A Critical Appreciation of R. K. Narayan’s A Tiger for Malgudi

Abstract

R.K. Narayan’s novels are remarkable for their technical maturity. Narayan has completely stated his faith in the values popularised by Hindu mythology and its recognition of life and death. The monk describes to his disciple tiger that one is glad or unhappy in this society because of one’s karma in earlier life. The Sanyasi’s conversation with the disciple also has a reverberation of the karma as described in The Upanishad which articulates, “Those whose conduct here has been good will quickly attain a good birth of a Brahman, the birth of a Kshatriya or the birth of a Vaisya. But those, whose conduct here has been evil, will quickly attain an evil birth of a dog”.The styles in his novels are straightforward and simple. In a work of fiction, while studying its technique, importance is given to its narrative perspective. The aim of this study is to critically analyze R. K. Narayan’s A Tiger for Malgudi giving importance to narrative technique, plot construction, humor, the characteristics of the tiger, and how time plays an important role in arranging the events. R.K. Narayan’s novels are remarkable for their technical maturity. Narayan has completely stated his faith in the values popularised by Hindu mythology and its recognition of life and death. The monk describes to his disciple tiger that one is glad or unhappy in this society because of one’s karma in earlier life. The Sanyasi’s conversation with the disciple also has a reverberation of the karma as described in The Upanishad which articulates, “Those whose conduct here has been good will quickly attain a good birth of a Brahman, the birth of a Kshatriya or the birth of a Vaisya. But those, whose conduct here has been evil, will quickly attain an evil birth of a dog”. The styles in his novels are straightforward and simple. In a work of fiction, while studying its technique, importance is given to its narrative perspective. The aim of this study is to critically analyze R. K. Narayan’s A Tiger for Malgudi giving importance to narrative technique, plot construction, humor, the characteristics of the tiger, and how time plays an important role in arranging the events.