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The Guide Plot Summary R.K. Narayan's novel The Guide is the story of a man nam

The Guide Plot Summary R.K. Narayan's novel The Guide is the story of a man named Raju who comes from a small village in India called Malgudi. Malgudi itself does not exist. This fact gives Narayan's novel the feeling of a fable or fantasy. Raju's life is predicated on a series of self-deceptions which eventually lead the character down a road of confusion, loss of self and then to spiritual transformation and awakening. Throughout Raju's life, he does his best to be whatever people require him to be at any given moment. When he runs a shop in the Malgudi train station, he is "Railway Raju," an extraordinary guide and procurer of all things needed. When Raju meets a beautiful dancer named Rosie, he becomes her lover and her guide as well by helping Rosie realize her wish to dance professionally. When Rosie becomes famous, Raju then becomes "Raj," a man... What's In a Name? With the exception of James J. Malone, the American journalist, none of the characters' last names are mentioned in the narrative. It can be surmised that Malone's entire name is used in an effort to reinforce his position as an outsider. In America as well as in other Western nations, a person's name is a signifier of who one is in society and where one comes from. However, by not revealing the surnames of the Indian characters in the novel, the author is subverting the notion that the name makes the (wo)man. In addition, there are several characters who remain unnamed altogether. For example, Raju's maternal uncle, Raju's parents and even the lawyer are never called by name. This would reinforce the view that it is sufficient for the author that the characters know their own names and secondary that the reader does not... Style Point of View Interestingly, Narayan's novel moves back and forth between first and third person narration with some fluidity. Also of note is the fact that this shift occurs more than once in several of the chapters. This proves challenging for the reader in that the point of view most often shifts according to chronology. Moving from past and present and back again is, in terms of this narrative, a matter of course and the reader becomes aware of the small space between "what is" and "what was." In this way, the novel closely mirrors what happens automatically in the human mind. In the first chapter alone, the narration moves between third and first person point of view four times. The successive ten chapters also follow this pattern. While this constant change of perspective is somewhat vertiginous, it nonetheless proves to be more than effective in that the story... Objects/Places Malgudi Malgudi is the name of Raju's hometown. Although Malgudi is a fictional place, in the narrative it is situated in proximity to cities and other geographical features which do exist. Mempi Peak House The location where Marco stays, the Mempi Peak House is closer to the caves that Marco is exploring. He spends his days and nights here rather than at the hotel with Rosie. Room 28 at th Anand Bhavan Hotel The hotel room where Rosie and Marco stay while on vacation. Room 28 is also the location where Raju and Rosie rendezvous while Marco is involved with his explorations. The Railway Station The Malgudi Railway Station is the site of Raju's small sundries business. Travelers passing through Malgudi stop at Raju's stand to buy newspapers, books, snacks and other essentials. The railway station shop is also where travelers can hire Raju to guide them through the city... Quotes "A man who preferred to dress like a permanent tourist was just what a guide passionately looked for all his life" (Chapter 1, page 5). "The sugar was kept in an old tin can, which looked rusty but contained excellent sugar. It was kept on a wooden ledge on the smoke-stained wall of the kitchen, out of my reach. I fear that its position was shifted up ad up as I grew older, because I remember that I could never get at that rusty can at any time except with the cooperation of my elders" (Chapter 1, page 7). "Raju was filled with gratitude and prayed that Velan might never come to the stage of thinking that he was too good for food and that he subsisted on atoms from the air" (Chapter 2, page 24). "He realized that he had no alternative: he must play the role that Velan had given him" (Chapter 2, page... 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 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. 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 uploads/Geographie/ the-guide 1 .pdf