Shanlax International Journal of English 25

Abstract
Published in 1958, The Guide is the most acclaimed novel of R. K.
HUMAN VALUES Narayan that won him not only immense popularity but also the
Sahitya Academy Award for 1960. ‘The Guide’ is an imaginative
IN R.K.NARAYAN’S locale created by Narayan. The attempt in this Research Paper is
‘THE GUIDE’ made to show, how through the series of ‘The Guide’ novel Narayan
presents the human values, social values, customs and traditions
Dr. M. Arunachalam which have been in existence and still continue to play a major role in
shaping the lives of people. The important family themes like Marital
Assistant Professor,
fidelity, husband-wife & father-son relationship, parental love and
Department of English (S.F), lack of communication between the old and the young generation etc.
Jamal Mohamed College, all are beautifully dealt by Narayan in his novels.
Tiruchirappalli

The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth

Man needs some values in him and in his profession to be popular. Narayan has an
immense assortment of challenging aspects in him to check success in his goal. If a reader
takes up Narayan‟s works, the first thing that hits the eye is their immense variety. He has
written on every conceivable subject between heaven and earth. He chooses certain moments of
utmost importance in the lives of his characters, and then explores those moments with care.
He also paints life as it is, without caring for any instant or distant aims. He is a detached
artist, but never drops his sympathy for his character. He introduced subjects and characters
which are vulnerable to comic-treatment. He has become extraordinarily successful in making
English both graceful and functional.
Narayan has reached the reputation of being one of the greatest evocative artists, because
of his ease, limpidness and modishness. Malgudi is Narayan‟s Caster Bridge. His careful
selection and ordering of material and all that is outside his range is carefully disdained. By
exercising such arty self-control, Narayan has achieved magnitude. His sole aim is to involve
and entertain his readers by presenting before them life‟s little ironies rationally and
dazzlingly. If there is any message, it is never conspicuous and it is for the readers themselves
to stockpile it from their reading of novels. Objectivity and neutrality are the hallmarks of
Narayan‟s genius.
His chronicling of the life at the “back of beyond” township of Malgudi has been recognized
as a unique attempt to create the outer framework of a regional novel, which essentially
captures the spirit of humanity in general and India in particular. Narayan is a penetrating
analyst of human passions and human motives, which makes him a great critic of human
conduct. He presents both the good and the evil and never takes sides. He holds a mirror to
nature and like a mirror shows nature truthfully without any distortion. Despite this, he does
take the pain to communicate that bad or evil actions lead to similar consequences and good
actions yield good results. There is no doubt that Narayan's vision is essentially moral, for the
problems, he sets himself to resolve in his novels are largely ethical. Besides, it usually revolves

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HUMAN VALUES IN R.K.NARAYAN’S ‘THE GUIDE’

around Hindu traditionalism in Narayan‟s works, and involves a confrontation when that
traditionalism is defied by the characters that entertain a more modern and more innocently
individualistic values. Existentialism is to be or not to be, to be satisfactory with the worlds
around us or should we change ourselves according to the „worlds‟ or change these „worlds‟
according to our need and desires. The world however is not the place alone. It is in fact the
men, women, their actions and reactions that make a world, where each character perceives the
world from a personal point of view and makes his choices.
The paper seeks to explore the human values embedded in his novel „The Guide‟.
Interestingly, in ‘The Guide’, Narayan‟s main characters resist the traditional, religious and
familial duties and then accidentally drift towards their destined destiny, because, in Narayan's
system the deviation or confusion caused by the non-adherence of norms definitely leads to
adverse outcomes. However, as stated Narayan‟s moral vision is not consciously or explicitly
cultivated in his writing. They are incidentally and inherently part of his art of story telling and
of the cultural environment, which is the background for all his stories. Thus, Narayan's
message in „The Guide‟ also, has to be garnered by the readers themselves according to their
own respective intuitions.
‘The Guide’ begins with realistic settings and everyday happenings in the lives of a cross-
section of Indian society with characters of all sections. Gradually fate or chance, fault or
blunder transforms mundane events to fantastic 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. This, in a way implies the
basic viewpoint of the novelist and depicts the approach towards life he seems to advocate.
Raju, like a leaf drifts away with the wind of circumstances, reaches his lowest point when he
gets imprisoned, is given a second chance and then hopes for a better tomorrow.
In the novel ‘The Guide’, the protagonist Raju encounters questions of traditional
existence when he sets out to realise his dreams and aspirations. He does not care to abide by
the social and moral norms when it comes to Rosie. He seduces Rosie, the other man Marco's
wife, begins living with him and thus, violates a major conventional order. The whole society
including his own widowed mother stands against him but he puts a blind eye on the severity of
the chaotic situation. He gets into financial trouble and becomes a kind of social outcast due to
his relationship with Rosie, but he refuses to mend his ways and thus fails to bring order and
harmony in his own life and his surrounding society. Raju's life becomes a total failure and he
earns the wrath of everyone around him because he deals erratically with each one of him or
her. Strikingly, Narayan‟s human experience and compassion constitute a mature existential
vision which is vitalised by his humorous narration and given depth by his acceptance of
traditional and religious values. The values at various points in his narratives place his
characters in moral relief. His humour discriminates, between the permanent and the strange
and thus, while Narayan gently mocks some peculiar, pretentious or hypocritical attachments
to traditional customs. In the novel ‘The Guide’, Raju is portrayed as an ordinary and not-so-
great human being and Narayan presents in a humorous yet serious vein. His clumsy attempts
at realising his potential for greatness and also the spectacle of his efforts towards maturity
that is spiritually enlightening and morally uplifting. We see Raju maturing before us by

