Research Topic:

Comparative Study of transformation between R.K. Narayan's “The

Guide” and Franz Kafka's “The Metamorphosis”

Contents
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Hypothesis
4. Methodology
5. Literature Review
6.0 Discussion
6.1 R. K. Narayan
6.1.1 Life and Works
6.1.2 Childhood & Early life
6.1.3 Creating a Small-Town World
6.1.4 Making the Mundane Extraordinary
6.2 Life and Works of Franz Kafka
6.2.1 Early Years
6.2.2 Education
6.2.3 Work Life
6.2.4 Love and Health
6.2.5 Works: 'The Metamorphosis,' 'The Castle' and 'Amerika'
7.1 Short Summary of “The Guide” by R.K. Narayan
7.1.2 The Metamorphosis of Raju in R. K Narayan’s The Guide
7.1.3 A Study of the Character Rosie in the Novel “The Guide” by R.K. Narayan
7.1.4 Use of Irony in R. K. Narayan’s ‘The Guide’
7.1.5 R.K. Narayan's Narrative Technique in his The Guide
7.1.6 Narayan’s Use of Humor in his The Guide
8.1 The Metamorphosis Analysis
8.1.1 Franz Kafka Short Story Criticism and “A Hunger Artist” Criticism.
8.1.2 Plot and Major Characters
8.1.3 Critical Reception

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9. Findings
9.1 Evaluation of Selected Novels
10. Conclusion
11. Bibliography

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 Abstract
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami was the epitome of creative writing in India.
His novels have a bi-cultural outlook in which the conflict between the ancient Indian
traditions with its values on the one side and modern western values on the other side were
obvious. He had compassionate attitude towards women though he was conservative in
outlook and temperament. His first Sahitya Akademi Award winning novel The Guide is the
spiritual odyssey of a human world. The three major characters Marco, Rosie and Raju were
concerned with the revival of native Indian undying faith in God and integrity. Rosie
epitomizes an Indian woman oscillating between tradition and modernity but she is quite
successful aesthetically, personally and socially in her dancing. This paper deals with the
emergence of a novel woman from being a modest lady to a self-reliant woman, as exposed
through the character Rosie. It is also an attempt to assess how effectively the novel displays
and treats the variance between the East–West theme, a perennial one in Indo-Anglian
fiction. The story of The Metamorphosis is easily told. It is the story of a travelling salesman
by the name Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning transformed into hideous and
monstrous vermin; he of course retains the human faculties of thinking and feeling, he is held
prisoner and hidden by his family in his room. Finally, he slowly goes to his ruin and
annihilation. From this bare and sketchy outline, it is clear that like almost all other works of
Kafka The Metamorphosis also has to be read not as an instance of realistic writing but as an
allegorical piece. The story depicts a situation which should be seen as a poetic image which
has an emotive appeal and immense interpretative possibilities. This Study attempts to
examine Kafka’s work from philosophical and psychological perspectives. Specifically, the
works will be seen as Existential and psychological allegories.

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1. Introduction
This current study is a comparative analytical research where the transformation that took
place between R. K. Narayan’s “The Guide” and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” are
discussed in detail. In these two novels, we see the transformation of Raju, the protagonist of
The Guide, from a guide to a monk and the transformation of Gregor Samsa from "The
Metamorphosis" into an insect. As the main characters in both stories change, they are forced
to face family, social, emotional and economic setbacks, and in the end, it is shown that none
of them can cope with the situation and return to normal.
The comparative analysis of the two selected stories in this study is mainly based on the plot
of the story, character analysis, the compatibility of the story with the biography of the
writers, the image of the social system of the time and the adaptation used in both stories. In
the plot of "The Guide" and "The Metamorphosis" we basically notice the transformation of
the character. Based on this transformation, the two writers lead the story to a conclusion
where the story ends. We will first discuss the major themes of the two stories through this
study. In that case, the form of research needs to be further developed through character
analysis. If we take an analytical look at both the stories, we will see that the autobiographical
elements of the authors are very clearly depicted in the stories. The study will also discuss in
detail the portrayal of contemporary Indian society in "The Guide" and then in "The
Metamorphosis" by the two authors. For comparative analysis, of course, we will discuss the
similarities and differences between the two stories, but first we need to take a closer look at
the authors' personal lives. For comparative analysis, of course, we will discuss the
similarities and differences between the two stories, but first we need to give a closer look at
the personal lives of the authors. Because in both stories the writers have very subtly
connected their lives with the stories. Therefore, the main theme of both the stories has been
discussed by analyzing the main characters.
The guide is very interesting work by R. K. Narayan. The guide, it was published in 1958 and
it brought the Sahitya Academy Award in 1960. It is the most important walk by R. K.
Narayan in The Guide, it is a very interesting work. The study will explain its characters and
its summary load in an easy and simple way. First of all, characters are in this way. The main
character is here is Razu, Razu who is the protagonist and narrator of this story. Rosie, young
and beautiful wife of Margo and says the object of Roger and after in during his dance
performance say portrays her name Nalini. In the previous Her name is Rosie, but during her
performance, say give her name as Melanie. Marco Polo is the husband of Rosie and who is a

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scholar. Gafoor Kapoor is a taxi driver of Marco and Rosie Welland Whelan, a local from the
village of Mongol in southern India. And one hour well in how a system. the villagers of the
villainous valets the siege, a merchant to acts as a rudderless creditor in manga Lee, who gave
credit to Raj for his money he robbed us Secretary monies Roger Sperry, who gave each and
every information about Marco Raji and others to reduce. These are the main collectors. Radu
hos mother. Also, the Rogers mother sees a traditional woman and her father died before
some time, when the story starts.
On the other novel, The Metamorphosis is a story about a young man named Gregor Samsa
who is a clerk at a local firm. He is the typical work-a-holic living with his parents, trying to
work off the family debt. However, he wakes up one day to find that he is a human-sized
beetle. At first, he struggles to get out of bed and can hardly maneuver his body, as he's not
used to moving with so many legs. When his parents see him as a beetle for the first time,
they react pretty strongly, but his sister, Grete, is not so apprehensive. In the coming months,
she cleans his room and feeds him. Grete decides to move the furniture out of Gregor's room
so that he can climb around the walls. In doing so, the mother catches another glimpse of
Gregor and faints. As time passes, Gregor realizes that without him working, the family is in
deep financial trouble. The family brings in three renters into the apartment to bring in some
extra money, but when Gregor is seen by the renters, they decide to not pay their rent and
leave. It is then decided by the family that Gregor must leave. Gregor, upon hearing this, goes
back to his room and dies. The family finds him dead and their life seems to turn around.
They all get jobs and find a new place to live. And in the end, Gregor's parents recognize
Grete, Gregor's sister, as a beautiful young woman. Initially, this is a story about the
metamorphosis of Gregor - a transformation from a human to a beetle. However, what we
really see is a metamorphosis of the family unit. In the beginning, we see a family who is
strained under debt and apathetic towards this problem. And at the end, each member of the
family begins to take initiatives to work and to change.

2. Objectives
General Objective:
The general objective of this study to comparative analysis between R. K. Narayan’s “The
Guide” and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”.
Specific Objectives:
 To clarify major themes of both novels

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  To analyze characters involved in both novels
 To discuss moral lessons of these novels
 To reveal similarities and dissimilarities
 To focus autobiographical elements of these novels and
 To express comparative discussion of both novels

3. Hypothesis

Hypothesis-1: In both stories, the environmental situation arises as a result of

character transformation.

Hypothesis-2: In both stories, the authors use autobiographical elements very subtly.

Hypothesis-3: In the context of the two stories, religious sentiments, socio-economic

hardships, quarrels caused by scarcity or famine and the boundless
misfortune of the Atharva family members emerge.

4. Methodology
The current study is a secondary data-based research. In order to complete this study, relevant
data has been collected from the relevant literary repositories and they have been identified
for discussion in their own form. I have taken the help of about 15 journals, 10 articles and 5-
6 aforementioned research to make this study fruitful.
After collecting the appropriate information from the relevant literary repository, I use the
analytical research method to discuss them and try to prove the general purpose of the pre-
determined research. In addition, 3 hypotheses have been used in this study by which the
study has gained a structural form. Lectures by lecturers from various reputed universities
have also been used on these two novels.

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5. Literature Review
From the review by A R Gautam, The Guide by R K Narayan found as a classic novel.
According to this book review, there was a sense of incompleteness avoid which could never
get felt like reading through the book. One interesting fact was that you can never understand
where or with what he was able to create that sensation. The author seems to be what looks
like a very simple story, but it is not. I know it's essentially a collection of thoughts by the
protagonist who goes by the name of Raju returns from jail after spending two years and on
his way, he stops in a village, the villagers mistaken for a saint. And, you know, rather than
telling them the truth, he accepts that mistake and kind of plays on to that image. But the
intriguing part of the story is not with reference to Raju the saint, but it lies in his past, Raju
who lives in the author's fictional town of Malgudi, where his father runs a small retail
business. His disinterested studies result in you know, him discontinuing his education, and
starting to take up his father's business.

The story takes a different turn. When a railway station is opened in the town of Mongolia.
Raju gets an opportunity in which he opens one more retail shop in the railway station itself.
The opening of the railway station brings in large number of tourists for the role of
marketing, and using this as an opportunity. Raju begins to pose as the guide for the tone of
marketing. Now, he poses as a note on guy who simply blabbers dishonest information to
anyone who comes to the door of margaree because his objective is simply to make as much
money as possible. things begin to take. Velan turns when he decides to act as a guide for a
married couple who come from the town of metros. Now he gets attracted to this dancer
woman, Rosie and his galleys getting stuck in an irreversible whirlpool of events. reading this
book felt like eating a South Indian meal or a banana leaf, the author fed you all the flavors
using his words. And even though you've had enough, you always felt that you wanted more.
The book starts comedy, but you do not know no suddenly just becomes serious and deals
with many philosophical inquiries. For example, the word the title of the book, the word
guide can mean a lot of things it can simply mean the role of guide played by Roger
magazine, the protagonist acts as a guide where he acts as a guide for the tourists, or it can
mean the role of the guide which Raju the saint plays in his later part of the life. Or the word
guide can also mean that this is a philosophy textbook, and you can use the story as a guide to
life or maybe the word guide is simply a joke or satire. The story is essentially about the
relationship between the study between chance and choice. When an event occurs, how far
can one attribute to the question of chance and hope by how far does it depend on the power

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of choice. For example, the woman who comes to railway station on that day might simply be
an event a chance, but following that event, how many events which occurred after that can
be attributed to the choices of the protagonist Raju. So, one can also say that it is a
relationship between a man's actions and the consequences and the actions for the
consequences it takes multiple guns is also about one more philosophical inquiry, like
humans were a different personalities and masks for different roles which they play, you
know in their life. So, when you wear a mask, how far is the closeness between the mask or
the personality which a person wears and the actual face or under certain circumstances, the
mask or the personality becomes very powerful that the actual face or the hidden human face
behind it means to try to match itself to the personality? How far can you try to match your
mask? That is also a question posed by the stories text, one the size of the Academy Award in
the year 1960. Only a master storyteller can we use such complexities in a simple story?

According to the review of Jake Iannarino, The Guide by R K Narayan, the research just put
that this is actually from the collection of Penguin Classics. The researcher doesn't even know
how to explain that without giving away what the whole purpose of it is. But researcher say
this, he did enjoy it. It's a fast read. Under 200 pages. Very well written, entertaining,
interesting. Maybe not exactly what the researcher thought it would be in my head. But is any
book. Like, you know, when you pick up a book and you read the back cover? You're like,
Oh, yeah, that sounds good. After read this and it's not exactly what you thought. But this
one's pretty close. This one sticks pretty close. Let me read the back cover to you. And so,
you kind of have an idea for the plotline and, and what it's all about.

According to The New Yorker, this is the best of this guy's novels. The researcher hasn’t read
his other stuff. But now that the researcher read this, the researcher interested to see what else
he did. So, let's read. Raju was first stopped after his release from prison is the barber shop.
Then he decides to take refuge in an abandoned temple along the banks of the river Raj who
used to be India's most corrupt tourist guide. But now a peasant mistakes him for a holy man
because he was sleeping in the temple. Gradually, almost grudgingly, he begins to play the
part of the holy man. He succeeds so well that God Himself intervenes to put Rogers new
holiness to the test set in the Ryan's fictional town of Malgudi. The guide is the greatest of his
comedies of self-deception, self-deception, but maybe sometimes self-deception could be
good. What if you deceive yourself into thinking something you're greater than you are, you
start believing it and you actually become that you ever think of that? Alright. R K Narayan is
such a natural writer, so true to his experience and emotions. Yes, definitely. The researcher

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really loves this book. And The researcher doesn’t want to give away the ending, but the
researcher will say the last page, you're just like, like, like, actually, the researcher didn't get
it. The first time the researcher read it. And The researcher was like, Oh my gosh, wow,
that's, that's cool man. He did that this. That's some cool shit. So, I highly recommend this
book. The researcher gives it the researcher don't know, four stars out of five. There's a little
issue. But overall, I'd say it's a damn good read. If you're in that kind of mood to read
something that will challenge you, sort of philosophically.

