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Narrative Technique used by R. K. Narayan

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“The Guide”

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Narrative technique is one of the most important aspects of imaginative literature. According
to Angus Ross a discussion of the nature of the narrative and the mode of narration can carry
us to the heart of the meaning of a work of fiction. The author may sometimes speak in his
own voice or employ character or characters or narrator agents to tell the story:

“The nature of the narrator—his reliability, position in relation to story… the point of view,
focalization, tone and language—are very important choices for author in shaping a narrative
and its meaning”.

Narratives are works that provide an account of connected events. To put it simply, a
narrative is a story. There are many types of literature that are considered narratives,
including novels, dramas, fables, folk tales, short stories, and poetry. In addition to literature,
narratives are found in cinema, music, and theatre. Narrative techniques provide deeper
meaning for the reader and help the reader use imagination to visualize situations. Narrative
literary techniques are also known as literary devices. Before we look too closely at narrative
techniques, it's important to understand that literary elements in narratives include such things
as the setting, plot, theme, style or structure, characters, and perspective, or voice of the story,
since literary techniques are best understood in the context of one of these elements.

There are many literary techniques, here we will examine literary techniques relevant
to style, plot, and narrative perspective, or point of view. Common techniques are relevant
to style, or the language chosen to tell a story, include metaphors, similes, personification,
imagery, hyperbole, and alliteration. Common techniques are relevant to plot, which is the
sequence of events that make up a narrative, include backstory, flashback, flash-forward, and
foreshadowing. Common techniques are relevant to narrative perspective, or who is telling
the story, include first person, second person, third person, and third-person omniscient.

The style a writer uses is seen in the diction, or the language used. Figurative
language is a common element in narrative writing. Metaphors and similes are expressions
used to compare two things in an effort to help the reader have a better understanding of what
the writer is attempting to convey. The difference between a simile and a metaphor is
the simile uses words like 'as' or 'than' in the comparison, while the metaphor does not
utilize these words.

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Imagery creates visuals for the reader that appeal to our senses and usually involves
figurative language: 'The bar was a dark, gloomy eyesore.' This statement appeals to our
senses to help us visualize and feel the negative aspects of this location.

Personification is seen when an inanimate object is given human or animal-like qualities,

like: 'The stars danced in the sky.' We know stars cannot dance. This statement is an attempt
to help the reader have a better picture of how the stars appeared to move in a dancing
fashion.

Hyperbole is an over-exaggeration to make a point. You might have heard someone say: 'My
purse weighs a ton.' We know this is not meant to be in the literal sense but is meant to help
the reader understand the excessive weight of the purse.

Alliteration is seen when the writer uses the same letters together in a sentence. Here is a
classic example: 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.' Some writers use alliteration
to help readers remember phrases or concepts, while some writers simply use this technique
because it is 'catchy' and appealing to readers.

The term Indo-Anglian refers to Indians using the medium of the English language to
write their literary work. As K. R. S. Iyengar points out the real beginning of Indo-Anglian
fiction may be traced to the work of Bankimchandra Chatterjee who wrote a novel
Rajmohan’s Wife in English. Later, the novels of Rabindranath Tagore better known for his
“Geetangali”. It is a great philosophical work originally written in Bengali and later
translated into English. The Indo-Anglian novel emerged in its glory with Mulk Raj Anand
and R.K. Narayan. These two men were carried by the Indo-Anglian novel to great heights.
While Mulk Raj Anand is a North Indian, R.K. Narayan is a South Indian, whose mother
tongue is Tamil. R.K. Narayan too has mastered the English language and his novels too
belong to the first rank. His first novel called “Swamy and Friends” appeared in 1935. In this
novel the setting was an imaginary south Indian town called Malgudi. Later this imaginary
town also served as a setting for a few other novels by Narayan, so that Malgudi became well
known to novel readers in Indian.

Narayan uses the interesting technique of a varied narrative perspective in his “The
Guide”. The story shifts back and forth between first and third person narrative; at times it is

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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. Since Narayan was in touch with South Indian film industry he could apply
cinematic techniques of jump out, flash back, flash forward and montage in his plot
construction. Thus the novel has an episodic structure rather than the linear plot of the more
usual kind of novel, where the story moves in a singly cohesive curve from the beginning
through the middle to the end. The unconventional plot of “The Guide” circles freely in time
and space, both within and between chapters, moving from the past to the present and back
again, and from Malgudi to the Mempi Hills to Mangal in a seemingly random way.

“His (Narayan's) narrative technique enables Narayan to present a microcosm of

Indian society. He avoids authorial comments and employs irony as a vision, not as a device.
His humour is never satirical. He tries to offer an objective view point and includes
comments as a part of description and narration”(Atma Ram, Perspectives on R. K. Narayan,
XXV).

In this way, Narayan wishes the readers not to find any implicit suggestions in his art. His art
is born out of his creative imagination and as Uma Parameswaran calls, "there is nothing
more, nothing less" (Native Genius). One cannot dismiss Narayan as a mere story teller since
a writer cannot produce a work of art just as he wishes. Any art is a product of the milieu in
which it is written. Though Narayan himself claims that there is nothing in between in his
writings, it is worthy to take a serious note of it.

