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IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 11,

IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 11, Ver. VIII (Nov. 2014), PP 01-04 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 1 | Page Rosie - the quintessential Indian Woman in R. K. Narayan's “The Guide" Gangotri Sil M.A.The University of Burdwan, Govt. Assistant Teacher of English in Dahakula Junior High School Abstract: This paper tries to observe the character of Rosie and trace the evolution that she goes through in the novel "The Guide" by R.K.Narayan. As a result of her bold actions, it is often thought that she is very different from common Indian women. I have tried to show that in reality she is just like our diverse Indian culture which conceives both tradition and modernity. Her desires, dilemmas and decisions can happen only to an Indian woman. She may seem ahead of her time but certainly contemporary in 2014. Thus even today’s modern Indian women can identify themselves with Rosie. In fact her journey towards self establishment somehow forecasts the evolution of women's role in the Indian society. Rosie in this aspect stands as a quintessential Indian woman. Key Words: Art, Culture, Hegemony, Identity, Revolution, Womanhood The title of Narayan's first novel, "The Guide", shows that the protagonist is certainly Raju the famous guide of Malgudi. Yet the covers of most of the published manuscripts of "The Guide" have the portrait of a sari clad BharatNatyam dancer, undoubtedly Rosie. This small yet significant fact helps one to understand the impact of the character upon the minds of the readers. And the impression keeps on reverberating due to the complexity of Rosie's character. "I couldn't understand her"(Narayan, 119)- says Raju about Rosie in his narration to Velan .The readers of the novel too feel alike. She challenges the Hindu orthodox stereotype of how a woman should be and yet a part of her complex nature is intensely orthodox. In her we can see a woman trying desperately to free herself from the pigeonhole, at the same time allowing the doors of patriarchy to enclose her. Significantly Rosie enters Malgudi through Railways which brings the touch of modernity with it to the traditional and homogenous culture of Malgudi. The exotic nature of her westernized name also shows her social hybridity. Raju use to wonder - "Why did she call herself Rosie? She did not come from a foreign land. She was just an Indian, who should have done well with Devi, Meena, Lalitha or any of the thousand names we have in our country." (Narayan,9) (1) But her name is only a starting point of her unorthodox life. She traditionally belongs to a Devdasi family who are dedicated to the temples as dancers. They are viewed in the society as of low class women. Yet she acquires a University degree, M.A. in Economics, which is not only unconventional but almost revolutionary. In fact Rosie reads ancient works on dancing such as Bharat Muni's Natya Shastra and even employs a pundit to explain the old Sanskrit verses. She also looks for ideas in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Thus we realize that Rosie not only has bookish knowledge but can blend her knowledge with her art like a truly educated person. She marries a scholar and apparently broad minded person. But actually his only intention is to earn the name of a liberal and modern man. He never accepts Rosie's talent as a dancer and completely ignores her keen desire to continue her career in dance. For Rosie, like any true artist, dance is not only her passion but her way of reaching to God, her vocation. She never can calmly accept the insult of her art by Marco- "An acrobat on a trapeze goes on doing the same thing all his life; well your dance is like that. What is there intellect or creative in it? You repeat your tricks all your life. We watch a monkey perform not because it is artistic but because it is a monkey that is doing it."( Narayan ,148) Moreover Marco never treats her as a human being who has some individual expectations from her life. His male ego coupled with his pride of his knowledge makes him blind to the fact that Rosie is not an artifact to be put and showcased in the bed room. She is his wife who deserves a happy conjugal life. Marco is seen to be more interested in the sculptures on walls and stones in caves than in his wife who is a living embodiment of those images. Dead and decaying things attract his attention but not that which lives and laughs and dreams. Raju recalls in his narration how Rosie wishes to enjoy the small , simple joys of normal life - "She liked to loaf in the market, eat in a crowded hotel, wander about, see a cinema-these common pleasures seemed to have been beyond her reach all these days."(Narayan, 84) Naturally their marriage was in jeopardize. Som Dev rightly remarks – "If Rosie is driven to the arms of a stranger, it is partly not her fault. Had he considered the basic needs of the woman he takes for a wife. He has offered insult to the womanhood and in turn womanhood in Rosie Rosie - the quintessential Indian Woman in R. K. Narayan's “The Guide" www.iosrjournals.org 2 | Page raise its hood to leave 'fangs marks' on him".(2) Thus Rosie decides to leave her legal husband and starts living with another man, Raju. Such relationships are not much encouraged even in today's India and Rosie or may we more aptly say Narayan has the courage to do it in 1958.It is a country of the Sita-Savitris, the myths which Narayan has used in this novel too, where the good wives forgives all the mistakes of their husbands, gives agnipariksha to prove their physical purity. But Rosie shows the other way. The most important aspect of Rosie's character is her pursuit of dance. As a Devdasi she learns to use it for professional gains. But for Rosie, as we can see, dance is far beyond any kind of material gains. At first it becomes her way to achieve spiritual sanctity which later becomes her means of gaining independent identity. Rosie as a dancer is associated with Cobra, the snake. Raju narrates the scene in which Rosie watches the king Cobra dance: "The whole thing repelled me, but it seemed to fascinate the girl . She watched it swaying with the rapt attention. She stretched out her arm slightly and swayed it in imitation of the movement; she swayed her body to the rhythm for just a second..."(Narayan, 68) Later, when she becomes a famous dancer, Rosie's greatest performance, her "masterpiece", is the snake dance. For a dancer in India, moreover, the snake has yet another connotation. In Hindu mythology the naga is also the emblem of the Cosmic Dancer, Shiva-Nataraja. Rosie dedicates herself to the God as the guardian of her art - in her home she dreams of having "a bronze figure of Nataraja, the God of dancers, the God whose primal dance creates the vibrations that set the worlds in motion." Her snake dance is formed to an ancient song which evokes and worships Shiva who is represented by the mythical Snake Rosie conjures up through her rippling gestures. The snake that resides on the locks of Shiva himself, on the wrist of his spouse, Parvati, and in the ever radiant home of the Gods in Kailash. This is a song that elevates the serpent and brings out its mystic quality...which lifts the Cobra out of its class of an underground reptile into a creature of grace and an ornament of the Gods." The image of the Cobra as the mystic symbol of Shiva is related to Rosie herself- she too, is from an "underground" or socially stigmatized class, and yet she can come close to the Gods through her dance, which for her is the sincerest form of worship. Even Raju admits-- "I could honestly declare while I watched her perform, my mind was free, for once, from all carnal thoughts. I viewed her as pure abstraction."(Narayan,125) Thus within years Rosie alias Nalini becomes an extremely famous Bharat Natyam dancer. In a country where women are still harassed and questioned in their workplaces just for being women, this achievement of Rosie, to become a thoroughly welcomed and respected BharatNatyam dancer, to successfully pursue her art, to transform herself into a self-made woman is a revolution in itself. In spite of all these, one part of her remains essentially orthodox. First of all she herself never really respects her own Devdasi clan and always calmly accepts what is publicly told about them- “we are viewed as public women. We are not considered respectable; we are not considered civilized.” (Narayan, 84) Being a highly educated woman she should have tried to reform the image of her clan in the society or make people aware about the unfair system of uploads/Societe et culture/ a0191180104-pdf.pdf