And, you know, as guy who's traveled and seeing these Buddhist temples and these Hindu
temples and stuff, but it really was enjoyable for me because I could actually really picture
the scene. You know, and this writer does a good job of painting your picture

Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth analysis of the plot,
characters, symbols, and themes of Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis. In the
introduction of Franz Kafka story, the metamorphosis Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman
awakens one morning to discover he has turned into an insect like creature. He lives in bed,
wondering if this is real and thinking about the many unpleasant aspects of his career and his
family's reliance on his income. Seeing that he is late to work, he panics and worries about
his boss's reaction. Gregor’s mother, father and sister greater all called to him in his room, he
responds in a strange voice, he struggles to maneuver his bizarre new body out of bed. Soon
Greg or supervisor comes looking for Gregor. He accepts none of the family's excuses. When
Gregor tries to defend himself, no one can understand him. Eventually Gregor manages to
unlock his door and come out at the sight of him. His mother swoons and revulsion, his father
clenches his jaw and fists and openly weeps in the rising action. Gregor’s father then angrily
hurts his son back into his room, injuring Greg are in the process. Over the following days,
Greg keeps himself hidden in his room. His sister grater becomes his caretaker, feeding him
and cleaning his room when her parents and the maid aren't around. Gregor reflects on his
plan to save up and pay for his sister's education, worrying that his aging parents are not well
enough to work. Great decides to move the furnishings out of Gregory's room to give him
more freedom to crawl. His mother, who has not seen him since the first morning thinks these
changes will upset Gregor but she agrees to help. When she sees greyboard clinging to a
picture on the wall, she fences, greatest scolds gray gore and a skorts her hysterical mother
from the room, Mr. Samsa now employed and consistently wearing his uniform returns home
from work and angrily pelted his son with apples. One becomes lodged painfully and
Driggers back and becomes infected. badly injured as the days pass. Gray gore uses a gap in

9
the bedroom door to observe and listen to his family as they go about their routines. He learns
that his mother and Greta now have jobs and that his family is taken in three demanding
borders. Grace's attention to her brother declines and Greg or feels like a burden. One
evening, great to place your violin. In gray gore crawls into the living room to be closer to the
lovely performance, but the border spot him and immediately announced that they are
leaving.

In the climax of the story. Great details her parents they must do something about Greg or
urging her parents that they must get rid of him in the falling action. After Gregor overhears
this, he makes his way back to his room where he dies early the next morning. In the
resolution. The Psalm says feel both saddened and relieved by Gregory's death, they decided
to treat themselves to a day in the countryside with fresh air and sunshine, where they start
envisioning a hopeful path forward.

The four members of the Psalms of family are the central characters in Franz Kafka, his tale
of truly strange transformation, the metamorphosis Gregor Samsa is the main character of the
story. A young traveling salesman working tirelessly to support his parents and sister Gregor
wakes up late for work one morning to discover that he is no longer human. Instead, he's a
huge insect like creature and he lives the rest of his cloistered life, reflecting on his former
existence, trying to avoid his overbearing father and crawling the walls of his bedroom.
Eventually, his family tired of him, and his father injures him badly when he hurls an apple at
his formerly human son, injured and alienated Greg or eventually dies in a state of empty and
peaceful ruminations. Greatest Samsa is gray gore's 17-year-old sister and she treats her
brother with kindness and compassion. When she realizes he is a bug? She feeds him and
attempts to figure out his needs, but she later comes to resent his inability to work and
provide for their family imploring her family to do something about her brother, who she
refers to as it. grated does not know that while working as a salesman, Gregor was saving up
to pay for her violin lessons.

Mr. Samsa is the patriarch of the family who retired from a failed business. Mr. Samsa rarely
leaves the flat and relies on his son to provide for the family. from the get go. He has no
patience for his son's predicament, losing his temper and injury Gregor in fits of rage. When
forced to return to work however, Mr. Thompson's vigor seems to return and he feels a sense
of relief once Greg or dies and his family can move on. Mrs. Samsa is Gregor’s frail and
aging mother she loves her son, but grows hysterical and face and career each time she

10
catches a glimpse of his hideous appearance. Her daughter and husband tried to persuade her
to stay out of his bedroom. One day she enters his room to help greater rearranging furniture
and faints at the sight of him clinging to his favorite possession, a framed advertisement of a
woman in furs hanging on his wall, causing Mr. Samsa to retaliate against Greg or in a fit of
race see entire family begins to work to make up for the fact that Greg Ward cannot. Mrs.
Thompson's contribution is to earn money by sewing vermin, women in furs. Mr. Psalm says
uniform spring and apples are the commonplace symbols of modern life that mean so much
more in France, Kafka's the metamorphosis. vermin may be the best term for the nasty,
creepy crawly insect thing, Gregor Samsa becomes on one level grey gore's vermin form
seems to represent the dehumanizing and degrading aspects of his life and work in modern
societies. Work consumes him the vermin he becomes is a manifestation of his misery
working day in and day out with little joy for motivation. The woman in furs an
advertisement hanging in Gregor’s room showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and for Boa,
who sat upright, raising a heavy for muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the
viewer. The picture which gray gore had lovingly framed and displayed symbolizes Gregor’s
former status as a human being with sexual urges who can enjoy a provocative image of a
woman. When Greg or as an insect clings to the advertisements, which also seems to connect
to his former life as a salesman. He's guarding his remaining hopes of remaining human. Mr.
Psalm says uniform adorned with polished gleaming gold buttons symbolizes the self-respect
he experiences when he returns to work and supports his family by his own means. Before
Gregor’s transformation he had rarely left the apartment changed out of his dressing gown or
even combed his hair, but forced to return to work instead of relying on his son he's
invigorated by his new role as provider. When Greg or dies and his family comes to view his
body, the charwoman opens a window and warm fresh spring air enters Greg Orr's bedroom.
It's the end of March early spring, and the family leaves for the country to take in the warm
air and sunshine. These references to spring symbolize hope and renewal for the members of
the Psalms a family who have undergone a hard experience but look forward to better times
ahead as the three make plans for a happier life to come. Apple symbolically are the
forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Bible. By eating this fruit,
Adam and Eve gained knowledge but in doing so they also commit a sin and are expelled
from the Garden of Eden in the metamorphosis. Similarly, apples are a symbol of a new
understanding that leads to pure misery after his enraged father post gray gore with apples
one Lodge is in grave horseback and begins to rust causing the area to become infectious.
alienation in modern life, mind and body and family ties, themes related to work and the

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everyday weirdness of 20th century living in France, Kafka's the metamorphosis. Throughout
the metamorphosis, Kafka portrays the alienation and modern life associated with the early
20th century work world, an alienating place devoid of happiness and human connection. The
protagonist, Gregor samsa works as a traveling salesman, a position involving the curse of
traveling worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food contact with
different people all the time, so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly
with them. Gregor’d is fed up with this lifestyle and longs for a change Does he ever get one
when he wakes up one morning as a giant insect. Through the Psalms a family, Kafka paints
a picture of the tall modern work can take on society. Mind and Body is another important
theme, as on the outside Gregor looks like an insect yet on the inside. He thinks in reasons
like a human revealing a major Mind Body disconnect. Gregor thoughts focus primarily on
work, he worries about how his boss will react to his being late to work, he navigates his
weird new body in order to get out of bed. As time passes. However, Gregor learns to use his
insectoid limbs from the ceiling adhere to the framed advertisement of the woman in first and
more, and he no longer enjoys his favorite human drink sweetened milk now preferring
spoiled rotten vegetables and scraps from his family's meals. Hearing great to play violin
makes him question Was he an animal if music could captivate him? So finally, Kafka
explores the complex nature of family ties and the metamorphosis. Throughout the story.
Gregor plays the role of family caretaker and Peacemaker. Working a miserable job is a
traveling salesman to provide for his family, keeping hardly any money for himself. Even
after he turns into a bug, he worries first about whether his parents whom he sees as aging
and frail will be able to go out and earn money and feels terribly guilty that his sister will not
be able to afford attending Conservatory. Gregor’s anxiety comes from his acceptance of
responsibility for his family's hardships and feeling a need to fix them on his own. But at the
same time, Gregor resents his parents and sister for ignoring him. These mixed emotions
which fluctuate from loving to resentful are also those the family has for Gregor.

According to the review of, Franz Kafka The Metamorphosis (part-1) Existentialist
Philosophy Literature, when we're thinking about existentialist literature, particularly short
stories, one of the most commonly anthologized, and rightly so, pieces is Franz Joseph
Kafka's short story, the metamorphosis in German, differ Vonleh. And why is this piece so
absolutely central? Why is this if when people, you know, read Kafka and only read a little
bit, why is this usually the one piece that they've encountered? Any answer to that would be
that this is a theme that runs through all of Kafka's works, but is particularly condensed in

12
this story, this notion of alienation. And that's part of what we're going to talk about. In this
discussion of the metamorphosis. There's a number of different ways in which the characters
are alienated from each other in which alienation rears its head and is depicted marvelously.
So, in this story, particularly in the case of Gregor Samsa, the central character, around whose
misfortune the entire story turns, you might think of it as sort of water, you know, drops into
a lake or a body of water and the ripples going outward. It's the same way with Gregor
Samsa. The misfortune the transformation that happens to him affects everybody else that
he's connected with, in one way or another, and brings them into different configurations with
each other. So, what actually happens? Gregor Samsa wakes up transformed into in one
translation of what he's transformed into, is a giant insect, or monstrous vermin is another
way in which it's commonly translated. The German sentence Actually, it's a beautiful
beginning sentence, typical Kafka where the punchline comes in at the end is all Gregor
Samsa is Morgan's es una ruhigen. Throw him in Arivaca. So as Gregor Samsa woke up from
unrestful from disturbing dreams. One morning fondue as it comes item batsu item Otunga
holder and on good z for Vonda, the savant is the transformation coming at the very end you
can do that in German Of course. And he is transformed into that I'm going to linger over this
for some good reasons and wouldn't go higher in order to get Zypher. This is the adjective.
And as many commentators have pointed out, notice that it's a double negative. This is a
common term when goiter in monstrous gigantic, there's a sense of astounding or amazing or
horrifying to it, and then intensifying this an omega z for you can translate this as insect
although Kafka. It's interesting he insisted that you know when these things be depicted, don't
you know, don't use insect you know, for example, on the first publication of it as an
independent, separate standalone story. What do you get z for so get z for as the scholars
have, you know, discussed comes from a high German word an old High German word
meaning an animal that's fit for sacrifice a clean animal? So, an Tifa is an unclean beast,
something that's creepy crawly, something that you don't want touching you something that
will contaminate by coming into contact with you something that's not fit to be seen. You
know, if you think about the, the Genesis division of the animals that the Jewish law and even
you know, Christian Lenten observances have to do with there is a distinction into Of course,
human beings, and then the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and the cattle of the land,
the things you can actually eat the things you can sacrifice the things that are okay to come in
contact with. They may they may smell them have fleas, but they're still clean to you know,
to some degree, and then there is the creeping things and this includes the things that you're
not supposed to eat according to the old you know, Jewish law, like centipedes, and scorpions

13
and spiders, and also insects. Although they There were, of course, you know, locusts that
that could be eaten. But he's a beetle. He is a gigantic thing with legs and antennas and a
carrot pus. And we find this out as the story proceeds, we learn more and more about the kind
of beastie that he turns out to be. This gets called the bugs story by Kafka and, and by his
friends, and he starts writing it in 1912. He originally plans to knock it out, he's, he's writing
as well as he can. And he is discussing this with his at that time fiancé. As it turns out, he's
not able to just get it done immediately, it takes him a while to finish by the end of 1912. He
is reading the first part of it to some of his friends who are saying this is great stuff. They are
fascinated by it. And if we you know, once we go through the plot, you'll see why he finally
brings it people are interested in publishing this. But then World War One arrives. And the
original place where he was talking about publishing it, it doesn't work out that way. So, it
ends up getting published in the journal device and Blatter which literally means the white
pages, the or the clean pages or something like that. So, you've got a disgusting bog being
published in the white sheets. Now, like I said, this, the central theme of this story, if we want
to look at it from an existentialist perspective, there are many other perspectives that people
have subjected this to analysis from. As a matter of fact, this may be along with the Heart of
Darkness, and a few other stories, one of the most commonly analyzed modern, short stories,
and it's been analyzed from all sorts of different angles we're going to look at in terms of
existentialist themes. And so, the central theme here is alienation.

6.0 Discussion
6.1 R. K. Narayan
R. K. Narayan (born 1906) is one of the best-known of the Indo-English writers. He created
the imaginary town of Malgudi, where realistic characters in a typically Indian setting lived
amid unpredictable events.
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanswami, who preferred the shortened name R.K. Narayan,
was born in Madras, India, on Oct. 10, 1906. His father, an educator, travelled frequently, and
his mother was frail, so Narayan was raised in Madras by his grandmother and an uncle. His
grandmother inspired in young Narayan a passion for language and for people. He attended
the Christian Mission School, where, he said, he learned to love the Hindu gods simply
because the Christian chaplain ridiculed them. Narayan graduated from Maharaja’s College
in Mysore in 1930. In 1934 he was married, but his wife, Rajam, died of typhoid in 1939. He
had one daughter, Hema. He never remarried.

