50 Chapter – II: R.K. Narayan as A Novelist Indian English fiction is established as a major form of Indian English Literature. Fiction in India has been a graphic chronicle of varied vicissitudes of the people as they passed from economic, sociological, cultural and political subjugation of different hues and shades. Finding the academic life was not for him. Narayan turned to writing. He gave the manuscript of his first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), to a friend who displayed it to Graham Green. He was influenced and found a publisher for the book. Thus, Narayan's writing career was born and the versatile writer went on to publish novels. Art and technique is the primary basis for assessment of a novelist. R.K. Narayan possesses the skills of a great narrator and his eminence as an artist lies in his sound management of the narrative. He is a painstaking artist, though he may not be as great as E.M. Forster. Socio-economic anxiety is his major concern as a writer. Nevertheless, his novels are extremely interesting and
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50
Chapter – II: R.K. Narayan as A Novelist
Indian English fiction is established as a major form of
Indian English Literature. Fiction in India has been a graphic
chronicle of varied vicissitudes of the people as they passed from
economic, sociological, cultural and political subjugation of
different hues and shades. Finding the academic life was not for
him. Narayan turned to writing. He gave the manuscript of his first
novel, Swami and Friends (1935), to a friend who displayed it to
Graham Green. He was influenced and found a publisher for the
book. Thus, Narayan's writing career was born and the versatile
writer went on to publish novels.
Art and technique is the primary basis for assessment of a
novelist. R.K. Narayan possesses the skills of a great narrator and
his eminence as an artist lies in his sound management of the
narrative. He is a painstaking artist, though he may not be as great
as E.M. Forster. Socio-economic anxiety is his major concern as a
writer. Nevertheless, his novels are extremely interesting and
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
51
engaging till the end. Progression of novel is the strength of the
artist and strength of the artist lies in the triumph of technique.
This applies equally to R.K. Narayan. His present –past technique
is an excellent innovation which reveals his good craftsmanship.
As a novelist R.K. Narayan believes in objectivity which is
difficult to maintain. He has a good command over objectivity.
There is no denying the fact that there is no subjectivity in his art.
It does not get interfered in his choice of social preference. In his
portrayal of character we see him standing at a distance viewing
dispassionately. “In spite of his attraction for a typically Indian
tradition of story-telling, Narayan is able to maintain his
objectivity. He does not take sides and his novels have no
message to deliver. He does not preach, he does not try to
convict, he does not even try to point out the right from the
wrong. He leaves the reader to see that for himself. And this is
the greatest asset. It saves his art from pit falls of propaganda
or bias which we find in Mulk Raj Anand.”1
In spite of the novelist’s social preference, we find his
approach aesthetic which is visible in the conception of his theme
as well as in portrayal of a heroine like Rosie in The Guide. 1 Kumar S. : A Surey of Indian English Novels, (Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly, 2006),
p.137.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
52
Delicacy of aestheticism runs simultaneously along with economic
conflict. In the Marco–Rosie–Raju triangle, there is an artistic
beauty of order. In other words, the novelist as an artist is very
particular about the aesthetic quality of his novel and he does not
allowe other social concerns to be dominated.
R.K. Narayan is a realist and he presents the contemporary
society realistically. In fact his strength lies in realism and not in
romance. He is aware of the great value of realism. The greater the
realism, the better the image. The credit goes to him for giving us
most realistic novel in Indian writing in English. He describes the
life around him not only in detail but also with great accuracy. He
describes the life of a tourist guide through Raju, the protagonist of
novel The Guide. In Mr. Sampath, he gives the complete details of
the film production. If he has to describe the life of a professor of
English, he does not depend on outside life of a class room but
goes beyond it to the discussion of subject in the class room.
Hence Narayan’s realism is not only accurate and vivid but also
very convincing. Many more examples of his realism can be given
from his novels. This is the way how his realistic narrative presents
various slices of life. He may not so faithful with regard to his
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
53
realism; it may not be scientific in nature but it selective,
recognizable and convincing.
