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| Photo by Steve McCurry |
For Wednesday, start reading Narayan's The Guide, a novel that brings the 'Non-Western' world into the
20th century. In this book, Raju, a con-man and criminal, has recently
been released from jail and winds up being mistaken for a holy man by a local
peasant. While conning this peasant and his village, Raju begins
narrating the story of his life which leads up to his arrest; the result is the
story of one man's struggle for identity in the midst of India's own identity
crisis after over 200 years of British colonization. We’ll talk about some of
the context of India, colonization, and the use of English as an ‘Indian’
language in class, since this book is not
translated—it was actually written in English.
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Even though Narayan wrote the novel in English, he also spoke
Tamil, a South Indian language, so he is in effect writing from two cultures. Even though the story is ‘translated’ into an
English-language novel, are there some practices or concepts he doesn’t
translate? What aspects of the book seem to need more translation or explanation,
and why do you think Narayan didn’t provide this?
Q2: Remember that The
Bhagavad Gita urges us to “do thy duty, even if it be humble, rather than
another’s, even if it be great. To die in one’s duty is life: to live in
another’s is death” (20). How might this explain why Raju agrees to be a holy
man for the village? While some would call him a criminal, how does Raju see—and
defend—himself?
Q3: How does Raju find his calling early in life? What
attracts him to the role of a 'guide,' even though he has very little knowledge
to begin with? Consider his statement on page 36, "I learned much
from scrap."
Q4: How might Raju’s saintliness, at least in the eyes of the villagers, echo the
events of Kumare? What do they
see/find in him, and how much of this is through his own doing? If we all seek
the guru inside us, what are they looking for—and finding—in Raju?
Q2: His inner dialogue changes from "what are these people doing staring at me and asking all these questions?" to "perhaps I never knew my own greatness!" He begins to embrace the idea of being a yogi first as a method of feeding himself and then later as possibly always his intended fate.
ReplyDeleteQ4: He has an active internal dialogue which keeps him mostly quiet. He spends much of this time wondering WHAT to say, which leads them to believe that he is mysterious. When he does speak, he falls back on platitudes, and at one point even forgot a story he was telling - simply walking away as though the ending is already understood. His perceived saintliness was a direct result of people finding, in him, what they were looking for in the first place; much like how people reacted to Kumare.
Q1: I think that Raju thinks he just kind of fell into this duty. It wasn’t him putting himself on a pedestal because he wanted to people to respect him, the people did that. If they want to seek wisdom and advice from a stranger they find then that’s their problem not his. So, I think that even though he didn’t choose this role, he believes that the role chose him. He’s doing his duty for the role that he ended up in. Also, based on the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching, not pretending to be what everyone thinks he is, would go against the duty he fell into.
ReplyDeleteQ2:I think that, just like with Kumare, these people are looking for a leader who doesn’t really tell them what to do. Kumare just told people not to be fooled by his outward appearance, and gave them vague concepts they could take however they wanted. Like he didn’t tell that one chick to leave her husband, but she took it that way. Raju doesn’t tell anyone what to do. He uses vague concepts and religious stories and facades and lets people take those how they want. He never told that girl to marry her cousin, but the way she talked, he told her all sorts of things. He actually kind of just told her and Velan to go away.
Q3. Raju becomes a guide in his early life. He said it was fate. He goes on to talk about how the railways got in his blood at a young age and that the engines with their clanging and smoke caught his attention. He felt at home on the railway platform and considered the stationmaster and porter great company and he loved the way they talked.
ReplyDeleteQ4. Raju's saintliness echoes the events of Kumare because they both pretend to be something they're not. Raju gets mistaken for a holy man just by the way he looks so I guess you could say that the people see wisdom in him. None of this begins because of Raju, it all started as a mistake but he just kept going along with it. These people are looking for hope in Raju and he is giving it to them.