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” is divided into two parts, narrates Raju’s childhood, love affair,
imprisonment in the first part and growth into a swamy in the 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,

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his present in Mangla is narrated by the author. In Narayan’s plot there is a mixture of the
comic and serious, the real and the fantastic.

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

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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
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 ends with a question still unanswered whether he dies and whether the
rain actually comes.

Narayan is a born story teller. He has no interest in complex socio-economic issues or

questions of technique or form. For him only the story matters. He narrates the story both at
the superficial level where the locale is dominating, and at the deeper level where general
truths are incorporated in artistic terms. He tells the story with the ease of a raconteur. The
very tone of his narration gives rise to humour. His narrative strategy is simple and
traditional. In “The Guide” Narayan makes use of the double narrative structure. The novel
opens in the third person with Raju taking refuge in the neglected village temple where he
meets Velan. In the first six chapters the point of view alternates between the third and the
first person narration. The first person narration gives the reason for Raju’s lonely
wanderings, and also about his past, while the third person narration is used to describe the
present—how Velan mistakes him for a holy man and the subsequent events that lead to
Raju’s enforced fast. Chapter seven to eleven is in the first person narrative where Raju
relates his story to Velan in order to show that he is not a holy man. The last chapter, narrated
in the third person, portrays Raju’s enforced martyrdom.

Narayan uses irony in his narration to bring out the inherent weaknesses of the human
predicament. And this situation leads him to his triumphs and tragedies, laughter and tears.
The prime significance is given to comedy and humour. These attributes are closely woven
into the structure of his prose. The narration is simple in form. There is no breach between
the plot and the character. They are always bonded together. The novels are carefully
segmented with a beginning, middle and an end. The action progresses naturally and coherent
move from one situation to the other is noticed. There is a completeness at the end of the
novel since when all ends well and the reader has a satisfied feeling that all characters are

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safe and happy. There is no room for tragedy though there is ample scope for tension and fear
Paul C. Verghese analyses this point effectively:

“The action is set going by the changing tension between them and by a few acts of
intervention on the part of the other figures. And the balance of all the forces within the novel
creates and moulds the plot. There is no external framework, no mere mechanical plot; all is
character and at the same time action.” ("The Art of R.K.Narayan" 135)

Another technique Narayan uses 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. Rosie, Velan, Raju’s mother and uncle, Gaffur, the driver, Joseph, the
steward of the bungalow where Marco stayed are all characters exhibiting the traditional
Indian culture and ethos. Raju and Marco, on the contrary, bear features of Western or
Modern culture and manners. Thus the conflict between tradition and modernity or influence
of one over the other is evident in the behaviour and conversation of these characters
throughout the novel. Some such situations where postcolonial elements are visible in the
characters are portrayed below: It was customary or traditional among the Hindus to bow low
and touch the feet of elders and venerable persons. But Raju, after his release from the prison,
and sitting lonely on the river steps, did not allow the villager, Velan to do so. To quote from
the text: “Velan rose, bowed low, and tried to touch Raju’s feet. Raju recoiled at the attempt.
‘I’ll not permit anyone to do this. God alone is entitled to such a prostration. He will destroy
us if we attempt to usurp His rights’” (Narayan16).

Narayan writes about a cross- section of the Indian society. His characters are drawn
from a wide variety of situations. They are not rich, they are also not poor. They came from
the typical middle class situations. They are also resourceful. They have enough common
sense; they are keen observers of life. Their qualities are unfailing, strenuous hard work. 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

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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.

Narayan is, indeed, a careful craftsman who has devised narrative strategies adequate
to his distinctive view of life. The above analysis shows that although Narayan’s novels
appear to be simple, he adopts complex narrative techniques and is capable of experimenting
with narrative perspectives, time schemes, and different levels and voices of narration. He
analyses the society threadbare but cunningly avoids any judgement. In this way, he can
surely be unbiased. His analysis of individual's feelings, emotions and actions bring out the
hidden human conflict. Narayan’s narrator is often a detached and amused observer of events,
whose emotional involvement with the story is minimum. His first and third person narrators
show little variation among themselves and carry an unmistakable imprint of their creator.
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. As Fakrul Alam
rightly observes that Narayan is a “conscious craftsman, a novelist who believes in the
concept of appropriate form, a subtle manipulator of point of view, a writer whose devices
can never be taken for granted, a master of the art of fiction.”

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Works Cited

V. S. Sankara Rao Chinnam. The Technique of Double Narration of R. K. Narayan’s

the Guide. Journal of Foreign Languages, Cultures & Civilizations, Vol. 1 No. 2,
December 2013.Web

http://www.literary-articles.com/2010/02/rk-narayans-narrative-technique-in-
his.html

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/63822/11/11_chapter%205.p
df

S. Gunasekaran. Narrative Technique, Language and Style in R. K. Narayan’s

Works. LANGUAGE IN INDIA-Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow
Volume 10 : 3 March 2010.Web

https://study.com/academy/lesson/narrative-techniques-in-writing-definition-
types-examples.html

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