The Guide Notes

Published in 1958, The Guide is a novel by Indian author

R.K. Narayan set in the fictional South Indian town of
Malgudi. It follows the life of an Indian man, Raju, as he
evolves throughout his life to become one of the most
prominent holy men in India.
The Guide has won R.K. Narayan several awards, including
but not limited to the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960. As
well, the book has been adapted into both a movie and a play
of the same name.
Characters
Raju
Raju, the protagonist and at times the narrator, the son of a
poor shopkeeper from the village of Malgudi. His character
undergoes various transformations as he goes from
shopkeeper to guide (“Railway Raju”), to lover, to impresario
(manager of Rosie’s career as a dancer), to a prisoner, to
impostor (fake guru), to perhaps genuine swami or mahatma
(the highest of the Hindu spiritual leaders). Raju is clever,
and although he succumbs to the temptations of luxury when
Rosie succeeds as a dancer, he does offer her the chance to
do what she has always wanted, and his love for her appears
to be genuine. On the other hand, his forgery of her name,
even if it is not for profit but to sustain their relationship, is
unwise, and his initial willingness to assume the role of a
guru simply to be fed suggests he may be just another con
man. Readers must decide for themselves about the reality
and depth of Raju’s transformation by the end of the novel.
Raju is a materialist and a man of surface emotions. He does
not believe in old cultures. Social responsibility is none of
his concern. But on the other hand, he was a kind-hearted
man. It is his kindness for Rosie that he accepts her, and for
the villagers for whom he fasted for twelve days, for Marco
that even after his release from jail he did not try to take
revenge on Marco.
From the beginning of the story, he always making fool of
people but when he saw people fighting and killing others,
just for food and water. He got attached to their emotions
and he feels their pain. It leads to his enlightenment and he
becomes a real holy man.
Rosie
Rosie is the daughter of a dancer and therefore belongs to a
lower caste. She did not marry Marco out of love but
because of his social status. She was fond of dancing. Later
on, she attains popularity as a dancer by performing on the
stage. Due to her devotion and hard work she attains
greater recognition as a dancer than her husband gets as a
scholar. She is a woman of independent mind and thinking.
She is ambitious. At times she appears to be a mature
woman but at other, she behaves like a child. She is more of
a dreamer than a real one. Materialism is not of her concern.
She is an agitated soul and suffers from an inferiority
complex because of her low birth. At last, she decides to live
alone, abandoning Raju also.
The character of Rosie is symbolic of a state of conflict. She
is a person torn between traditional norms and the desire
for liberation. Rosie belongs to a family of Devadasis, women
dedicated to a life of being temple dancers. She challenges
her socially stigmatized identity by acquiring a university
degree in economics. Her decision to marry Marco, a man of
academic interests, is primarily motivated by a desire to step
out of the Devadasi fold.
Marco
Marco is Rosie’s husband. He expected from his wife
understanding, mature behavior, and the capacity to live
independently. She wants love from Marco but he had no
time even for looking to the needs of his wife. He never
respects her desires as she always wanted to be a dancer.
Marco hates dancing and he always insults her by calling
her daughter of a dancer and she felt inferior to him despite
her education. However, he is a very honest and sincere
scholar. His sincerity towards his work leads him to get his
book published. He left jewelry for Rosie even when he
knows that she already left him and not going to live with
him. Marco is an unsuccessful husband but a successful
scholar.
Velan
Velan is a superstitious man who believes in saints and
miracles because during 60s of 20th century India, most of
the villagers believe in these things, they think only God or
their disciple can save them from their poverty, and other
calamities. Velan was expecting the same from Raju. He is a
good friend of Raju, but he got blind by the edification and
preaches of Raju, he still believed in Raju when he told the
truth of his past life, and he said It does not matter what a
man was instead what matters the most is what a man is. It
shows his immense faith in Raju.
Velan’s Sister
Velan’s Sister is the third woman character in the novel. She
is a minor character but she played a major role in Raju’s
life as a saint. It was she who makes Raju popular in the
village by accepting the proposal of the groom that his
brother chooses for her. This transformation surprised Velan
and confirms that Raju is a holy man.
Gaffur
Chauffeur and a good friend of Raju.