R.K. Narayan is not a didactic novelist; He has an extraordinary
power of evoking a sense of life. He is not a critic of society but certainly
a critic of conduct. He is also one of the very few professional Indian
writers as K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar tells us, “It is not easy to make a
living in India as a man of letters.”2 To become a successful novelist
Narayan tried to limit his fictional activity to the narrow boundaries of a
region. He chose little circumference of place to become his fictional
world. His novels offers presentation of the life of South Indian manners,
mental activities, social matters, customs and traditions and the
geographical features. Narayan’s success as a novelist chiefly consists in
his selectivity of a particular locale for the fictional activity.
As a result, the distinctive spirit generated by the place pervades
the pages, characterizes the people that reside the place and ultimately
symbolizes the place and the people. The greatness of Narayan’s novel
lies in the fact that they transcend weak and get identified with universe.
In other words, the microcosm becomes the macrocosm. His novels
primarily centres round a narrow demarcated place Malgudi, gradually
rising above the regional framework, and becomes novelist of greater 2 Iyengar K.R.S., Indian Writing in English (Sterling Publishers Private Limited New
Delhi, 1985), p.358.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
54
significance and broader vision. Narayan appears to be a regional novelist
whose plots have a fictional locale, a small township of Malgudi in South
India. Just as Thomas Hardy’s novels are called Wessex novel, in the
same way Narayan’s novels are called Malgudi novels. In this way,
Malgudi has the analogical relationship with Wessex. Prof. K.R.
Srinivasa Iyenger remarks, “Malgudi is Narayan’s casterbridge”3.
However, Narayan has not drawn any map of this place as William
Faulkner did, nor did he have clear cut map in his mind as Thomas Hardy
had of his Wessex.
Like Wordsworth's Lake District, Hardy's Wessex, and
Arnold Bennet's Pottery Towns, the locale of Naryan's Novels is
Malgudi and its surroundings figures in ten novels and hundreds of
short stories. The habits and manners, the daily routine and
business, activities and professions, and ways of living of the
people of Malgudi are portrayed by Narayan in his novels, The
novelist presents a picture of Malgudi that has gone on growing
and increasing from the early 'thirties to the seventies. The people
of this town grow out of it, live in it, and belong to it. If one wants
to understand the tender humanity of India, as the reviewer of the
English Teacher, Margaret Parton has said, one should read one of
3 Iyengar K.R.S., Indian Writing in English, (Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi,
1985), p.360.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
55
Mr. Narayan's novels. According to Prof. Iyengar, “it would be
interesting to advance the theory that Malgudi is the real hero
of the ten novels and many short stories of R.K.Narayan.”4
Narayan’s novels and short stories are set in Malgudi, an imaginary
place which stands for a small Indian town. We can say that the fictional
world of Narayan becomes the world of Malgudi. The name Malgudi
struck in his mind in sept. 1930, as he woke up on the day of
Vijaydasami. Once, his uncle asked him why he wrote about some vague
place, not found anywhere while there are millions of real places he could
have written about, he answered why he chose a fictional place like
Malgudi. He explains, “An imaginary town like that has great
possibilities. You can make anything out of it, whereas in your own
town or place you are bound by geography and its existing structure.
But in a place like Malgudi, though the heart of the city may be fixed
it can expend. ”5
R.K. Narayan is a novelist of common people and common
situation. His plots are built of material and incidents that are
neither extraordinary nor heroic. The tone of his novels is quiet
and subdued. He selects day-to-day incidents that happen to almost 4 Iyengar, K.R. Srinivas, Indian Writing in English, (Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New
Delhi, 1985), p.363. 5 Susan E.Croft, Interview with, R.K Narayan in R.K. Narayan : A Critical Spectrum,
(Shalabh, Meerut , 1893), p.30.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
56
every one of us. His heroes are average human beings and they do
not possess extraordinary capacities, but through some incidents
attain greatness very soon to return to their original state. If we
take the life of a school boy like Swami, we find nothing
extraordinary or strange in his life. Similarly Mr. Sampath,
Chandran, Raju, Savitri, Ramani and others live, love and suffer in
maze of incidents which are just commonplace.