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Quick Facts
Birthday: October 10, 1906
Nationality: Indian
Died At Age: 94
Sun Sign: Libra
Also Known As: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami
Born Country: India
Born In: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Famous As: Writer
Died On: May 13, 2001
Place Of Death: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
City: Chennai, India

6.1.1 Life and Works

R. K. Narayan is considered as one of leading figures of early Indian literature in English. He
is the one who made India accessible to the people in foreign countries—he gave unfamiliar
people a window to peep into Indian culture and sensibilities. His simple and modest writing
style is often compared to that of the great American author William Faulkner. Narayan came
from a humble south Indian background where he was consistently encouraged to involve
himself into literature. Which is why, after finishing his graduation, he decided to stay at
home and write. His work involves novels like: ‘The Guide’, ‘The Financial Man’, ‘Mr.
Sampath’, ‘The Dark Room’, ‘The English Teacher’, ‘A Tiger for Malgudi’, etc. Although
Narayan’s contribution to the Indian literature is beyond description and the way he grabbed
foreign audience’s attention for Indian literature is commendable too but he will always be
remembered for the invention of Malgudi, a semi-urban fictional town in southern India
where most of his stories were set. Narayan won numerous accolades for his literary work:
Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan, AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of
Literature, honorary membership of the American Academy of Arts and Literature, Padma
Vibhushan, etc.

6.1.2 Childhood & Early life

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R. K. Narayan was born in Chennai, Indian in 1906 in a working class south Indian family.
His father was a school headmaster and because his father had to be frequently transferred for
his job, Narayan spent most of his childhood in the loving care of his grandmother, Parvati.
It was his grandmother who taught him arithmetic, mythology and Sanskrit. He also attended
many different schools in Chennai like, Lutheran Mission School, Christian College High
School, etc. He was interested in English literature since he was very young.
His reading habit further developed when he moved to Mysore with his family and there his
father’s schools library offered him gems of writing from authors like Dickens, Thomas
Hardy, Wodehouse, etc.
In 1926, he passed the university examination and joined Maharaja College of Mysore. After
completing his graduation, Narayan took a job as a school teacher in a local school. Soon
after, he realized that he could only be happy in writing fiction, which is why he decided to
stay at home and write.

6.1.3 Creating a Small-Town World

Narayan wrote his first novel, Swami and Friends, in 1935, after short, uninspiring stints as a
teacher, an editorial assistant, and a newspaperman. In it, he invented the small south Indian
city of Malgudi, a literary microcosm that critics later compared to William Faulkner’s
Yoknapatawpha County. More than a dozen novels and many short stories that followed were
set in Malgudi.

Narayan’s second novel, Bachelor of Arts (1939), marked the beginning of his reputation in
England, where the novelist Graham Greene was largely responsible for getting it published.
Greene has called Narayan “the novelist I most admire in the English language.” His fourth
novel, The English Teacher, published in 1945, was partly autobiographical, concerning a
teacher’s struggle to cope with the death of his wife. In 1953, Michigan State University
published it under the title Grateful to Life and Death, along with his novel The Financial
Expert; they were Narayan’s first books published in the United States.

Subsequent publications of his novels, especially Mr. Sampath, Waiting for the Mahatma,
The Guide, The Man-eater of Malgudi, and The Vendor of Sweets, established Narayan’s
reputation in the West. Many critics consider The Guide (1958) to be Narayan’s masterpiece.
Told in a complex series of flashbacks, it concerns a tourist guide who seduces the wife of a

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client, prospers, and ends up in jail. The novel won India’s highest literary honor, and it was
adapted for the off-Broadway stage in 1968.

At least two of Narayan’s novels, Mr. Sampath (1949) and The Guide (1958), were adapted
for the movies. Narayan usually wrote for an hour or two a day, composing fast, often writing
as many as 2,000 words and seldom correcting or rewriting.

6.1.4 Making the Mundane Extraordinary

Narayan’s stories begin with realistic settings and everyday happenings in the lives of a
cross-section of Indian society, with characters of all classes. Gradually fate or chance,
oversight or blunder, transforms mundane events to preposterous happenings. Unexpected
disasters befall the hero as easily as unforeseen good fortune. The characters accept their
fates with an equanimity that suggests the faith that things will somehow turn out happily,
whatever their own motivations or actions. Progress, in the form of Western-imported goods
and attitudes, combined with bureaucratic institutions, meets in Malgudi with long-held
conventions, beliefs, and ways of doing things. The modern world can never win a clear-cut
victory because Malgudi accepts only what it wants, according to its own private logic.

Reviewing Narayan’s 1976 novel The Painter of Signs, Anthony Thwaite of the New York
Times said Narayan created “a world as richly human and volatile as that of Dickens.” His
next novel, A Tiger for Malgudi (1983), is narrated by a tiger whose holy master is trying to
lead him to enlightenment. It and his fourteenth novel Talkative Man (1987) received mixed
reviews.

In his 80s, Narayan continued to have books published. He returned to his original
inspiration, his grandmother, with the 1994 book Grandmother’s Tale and Other Stories,
which Publishers Weekly called “an exemplary collection from one of India’s most
distinguished men of letters.” Donna Seaman of Booklist hailed the collection of short stories
that spanned over 50 years of Narayan’s writing as “an excellent sampling of his short fiction,
generally considered his best work” from “one of the world’s finest storytellers.” Narayan
once noted: “Novels may bore me, but never people.”

6.2 Life and Works of Franz Kafka

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Author Franz Kafka grew up in an upper middle-class Jewish family. After studying law at
the University of Prague, he worked in insurance and wrote in the evenings. In 1923, he
moved to Berlin to focus on writing, but died of tuberculosis shortly after. His friend Max
Brod published most of his work posthumously, such as Amerika and The Castle.

6.2.1 Early Years

Writer Franz Kafka was the eldest son of an upper middle-class Jewish family who was born
on July 3, 1883, in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, a kingdom that was a part of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire.
Tragedy shaped the Kafka home. Franz's two younger brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died in
infancy by the time Kafka was six, leaving the boy the only son in a family that included
three daughters (all of whom would later die in Nazi death camps or a Polish ghetto).
Kafka had a difficult relationship with both of his parents. His mother, Julie, was a devoted
homemaker who lacked the intellectual depth to understand her son's dreams to become a
writer. Kafka's father, Hermann, had a forceful personality that often overwhelmed the Kafka
home. He was a success in business, making his living retailing men's and women's clothes.
Kafka's father had a profound impact on both Kafka's life and writing. He was a tyrant of
sorts, with a wicked temper and little appreciation for his son's creative side. Much of Kafka's
personal struggles, in romance and other relationships, came, he believed, in part from his
complicated relationship with his father. In his literature, Kafka's characters were often
coming up against an overbearing power of some kind, one that could easily break the will of
men and destroy their sense of self-worth. Kafka seems to have derived much of his value
directly from to his family, in particular his father. For much of his adult life, he lived within
close proximity to his parents.

6.2.2 Education
German was his first language. In fact, despite his Czech background and Jewish roots,
Kafka's identity favored German culture.
Kafka was a smart child who did well in school even at the Altstädter Staatsgymnasium, an
exacting high school for the academic elite. Still, even while Kafka earned the respect of his
teachers, he chafed under their control and the school's control of his life.

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After high school Kafka enrolled at the Charles Ferdinand University of Prague, where
intended to study chemistry but after just two weeks switched to law. The change pleased his
father, and also gave Kafka the time to take classes in art and literature.
In 1906 Kafka completed his law degree and embarked on a year of unpaid work as a law
clerk.

6.2.3 Work Life

After completing his apprenticeship, Kafka found work with an Italian insurance agency in
late 1907. It was a terrible fit from the start, with Kafka forced to work a tiring schedule that
left little time for his writing.
He lasted at the agency a little less than a year. After turning in his resignation, he quickly
found a new job with the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia.
As much as any work could, the job and his employers suited Kafka, who worked hard and
became his boss's right-hand man. Kafka remained with the company until 1917, when a bout
with tuberculosis forced him to take a sick leave and to eventually retire in 1922.

6.2.4 Love and Health

At work Kafka was a popular employee, easy to socialize with and seen as somebody with a
good sense of humor. But his personal life still raged with complications. His inhibitions and
insecurities plagued his relationships. Twice he was engaged to marry his girlfriend, Felice
Bauer, before the two finally went their separate ways in 1917.
Later, Kafka later fell in love with Dora Dymant (Diamant), who shared his Jewish roots and
a preference for socialism. Amidst Kafka's increasingly dire health, the two fell in love and
lived together in Berlin. Their relationship largely centered on Kafka's illnesses. For many
years, even before he contracted tuberculosis, Kafka had not been well. Constantly strained
and stressed, he suffered from migraines, boils, depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Kafka and Dora eventually returned to Prague. In an attempt to overcome his tuberculosis,
Kafka traveled to Vienna for treatment at a sanatorium. He died in Kierling, Austria, on June
3, 1924. He was buried beside his parents in Prague's New Jewish Cemetery in Olsanske.

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6.2.5 Works: 'The Metamorphosis,' 'The Castle' and 'Amerika'
While Kafka strove to earn a living, he also poured himself into his writing work. An old
friend named Max Brod would prove crucial in supporting Kafka's literary work both during
his life and long after it.
Kafka's celebrity as a writer only came after his death. During his lifetime, he published just a
sliver of his overall work.
His most popular and best-selling short story, "The Metamorphosis," was completed in 1912
and published in 1915. The story was written from Kafka's third-floor room, which offered a
direct view of the Vltava River and its toll bridge.
"I would stand at the window for long periods," he wrote in his diary in 1912, "and was
frequently tempted to amaze the toll collector on the bridge below by my plunge."
Kafka followed up "The Metamorphosis" with Mediation, a collection of short stories, in
1913, and "Before the Law," a parable within his novel The Trial, written between 1914 and
1915.
Even with his worsening health, Kafka continued to write. In 1916 he completed "The
Judgment," which spoke directly about the relationship he shared with his father. Later works
included "In the Penal Colony" and "A Country Doctor," both finished in 1919.
In 1924, an ill but still working Kafka finished A Hunger Artist, which features four stories
that demonstrate the concise and lucid style that marked his writing at the end of his life.

7.1 Short Summary of “The Guide” by R.K. Narayan

The Guide is the most popular novel of R.K. Narayan. It was published in 1958, and won the
Sahitya Akademy Award for 1960. It has also been filmed and the film has always drawn
packed-houses.

It recounts the adventures of a railway guide, popularly known as ‘Railway Raju’. As a

tourist guide, he is widely popular. It is this profession which brings him in contact with
Marco and his beautiful wife, Rosie. While the husband is busy with his archaeological
studies, Raju seduces his wife and has a good time with her. Ultimately Marco comes to
know of her affair with Raju and goes away to Madras leaving Rosie behind. Rosie comes
and stays with Raju in his one-room house. His mother tolerates her for some time, but when

20
things become unbearable, she calls her brother and goes away with him, leaving Raju to
look after Rosie and the house.

Rosie is a born dancer; she practices regularly and soon Raju finds an opening for her. In her
very first appearance, she is a grand success. Soon she is very much in demand and their
earnings increase enormously. Raju lives lavishly, entertains a large number of friends with
whom he drinks and gambles. All goes well till Raju forges Rosie’s signatures to obtain
valuable jewellery lying with her husband. The act lands him in jail. Rosie leaves Malgudi
and goes away to Madras, her hometown. She goes on with her dancing and does well
without the help and management of Raju, of which he was so proud.

On release from jail, Raju takes shelter in a deserted temple on the banks of the river Sarayu,
a few miles away from Malgudi, and close to the village called Mangla. The simple villagers
take him to be a Mahatma, begin to worship him, and bring him a lot of eatables as presents.
Raju is quite comfortable and performs the role of a saint to perfection.

However, soon there is a severe famine drought, and the villagers expect Raju to perform
some miracle to bring them rain. So, he has to undertake a fast. The fast attracts much
attention and people come to have darshan of the Mahatma from far and wide. On the twelfth
day of the fast, Raju falls down exhausted just as there are signs of rain on the distant
horizon. It is not certain if he is actually dead or merely fainted. Thus, the novel comers to
an1 abrupt close on a note of ambiguity.

The last pages of Narayan’s best novel, The Guide, find Raju, the chief protagonist, at the end
of a lifetime of insincerity and pain. As a professional guide to Malgudi’s environs, he
invented whole new historical pasts for bored tourists; he seduced a married woman, drifted
away from his old mother and friends, became a flashy cultural promoter, and then tried,
absentmindedly, to steal and was caught and spent years in jail, abandoned by everyone.

His last few months have been spent in relative comfort as a holy man on the banks of a river:
a role imposed on him by reverential village folk. But the river dries up after a drought and
his devotees start looking to him to intercede with the gods. Raju resentfully starts a fast, but
furtively eats whatever little food he has saved. Then abruptly, out of a moment of self
disgust, comes his resolution: for the first time in his life, he will do something with complete
sincerity, and he will do it for others: if fasting can bring rain, he’ll fast.

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He stops eating, and quickly diminishes. News of his efforts goes around; devotees and
sightseers, gathering at the riverside, create a religious occasion out of the fast. On the early
morning of the eleventh day of fasting, a small crowd watches him quietly as he attempts to
pray standing on the river bed and then staggers and dies, mumbling the enigmatic last words
of the novel, “It’s raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs….”

Characteristically, Narayan doesn’t make it clear whether Raju’s penance does actually lead
to rain. He also doesn’t make much of Raju’s decision, the moment of his redemption, which
a lesser writer would have attempted to turn into a resonant ending, but which is quickly
passed over here in a few lines. What we know, in a moment of great disturbing beauty, is
something larger and more affecting than the working-out of an individual destiny in an
inhospitable world.

It is and the words are of the forgotten English writer William Gerhardie, on Chekhov, but so
appropriate for Narayan that sense of the temporary nature of our existence on this earth at all
events…through which human beings, scenery, and even the very shallowness of things, are
transfigured with a sense of disquieting importance.

