Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: How
does Raju’s transformation begin in prison? Why is it appropriate that he
became a visionary in the place where his vision was most restricted?
Q2: Since
most of the novel is actually Raju’s narration of his story to Velan, to expose
the hypocrisy of his career as a guru, how does Velan respond to this? What
might this say about the nature of Velan’s faith—and what he sees in his guru?
Q3: What
makes Raju finally decide to make “an earnest effort; for the first time he was
learning the thrill of full application, outside money and love” (189)? Is
this, too, tinged with a secret motive? Or has he finally decided to become the
guide every expects of him?
Q4: How do
you think we’re supposed to read the ending? Do you think the rains are coming—and
does this matter? Is the manner of Raju’s death (if he dies) noble, or is he
simply trapped in the role fate laid out for him? Has Narayan redeemed his
hero, or just caught him in an inescapable trap?
1. His transformation takes hold because he is in a place where time is something you have an abundance of, and things to do is a minimum. However, he did not let this set in, going quickly to work talking with the other inmates and getting to know them quite well, giving them bits of advice here and there. Eventually taking a job under the warden, and learning of Rosie's success was almost a back pedal, but he continued on, knowing he needed to keep giving advice, like a 'Swamiji'.
ReplyDelete4. Narayan really did a fantastic job, leaving the ending open for any interpretation to be put in. He could have died and no rain came, sealing his fate that everyone rejected him as a guru. He could have just passed out and the rains never came, being killed for being a false guru. He could have lived and the rains came, or died as well, both sealing his fate as being a guru of the village. I believe he died and the rains came, having a good ending to a seemingly terrible life that he reflected on.
Q2- Velan reacts like a "true believer" he seems to really have faith in this man whether he thinks he is who he is or not. It is crazy to me that he will willingly put all of his faith in this man even though he has proven to not be a true act of good character. I think that Velan mirrors the 10 Kumare followers that stayed by his side and still seek his guidance even after he revealed his true identity to them. I think these people are those who truly believe in fate. They must have some idea that each person was brought to the point they are at by divine acts and that each move that they make is a calculated step into where they are today. I don't think that I completely follow along in this type of thinking.
ReplyDeleteQ3- I believe Raju is just stuck at this point. I think he honestly feels remorse for the way that he has played out his life and at this point doesn't really see a reason for living. I can't say that I would argue his logic. He has been given so many opportunities to just be good in his work and to find contentment in what he does, but he always pushed for more and more until he lost it all. I really don't like Raju if you can't tell and I think he put all that has happened to him on himself. So maybe I believe in karma but not fate. It makes me sad that there are people out there who will follow or admire or worship someone like him. I think that the sayings "You made your bed, now lie in it" applies to his situation very well. Essentially Raju is stuck so deep into this false life that he will die having to try and keep up the act. I don't know that Raju has ever actually been his "true self" his entire life.
Anna Turlington
Q3- Raju states that he wants to devote himself to the action of fasting and service to these people out of his selfish hate of thinking about food. I believe that he actually makes this decision based on his regrets of life that he has been able to ponder over throughout his time as a guru and his time in prison. I believe that the time he has had to be able to look at himself and reflect has given him the insight and perspective to change as a character and allow himself to fully embrace the role of a Muhatama and change as a person. This in turn allows Raju to become the selfless guru we hoped to see him turn into.
ReplyDeleteQ4- I really want to read the ending as the rain comes and Raju simply faints do to his exhaustion and lack of sustenance. Do to the circumstances and his medical complications, I know Raju probably didn't survive the ordeal. I think Narayan wants us to look at the ending as Raju has fulfilled his purpose to change as a person and help the people of the village to have develop faith. I believe that Raju died a noble death because of the character and role he fully embraced in his last days. Due to his nobility, I believe that Narayan redeemed Raju during his last days. I don't know if his Karma balanced out before his death, but I'm sure it had a significant impact.