R.K. Narayan’s plots do not follow any standardized
formula, because he starts with an idea of character and situation
and the plot progresses on the lines he conceives to be the logical
development of the idea. It may mean no marriage, no happy
ending and no hero of standardized stature. incidents, co-
incidences, and sudden reversal of fortune are used only to a very
limited scale. His action mainly develops logically from the acts
and actions of his characters. In this respect, Narayan is as much a
‘materialist’ as Henry James, H.G. Wells and Arnold Bennett.
Narayan’s craftsmanship in plot construction does not reveal a
consistent quality. He began it a tentative and episodic manner in
Swami and Friends but developed an architectonic sense in his
second novel, The Bachelor of Arts, and his third, The Dark Room,
reveals definite signs of technical maturity. His predilection for the
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
57
fantastic, suggested in The Bachelor of Arts, becomes quite
prominent with The English Teacher. Generally, his plots split into
two parts- the realistic and the fantastic.
It is not always that Narayan succeeds in fusing the two into
an organic plot. He is eminently successful in The Financial
Expert, The Guide, The Man-Eater of Malgudi and The Painter of
Sings but not so in Mr. Sampath, Waiting for the Mahatma or The
Vendor of Sweets. However, these technical inadequacies cannot
detract him from his inventive ingenuity. Even the most loosely
constructed of his plots such as Waiting for the Mahatma and Mr.
Sampath are highly enjoyable in parts in the fashion of most of
Dickens’s novels.
The spirit of the novel also receives maturity in Narayan’s
novels. The earlier novels were designed to be entertainment for
the middle class and English serving-class public in India. Their
subject matter, therefore, was confined to only those phases of life,
which could be a part of such entertainment. Consequently,
impersonal and intellectual side of life was neglected. Intellectual
points, if at all they crept in those novels, were not germane to the
story of which they formed part. They gave setting to the drama of
life in those novels, but did not modify the characters. In Narayan
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
58
contrary is the case. Characters and incidents act and react and the
plot moves as a logical consequence. Scholars and scamps jostle
with each other in Narayan’s novels and his wider intellectual
interests have led him to portray human life in deeper and more
general aspect of life.
In fact, Narayan has created the whole township of Malgudi. It is
purely a land of imagination. It appears vibrant with life. In fact, it
becomes a living presence in all his novels from Swami and Friends to
The World of Nagaraj. K.R. Shrinivas Iynger righty observes: “Where as
Anand finished his education in Cambridge and London, Narayn had
his education entirely in south India. He is of India, even of south
India: he uses the English language much as we used to wear dhoties
manufactured in Lancashire-but the thoughts and feelings, the
stirrings of the soul, the wayward movements of the consciousness,
are all of the soil of India, recognizably autochthonous. He is one of
the few writers in India who take their craft seriously, constantly
striving to improve the instrument, pursuing with a sense of
dedication.”6
Narayan considers south India as a fundamentally conservative
Hindu society. He realistically presents, the middle class people in most 6 Iyengar, K.R. Srinivas, Indian Writing in English, (Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New
Delhi, 1985), p.359.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
59
of his novels and stories. His novels depict his world with a keenly
observant eye. “Its members are neither too well off not to know the
rub of financial worry, nor too indigent to be brutalized by want and
hunger,”7 His novels are a product of superstitions, traditions, customs
and rituals of Indian life. He admits to Ved Mantra his inability to write
novels without Krishna, Ganesha, Hanumana, Astrologers, Pundits and
Devadasis or temple prostitute, and explained his point of view by adding
in his characteristic humble why that in any case has turned out to be his
India.
Narayan’s fiction inhabits the world of everyday events and
common and simple people. He incorporates traditional Hindu
mythology and legends in stories of modern events. He tells stories
of ordinary people who rely on Hindu principles to guide them
through the ethical dilemmas and problems of modern life.
Narayan's fiction avoids being overtly political or ideological. His
early novels focus the conflict between Indian and western culture.
The Hindu Myths and ideals have gripped Narayan’s mind so
much that he naturally takes them up for themes in most of his novels.
Our society is a traditional society, which admits and absorbs all change.