7.1.2 The Metamorphosis of Raju in R. K Narayan’s The Guide

The central theme of the novel The Guide by R.K Narayan is the transformation of Raju from
his role as a tour guide to that of a spiritual guide. The title of the novel, The Guide, has a
double meaning, and Raju is in a sense a double character. As a tour guide and lover, he is
impulsive, unprincipled, and self-indulgent. After his imprisonment, and after his
transformation as a holy man, he is careful, thoughtful, and self-disciplined.

The Guide opens with the release of the protagonist, Raju from prison and on his taking
refuge in an old temple on the banks of the rive Sarayu. Unable to face the people of
Malgudi, Raju hides himself to live in secrecy. Before his imprisonment he was a public
figure and because of his brilliant wit he succeeded in playing several roles: a corrupt tourist
guide, an adulterous lover and a theatrical impresario. Having live the life of an adventurer he
eventually sacrifices his life as a saint, a new mahatma as the people around him say, for the
welfare of a rural community.

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Raju, the guide is fated to be a guide by chance and temperament. He becomes a tourist guide
by chance when he is given charge of the railway shop, he buys papers and old books to wrap
articles, he reads book and papers to while away his time, gathers information about Malgudi,
never says “no”, gives false information, cheats the tourists successfully and becomes famous
as a tourist guide. In fact, he tells Velan “It was not because I wanted to utter a falsehood, but
only because I wanted to be pleasant.”

His role as lover and stage manager is very appreciable. After his seduction of Rosie, he is
dismissed by her because of her guilt and Marco’s knowledge about them. Though he is
obsessed by her, he does not pursue her. Rosie comes to his house on her own as she has been
deserted by Marco. His love for her motivates him to look after her physical and artistic
needs. The storage of money and Rosie’s devotion to dance compels him to arrange a public
performance for her. As a result of her success and complete dedication to her profession, he
becomes her manager and arranges her business affairs. He lives on her, but also works hard
for her Rosie more or less forces turn into accepting the role. Being a capable actor, he
performs to role to perfection. Being an ignorant he does not understand the basics of dance,
but he understands Rosie’s desire to be a dancer and thus financially he manages her affairs
perfectly.

However, Rosie’s obsession with dance results in alienation and loss of communication. Raju
feels bewildered and best. His love, jealousy and possessiveness motivate him to hide.
Marco’s book and copy Rosie’s signature. Basically, he does not want her to realize Marco’s
generosity. This choice of his, ironically leads to his imprisonment. In fact, he is so used to
playing roles that he does not realize the extent of his act.

When he is sitting bored and lonely near a dilapidated temple a villager called Velan comes
and tells him his trouble. The simple peasant mistakes him for a “swami” because there is
actually something saintly about Raju’s appearance. He is sitting on a granite slab. As the
story open Velan gazes at Raju respectfully, chooses a sit two step below the slab. Impressed
by the saintly appearance Velan is encouraged to unburden himself, looking for advice and
guidance. Raju on the other hand is tempted to play the role of the swami because “it was in
his nature to get involved in other people’s interest and activities”.

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Raju satisfies the demand of villagers of Mangala. He feels disconcerted by the devotion of
the peasants, who believes that a superior soul has come to live near their village. Ironically
Raju’s old habit of offering guidance to others when he was a tourist guide asserts itself when
he wants to be honest this time. The special attention of the villagers makes him “feel
uncomfortable” and so he wonders if he could device some means of escape from the
company.” His circle of devotees inevitably widens because he is believed to have worked a
miracle on Velan’s stepsister. Consequently, it becomes a daily practice of Velan and his
fellow villagers to bring food for the swami and the result is that men, women and children
come to have darshan of him large number.

The affection and devotion of the peasants transform Raju to such an extent that he assumes
the role of a spiritual guide: “his bear now caressed his chest, his hair covered his back and
around his neck he wore a necklace of prayer breads.” He even assures himself that he has
become an authentic saint. Their devotion to him was unquestionable. As the narrator tells us
Raju “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.”

The unshakeable faith of the people of Mangala transforms Raju into an instrument of their
will so that he feels naturally inclined to fast for their survival. When he is called upon to fast
by his devotees, and thus to bring rains to the parched land, he realizes that, “he had worked
himself into a position from which he could not get out.” He makes an attempt to confess to
Velan all about his notorious past. But Velan’s rustic discipline towards him is so deep that
he refuses to believe him.

Then Raju become aware about the fact that something has changed within himself: “if by
avoiding food I should help the trees bloom, and the grass grow, why not do it thoroughly?”
For the first time in his life, he has making an earnest effort, for the first time he has learning
the thrill of full application, outside money and love, for the first time he has doing a thing in
which he was not personally interested”. It reveals the spiritual achievement of Raju. He is
aware that the whole countryside is now in a happy ferment because a great soul had agreed
to go through the trial and he feels a moral duty not to insult the villager’s faith in him and so
he becomes absorbed into communal archetype. As a “Saviour” he is expected “to stand in
knee deep water to look the skies, and utter the payer lines for two weeks completely fasting

24
during the period-and so the rains would come down provided the man who performed it was
a pure soul. Was a great soul”

Thus, Raju spends his days muttering prayers as a result of his indubitable liberation from his
ego, and it is revealed by his words- “I am only doing what I have to do; that is all. My likes
and dislikes do not count”-until on the eleventh day when he collapses with the prophetic
declaration that it is raining in the hills. The novel thus concludes “in the magnitude of his
spiritual gain”.

7.1.3 A Study of the Character Rosie in the Novel “The Guide” by R.K.
Narayan
Rosie is one of the main characters of the novel “The Guide” by R.K. Narayan. R.K. Narayan
portrays the character Rosie as a typical Indian woman who loves her husband despite his
entire fault and always feels proud of her husband. Though she belongs to a dancer family,
she is highly educated and is influenced by her husband and her background. She is presented
in the novel as a beautiful dancer, of the Devadasi variety of temple dancers.

As a Wife
Rosie is an attractive young wife of ‘Marco’.. Her marriage has been like a curse in disguise
to her as Marco is totally engaged in his career and is totally apathetic and unemotional to
her. She is very passionate about dancing but her husband does not allow her to dance

She is like a traditional Indian wife. Her husband is like God to her. Marco calls her dancing
skills as street acrobatics and compares it to monkey dance. Despite all these insults she
continues to be his wife. When Marco came to know about the intimacy between her and
Raju, he became very upset and didn’t talk to her and completely ignored her presence. She
sincerely apologizes to Marco. Rosie explains to Raju, “I followed him, day after day, like a
dog-waiting on his grace” She tries to persuade her husband and bears all the insults. But
Marco reacts by categorically disowning his wife. “I’m trying to forget…. even the earlier
fact that I ever took a wife you are free to go and do what you please.”

25
This incident shows her tremendous tolerance power and her optimistic attitude. She is
basically kind and loving towards her husband’s. She appreciates the fact that he gives her
freedom, security and does not kill her for her betrayal. That she is emotionally attached to
him at the last is evident from the fact that she cuts his picture from The Illustrated Weekly
and pastes it on her mirror.

Human Desire and Liveliness

Rosie was a dreamer and human desire is visible in Rosie’s character. Rosie tells Raju ``I`d
preferred any kind of mother-in-law, if it had meant one real, live husband”. But Macro on
the other hand is only interested in “dead and decaying things” not in his wife “who as dancer
was the living embodiment of those images.”

Complete Devotion to Dance

When she was left by Marco in Malgudi and was living with Raju she devoted herself
completely to dancing. She loves dance and that is what matters to her. She woke early in the
morning and practiced hard for three hours regularly. She is always willing to talk about
dance and even tries to teach Raju some tips of it. In the end, though she loses her husband
and her lover, she continues to dance. Dance is her life whatever comes to her way.
According to Raju “Neither Marco nor I had any place in her life, which had its own
sustaining utility and which she herself had underestimated all along”

Religious by nature
She is religious by nature as she believes in Goddess Saraswati and has the bronze image of
Nataraja in her office.

Passionate Nature
Her success doesn’t get to her head as she remains a down to earth person even after
becoming very successful in her dancing career. Once Raju became very upset because Rosie
spent lot of time with different artists and not with him. He came to her and said that these
artists come to her because they are inferior to her. She replies to him saying that she doesn’t
believe in superior and inferior. She doesn’t discriminate people on the basis of their financial
status. On one hand when Raju prefers to meet people who are very rich and influential in the
society Rosie doesn’t care much about these people. Being herself an artist she respects art
and likes to be in the company of artist and other music lovers.

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True to Her lover
Rosie is also true to her lover. In spite of the forgery, Rosie does not desert Raju. Though
Rosie comes to know about every treacherous and fraud activity of Raju, she compromises
with the situation. Instead of punishing Raju for his deceit, she is determined, like a true
beloved, to spend every penny that she is arranging a capable defense for Raju although she
has earlier decided to give up dancing as a profession. She signs fresh dancing contracts to
raise more money for this purpose.

In fact, her dignified and noble behavior brings out our sympathy. She embodies the
“Feminine Principle” of ideal woman-hood.
7.1.4 Use of Irony in R. K. Narayan’s ‘The Guide’
R. K. Narayan’s conception of humor is meticulously achieved in The Guide. We get a
glimpse of the complexity of life in this novel through irony of motives, characters,
situations, and ideas.

Narayan behaves like Chaucer when the matter of religion arrives. Narayan satirizes the
corruption of the sadhus through irony. Sainthood is reducing to a matter merely of external
appearance when Raju thinks to compose his feature for his professional role and smoothes
out his beard and hair, and sits down in the seat with a book in his hand.

“He was hypnotized by his own voice; he felt himself growing in stature as he saw the
upturned faces of the children shinning in the half-light when he spoke. No one was more
impressed with the grandeur of the whole thing than Raju himself”

Narayan criticizes sharply when Raju relates some principal of living with a particular variety
of delicious food and he mentions it with an air of seriousness, so that his listeners take it as a
spiritual need.

Narayan had all respect for Gandhi and Gandhism but the Gandhi and use of fasting for self-
purification is also satirized when a fraud is shown as being compelled to undertake a fast to
bring down the rains. Narayan has full command over verbal irony s for example Velan says

27
to Raju,’ Your presence is similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi. He has left a disciple in you to
save us.

Raju, the protagonist, is a victim of the irony of life. His life which moves from birth to
death, symbolizes the rise and fall of man in life. Though Raju detests Marco, the scholar
ironically, he teaches others all his life. Raju is trusted by Marco, but ironically Raju seduces
his wife. He hides Marco’s book to keep his control over Rosie, but this act of deception
ironically alternates her. He forges Rosie’s signature, for greed and to keep her away from
Marco, but instead he loses her, instead of a box of jewelry, a warrant for his arrest arrives.
His attempt to hide Marco’s generosity ironically exposes his deceit, and Rosie loses her
respect for him. Ironically Marco, the scholar who studies “dead things” and is unaware of
his surroundings, ends in out-witting Raju, the clever guide. Raju’s pride over his role in
Rosie’s success ironically replaces by the realization that she is capable of even great success
without him. Thus, he is a victim of irony at every step.

After his release from prison, he wants a life of solitude but ironically he becomes a fake
swami, he is surrounded by people and greatness is thrust upon him. They believe that a
superior soul has come to live near their village.

In order to appear wise, he tells the story of a man who fasted for twelve days to appease the
gods. Ironically, he too has to have to fast to propitiate the rain-god. His own story rebounds
on him and the fake swami has to fast to keep up the faith of the people. Once again, he is the
victim of the irony when he tells Velan’s half-brother that he will not eat ill they stop
fighting. His aim is to get food, but ironically the message is distorted and the villagers come
without food. It is ironical that his desire for food results in him fasting for life. In a desperate
bid to save his life, he confesses to Velan in the hope that he will condemn him and give him
food, but ironically Velan pardons him as the frank confession confirms Velan’s belief in his
goodness. Thus, the man who becomes a fake swami because of food becomes a true swami,
once he renounces food.
Thus, Raju faces the unexpectations at every stage. At every stage, he gets what he rejects; he
is denied what he wants.

Narayan satirizes the thing through irony. In this novel he refers to lawyers-five-year plan,
red-tapism, postal services, efforts to eradicate mosquitoes etc., all expose the irony of life.

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The reaction of the government to Raju’s fast is ironical, while special arrangement is made
for the fasting swami and the pilgrims who throng to see Raju but nothing is done to help the
drought effected villagers. The ignorant villagers, the government and the elite are also
satirized as they affirm their belief in fake sadhus. Equally ironical is the interview of the
American journalist.

The final lines of the book, as Raju steps into the water for the last time, are both ambiguous
and hopeful, and the complexity is once again achieved through the use of irony:

Raju opened his eyes, looked about, and said, “Velan, it’s raining in the hill. I can feel I
coming up under my feet, up my legs, He sagged down. It may simply be an illusion because
of his physical weakness.

Narayan very aptly exposes and ridicules human follies and weakness through irony. His
irony arises from the bringing together the opposites and contrasting them.

7.1.5 R.K. Narayan's Narrative Technique in his The Guide

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.

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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 extra-ordinary 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 extra- ordinary, from the railway guide to the
spiritual guide.

For most of his life Raju had managed to manipulate other people's emotional needs for his
own advantage, but the novel shows him going beyond himself to do a genuinely
disinterested act at the cost of his life.

