In “The Evening Gift”, we come across Sankar, who is
similar to Raju. He too is a poor and an uneducated man. In order to provide his family with basic necessities of life he has to do a job, which is very unpleasant and not at all satisfying. But he is ready to bear all the sufferings for his family. Even though he has been very loyal to his employer, at the end, he is insulted and thrown out of the job. For all the loyalty and devotion he has offered his master, he receives nothing. In “The Tiger’s Claw”, we come across the “talkative man”. Through him we get the whole narration of the story. The story is how he boasts about himself of killing the tiger all by himself.
The titles of the stories try to convey certain messages
through them. For instance, “The Blind Dog”, when the story is read we realize that the dog is not blind, when he returns to the beggar, he does not realize he is returning “to his doom”. Hence, the title “The Blind Dog”, which explains that the dog fails to see the mistake he is doing. In “The Evening Gift”, the title has a more sarcastic tone. Once we have read the story we know the “Evening Gift” he has received, the ill treatment of his employer towards him. He returns back to a still worse condition and is not able to fulfill his duties.
“The Tiger’s Claw”, does not have a specific message through
its title. We know that the whole story talks about how the man fights and achieves the tiger’s claw. “Trail of the Green Blazer” has a more significant title. It is because of the green blazer, where Raju falls into trouble and finds himself dishonorable in front of his family.
In all the four stories there is one thing similar. All the
main characters in the stories are poor. We know this by the setting, the clothes they wear, and the jobs they do. We are made aware of an Indian society, which is very poor and undeveloped. Raju and Sankar are two characters that are very similar. They both are poor, both have families and both do odd and unusual jobs. But throughout the narration we know, we are doing it out of no choice. It is out of love and concern of their family that they have to carry on with such jobs. Even though they are uneducated, they have strong values by which they live. This is something interesting about Indian society, which shows that however the job is bad and not a preferable job which not anyone would want to do, they make sure that nobody is hurt in anyways.
Raju, for instance, is a robber who steals pockets. He knows
people might loose their money, but it’s only for the short run. In the long run they can always earn more money. But Raju is not heartless. When he stole the “Green Blazer’s” purse, he thought about the motherless boy and who is not going to get the balloon purchased by the father. So he decided to put the purse, in his pocket, but he got caught and no one believed him that he was trying to put the purse back in the Green Blazer’s pocket.
Sankar, also, is a very loyal and trustworthy employee.
He did his job with diligence and always satisfied his master. But he was unfortunate that his master turned out to be untrustworthy. For all the loyalty he gave his master, he got back nothing but heaps of insults. Here also we see, that Sankar doesn’t mind what kind of a job he is doing. He knows that when he does this job, it not only supports him but his family also. If he wished, he could have always stolen from his master when he was in a drunken state. This shows that Sankar is very faithful. He was always satisfied with what he earned.
In contract to the master, who is very rich and well educated,
he does not obtain any kind of cultural values. This could be one of the reasons why he does not understand Sankar’s situation and condition. He seems to be very callous and pitiless. He does not want to listen to Sankar and throws him out of the job. But what he doesn’t realize is that, he has lost a very dependable and responsible employee and therefore it his loss, and not Sankar’s.
The blind man in “The Blind Dog” is a very deprived and a
vulnerable man. He is blind and that is his greatest weakness. As audience we feel very sympathetic towards the blind man. But he is very fortunate because when he didn’t have the dog, he had the old woman. She would provide him with food and take care of him. Once she died, we feel that the beggar will now be in a worse condition. But when he found the dog, he became very selfish. He would be cruel to the dog and mistreat it. He would use the dog as a means of earning income.
Even though he is a beggar, in a worse condition than Raju and
Sankar, he seems not to obtain any kind of values. We see a totally different character compared to Raju and Sankar. Raju and Sankar would do odd jobs in order to protect their family, but the blind man was very selfish. He only thought about himself. Even though he didn’t have a family, he had a dog that was very devoted and helpful to his master. But he didn’t bother about his dog and always abused and called names to the dog. He never appreciated the dog for all the trouble he took to help the blind man. The dog was loyal enough and probably thought that his master would be very weak and feeble and in a very bad condition. But what he doesn’t realize is that, he is returning back to his own miseries again.
The “talkative man” in “The Tiger’s Claw”, gives us an
impression of a very strong and brave man, a man who can fight with the tiger. But even in such a tensed and nervous situation, R.K. Narayan, is able to bring in comic elements in order to relieve the audience from the tensed situation. The talkative man is also poor, but there are not many similarities or comparisons that we can make with the other characters. The talkative man is very brave, and intelligent which we know by the way he fought with the tiger, thought it was a very dangerous and delicate situation. It is trying to show the bravery and intelligence of Indian men.
The setting of all the four stories contributes to the Indian
society. From the setting we know, that, India is a developing society and still very poverty stricken. The way people dress show that they do not earn much and have simple dressing style. “Villagers in shirts and turbans, townsmen in coats and caps, beggars bare bodied and women in multicoloured saris were thronging the narrow passage between the stalls and moving in great confused masses”. This statement gives us a clear picture of the way in which they live. It tells us of what you could expect in an Indian society. But even though, these people are very poor, very unorganized and uneducated, they sustain certain cultural values which not everyone possess.
In “Tiger’s Claw”, we are introduced to the village Koppal. “It
was not really a village but a clearing with about forty houses and two streets, hemmed in by the jungle on all sides. The place was dingy and depressing”. Here we are made aware of a very undeveloped society which is totally poverty stricken. But even though the place is very “dingy” and “depressing”, people here are very hard working and very bonded towards each other. When the tiger was caught, everyone joined in the happiness and was in unity and in a bond.
In “The Evening Gift” we see that the setting here is more of a rich background where we are aware of the drunk man, the clubs and hotels he goes to, the houses he stays in, but a very unpleasant surrounding. But it also tells us how Sankar, out of no choice has to do the job, and do some extras to earn extra for his family, he doesn’t even have a proper house to stay in. Through the life of Sankar we a re made aware of how poor he is. In “The Blind Dog”, we see a lot of poverty around. The beggar, the dog, the place in which they live, the ribbon-seller, novel-vendor and perfumer, all have a very simple and pathetic life.
Through all these stories R.K. Narayan wants to show that a simple man’s life can also greatly affect you and teach you great values. In an Indian value system, family is considered to be one of the first priorities, and therefore we have people like Raju and Sankar, who can get to do any type of jobs to support and take care of them. The setting makes us aware of India as a developing state, but the people in India are very well developed. Even though they are not educated, they have sustained and preserved those values, which might lead them or maybe others to become a better person.
Name: Gail Edilia Rego
Class: Sr 5D
Coursework: What do you find interesting about R.K. Narayan’s presentation of Indian society in the stories “The Tiger’s Claw”, “Trail of the Green Blazer”, “The Evening Gift” and “The Blind Dog”?