The Myths and legends that we have accumulated through centuries have 7 Ramteke S.R. R.K. Narayan and His Social Perspective (Atlantic Publishers and
Distributors 2008), p.12.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
60
become the common phenomena of the people of the land. The Myths
and legends and our religious and cultural heritage have shaped our mind
and imagination. These have also shaped our behavioural pattern and
general attitude of life too. This influence is so deeply rooted that it finds
unconscious expression in the every aspect of his novels. William Walsh
is worth quoting in this connection: “The religious sense of Indian
Myth is a part of Narayan’s grip of reality, of his particular view of
human life and his individual way of placing and ordering human
feeling and experience.”8
Here attempt is made to study those aspects of R.K. Narayan’s
fiction which challenges the commonly held notions about his works. His
style is simple and unpretentious with a natural element of humour about
it. Unlike his national contemporaries, he is able to write about the
intricacies of Indian society without having to modify his characteristic
simplicity to conform to trends and fashion in fiction writing. Critics have
considered Narayan to be the Indian ‘Chekhov’, due to the similarities in
their writings, In Narayn , there is the same simplicity and gentle beauty
in tragic situation as it was in the Chekhov. Narayan’s writing tends to be
more descriptive and less analytical. He provides more authentic and
realistic narration. His attitude and perception of life displays a unique
8 Khatri C.L., R.K. Narayan: Reflection and Re-evaluation, (Sarup and Sons, New Delhi,
2006), p. 142.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
61
ability to fuse characters and actions. In fact he had the ability to use
ordinary events to create a connection in the mind of the reader.
Narayan’s writings style has often been compared to that of
William Faulkner. Since both their works brought out the humour and
energy of ordinary life while deploying compassionate humanism. The
similarities also extended to their juxtaposing in the demands of society
against the confusions of individuality. Although their approach to
subject was similar, their methods were different. Faulkner was rhetorical
and illustrate his points with immense prose while Narayanwas very
simple and realistic, capturing the elements all the same. In this regard
M.K. Naik sums up most significantly what R.K. Narayan has come to
mean for literature in English in the world : “R.K. Narayan’s chief
contribution to Indian English fiction is two-fold : first, he has
created a tiny but perfectly credible universe in Malgudi, which is in
the same class as Hardy’s Wessex and Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha ;
and he has filled it with men and women who are as real to us as the
people actually around us. Secondly, an eagle-eyed observer of life
and human nature, he has illuminated the basic ironies’ deep-seated
ambiguities and existential dilemmas of the human condition.”9
9 Naik M.K.and Shyamala A. Narayan. Indian English Literature, 1980-2000: A Critical
Survey (Delhi, Pencraft International, 2001), p. 22.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
62
The perspective of Indo-Anglian novelists represents different
levels of the Indian consciousness shaped by the tradition of Indian
humanism and Western enlightenment. The theme of emancipation of
women, a widespread and genuine concern for the amelioration of their
condition, for the first time became a social issue in the early twentieth
century. It shaped the creative consciousness of all the Indian English
writers, including R.K. Narayan. As rightly pointed out by George Lucas:
"Developments in India...shows that socialism may figure among the
forces working against medievalism. The unusual character of this
social evolution will, no doubt, give rise to equally unusual literary
developments, not to be filled into any of our abstract categories."10
Interestingly, the whole area of complex inter-personal and social
relationships which a married Indian woman invariably undergoes, is
analyzed in his novels through the medium of her own consciousness.
“My main concern", says Narayan, "is with human character a
central character from whose point of view the world is seen and who
tries to get over a difficult situation or succumbs to it or fights it in
his own setting.”11
10 Khatri C.L., R.K. Narayan: Reflection and Re-evaluation, (Sarup and Sons, New Delhi,
200)6, p. 66 11 Sen K., Critical Essay on R.K.Narayan’s The Guide: with an Introduction to Narayan,
(Orient Longman 2004), p.171.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
63
He further adds, "I value human relationships very much, very
intensely. It makes one's existence worthwhile human relationship in
any and every form,whether at home or outside."12 The character of
Savitri in the novel The Dark Room is conceived in the novel by the
'inner working novelist', whose business is to explore the soul. She begins
as a traditional figure, a dutiful and obedient wife, a devoted mother and
an efficient housekeeper. With the development of the narrative we find
her gradually developing too. Savitri becomes an effective instrument to
explore the darkness of her life symbolized by 'the dark room' of her
house to which she is used to retiring on gloomy occasions. By and by,
this dark room comes to assume a menacing proportion in her psyche,
causing emotional upheavals and finally culminating in the decision to
abandon her husband and children.
