 1
– Novel 2
• Point of comparison #2
– Novel 1
– Novel 2
• Point of Compaison #3
– Novel 1
– Novel 2
The characters of a novel can only be
individulaized if they are set in a background of
particularised time and place.
How important is the setting of a particular time
and/or place to the development of the
characters? Refer to at least two novels or short
stories.
Outline Lighthouse/The Guide
Points of comparison
Traditional vs. modern society
1 Mrs. R pre WWl/Lily post WW1
2Railway Raju in Malgudi and swami in Mangal
Community vs. individual desires
Mrs. R as hostess-mother/Lily Painter
1Raju: food and board/villagers
2Transformation and self-fulfillment
1 Lily becomes painter
2. Raju swami finds redemption
The particular settings of To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
and The Guide by R.K. Narayan are essential to the development
of the main characters in both novels. Woolf’s setting of pre and
post WW1 England create an historical context by which two
characters, Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, show the changing roles
of women. Mrs. Ramsay represents the traditional Victorian role
expected of women before the war. She is contrasted with Lily
Briscoe, her foil, who symbolizes the more modern and
independent woman seen after the war. R.K. Narayan’s setting of
post-colonial India is also essential to the character development
of his protagonist, Raju, who symbolizes the contradictions and
ironies of a modern nation emerging from colonial rule. Raju
embodies the modern ambitions of a young nation, but he is also
cast into the role of a swami and forced to play the traditional
part of a religious man in order to save a village from drought.
Both Woolf and Narayan use specific settings to reveal the
tension between community needs and individual desires, and
to show that transformation and self-fulfillment of character is
specifically linked to a particularized time and place.
Agenda
• HL exam marks
• Discuss end of book-passages
• How does ending resolve issues raised in the
book?
• Tomorrow:
– Socratic seminar
– Is Raju a real saint or is he fake?
Comments on Intros
• Get to the question right away.
• What type of setting?
– The pre-colonial and post colonial setting…
– .post slavery setting,
– setting of an economically depressed town,
• Connect pov to shifting place or setting
• Use the word setting. The natural backdrop of
the ocean setting in….
• Novels need to be underlined. Short stories need
to be put in quotes.
• The short story “Fog” from the collection of short
stories The Turning….
• Mention the characters and in which novels
they appear.
– Both Roseie from The Guide and Lily from To the
Lighthouse represent characters who find selffulfillment and independence due to the changes
taking place in their society.
The Title?
• Discuss the different associations with the
title.
• How does it apply to the novel and its
characters?
• .
Choose one prompt
•
A How important is the setting of a particular time and
place to the development of the characters? Choose two.
B Discuss the theme of transformation and self-fulfillment
in the novel
•
•
C . Discuss Narayan's narrative technique of using a
braided narrative. Why is it effective and how does it
contribute to the novel as a whole?
The Title?
• Discuss the different associations with the
title.
• How does it apply to the nove and its
characters?
First Person
• 1. All observations must be consistent with what
character knows, see, and believes to be true about
the world.
• 2. Everything is filtered through the consciousness of
the I.
• 3. But 1st person can be exploited in interesting ways
through irony, discrepancy, and contradiction
• 4. Issues of reliability.
– How much can the narrator be trusted? Reliable or Unreliable
narrator?
-Discrepancy of what the narrator says and what the
reader perceives.
subjective
Activity: Report on characters
In chapter 7 the action revovles around Raju, Rosie
and Marco. What do we learn about each
character? Keep in mind we are looking at Rosie
and Marco through Raju’s eyes
Hindu Cosmology
• Brahma: the creator
• Vishnu: the preserver
• Shiva: the destroyer
• How might this relate to the story?
• Maybe it doesn’t…but the idea of the trinity is
interesting.
Homework
• Review vocabulary and notes on The Guide for
test tomorrow
• Read chapter 9
Thursday
• 1.How does Narayan achieve humor?
• 2.How does braided narrative reveal humor
and irony in the novel?
• 3. How is third person pov used and to what
effect?
• 4. How is first person pov used and to what
effect?
After test
• Read quietly until everyone is finished (finish
the novel for Monday)
– You can either answer the study guide questions
in packet or write down three significant passages
And explain why you chose them
• “The Reluctant Guru”
– How is he transformed at the end?
– Small groups will read passages and discuss their
meanings for the class (character developmemt?
Theme? Technique?)
Is the ending ambiguous?
• There is a slight shift in the way the narrator
addresses Raju. Did anyone notice that?
• Why the Hollywood producer?
Does he find redemption?
• Why is Velan so important to the story?
Quick write: Title?
What is ironic and/or significant about the title?
The Guide as a Hindu work
• Spiritual asscent
• Viney Kirpal’s The Archetypal Four-Stage
Journey according to Hindu philosophy
1.
2.
3.
4.
Student life (bramacharya
Life of the householder (garhasthya
Gradual withdrawl from life (vanaprastha)
Final ascetic surrender of the self ( sannyasa)
Hindu terms
• Maya: role playing
• “The world is a stage, (lila) and people are
merely playing roles.”
• Bhagavad Gita values moral action according
to one’s dhama (duty) even above learning
and acts of piety.
• Critic Viney Kirpal believes that although he is
netiher a mystic or sage, Raju attains moksha
(liberation) through good action, renunciation
of the self, and a return to the life of dharma.