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HUMAN VALUES IN R.K.NARAYAN’S ‘THE GUIDE’

stages, over a period of time. His self- awareness is hard earned but not in the way in which a
tragic character earns it. The cleansing takes place no doubt, but not in the heroic strain. As
Raju is a kind of anti-hero, Narayan does not show this 'common man' reach the tragic height of
Shakespeare's protagonists, although, Raju's self awareness and the sense of social and
spiritual fulfilment that results from it in the end is something that astonishes us and elicits
appreciation. Narayan's fiction combines different facets of life and experience. Narayan views
human relations, traditional values and conventions as essential elements of an orderly human
life. Besides, he also seems to believe that in order to attain harmony and peace in human life it
is very essential to give due attention to relationships because, man is basically a social animal
and relations give stability to his existence. The marital relationship between Marco and Rosie
breaks down, because, in the beginning, Marco neglects Rosie and later Rosie dares to break the
chains and refuses to blindly respect and revere the tradition of marriage. The severing of
relationship brings emotional trauma in its wake. Both, husband and wife eventually suffer and
repent for not giving due regard to their mutual relationship. The relationship between Marco
and Rosie in ‘The Guide’ is not based on conventional philosophic values. This couple does not
share the ideal kind of bond and therefore, their relationship does not become everlasting and
in Narayan's system, is bound to bring doom. Thus, the role of traditional values and
philosophical touch to human relationship has been emphasised by Narayan apparently in ‘The
Guide’ too, like his other novels. Narayan presents the characters passing through a period of
struggle and transformation, but, towards the end they attain a new vitality, which provides
them with a new explication of common situations. The normalcy in the life of Raju comes, only
because of his submission to traditional values and self -realisation. Further, Narayan's vision
also embodies the great theory of order and disorder. He applies a pattern in almost all his
novels including ‘The Guide’. This pattern is found in the relationship between Raju and his
mother, Marco and Rosie and even Raju and Rosie. Order and peace prevails in these
relationships in the beginning, but this order does not remain for a long time. These
relationships do not attain any suitable dimension because the motives of the individuals
involved in these relationships clash with each other and their viewpoints and attitudes differ
from each other.
Narayan's knowledge of Indian classical literature, philosophy, religion, morals and ethics
pervades his writing, but as said already, he does not burden unnecessarily his readers with
discourses on his viewpoint and vision. This is perhaps, Narayan views life‟s lapses not with
any missionary kindness or zeal, but, with the understanding and sympathy of an artist. So,
behind the narrative mask of his novels, Narayan attempts to portray a vision of life, a life of
opposing dualities, of appearance and reality, beliefs and betrayals.

References
1. Narayan, R.K. The Guide. Mysore: Indian Thought Publication, 1991.
2. Walsh, William. R.K. Narayan –A Critical Appreciation.Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1982
3. Narasimhaiah, C.D. 2005. “The Guide” R. K Narayan “An Anthology of Recent
criticism” Ed. Srinath. Delhi, Pencraft.

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