It's ironical the way Ramani, who himself ill-treats his wife, reacts
to the story of Shanta Bai's struggles. He said that men deserved to be
whipped when she hinted at a couple of attempts on her honour. He was
in complete agreement with her philosophy of life. "This exposes
Ramani's total infatuation for Shanta Bai and her pretensions as
well. On the brink of suicide after leaving her home, Savitri realizes
12 Ibid, p.173.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
64
bitterly: "No one who could not live by herself should be allowed to
exist".13
R.K. Narayan told stories of simple people trying to live their
simple life in the changing society. Narayan lived till ninety five,
writing for more than fifty years and publishing till he was eighty
seven. He wrote fifteen novels. Five volumes of short stories, a
number of travelogues and collection of non-fictions, English
translation of Indian epics and the memoirs "My Days". His
fictional characters are related to real life patterns. Swami,
Margayya. The ambitious fantacises in The Financial Experts,
Raju ostentatious guide, Vasu a rogue taxidermist exemplify the
common people in the Indian society. The relevant use of tales
from Hindu mythology, the teaching of Bhagwat Gita, austere
religious practice and belief ordained to attain one's aim, add force
to fictional art. Novelist like Narayan continually adds to the
richness of the human experience. He brings before us the new
topics, new characters and new attitudes He took it for from the
immature, imitative, romantic and nationalistic narrative of early
phase and gave it a firm native footing and brought it close to
13 Kumar A.P., R.K. Narayans The Dark Room is A Novel of Domestic Disharmony
(RJELAL Vol.2 Issue2 2014).
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
65
socio-cultural life of the people. In fact, Narayan is primarily
preoccupied with man's filling of the life-role entrusted to him by
tradition and environment. It is for these reasons that R.K. Narayan
is respected as one of the harbingers of a new age in Indian English
Fiction.
R.K. Narayan writes traditional novels which are apolitical,
universalist humanist, yet representatively Indian in their
spirituality. William Walsh contents that the Malgudi is a
Metaphor not only for India but for everywhere. Against the
background of a single place. “The single Individual engages
with the one, the universal problem, the efforts not just to be,
but to become, Human."14 Indian writing in English is so
inextricably linked with political growth that even R.K. Narayan,
who scrupulously avoids politics as a theme, “Could not
completely ignore what was happening around him. Malgudi,
as we have seen earlier, was affected by the changes brought
by all Pervading presence of the British and there is a clash
between tradition and modernity in all his novels.”15
14 Walsh W.: A Human Idium, (Prakash Book Depot, Bareilly, 1991), p.7. 15 Narayan R.K.: Next Sunday, (Orient Paper Back, New Delhi 1969), p.69.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
66
R.K. Narayan as a prominent figure in Indo-anglican fiction,
has written over a dozen novels and about hundred short stories.
For the sake of study his novels can be classified into six
categories: The novels of his earlier period are Swami and Friends,
The Bachelor of Arts, and The English Teacher. These novels are
based on novelist’s personal life experiences. To some extent these
novels have autobiographical touch. Narayan has written domestic
novels also. These novels deal with social and family life. The
Dark Room, The Vendor of Sweets and The Painter of Signs, come
under the domestic category. He has beautifully depicted the
money hunting man of Malgudi, with artistic expertise. The novels
which deal with money matters are The Financial Expert, Mr.
Sampath, The Guide and The Man-Eater of Malgudi.
R.K. Narayan has written one only political novel Waiting
for The Mahatma, though there is very little substance of political
affairs. It is merely a love story of Bharti and Sriram.
The World of Nagaraj and The Grandmother’s Tale falls
under the category of social novels. The last period of writers
creative activity produced A Tiger for Malgudi and Talkative man.