Raju begins his professional life as the owner of a sweetmeat stall at the railway station in a
region of India that has become a popular tourist attraction. He soon discovers that he has a
knack for telling people what they would like to hear and becomes a fulltime guide. This
profession leads him into an affair with one of his clients, Rosie, the neglected wife of an
anthropologist Marco. Rosie has a passion for dancing which Marco doesn't approve of.
Rosie, encouraged by Raju, decides to follow her dreams and walks out on her husband. Raju
becomes her stage manager and soon with the help of Raju's marketing tactics, Rosie
becomes a successful dancer. Raju, however, develops an inflated sense of self-importance
and tries to control Rosie. Gradually, the relationship between Raju and Rosie becomes
strained. Marco reappears and Raju inadvertently gets involved in a case of forgery and gets a
two-year sentence. After completing the sentence, Raju is passing through a village when he
is mistaken for a sadhu (a spiritual guide). Reluctant not having to return in disgrace to
Malgudi, he stays in an abandoned temple. Raju satisfies the demand of villagers of Mangala.
Slowly and gradually, he becomes the spiritual guide of the villagers who come to get all
sorts of issues resolved by him. They start to trust and listen to him and soon he earns their
respect and turns into a guru or god like person for them.

Everything is running smoothly till the time the village is afflicted by a major drought and
one of the villagers’ mistakes Raju’s comments to be a vow to keep a fast for 12 days in order
to please the rain gods. Raju has no other option but to comply by his vow. The role that he
took unhappily and forcibly in the beginning becomes very dear to him as time passes. He
starts believing in his role and feels that for the first time in his life he is doing something for
the people, selflessly, out of humanity and not lust for money or any other material goods.
The news of his fasting spreads throughout the country like wildfire and a huge crowd of

30
curious onlookers from other places starts gathering round him. As he can no longer take the
fasting, his legs give away, he collapses dreaming or visualizing the rain drops somewhere in
the hills. The novels end with a question still unanswered whether he dies and whether the
rain actually comes.

In Narayan’s plot there is a mixture of the comic and serious, the real and the fantastic. So is
the case with The Guide. Raju, the poor becomes the rich, the convict gets the reputation and
regard of the saint, the holy man and the swami. There is squalor, poverty and misery in the
life of Raju on the other side there is relief, which is beautiful and charming Rosie.

Another technique Narayan use is imagery and symbolism which is rooted in Indian culture
but has universal appeal. At the end of the story, where Raju is drowning, his eyes engrossed
towards the mountains as a brilliant sun rises and villagers look on. By juxtaposing the simple
background of the Indian village at sunrise with the suicide scene, Narayan effectively
communicates Raju's death as an image of hope, consistent with the Indian belief in death
and rebirth.

Narayan’s has a gift of 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 quite and subdued.

Thus, the use of flashback, common lifestyle, comedy, language and the double perspective,
Raju’s and the novelist’s make the novel fresh stimulating, provocative and interesting.

7.1.6 Narayan’s Use of Humor in his The Guide

In his The Guide R.K. Narayan successfully uses gentle irony along with a humor. His
interest in the Indian sensibility results in his exposing the peculiarity of life and his
characters. Through exaggeration, force, juxtaposition of appearance and reality, he paints his
total vision of life in his The Guide. In his novel, The Guide there is humor of character,
humor of situation, irony, wit and satire.

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Burlesque
Laughter is generated in The Guide through farcial situations. The Pyol School with its
abusive school master and the boy’s encroachment in the master’s kitchen creates humor.
Another farcical situation occurs in the later part of the novel when the swami goes to have
some food, finds the pot empty and throws it away in anger. Then coming out he explains to
the waiting disciplines and devotees saying, “Empty vessels make much noise” creates
laughter. Similarly maternal uncle’s attempt to brow- beat Raju is also farcical. The
adjournment lawyer’s defense of Raju’s life in three acts is also comic.

Characterization
Part of the humor also arises from characterization. In fact, all his characters are eccentric or
grotesque in some form or the other.

Marco is eccentric. He “dressed like a man about to undertake an expedition with his thick
colored glasses, thick jacket and a thick helmet over which was perpetually stretched a green,
shiny, water proof cover, giving him the appearance of a space-traveler.”

Equally odd are Raju’s pompous maternal uncle, Gaffur, the taxi-driver and the “Five-rupee”
lawyer. All these eccentric characters and caricatures arouse laughter.

Even Raju, who is a complex character, appears grotesque and fantastic at times. Inspite of all
his efforts to appear grand, Rosie arrives unexpectedly and sees him in his poverty, Raju’s
ambiguous statements and attempts to fleece the tourist create humor.

The entire interior monologue of Raju in the later half of the novel shows him in a comic
light; when he realizes that he was expected to fast to bring down the rains. He muses, “Did
they expect him to starve for twelve days and stand in knee in deep water eight hours”. He sat
up. He regretted having given them the idea. If he had known that it would be applied to him,
he might probably have given a different idea: that all villagers should combine to help him
eat “bowda” for fifteen days without a break. And then, the saintly man would stand in the
river for two minutes a day and it should bring down the rain, sooner or later.

Wit

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The humor also arises out of Narayan’s use of wit and hyperbole. For example, Velan says
“your penance is similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi. He has left a discipline in you to save
us”. Raju’s comment, “But his aloofness did not save him if he not go to the wedding, the
wedding was to bound to come to him”. “The banana worked or miracle. The boy went from
house to house, announcing that the saint was back at his post”. These and other such witty
statements are woven brilliantly into the texture of the novel and go a long way is generating
humor and adding to his comic vision of life.

Satire and Irony

Narayan satires not to preach or ridicule, but to entertain and exposes the follies. His indirect
and mild satire of life is achieved by means of irony which arise humor. He satirizes: fake
sadhus; the red tapism of government officials; the blind faith of discipline, the “five rupee”
adjournment lawyer whose fluency “knocked five years off”; Raju’s power of money which
enabled him to “get a train reservation at a moment’s notice, relieve a man summoned to jury
work, and reinstate a dismissed official”. He also exposes the attitude of the government to
the drought hit villagers- a flurry of activity is created because of the fake swami but nothing
is done to help the villagers. Such is the irony of life.

Sainthood is external as Raju grows a beard to look like a swami and thus plays his role
perfectly. However, Narayan treats his role ironically: while giving a sermon on the Gita he
thinks of food: he expects the usual “gift of food” even though there is a drought; he accepts
the role of a swami for food, but he becomes a genuine swami by renouncing food. The judge
condemns him for forgery and lies, but Velan, his judge pardons him for lies and forgery; he
feasts for the people but this gives them an opportunity to “make merry” and “make money.”
He aspires to be great but at the end he realizes the significance of his puny attempt. Thus, the
author comments at the absurdity and irony of life, at every phase of Raju’s life.

Narayan’s comic and ironic vision of life is visualized through his characterization.

Serious Comedy
The novelist comically views the tragedy of life. The tragic note dissolves and a comedy is
created. This can be seen especially at the end of the novel. Raju’s decision to fast begins the
tragic note in the novel, but his ultimate end is a comedy. It is a comedy because of the fast
and the publicity it receives, results in merry-making for the villagers. It is a comedy because

33
of the indifference of the villagers. While Raju is dying; even his last sentence makes his role
appear illusionary and comic, “it was raining in the hills but he felt it coming up under my
feet, up my leg.” Thus, the use of comic irony at the end exposes the absurdity of existence,
the tragic irony of life, and Narayan’s skill as a comic writer.

To conclude, we can say that Narayan’s humor does not result from distortion, exaggeration
or caricature. It results from an observation of the common human weakness, follies and
fables. His humor is varied and all pervasive.
The Picture of the Indian Society in R. K. Narayan’s in the Guide
The daily life of the Indians, the traditions of the land and indeed the superstitions and values
of India gain a form in the remarkable novel “The Guide”. R.K. Narayan quite consciously in
his novel “The Guide” echoes the more and tradition of the Indian society amidst his literal
symbolism. R. K. Narayan’s chief concern is to give an artistic expression of Indian life.
Though his art form is western, his theme, atmosphere, situations and scenes are truly Indian.

Malgudi
Narayan’s India is symbolized by Malgudi. Malgudi, of course, does not exist. It an
imaginary landscape inhabited by the unique characters of his stories. It is an average town
with swamis, beggars, postmen, shopkeepers, spongers etc. Narayan creates his fictional
world of Malgudi as an essentially Indian society or town. Gradually it grows like any other
town and becomes a city of tourists, a center of attraction for scholars of ancient Indian
culture and even Americans who see the future of India in its growth. The Indian ness and
Indian sensibility pervaded the whole place. Narayan's Malgudi is also a microcosm of India.
It grows and develops and expands and changes, and is full of humanity.

Two Locales
In The Guide there are two locales, namely-Malgudi and Mangala. Though Mangla is the
actual setting, Malgudi is a part of recollection and consciousness. The hero is common to
both the locales. Like all other heroes of R. K. Narayan, the hero of The Guide has a longer
consciousness and involved with bigger concerns of life.

The Village School

Narayan gives a vivid and faithful picture of a village school. The “pyol” school, with its
respected but not well-paid teachers; the school master sitting on a cushion with classes going

34
on simultaneously, the routine of school- boys shouting and getting caned; the foul-mouthed
teacher who abuses instead of including good manners; the co-operative effort of the parents
in catering to the needs of the schoolmaster- all these are typically Indian and represent a
typical village school.

Religious Beliefs- Swami

The Guide also depicts Indian religious beliefs, superstitions and philosophy. The blind faith
of the Indian masses in sadhus and religious men is depicted in their acceptance of Raju as a
swami. However, unlike most swamis, Raju is forced into this role due to circumstances and
he has a true discipline (Velan) instead of the usual fake accomplices. The blind faith of
Indians who worship swamis’s and give offerings to them is depicted very realistically. The
drought and their response to it, is authentically Indian-they make offerings and wait for a
muscle man to foot and bring rain. The reaction to the fast, too, is characteristic- they are glad
and they make use of the opportunity for “party”, make money and make merry.

Sacrifice
The sacrifice of life for social and spiritual good, an ideal of Indian philosophy, is portrayed
through all this. Selfishness gives way to altruism and sacrifice: Raju, epitomizes this Indian
belief he moves from skepticism to idealism, he changes his psyche and from a criminal he
becomes as a altruistic swami with true feelings for those who have fed him. Raju spends his
days muttering prayers as a result of his indubitable liberation from his ego, and it is revealed
by his words-“I am only doing what I have to do; that is all. My likes and dislikes do not
count”. Thus, he sacrifices his life for the wellbeing of the villagers.

Traditional Morality
The Guide also portrays other Indian beliefs. The Indian philosophy is that any deviation
from tradition creates disorder and unhappiness. Happiness can only be restored by
conforming to traditional views, is well illustrated in the novel. Raju, too deviates from
traditional morality by seducing Marco’s wife. When Rosie comes to live in the house, she
brings disorder in his life and he is ultimately jailed. However, by becoming a sadhu and
accepting the traditional belief in sacrifice, self-discipline and purification, he brings
harmony and order to his spiritual life. He has a spiritual rebirth because he confirms to
traditional belief.

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Indian Culture
In all this Narayan’s character like Raju, Marco and Rosie are deeply rooted in Indian
culture-Rosie, a “devdasis” daughter stands for traditional Indian culture; Marco embodies
modern man appreciating the Indian heritage, Raju’s death and faith stand for man’s faith in
Indian tradition. The temple and rural poverty widen his perspective in contrast with his
urban life with Rosie and he gains spiritual faith and peace. Indian faith and tradition are
ultimately triumphant in spite of modernization.

Family
Family relationships being a part of Indian tradition the main theme of family, too, is
characteristically Indian. Narayan gives a graphic description of Raju’s family and inter-
family relationships. His relationship with his father and mother is expressed vividly. The
theme of family relationship is also depicted with reference to Velan who has the
responsibility of marrying off his sister.

Hospitality
Another Indian trait which is depicted is hospitality. Indian’s being extremely hospitable.
Raju and his mother look after Rosie. His mother asks no question at first. In the same way
Velan and the villagers arrange for the meals of the swami, without asking any question.

Narayan also gives a realistic picture of the plight of Indian villagers.

Indian Scenes and Situations

In fact, at each and every step, we come across Indian scenes and situations. The mother and
son’s argument over marriage, the material uncle’s endeavor to bring Raju to the senses, the
establishment of Raju as a fake swami, the fascination of tourists for king Cobra’s dance, the
renovation of the temple, chanting of holy text,lighting of the lamp at the temple, the “mela”
like atmosphere while Raju is fasting-are all typically Indian.

Narayan also gives a realistic picture of the plight of Indian villagers. He authentically
portrays the problems of a country dependent on agriculture and monsoons. Drought leads to
the inevitable femine, dying cattle, lack of water, hoarding by merchants, riots, penance,
pujas, and sacrifices to appease the ran-God. This faith in swamis at the time of drought and
the consequent fasting by Raju is typically Indian. The gloomy picture, as usual, only attracts

36
the attention of the government, tourists and journalist but the problem of the villagers
remains unattended. The activity which occurs due to the drought is an authentic portrayal of
India.

Narayan, in his authentic portrayal of India, uphold the traditional Hindu world-view. By
juxtaposing several symbolic elements Narayan represents the religious and philosophical
beliefs based on the great Indian epics, legends, folk and tales. It affirms values of Indian
traditional life and undeniably confers on the novel its artistic uniqueness.

