Chapter - 14
The Guide

- R.K. Narayan

Question- What are some important themes in the novel 'The Guide'?

Answer - 

Some important themes in the novel are -

(i) Hypocrisy - Hypocrisy is one of the major themes of the novel. Raju is a hypocritical character from the beginning of his life. As a tourist- 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 down grade amazing feats of history. He makes stories out of thin air as the pleases while a tour guide. He helps Rosie only for his own interest and in the end poses as a swami as yet another example of his charlatan nature. According to the Hindu principle of Karma, however, Raju eventually reaps the punishments due. He loses his power and money and is forced into a position where he has to fast and nearly die.

(ii) Dishonesty - The protagonist Raju has always been a dishonest character. 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 tourist to get more money out of them. He misleads Rosie into falling in love with him by telling her all the things she wanted to hear, all for his own interest in getting her into bed. He gets a two year prison sentence for forgery. Coming out of prison, he poses as a sage at a ruined shrine for away from the locality. Even as he fasts, he eats a stack of food hidden away in an aluminium pot on the very first day. Dishonesty is embedded in Raju's very marrow and it is not until the end of the novel that he has to come to terms with it.

(iii) Materialism - Raju is a highly materialistic character. 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 solely care about worldly things without hesitation. For him, money means more than people. Finally his action leads him to a place where money is no longer attainable and he has to orient himself to his new reality. Narayan suggests that money does not, after all, bring happiness and that a person should be careful about how much they value it over other things.

(iv) Transformation - When Raju finishes telling his story to Velan, Raju expects him to snap, but as a blind follower Velan takes it in stride and as merely Raju's past. The fast that Raju guesses that Velan would stop believing him and get pours his heart out shows some sort of growth in his character. At the very end, out of extreme hunger, Raju starts to fast sincerely and avoid all thoughts regarding food and body suffering. Narayan thus suggests that even the most trickster of men can be redeemed.

Rosie is another character in the novel who goes through a transformation. Her change of name makes her transformation. As Rosie, she is a woman longing for husband's approval of love and her doings. But as Nalini, she is a mature independent woman who chooses to live alone peacefully.

(v) Karma - Though he is not violent or evil, Raju is without a doubt an amoral, obnoxious and self-interested character. He's a hypocrite and a liar, a charlantan and a greedy, materialistic person. He uses other people to make himself feel good and to make money. He ignores his obligations, his family and his community to persue what he wants. However, Narayan doesn't allow Raju to continue on like this forever. He shows how Raju's greeds leads him to lose Rosie and his money, his influence and lands in jail. And more than that, he has Raju gig as a holy man result in a real act of redemption and transformation.

(vi) Feminism - Narayan's is certainly not a feminist writer but his character Rosie is a notable one in terms of what contemporary feminists were delvocating for. Rosie is an educated woman who makes her own choices. First she chooses a conventional path of getting married, but she does this so that she can free herself from caste limitations. She does her best to retain her selfhood in a miserable, patriarchal marriage and though she is at her lowest point when she allows Raju to manipulate her into a sexual relationship that she is unsure is the right thing, she eventually lets this become a spring board to attaining her great dream of becoming a dancer. And in the end, of course, she takes care of herself by getting rid of Raju and all other baggage and living her life as she sees fit. She is not a perfect feminine heroine but she is remarkably a modern woman.

(vii) Past and Present - The Guide shows us the intersection of past and present in numerous ways. First, there is the coming of the railroad and the railway station, which changes jobs, communication, travel and more. Second, Rosie is a dancer in the classical manner but it is the conditions of modernity that allow her fame to spread as it does. Her dance, even though, it is classical in theme, is also juxtaposed against Marco's focus on 'dead and decaying things' Rosie sexuality and independence are fully of the modern moment while Marco's paternalism is of the past.

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