Jacob Moses
Q2. Velan continues to see Raju as the all-knowing guru even after Raju confesses his entire life story that is full of crookedness and deceit. After Raju lays his cards on the table, it seems as though Velan is unfazed by the amount of Jokers there are. Throughout reading this novel, I get the notion that Raju (after prison) is living near a very poor town and the people who inhabit that town are also of a lower class. So it makes sense that Velan would be so accepting of Raju after his confessions. It is likely his people have not ever been around a “guru” like Raju before, so of course they are going to hold tightly to something their culture values—even if that something isn’t legitimate.
ReplyDeleteQ4. I don’t believe the rains were really coming at the time of Raju’s death. Taking a more critical stance to the literary elements that Narayan is using, why would Raju’s last words be “Velan, it’s raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs” (196)? One could argue that rain brings life and replenishes wilted plants. Also relating this to the Bhagavad Gita, wouldn’t the religion most predominant in this region be Hinduism? In a sense, it is possible to believe that Raju will be reborn again and the rain coming up through his legs and feet is another life for him—one he can live genuinely.
1. Raju's transformation begins in prison because there are things he can do that can help people, which is somewhat strange considering how he doesn't ever do anything for anyone but himself. Aside from that though, he gets to help people calm down when they are in a bad mood among other things and i think that is why his transformation started in prison.
ReplyDelete4. The ending is open for many different interpretations. I interpret it as if the "rain is coming" is more of a spiritual coming. Raju is finally coming to the realization that maybe there is more to life than just him.
Sorry this came in a few minutes late...
ReplyDeleteQ3; Raju making himself the ideal Guru to service people was not genuine because he had his own selfish motives, not based on karma but the rewards like food etc. However, I think he finally decides to make an earnest effort after self-evaluation of his life from being an ex-convict to a guru, one highly respected by the people and had to create an element of a good guy in his story-line. He allows himself to adapt the Mahatma the people expected him to be, Service Above Self.
Q4;The end seems to be open for different views and interpretations. Probably it was a coincidence that the rains came because it was going to rain anyway. Imagine a scenario where he would have died and no rains appeared, maybe a frustrated and disappointed mob would have descended upon him accusing him of fraud but in this case it all happened at the opportune time for him and that is why it matters. Otherwise, he would have been demanded the rains by the villagers after all his deceitful fasting and that would have spoiled his Guruship. So his last days made noble his death and Narayan wants to present him as one who accomplished his purpose for the villagers.
Q1 - Raju finds liberty in restriction, I think. There is a freedom to disregard all results or ego, because after all - how could it possibly be worse than going to prison? He performs well in this restricted environment, and even tells Mani, during his visit, what a great place it is. While doing manual labor, he becomes a sort of teacher to his fellow inmates, treating them all with equal respect and offering them wisdom. When he rises to become a personal servant to the prison superintendent, he begins to hear about Rosie again, and is brought right back into ego and results oriented thinking, even making a mental accounting of what money she must have earned by now. Perhaps this is a reinforcement of the caste system, implying that Raju is more enlightened when he pursues more menial tasks? Perhaps this is an attempt to redeem Raju's character to the reader, as though Narayan is saying, "see, he's not SO bad"...
ReplyDeleteQ4 - Oh, my word, I hated this ending. While it was a great let-down in terms of satisfaction of all the questions which arise for the reader at the end of the book, upon reflection it could be viewed as right in line with the teachings in the Bhagavad Gita - "Those whose consciousness is unified abandon all attachment to the results of action and attain supreme peace." (Easwaran Ed., Eknath. The Bhagavad Gita (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality) (Kindle Locations 1239-1240). Nilgiri Press. Kindle Edition.) While I can see the parallels, I'll have to have a bit of time to get over my own attachment to results in the case of the story of Raju. It hardly matters whether the rains come or not - his insistence on their presence at what was presumably the end of his life is proof that he remains (like myself) attached to the results of his efforts; and thus not enlightened.