Kendall Sanford
ReplyDeleteQ2. Throughout the narrative, Raju begins to accept the position of a guru and begins to try to understand why God brought him to this calling. This, in part, is the reason why Raju does not turn away the people coming to him for solace. If God placed this duty in his hands to fulfill, then he cannot turn away God’s plan and must take on the new role he has been given in his community. Raju sees this happenstance as his new duty—one that particularly benefits him (i.e. lots of food). It is only after the acceptance of his new role that he begins to realize that maybe it was his calling all along.
Q4. I think the inexplicable attraction between Kumare’s followers and Raju’s followers is one of the first things I noticed when trying to connect the two. Both works emphasize the assumption made on the followers’ behalf about how saintly and peaceful their new guru is. Kumare said that he must hide behind his mask due to the fact that that is what his followers want; they want to find themselves in Kumare. Raju says, “I have to play the part expected of me; there is no escape” (37). This echoes the exact conflict Kumare encountered due to the demand his followers had on him.
Shaynee Reynen
ReplyDeleteQ2: I personally feel like Raju and Kamaree are the same kind of people and in the exact same position as one another, both of them knowing there will always be people they can take advantage of by making the people believe in them, and look up to them as a God or Gods that can fix or make all their problems go away.
Q4: Just as people followed Kamaree I think is another reason they could follow Raju just as easy, because of his appearance and way he walks around looking as a God with confidence and the way he presents his self. I feel like they're finding their better self in Raju or so they believe that they are.
Josh Willis
ReplyDeleteQ1- He uses english language not as a man from a nation what was once subjugated, he uses it as a man that has taken something as their own. He doesn't define the words we may not understand for the same reason he doesn't define words we do. There is an understand that we must be allowed to understand at our pace. In a way, he wrote this work for himself, using his style of thinking.
Q4- There are many similarities between this and Kumare. People are projecting their ideas onto a figure that is ultimately the same as them.
Q2. Raju might see it as his duty to be the holy man for the village by taking their food offerings and by seeing it as his true self, to help these people and by helping them he is unaware that he is actually finding himself.
ReplyDeleteQ4. His saintliness echos the events in Kumare by him not being who they think he is, but by being what the need. They see in him what they are looking for and only some of it is through his own doing, he acts the part at first to get rid of the man, but in doing so attracts him even more. They are finding someone to follow when they seek the guru in Raju, someone to show them the way to enlightenment
Tanner Lyon
Q2- I think Raju just simply feels like if he wasn't meant to be there and to help people that he would not be good at it. His internal dialogue shows that he is constantly questioning whether this is right or not and something inside him keeps pushing him to continue. He I think truly believes that it must be his calling otherwise he would not feel so drawn to it and would not have followers or believers. This is his defense. He would not be able to do these great works if it were not for it being who he is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteQ4- Raju is not holy he is in fact a criminal, but these people only see just what is in front of them and not what has made this man standing there nor how he has come into this knowledge he possesses. The people find in Raju the things they already know to be true, but now they are having to face them head on when he says them out loud and to their face.I think we as people tend to seek validation like this often. I know I do. When I have a gut feeling about something I will sometimes try to ignore it until I have had a chance to turn to those that I trust and hold their opinions very highly and they usually offer the same ideas that I already had on the matter. I don't know why we need that extra external push when we definitely know in our hearts what is right, but I think most people do.
Anna Turlington
Ethan Hays
ReplyDeleteQ2: I think Raju actually believes that being a guru is his calling. It's not like he planned on being one his whole life or that he just decided to be one some day, it kind of just happened out of the blue, which I think is why he would argue that it is his calling. He didn't really have another plan for his life, so when some random person walks up and believes he is a guru, Raju goes with it.
Q4: Raju's saintliness echoes the events of Kumare because they are both pretending to be something they are not. Neither one have any real knowledge about how to be a guru, they just know that Gurus are wise and helpful. In order to be helpful, they both must be kind of vague in their advice and by doing this, the people they are helping are pretty much just helping themselves and doing all of the work.