These novels can be included in miscellaneous novels.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
67
In these novels, novelist has given his childhood details.
These novels are also known as trilogy of autobiography because
in them author has described his domestic as well as school and
college life chronologically. These novels are based on his
personal experience and sufferings of life. Swami and Friends is
the story of a ten year old Swaminathan, a boy full of innocence,
wonder and mischief, and his experience growing up in the
fictional town of Malgudi. He is a student at the British established
Albert Mission School, which stresses Christianity, English
Literature and the value of education. Life changes suddenly and
dramatically for young Swami when Rajam a symbol of colonial
power, joins the school, and becomes his close friend.
The Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher are also the
next in series. These novels are about a portrayal of a young man
inexperienced and then experienced one. Chandran a young man of
twenty one, is a well known college debater. After passing his
B.A., he falls in love with Malthi whom he cannot marry because
of opposition from his mother. He soon gets frustrated with the
world. The English teacher is the story of Krishna a teacher of
English in college. The main part of the novel centres round the
love between Krishna and his wife Sushila. They were living a
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
68
very happy life when suddenly Sushila died of typhoid. After her
death Krishna concentrated himself on bringing up his daughter
Lila. This novel is dedicated to novelist’s wife Rajam. It is not
only autobiographical but also poignant in its intensity of feeling.
The story is a series of experiences in the life of Krishna, and his
quest towards achieving inner peace and self-development.
Narayan’s domestic novels are based on his personal
observation of society. The Dark Room, The Vendor of Sweets
and The Painter of Sign are the novels falling in this category.
Narayan very artistically drew the real picture of the society and
specially the woman’s condition in the orthodox middle class
South Indian Hindu family. He has tried to bring forth the
suffering of the woman and the struggle for emancipation.
Narayan has also written the novel which deals with money
hunting. In The Financial Expert, the protagonist Margayya is
shown as a financial adviser. Through the profession of getting
money from the bank and in lending it on interest to other
costumers, he wants to make more money. In The Guide, Raju the
central character also runs after money. He becomes a manager of
a dancer called Rosie. All goes well till Raju forges Rosie’s
signatures to obtain valuable jewellery lying with her husband. The
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
69
act lands him in jail. Rosie leaves Malgudi and goes away to
Madras, her home town. The Man Eater of Malgudi, also deals
with money matters.
R .K. Narayan has written only one political novel, though it
has nothing to do with politics. The novel is mere a love story of
Bharti, Gandhiji’s follower and Sriram. “Even when he writes a
novel dealing with politics, Waiting for the Mahatma, he uses it
only in so for as it yields no humour and irony. His main
interest is the love story of Sriram and Bharti.”16 The incidents
are interwoven with such historical incidents as Gandhi’s struggle
for India’s independence, the Quit India Movement and that fatal
evening of 30th January, 1948 when the great devotee of Ahimsa
fell a victim to the assassin’s bullets.
Literature is the mirror of society. It is very true in the case
of R.K. Narayan. In social novels, he has given authentic details of
the contemporary South Indian Hindu society. It is the duty of a
realist to expose the follies and foibles of the society, and it seems
that the novelist has done his duty well. Narayan has depicted the
scenes and situations of almost all walks of life. In his novels we
come across student, teacher, housewife, artist, businessman, sweet 16 Sanyal S.C. Indianness In Major Indo-English Novels (Prakash Book Depot Bareilly,
1984), p.139.
A Portrayal of Women Characters in R.K. Narayan’s Novels: A Critical Study
70
vendor, talkative man and grandmother, etc. This is the socio-
economic description of Malgudi. Thus we can come to the
conclusion that Narayan has given the vivid picture of an imagined
semi-fictional town Malgudi.
R.K. Narayan's novels are manly the novels of Characters.
His characterization may not be as great as that of Shakespeare or
Charles Dickens, but it is merely next to the greatest artists. His
range of characters is limited like Jane Austen. He chooses his
people from the middle classes south India, with a convincing
psychological consistency. His characters are full of vigour and
vitality. They are thoroughly human in their likes and dislikes, and
are neither saints nor sinners, but ordinary real human beings like
most of us. Narayan is able to draw complex characters too.