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8.1 The Metamorphosis Analysis
Gregor’s metamorphosis happens in his sleep, during “uneasy dreams.” His transformation
has been interpreted as the result of a subconscious desire to escape the pressure of being the
breadwinner in his family.
The framed photograph of the woman with the feather boa may symbolize Gregor’s repressed
desires. Prior to his transformation, his obligations to his family prevented him from pursuing
romantic relationships.
Gregor becomes a Christ-like figure when he decides to sacrifice himself so that his family
can have a better life. The Metamorphosis could be read as a religious allegory that likens
Gregor’s death to the death of Jesus Christ.

8.1.1 Franz Kafka Short Story Criticism and “A Hunger Artist” Criticism.
The Metamorphosis is one of the most frequently analyzed works in literature. This elusive
story, which chronicles the transformation of Gregor Samsa from a human being into an
enormous insect, is renowned for its ability to inspire diverse, sometimes mutually exclusive
interpretations. For this reason The Metamorphosis has come to be considered one of the
central enigmas of the modern literary imagination. Nevertheless, critics generally praise
Kafka’s powerful and symbolic portrayal of alienation achieved through the literalized
metaphor of man as insect.

8.1.2 Plot and Major Characters

The Metamorphosis opens as Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, awakes to find himself
transformed into a “monstrous vermin.” Initially shocked by the change, Gregor soon begins
to worry that he will miss his train and be late for work. He also laments the boredom of his
job, employment to which he had resigned himself for as long as necessary to pay off his
parents’ debts. From outside the room, Gregor’s worried mother calls to him. Gregor,
unfamiliar with his new body, struggles to get out of bed. Later, the chief clerk of his office
appears outside the locked door to Gregor’s room, inquiring why his employee has missed
the early train. Speaking through the door, Gregor claims that he is slightly ill but will soon
be on his way. Meanwhile, Gregor’s concerned mother asks her daughter Grete to call for a
doctor and a locksmith. Finally, Gregor manages to open his door. His appearance startles the
chief clerk, and although Gregor tries to reason with him, claiming he will get dressed and be

38
on his way to work, the clerk retreats from the giant insect, as does Gregor’s frightened
mother. Gregor’s father then appears and drives Gregor back into his room.

Time passes, and Gregor’s family members grow more accustomed to living with Gregor in
this strange form, though only Grete has the courage to enter her brother’s room in the
ensuing days. When Gregor leaves his room weeks later, his mother becomes distraught, and
her husband forces Gregor to his room under a hail of thrown apples. Gravely injured and
largely unable to move, Gregor suffers a lonely convalescence that lasts for more than a
month. In the interim Gregor’s mother devotes herself to sewing while his sister takes a job
as a salesgirl. Increasingly, Gregor is neglected by his family. They hire a charwoman to
attend to the heavier work around the house, tasks that used to be performed by Gregor. Odds
and ends are placed in his room for storage, primarily to make space for three male lodgers
the Samsas have taken in to supplement their income. One evening as Grete plays the violin
for these men, Gregor is attracted by the music and crawls unnoticed into the living room.
Later, one of the boarders observes him. Citing the revolting condition of the household, the
lodgers threaten to give notice and depart. Grete realizes that they must get rid of this giant
bug, which she seems to no longer view as her brother. The following morning, the
charwoman enters Gregor’s room and finds him dead. When the lodgers appear and demand
breakfast, Mr. Samsa orders them to leave. Meanwhile, the giggling charwoman returns and
explains that she has disposed of Gregor’s body. The story closes as Gregor’s parents, newly
optimistic for the future and without a thought of their deceased son, comment on their
daughter’s vivacity and beauty, realizing she has grown into a woman.
Major Themes

Thematic analysis of The Metamorphosis has tended to focus on the psychoanalytic and
symbolic, or allegorical, nature of the story. While evaluations of the narrative vary, many
commentators view the theme of alienation from humanity at the center of the story and
interpret Gregor’s transformation as a kind of wish-fulfillment or as an extended metaphor.
Critics who perceive the metamorphosis as a form of wish-fulfillment on Gregor’s part find
in the text clues indicating that he deeply resented having to support his family. Desiring to
be in turn nurtured by them, he becomes a parasite in entomological fact. The complete
dependence of Gregor’s family and employer on him, then, is seen as an ironic foil to the
reality of Gregor’s anatomical transformation into a parasite. Many critics who approach the
story in this way believe the primary emphasis of The Metamorphosis is not upon Gregor, but

39
on his family, as they abandon their dependence on him and learn to be self-sufficient. One
interpretation of the story holds that the title applies equally to Gregor’s sister Grete: she
passes from girlhood to young womanhood during the course of the narrative. Another view
of Gregor’s transformation is that it is an extended metaphor, carried from abstract concept to
concrete reality: trapped in a meaningless job and isolated from the human beings around
him, Gregor is thought of as an insect by himself and by others, so he becomes one.

8.1.3 Critical Reception

Kafka’s letters to his fiancée Felice Bauer, and his diary entries concerning The
Metamorphosis, indicate that although he was generally satisfied with the tale, he felt the
ending was seriously flawed. For this he blamed a business trip that had interrupted him just
before he completed the story. However, critics have noted that The Metamorphosis is one of
the few works for which Kafka actively sought publication. Since Kafka’s death, critical
interest in the novella has been considerable. In addition to the attention critics have placed
on thematic analysis of The Metamorphosis, several have observed its sustained realism,
which contrasts with the initially fantastic occurrence of Gregor’s transformation into an
insect. Many critics have also offered psychoanalytical interpretations of The Metamorphosis,
seeing in the work a dramatization of particularly modern neuroses. For its technical
excellence, as well as for the nightmarish and fascinating nature of the metamorphosis itself,
Kafka’s story has elicited a vast amount of interest, and its various problematic features
continue to challenge its readers. Stanley Corngold has noted that “no single reading of Kafka
escapes blindness,” but that each new reading of his work encourages the study of the vast
body of criticism devoted to it.

Norman N. Holland (essay date 1958), Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes
Editorial. Word Count: 3664, SOURCE: “Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’,” in Modern
Fiction Studies, Vol. IV, No. 2, Summer, 1958, pp. 143-50.
In this essay, Holland examines Kafka’s attribution of spiritual value to realistic elements in
“The Metamorphosis,” claiming “the realistic details of the story are fraught with
significance.
In allegory, symbolism, and surrealism—the three genres are in this respect, at least,
indistinguishable—the writer mixes unrealistic elements into a realistic situation. Thus,
Kafka, in Metamorphosis, puts into the realistic, prosaic environment of the Samsa household

40
a situation that is, to put it mildly, unrealistic: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from a
troubled dream, he found himself changed in his bed to some monstrous kind of vermin.”
Kafka’s strategy does not in essence differ from the techniques of Spenser and Bunyan:
though they used for the unreal element’s allegorical names, they, too, set them in realistic or
conventional situations. Kafka’s method, while rather more overpowering, works the same
way: the unreal elements, be they allegorical names or human cockroaches, set up a kind of
electric field; the most trite and prosaic detail brought into that field glows with extra
meaning. To read allegory is simply to “probe” this field of meaning. We can probe it only if
we momentarily put aside the unreality which creates the field and measure the extra values
given the realistic elements. By reading them imaginatively, we can understand the nature of
the field; only then can we turn back to and understand the unreal element that created the
field.

If we look first at the unrealistic elements, there is a danger that we will be dazzled and see
no more, as in the usual crude reading of Metamorphosis: Samsa is a cockroach, Samsa
equals Kafka, Kafka thinks of himself as cockroach, and so on. Reading Kafka that way is
like seeing The Faerie Queene as a moralistic tract about temperance or Justice without
realizing the rich, plastic meanings Spenser’s realism develops for his allegorical names.
Looking first at the realistic elements and their extra values avoids a second danger in reading
allegory: substituting abstractions for the realism of the story. Kafka’s meaning, as Mr. Elíseo
Vivas points out, “is something not to be better stated abstractly in terms of ideas and
concepts, to be found beyond the fable, but within it, at the dramatic level, in the
interrelationships . . . among the characters and between them and the universe.”

If, momentarily, we put aside the unreality of Gregor Samsa’s metamorphosis, we can see
that the story builds on a commonplace, even a trite, situation: a man feels sick and decides to
stay home from work. For fully the first sixth of the story Gregor goes through exactly the
kind of internal monologue any of us might if we had caught a discomforting, but not
disabling, cold. “Nothing is more degrading than always to have to rise so early.” “How
would it be if I go to sleep again for awhile?” “I’d like to see what my boss would say if I
tried it; I should be sacked immediately.” “What a job I’ve chosen . . . To hell with it all!”
Job, employer, and employee are the core of the realism of Metamorphosis’, not unnaturally,
they form the heart of the allegory as well.

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Metamorphosis has three parts, each marked by Gregor’s emerging from his bedroom into the
Samsa’s dining-room and then retreating. The first part of the story tells of Gregor’s
metamorphosis and of his job. In the second part, Gregor’s father goes back to work for the
first time since the failure of his own business five years before. In the third part, Gregor’s
mother and sister go to work, although Gregor had hoped to send his sister to the
conservatory, and the family takes in three lodgers, employers, as it were, in the home. After
Gregor’s death, in the third part, the lodgers are thrown out, and the Samsas write three letters
of excuse to their three employers, and take the day off. Only by reading imaginatively the
passages that deal with employers, employees, and jobs, can we see the extra meaning
Gregor’s metamorphosis gives to these elements.

Gregor, a traveling salesman who sells cloth, says of his boss: “That’s a funny thing; to sit on
a desk so as to speak to one’s employees from such a height, especially when one is hard of
hearing and people must come close! Still, all hope is not lost; once I have got together the
money my parents owe him—that will be in about five or six years—I shall certainly do it.
Then I’ll take the big step!” Gregor muses about the firm:
Why was Gregor, particularly, condemned to work for a firm where the worst was suspected
at the slightest inadvertence of the employees? Were the employees, without exception, all
scoundrels? Was there among their number not one devoted faithful servant, who, if it did so
happen that by chance he missed a few hours work one morning might have found himself so
numbed with remorse that he just could not leave his bed?

After Gregor’s metamorphosis, his father goes to work for a bank. “By some capricious
obstinacy, [he] always refused to take off his uniform even at home . . . as if to keep himself
always ready to carry out some order; even in his own home, he seemed to await his
superior’s voice.” Gregor’s mother “was killing herself mending the linen of strangers, the
sister ran here and there behind her counter at the customers’ bidding.”

The three lodgers whom the family takes in “were very earnest and serious men; all three had
thick beards . . . and they were fanatically tidy; they insisted on order, not only in their own
room, but also, now that they were living here, throughout the whole household, and
especially in the kitchen.” Gregor’s mother brings them a plate of meat in the dining room.
“The lodgers leaned over it to examine it, and the one who was seated in the middle and who
appeared to have some authority over the others, cut a piece of meat as it lay on the dish to

42
ascertain whether it was tender or whether he should send it back to the kitchen. He seemed
satisfied, however, and the two women, who had been anxiously watching, gave each other a
smile of relief.”

These descriptions are ambiguous, even cryptic—but not in themselves unrealistic; the pallor
of unreality is cast by the impossible metamorphosis always present to our minds. The
description of Gregor’s boss has breadth enough to apply not just to a petty office tyrant, but
even to an Old Testament God. Indeed, the reference to the high desk echoes the Old
Testament metaphor of the God “most high” who yet can “hear” us: “Though the Lord be
high, yet hath he respects unto the lowly” (Ps. 138:6); “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that
it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, that he will not
hear” (Is. 59:1-2). Read this way, the debt that Gregor assumed for his parents and must pay
resembles original sin. Only after he has expiated the sin-debt can he “take the big step”
toward freedom.

The description of the “firm,” with its atmosphere of universal guilt and punishment, also
hints at original sin: “A faithful man who can find?” (Prov. 20:6). Gregor and his fellow-
workers are treated like the evil servant whose lord “shall come in a day when he looked not
for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 24:50-51).
Gregor is indeed cut off from men; he gets his “portion” of garbage from his hypocritical
family, and one evening when he eavesdrops on the three lodgers eating: “It seemed curious
to Gregor that he could hear the gnashing of their teeth above all the clatter of cutlery.” The
lodgers themselves, “very earnest and serious,” “fanatically tidy,” resemble gods. Frau
Samsa’s submitting a plate of meat to them is almost like making a burnt offering to some
very choosy deities:

“Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me” (Jer. 6:20).

The fact that employers come in threes after the metamorphosis hints at a shift from Old
Testament to New like that of “In the Penal Colony”; more immediately, however, it suggests
that each member of the family has to take up a share of the burden of subservience that
Gregor had borne alone before. Thus, Gregor had proudly brought home cash as a traveling

43
salesman for a cloth concern. His job is now broken into its separate components. His father
goes to work for a bank: he now wears the special clothes and acquires Gregor’s pride in
supporting the family. His mother deals with the cloth, “the linen of strangers.” His sister
“ran here and there.” The fact that there are three lodgers suggests that there is a “god” for
each member of the family. The one in the middle, the most important one, corresponds to
Gregor’s father.

Space does not permit a full development of all the realistic elements in Metamorphosis that
Gregor’s predicament has charged with extra, non-realistic meaning. In every case, however,
the same procedure would apply: an imaginative reading of the passages dealing with a
particular “realistic” detail. In the few passages I have already quoted, some of these elements
emerge. Employers are like gods. Money suggests psychic resources; debts suggest psychic
deficits or guilt. Traveling—not only Gregor’s normal occupation, but even after his
metamorphosis, he learns “to distract himself by walking”—suggests the need to serve an
employer, an escape from freedom (sitting still) for homo viator. Cloth and clothing are the
badges of subservience; it is only in states of nightdress or undress that the inner self can
emerge.