Symbols
Water
At the very end of the narrative, water becomes the symbol
of purification. When Raju gets down to his spot in the water
to perform his morning prayer for the last time in the novel
all too weak but sincere, suddenly he says that he can feel
“it’s raining in the hills, I can feel it coming up under my
feet, up my legs-“ and that apparently marks his
transformation and purification. The water is the symbol of
purification here as Raju leaves his dishonest past behind.
The water washes away the impurities of his soul.
Archaeologist
Rosie’s husband Marco is an archaeologist who finds
abandoned caves to research ancient human civilizations
with great interest. But he just can’t understand his wife’s
mind and what she wants. From what is projected in the
novel, their married life lacked intimacy of all kinds, and
that never bothered Marco. His being an archaeologist is a
paradoxical symbol as he studies the dead enthusiastically
but has no interest in socializing with living human beings.
His reluctance lets his wife, Rosie fall in love with Raju
under his nose.
Nataraja
The Nataraja statue comes up matter-of-factly on various
occasions in the novel and it symbolizes dancing as a holy
thing which contradicts the fact that dancer Rosie was from
a lower cast of the Hindu society. Neither she was ever
encouraged to take up dancing let alone as a career.
Nataraja or “the lord of dance” is a form of the Hindu god,
Shiva whose dance is mostly destructive in kind. This symbol
marks Rosie’s rebellion against social traditions and norms
through embracing her true calling; dancing. In the
destructive mode, she breaks all the shackles and becomes
free.
Sheep
Flocks of sheep grazing behind a shepherd outside the old
shrine Raju chose to meditate in, is the narrator’s clue that
people also do almost the same. Soon the villagers take Raju
to be some divine sage and started flooding in and crowding
in front of the shrine. The sheep allegory is quite significant
in the context of the time and places the novel refers to
when it comes to people blindly following a certain someone
in the name of religion.
Crocodile
The crocodile motif is very prominent throughout the novel
as a crocodile is referred to quite a few times. There is a
subtle indication at one point of the narrative that Raju
might be the mythical crocodile none had ever seen but all
fear which the villagers believe live near the bank the old
shrine was on; Raju starts living in the shrine as an imposter
sage. Later the crocodile motif develops with time and gives
a clear indication towards it actually refers to societal norms
and ideologies. When the crocodile dies and male and female
jewelry is found in its belly in unequal amounts, it becomes
clear that this crocodile is the society that eats alive the
females more often than the males, stripping them of their
personalities and uniqueness.
Themes
Transformation
Raju, the protagonist and at times the narrator, is the son of
a poor shopkeeper from the village of Malgudi. His
character undergoes various transformations as he goes
from shopkeeper to guide (“Railway Raju”), to lover, to
impresario (manager of Rosie’s career as a dancer), to a
prisoner, to impostor (fake guru), to perhaps genuine swami
or mahatma (the highest of the Hindu spiritual leaders).
Rosie is another character in the novel that goes through a
transformation as well. Her change of name marks her
transformation. Named Rosie, she is a wife longing for a
scholar of husband’s love and attention, a passionate dancer
waiting on her husband’s approval, later becoming a
renowned dancer with a help of Raju and a girl falling in
love with a hypocrite of a man. But named Nalini, she is a
mature independent woman who chooses to live alone
peacefully, even leaving behind her dancing career and
Raju.
Materialism
Raju is a highly materialistic character, as he only hankers
after money and does not at all value any emotion or feeling.
He tricks people to extract money out of them and that is all
that matters to him. He lacks all sense of morality or religion
and that permits him to care about worldly things only
without any hesitation.
Dishonesty
The protagonist, Raju, has always been a dishonest
character throughout his life. As a child, he eats the green
peppermints from his father’s shop even though he was
strictly forbidden to. Growing up, he becomes a tour guide
who misinforms and misguides his tourists to get more
money out of them. He misleads Rosie to fall in love with
him although he felt nothing for her telling her all the things
she wanted to hear all for his own interest. He gets a two
years sentence for forgery. Coming out of prison, he poses
as a sage at a ruined shrine far away from the locality. Even
as he fasts, he eats a stack of food hidden away in an
aluminum pot on the very first day.