Other passages would show many more realistic elements with significance beyond mere
physical reality. Food, for example, suggests devotion-reverent offerings demanded by
lodgers or communion with one’s equals. All the family intercourse of the Samsas seems to
take place in the dining room. “Breakfast was the most important meal of the day,” because it
was the transition from bed, one’s private life, to employment. The outdoors, the place where
one goes to work, where one travels and wears formal clothing, belongs to the employers.
Gregor himself sees his problem as that of getting out of bed: “He would dress, and above all,
he would have breakfast; then would come the time to reflect, for he felt that it was not in bed
that a reasonable solution could be found. He recalled how often an unusual position adopted
in bed had resulted in slight pains which proved imaginary as soon as he arose.”

The trifid division of the locale into bedroom (private self), dining room (personal
relationships), and outdoors (obligations) hints at that other division into id, ego, and
superego. The rooms correspond to areas of experience, the whole apartment upstairs to life
on earth and the outdoors downstairs to heaven, with “some unearthly deliverance . . . at the
foot of the stairs.” Locks and doors, then, symbolize the barriers between these areas of

44
experience. Normally, we break down such barriers by speech, but Gregor can no longer
speak intelligibly: he can, however, twist open the lock to his bedroom with his mouth. Locks
also symbolize Gregor’s imprisonment in the body of an insect. Thus, at first, “without
differentiating between them, he hoped for great and surprising things from the locksmith and
the doctor.”

Once understood, Kafka’s method is quite straightforward. In every case, he has charged a
specific realistic element of the story with a specific non-realistic or spiritual value. Having
understood the method and some of the values created in this field of meaning, one can go on
to understand the non-realistic element that creates the field. If, in every case, Kafka converts
a spiritual concept down to a physical fact, then the transformation of Gregor to dung-beetle,
of man to animal, must stand for the transformation of god to man, and, indeed, Kafka has
given Gregor a number of Christ-like attributes. At the opening of the story, Gregor had taken
on the responsibility of working for the whole family—in particular, he had taken on his
parents’ debts (guilt or original sin). His metamorphosis takes place around Christmas; he
remains a bug for three months and dies at the end of March. What finally kills Gregor is an
apple thrown by his father, the apple, presumably, of Eden and mortality. “One lightly-
thrown apple struck Gregor’s back and fell off without doing any harm, but the next one
literally pierced his flesh [sic]. He tried to drag himself a little further away, as if a change of
position could relieve the shattering agony he suddenly felt, but he seemed to be nailed fast to
the spot.”

Gregor becomes weaker and weaker until he dies. The account of his death parallels the
Biblical accounts of Christ’s death:

He lay in this state of peaceful and empty meditation till the clock struck the third morning
hour. He saw the landscape grow lighter through the window.

He realized that he must go. . . . Against his will, his head fell forward and his last feeble
breath streamed from his nostrils [sic].

The charwoman arrived early in the morning—and though she had often been forbidden to do
so, she always slammed the door so loudly in her vigor and haste that once she was in the
house it was impossible to get any sleep.

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.....

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour (Matt.
27:45).

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were accomplished that the scripture might be
fulfilled . . . said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost (John 19:28-
30).

Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did
quake, and rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept
arose (Matt. 27:51-52).

The Samsas arise from their beds and learn of Gregor’s death; they cross themselves. “Well,”
says Herr Samsa, “we can thank God for that!” The charwoman, “gigantic . . . with bony
features and white hair, which stood up all around her head,” wearing a “little ostrich feather
which stood upright on her hat,” which “now waved lightly in all directions,” describes
Gregor as “absolutely dead as a doornail,” “stone dead.” “The angel of the Lord,” says
Matthew, “descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat
upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.” “He is not here:
for he is risen,” becomes another kind of divine comedy: “’Well, . . .’ she replied, and she
laughed so much she could hardly speak for some while. ‘Well, you needn’t worry about
getting rid of that thing in there, I have fixed it already.’”

One question, however, remains: why a cockroach? Several critics have pointed out
Metamorphosis’s descent from the “loathly lady” genre of medieval tales, in which, as in
“Beauty and the Beast,” someone is transformed into a loathsome animal and can be
transformed back only by love. Love, in other words, is tested by disgust, and in
Metamorphosis, love is found lacking. In at least one such tale which Kafka probably knew,
Flaubert’s “The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller,” the loathsome creature turns out to be
Christ. Kafka, however, could have used any loathsome animal, a toad, a snake, a spider: why
a cockroach? The German word is Mistkaefer, applied to Gregor only once—by the
charwoman. Technically, the word means a dung-beetle, not a cockroach, and the distinction

46
is important. For one thing, biologically, a cockroach undergoes only a partial
metamorphosis, while the beetles go through a total metamorphosis. More important, dung
beetles are scarabs. “The Egyptian scarab,” says the redoubtable Britannica, “is an image of
the sacred dungbeetle . . . which was venerated as a type of the sun-god. Probably the ball of
dung, which is rolled along by the beetle in order to place its eggs in it, was regarded as an
image of the sun in its course across the heavens, which may have been conceived as a
mighty ball rolled by a gigantic beetle.” Gregor, we should remember was a travelling
salesman; a collection of samples was “entrusted” to him. Samson (Samsa) means in Hebrew
“the sun’s man.” In German, the title of the story, Die Verwandlung, like the hieroglyphic
beetle-sign, means either an insect’s metamorphosis or transformation in a general sense. Die
Verwandlung, moreover, is the normal word for transubstantiation. The dung-beetle, then,
was the one animal that gave Kafka everything he needed: total metamorphosis from a
wingless grub to a hard-working, traveling-salesman-like adult plus the combination of
loathsomeness and divinity.

Samson’s sacrifice is a traditional analogue to Christ’s; in German he is called a Judenchrist.

Gregor’s first name means “vigilant,” and so he was when he supported his family. When he
is a dim-sighted scarab, though, his first name makes an ironic contrast to his last: Samson
was blinded. Samsa, like Samson, rid the chosen people (his family) of the domineering
Philistines (the lodgers who didn’t like the sister’s music) by his own self-destruction, his
wished-for death. Gregor, at one point, longs to climb up on his sister’s shoulder and kiss her
neck; in general, Gregor has a great many incestuous impulses. In this context, his name
echoes the medieval legend of Pope Gregory, who in expiating his incestuous birth and
marriage became the holiest man in Christendom: chained to a barren rock for seventeen
years, the legend says he became an ugly little hedgehog-like creature.

Gregory-Gregor’s situation strongly resembles that prophesied by Isaiah: “His visage was so
marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men . . . he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is
despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities” (Is.
52:14-53:5). In fact, a good deal of the incidental imagery of Metamorphosis was derived

47
from Isaiah. For example, the statement that Gregor’s sister had worn on her neck “neither
collar nor ribbon ever since she had been working in the shop,” corresponds to, “Loose
thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion” (52:2). The details of
Gregor’s death are taken from the Passion, and the whole allegorical scheme of employers as
gods and money as spiritual resources probably came from the various New Testament
parables of lords, stewards, and “talents.”

In a crude sense, then, Metamorphosis satirizes Christians, who are only distressed, angry,
and, ultimately, cruel when a second Christ appears. They take gods in times of trouble, even
into their own homes, then throw them out when the trouble ends. After Gregor’s death, a
butcher’s boy comes up the stairs, meeting and passing the evicted lodger-gods going down
the stairs. Priest-like, he brings the meat that the Samsas will eat themselves, suggesting
communion, as opposed to the burnt offerings they had formerly made to the lodgers. At one
level, Kafka is parodying Christ’s sacrifice, but a merely theological account of the story is
far from complete. It neglects the rich sexual symbolism, the double doors, for example,
through which Gregor must pass (a birth image) or the phallic symbols associated with his
father: indeed, at one point Herr Samsa is described in terms rather more appropriate to a
phallus. Kafka is reaching for more than theological allegory.

At the risk of being trite, I would like to suggest that Gregor’s transformation dramatizes the
human predicament. That is, we are all blind, like Samson, trapped between a set of dark
instinctual urges on one hand and an obscure drive to serve “gods” on the other. Like dung-
beetles, our lives are defined by the urge to mate and the urge to labor that comes from it. Our
only freedom is not to know we are imprisoned. Metamorphosis represents abstractions
physically and charges physical realities with spiritual significance. Gregor’s physical
transformation, then, stands for a spiritual transformation. Gregor is a dung-beetle means he
is spiritually like one. His back, “hard as armor plate,” dramatizes and substitutes for his
awareness of this human predicament. Similarly, his metamorphosis forces his family to a
reluctant awareness of this imprisonment: again, the physical events of the story, taking jobs,
for example, dramatize and substitute for the awareness itself. Finally, Gregor’s
metamorphosis forces the reader to an awareness of the cage of id and superego. The reader,
so long as he believes in the metamorphosis, by its very unreality is driven to see the realities,
Biblical and Freudian, hiding behind the ordinary reality of the story.

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The first part of Metamorphosis forces this understanding on us, but the ending whimsically
urges on us the virtues of ignorance. As Gregor’s sister says, “You must get the idea out of
your head that this is Gregor. We have believed that for too long, and that is the cause of all
our unhappiness. How could it be Gregor?” That is, so long as we believe in Gregor’s
metamorphosis, the realistic details of the story are fraught with significance. If we can forget
Gregor’s predicament and ours, we can relapse into blissful ignorance. To read
Metamorphosis, one must put aside the “unreal” metamorphosis momentarily; the trouble
with the Samsas is that they put it aside forever.

9. Findings
9.1 Evaluation of Selected Novels
This is a story about a young man named Gregor Samsa who is a clerk at a local firm. He is
the typical work-a-holic living with his parents, trying to work off the family debt. However,
he wakes up one day to find that he is a human-sized beetle. At first, he struggles to get out of
bed and can hardly maneuver his body, as he's not used to moving with so many legs. When
his parents see him as a beetle for the first time, they react pretty strongly, but his sister,
Grete, is not so apprehensive. In the coming months, she cleans his room and feeds him.
Grete decides to move the furniture out of Gregor's room so that he can climb around the
walls. In doing so, the mother catches another glimpse of Gregor and faints. As time passes,
Gregor realizes that without him working, the family is in deep financial trouble. The family
brings in three renters into the apartment to bring in some extra money, but when Gregor is
seen by the renters, they decide to not pay their rent and leave. It is then decided by the
family that Gregor must leave. Gregor, upon hearing this, goes back to his room and dies.
The family finds him dead and their life seems to turn around. They all get jobs and find a
new place to live. And in the end, Gregor's parents recognize Grete, Gregor's sister, as a
beautiful young woman. Initially, this is a story about the metamorphosis of Gregor - a
transformation from a human to a beetle. However, what we really see is a metamorphosis of
the family unit. In the beginning, we see a family who is strained under debt and apathetic
towards this problem. And at the end, each member of the family begins to take initiatives to
work and to change. This story is also about perspective, as we are mainly placed into the
mind of Gregor. Although he is a beetle from the beginning of the story, the part of him that
is still human characterizes and humanizes how we too might react in a similar situation.

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Throughout the story, Gregor hovers between insect and human. We see this in moments
when he is considerate of his sister seeing him, covering himself with a bed sheet so as to not
scare her with his appearance. And although people don't wake up as insects in real life,
individuals do undergo forms of change. The beetle exterior can be a metaphor for
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or even going away for college. One day, the
world recognizes that you've changed. And you may not be a giant insect, but the world must
now respond to the metamorphosized you.
Metamorphosis is a very unique novel and is written by Franz Kafka. It is about Gregor
Samsa’s transformation into an insect. Gregor has no idea why this has happened to him. He
discovers his transformation after waking up late for work one day. He finds his back is now
armored and his belly is brown, both characteristics of an insect. Gregor is a traveling
salesman and thinks that this can’t be real. At first, he figures he's simply overworked.
Unfortunately, it’s not a dream. He figures he has even bigger problems as he’s late for his
train ride! He was supposed to take the 5 o’clock train, but it’s already 6:30 and the last train
leaves at 7. At that point, he’ll be late and his boss will come pounding on his door with a
doctor. His mother comes to the door and Gregor realizes his voice has changed, but is
determined to get up and get ready. Gregor has to do this because his coworkers will show up
at his house soon asking why he didn’t make his train. Sure enough, the maid lets in the chief
clerk and he, along with Gregor’s parents come knocking at his door. The chief clerk is
annoying. All he thinks about is ways that Gregor is trying to scam him or get out of work.
Yet in reality, Gregor works tirelessly at his job. Gregor responds to the clerk and says that
he’ll get ready now and make the 8 o’clock train. Meanwhile, Gregor’s parents are acting
completely hysterical. The mother is calling for a doctor, and the father is calling for a
locksmith to break open the door. Gregor finally unlocks the door and shocks everyone. From
Gregor’s apology, we learn that his parents are in serious debt to his employers. He works to
support his entire family. The chief clerk is so scared he leaves immediately. Gregor tries to
stop him, and falls on his stomach which is actually perfect and he’s able to move a little
better. Gregor’s father becomes aggressive towards Gregor. The father grabs the chief clerk's
stick and a newspaper and beats Gregor back into his room. In the process, he gashes
Gregor's side by scraping the door. He wakes up many hours later and finds a dish of milk
and white bread. To his surprise, he finds the milk disgusting. After many hours, his sister
comes in and seeing the uneaten milk brings some other food. In particular, he ate cheese,
half rotten vegetables and bones covered in white sauce. He's fed twice a day from this point
on. Also, he discovered that his wounds have healed. 5 years ago Gregor’s father’s business

50
collapsed. When this happened, Gregor became determined to provide for his family. He
even wanted to send his sister to a musical college as she loved to play the violin. Gregor’s
father is in the main room and Gregor listens. His father has saved a few years worth of
money that they can use to support himself. Gregor thinks out-loud that this money could
have freed him from his job much sooner. But, he figures that it's good that his father did
save it and is happy to hear about it. A month had now passed since Gregor’s transformation
and he finds his room boring. To entertain himself, he would crawl up on the ceiling and
hang there. To help out, his sister removed all the furniture from the room. But, his mother
doesn’t want to remove the furniture. She thinks by removing it they are removing a piece
Gregor's ability to recover. Even Gregor acknowledges this, and is a little shocked that he
was trying creating a warm, dark, cave for himself. After changing his mind about the
furniture, Gregor tries to save a piece of art by covering it. When his mother comes back into
the room she faints at the sight of him. Gregor wants to help so he goes into the main room
where his mother is at. At this point, Gregor’s father returns. He’s dressed in a work uniform,
and is violent towards Gregor. He immediately begins throwing apples at his son and one
lodges in his back. This causes excruciating pain and almost entirely paralyzes him. Then,
Gregor's father and sister throw him back into his room. With the apple still lodged in his
back, Gregor’s wounds fester for over a month. Meanwhile, his mother was sewing for a
fashion store and his sister got a sales job. To make more money, the family sold their
jewelry. They also wanted to downsize from this apartment but couldn’t hope to move
Gregor. Gregor’s sisters cleaning deteriorates. She would leave the room in a filthy state.
When his mother tried to clean it, the sister goes ballistic. . The family eventually hires a new
cleaning lady and she is also irritating. She randomly opened Gregor’s door one day and
noticed him. Then, every day after that she would disturb him at least once. Later, the family
got 3 tenants who lived in one room of the apartment. They demanded extreme tidiness and
so all the random junk of the apartment ended up in Gregor’s room. After dinner one evening,
Gregor’s sister is playing the violin. Gregor enjoys the playing, and moves into the main
room. The door to his room was accidentally left open by the new cleaning lady. When the
tenants saw Gregor, they immediately gave notice that they were moving, and refused to pay
for the time they had already stayed. Then, Gregor’s sister stated that they had to get rid of
Gregor. They all agreed with the father when he pathetically whaled “if he could just
understand us”. This is a bit comedic since the father is the one who didn’t understand
Gregor. Gregor understood them perfectly. Gregor felt his pain subsiding and breathed his
last breath. When the cleaning lady came the next morning, she found Gregor’s lifeless

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carcass and informed the household. The three tenants came out of their room to see what the
commotion was. Angry, Mr. Samsa tells them to get out of his house and they leave. Then,
the family takes a tram ride and feel quite happy with themselves. Their jobs are good, and
they’re excited to find a new apartment.

The guide, which was published in 1958, won him the national prize of the Indian literary
Academy is this country's highest literary honor. He was awarded in 1980 the AC Benson
medal by the Royal Society of literature and in 1981, he was made an honorary member of
the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. There are five collection of short
stories which he has written a horse and two goats and astrologist j and other stories, lolly
road, under the banyan tree, and malgudi days, he published a travel book called The Emerald
route, three collection of essays, a writer's nightmare next Sunday and reluctant guru. Then
there are three books which she wrote on Indian epics. Apart from a volume of mama
Moyers, and titled My days, no arguing Iran was a great writer of characters. He is praised for
his art of characterization. He has created his characters with a lot of consideration. And all
the characters are originals. And everyone that you see in his novels seems to be someone
from around your own self. They are people who are commoners. They typify humanity.
There are people like them in the whole of India. And it's not just people from margaree
whom he has brought in the in his works, it is people were found in the whole of India,
typical habits, typical way of talking typical life style. So, his characters are based on
psychological treatment you'll find all his characters are real and lifelike, as I said, and
definitely immortal characters, like the character of Swami is someone to whom we can relate
even today. Now, coming to this particular novel, we talk about the guide. Now the guide it
begins on the outskirts of the quiet village of malgudi where there is a simple villager who's
called who is called Wayland, and he mistakes Radu who has just come out of jail and resting
at the ruins of the temple near the river. He mistakes him as a holy man. And he discusses his
problems with Roger and Roger who is least interested, but still, because he himself does not
know what to do. He talks to him gives him some very sane advice, and Waylon is under the
impression that he is definitely a very holy man. Roger is reminiscing about the time when he
lived in Calgary with his mother and father. He grew up at the train station, they had a shop,
he remembers all these things. He remembers that he was called railway Radu by the people
out there. And he was a guide. He used to guide people he loved talking to people he loved to
meet new people. And there was a comfortable life he had been having with his mother after
his father's death, until the day that things changed with the coming of Marco and his wife,

52
Rosie. And after they came raggio started having an affair with Rosie. Now this Rosie was
from the family of dancers, she loved dancing, but Marco, her husband was very strict. He
was against dancing. And he was a man who was interested in architecture in world caves
and he was busy with that and that is why he had come to Calgary. And Roger is given the
task of showing him around and some space later he talks he tells Roger to show Rosie and
that's the time and roger discovers rosie's love for dancing when takes her to a snake charmer
has had to see the snake dance and we find that rosie herself is much interested in dancing but
keeps herself away from it because marco does not like it and when marco discovers the
relationship between roger and rosie he deserts his wife and goes back and rosie comes and
starts living with rajiv and rogers mother is highly disgusted she goes away to live with her
brother and rogered takes all the trouble to make rosie he changes her name to nalini and he
takes all the efforts to make her a great dancer and they actually start earning well and living
in a big house and that's when he commits a forgery and he is caught by the police right in the
middle of a dance performance and is taken to jail and two years he is put in prison now this
roger loves prison also and he likes the lifestyle there because it's so regular and he is
released from prison because of his good behavior and when he comes that's the point where
the novel starts that he's sitting at the river near the river in the on the temple front and he is
found by Valen now vaillant takes him for a very religious man and he tells him about the
problem that his sister is not getting married not ready to get married and so he brings his
sister to roger and roger tells her what must happen must happen no power on earth or in
heaven can change your scores just as no one can change the course of that trigger and
Valen’s sister is so mightily impressed that she goes back and agrees to getting married and
this is the change in the attitude in the of the villagers and everybody starts rushing to Raju
thinking him to be a very religious man and often on people come to him with problems and
Raju starts getting into the character he starts talking in a very somber
manner and he starts saying profound things and then famine strikes and people are very
disturbed and they start fighting with each other and Raju tells to Valen’s brother that
conveyed to the villagers that I will not eat until they stop fighting and violence brother
somewhere is confused and he goes and tell to the tells to a villagers that roger will not eat
until the rains come and that gets roger into trouble he didn't he never wanted to fast for the
rains and he seems very angry also with Valen for having put him in this trouble but he just
cannot help it why because all the villagers are rushing to him and you know folding their
hands in front of him in the hope that he definitely can save them from this famine and so
Raju initially unwillingly but later on willingly gets into the character he does the fast his

53
condition becomes quite bad and on the 11th a day when the doctors tell that he will not live
anymore roger Raju gets up with the help of Waylon and other of his friends and he's taken to
the river and when he is there at the river he says to Waylon that whale and it's raining in the
hills I can feel it coming up under my feet up my legs and he sags down now when he sags
down arcanine has not told us that he died he has not told us that he lived he has just left at
that because it actually does not matter what happened later on what matters is that a man
who had committed a big fraud was now a totally changed character he had converted
himself and he had a cause to live for and that's the best part of it so we find you know that
railway Raju who was the protagonist of the story was born in Calgary born in a lower
middle class family very smart very savvy love talking traveling and the change comes with
the coming of Rosie then he commits the forgery lands himself in jail meets veil and becomes
a sage and then has a cause to live for so if we try to write the character sketches roger we
must try to analyze them on these branch like you know roger was a central figure of the
novel then the complexity in his character which we see you know in the beginning what he
was here's his desire to always meet people talk to people be in the forefront make himself
indispensable and then roger the guide was guiding people to all sorts of places telling them
so much about it, making a living out of it, and loving the work of a guide more than that of a
shopkeeper, Roger the lover, the man who loved Lena Nalini or Rosie and what he did for
her, he changed her life. Although no he had his own greed also to satisfy his need for money
also to satisfy, but still as a lover, he did a lot for her. Roger the prisoner who was a model
prisoner in the jail and who was doing things very right they're not causing any kind of
problem and Raju this Swami who lays down his life for the rains, which were not coming in
Malgudi not mulberry I'm sorry. in that village, where he was the village was supposed to be
miles away from Malgudi where he had actually started living. Now the next more important
character next important character is Rosie and she is the one who changes the life of Raju.
Now she is the hero indefinitely. She belongs to a family of dancers dedicated to temples
she's a woman of independent thought and ambition. Sugar typical Indian woman because
she loves her husband dedicated to him although her husband does not treat her very well. He
is his attitude maybe termed as apathetic because he does not care about her. She is a devoted
wife. She is worried about him. When he is four days in the cave of Malgudi. She is worried
what must Marco be doing? She has her desires. She wants to grow in life. She has her
dreams to fulfill she wants to do a lot in life. She's very lively character. She loves to dance
she loves to roam around. But we find that because of Marcos, Marcos dislikes she has kept
herself in control all her desires she had kept under control until the time she finally meets a

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man like Roger. She is completely devoted to dance we find she practices for three hours
early in the morning she would get up and practice for three hours. She was religious by
nature because we find that she had a she had an idol of anchorages in her office and she was
dedicated devoted to Goddess Saraswathi she was passionate by nature she did not believe in
you know class distinct distinctions that okay, I am rich. So, I'm going to meet rich people
like Raji used to tell her after she became rich that you know, you didn't should not go and
make mix with three non-low people below class people. She always said, I don't believe in
all these things. She was true to her lover to the end. Even though he defrauded even though
he committed forgery. She paid away all his debts. She started her life and knew she again
started dancing. And know that we find that Rosie did anything against Roger to cause any
kind of problem to him. She was always devoted to Roger. That's the best thing we find
about. You know, if you look at Marco again, he is a character who's very serious, studious,
doesn't like to meet people. He is lost in ancient civilizations. And he has a lot of passion for
his work. He forgets the existence of Rosie neglects her like anything. But he's very
controlling and dominant by nature. Like he was very clear about the fact that he does not
like dancing and Rosie should not dance. He was very rigid and cruel. We can say because
we find that at the point where Rosie Brexit to him that she was having an affair with Dr.
Zhu. And she asked for forgiveness. He does not forgive her. She keeps on going around him
for three weeks. Just like a dog as she says herself, like a dog, waiting for his affection. She
kept on going round him, but he never once listened to her and did not forgive her. In the end.
He told her to stay back and he had only one ticket and he leaves her and goes, but in the end,
we find and when she has become a good dancer, Marco does attempt to reconciliation with
her by sending his advocate to her. Apart from these main characters, there are several minor
characters in the novel like Raju’s mother and Uncle Maloney money Joseph Rogers lawyer
The same goes for I hope you have understood the novel and if you have any questions
regarding this novel or any of the characters,

9. Conclusion
In this research we are presenting the comparison between two masterpieces novel “The
Guide” and “The Metamorphosis”. After a deep review and research, we have found these
two novels as the story of transformation of lives. In fact, it can be seen that some
transformation has a positive effect on life or it can be said that all those transformations help
to reach a position if there is such a desire. But if the level of transformation is not
meaningful then he has a deadly negative effect on the character. As seen in "The

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Metamorphosis", Gregor Samsa's transformation into an insect is very bad for his family. At
one stage, his family left him. But in "The Guide", when Raju was transformed into a monk
or people started thinking of him as a monk, the result was not going to be so bad if Raju
wanted to get some meaningful result by doing it at all. Although Raju didn't want that much
in "The Guide". Rather, Raju reveals that he is not such a powerful or ascetic. He is just a
very ordinary guide. "The Guide" paints a vivid picture of the social situation in India at the
time, as in "The Metamorphosis" - a picture of ordinary German lower-middle-class life at
the time. There is also the use of surrealism in both novels for which religious sentiments
exist between the characters and in some cases, we also see the manifestation of bigotry.
Although our current study is based on a comparative analysis of the two stories, we have
also analyzed the artistic and structural aspects of these two novels in that research.
In conclusion, these two novels are highly philosophical considering the literature. And the
skill that both writers have shown in considering the social context and in character building
is very remarkable.

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perspective

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Goyal, bhagwat S. (1981). “From Picaro to Pilgrim: A Perspective on R.K.Narayan’s “The

Guide”” Indo-English Literature. (Ed. K.K. Sharma). Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan,
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Mathur,O.P. (1993). “The Guide: A Study in Cultural Ambivalence.” The Modern Indian
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Sen, Krishna.(2004). Critical Essays on R.K.Narayan’s The Guide: With an Introduction to

Narayan’s Novels. Kolkata: Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd.

Yadav, S. (1999). “The Guide-A Psycho-Philosophic and Socio-Ethical Study.” Indian

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Brod, Max (ed.). 1949. The Diaries of Franz Kafka, New York: Schocken Books, p. 77.

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Laing, R. D. 1965. The Divided Self, London: Cox & Wyman Ltd, pp.46, 17.

Jung, C. G. 1963. Memories, Dreams, Reflections, New York: Random House Inc, p. 401.

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