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is one of the major themes of the novel. Raju is a
hypocritical character from the very beginning of his life. As
a tour guide, he misinforms the tourists at will as if he has
no sense of right or wrong. His words turn normal old
buildings into ancient works of architecture and downgrade
amazing feats of history. He makes stories out of thin air as
he pleases as a tour guide. He helps Rosie only for his own
interest and in the end, poses as a swami as part of another
one of his trickery.
Justify the title
Raju was a tour guide, tried guiding Rosie’s career as a
dancer, and posed as a sage who is supposed to guide
people to spirituality. He as the title character or
protagonist never quite succeeds in his responsibility and
rather violates the definition of guidance to being with
where Velan, a very trivially focused character literally and
symbolically guides the protagonist to his transformation.
Narrative Technique
Narayan uses the interesting technique of a varied narrative
perspective. The story shifts back and forth between first
and third-person narrative; at times it is Raju, the main
character speaking, and at other times the story is told from
the point of view of an omniscient narrator. The author also
utilizes cinematic elements such as flashbacks and jump
cuts.
When we first encounter Raju, he is about to meet Velan,
and he is seen at this point from the perspective of an
omniscient narrator. Then Raju takes over the narrative
chores and relates his progress from sweetmeat seller to
jailbird to Velan. In between, the omniscient narrator
punctuates Raju’s narrative by showing him dealing with the
villagers as a holy man.
The Guide divided into two parts, narrates Raju’s childhood,
love affair, imprisonment (first part) and growth into a
swami (second part). Though the streams move
simultaneously, the first part is set in Malgudi. Raju’s past
and the second part is set in Mangla, Raju’s present. While
Raju’s past in Malgudi is narrated by Raju himself, his
present in Mangla is narrated by the author.
R.K. Narayan is a novelist of common people and common
situations. His plot of The Guide is built of material and
incidents that are neither extraordinary nor heroic. The
Guide is a story of Raju’s romance, his greed for money, his
sin and repentance. It is also the story of everyman’s growth
from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the railway
guide to the spiritual guide.
Narayan has a gift for sketching pen pictures that bring
scenes and characters vividly to life without taking recourse
to ornate or excessive description. Narayan’s simplicity of
language conceals a sophisticated level of art. Narayan
handles language like an immensely flexible tool that
effortlessly conveys both the specific as well as symbolic and
the universal. The tone of The Guide is quiet and subdued.
Thus the use of flashbacks, common lifestyle, comedy,
language, and the double perspective, Raju and the novelist
makes the novel fresh stimulating, provocative and
interesting.
Indianness
Hospitality, Indian poverty, Indian villages, illiteracy,
Temple, River, The faith, Railway station, Sanyasi/Swami
The Guide reveals the Indian way of life and also the
culture and tradition of India. R.K. Narayan has used
typical Indian characters and Indian atmosphere to
portray Indian culture. The main characters of this
novel are Raju, Rosie and Marco. R.K. Narayan has
given a true social picture of India through ‘The Guide’. The
traits of Indian manners and customs are also reflected in
this novel. Hospitality of Indians is a well known trait all
over the world. Narayan has given a clear picture of
India at the time of narration without idealizing the
country and he has not also condemned it. The poverty
of India has been reflected with a personal touch of the
author. The villagers are shown as suffering from poverty
and ignorance and their illiteracy has been reflected as the
root cause for all their sufferings. There are as gullible and
kind hearted as any Indian village habitats.
Narayan represented Indianness through symbols also
in many of his novels. In The Guide Narayan has used
symbols which represent typical Indian tradition and
culture. The Temple, River, The faith and the excessive
innocence represents the old nature of Indian culture. The
busy Railway Station as portrayed by the Narayan
originally symbolizes the upcoming of the new culture
and tradition. It represents the beginning of the modernity
into Malgudi. The unwilling fast underwent by Raju is a
symbol that indicates that a fake sanyasi has started his real
sacrifice to the welfare of the Mangala villagers. The
appearance of the swami represents the characteristics of
an Indian swami as well.
The traits of Indian manners and customs are also reflected
in this novel. Hospitality of Indians is a well known trait all
over the world. Indians are known for their custom of
hospitality and altruism. Rosie has been accepted in
Raju’s house after being abandoned by her husband and
Raju has been easily sheltered by the villagers of Mangala
with the utmost honor of a sage.