The Distinctive Quality of Language Used by R K Narayan in The English Teacher

     R K Narayan is one of those rare writers others envy for the seemingly sheer effortlessness in executing his craft. Elizabeth Browne in a critique written for the Randomhouse catalogue says, “[The English Teacher is] an idyll as delicious as anything I have met in modern literature for a long time. The atmosphere and the texture of happiness, and, above all, its elusiveness, have seldom been so perfectly transcribed.”  Highly introverted, personalized, first person narration style employed by R K Narayan in Krishna’s story makes it difficult to differentiate the writer from the protagonist even without the semi autobiographical nature of the work.

     The language is slightly old fashioned. Interestingly enough, the very archaic ting adds that extra something which makes Narayan’s works readable and enjoyable across time and space. The first half of the book until he receives the letter from the farmer is quite straight foreword. Language is clear and economical, justifying Narayan being often called Indian Chekhov. But the second part would test the faith of certain readers in Narayan severely with its constant references to communicating with the dead.

     The plot being linear, gives the writer freedom to have occasional digressions and flashbacks as in the form the story of how Krishna’s father made ink. It also gives the impression of a steady flow of stream of ideas instead of the feeling of claustrophobia generated by an obviously pre-planned chronologically complex plot. The linear plot also allows the writer more freedom to focus on the world around him as it passes him by. Narayan’s municipal officials take their guests to show “Sarayu cutting across the northern boundary of the town, glistening like a scimitar in the moonlight” (142).

     A slight inconsistency arises in the plot where Krishna says, “My mother-in-law was brought up in a social condition where she had to show extreme respect for a son-in-law, and so she never comes before me or speak to me” (2). But on the following page she is seen not only speaking to Krishna but admonishing him. This could be explained by her overwrought state at the time, but seems unlikely.

     Narayan composes from the point of ordinary people which requires simplicity in language which in turn has brought a considerable amount of criticism from fellow writers like Ram Rao. But the story being set in a village, lofty language would have been utterly out of place. The writer would have lost any trace of credibility if he had tried to cram in the type of vocabulary often seen in colonial and post colonial Indian writing in English.   

     In order to bring out one of the major themes of the work – contrast – which is displayed through the following: academic world – real world, childhood – adulthood, life –death, predictability – unpredictability, and western orientations – eastern orientations, the writer employs many techniques such as irony, humour, and juxtaposition/contrast.

     Krishna uses Taine’s History of English Literature to silence the temperamental alarm clock. As he dislikes the subject, this could be the only practical use he has of the heavy tome which is humorous in a quite ironic way. In chapter two Krishna teases his wife about wanting to be a yogi. The situational irony comes out when Krishna himself becomes yogi-like in his effort to communicate with his dead wife.

     Narayan’s ability to bring forth the unexpected through the expected (another way to present situational irony) is grimly depicted in the incident where Susila worries about the wellbeing of her daughter while on her way to inspect the house in chapter three. It is tragically ironic that it is Susila who contracts typhoid and dies leaving her small daughter and a grief stricken husband behind.

     Death is both real and symbolic. Susila dies literally, while the headmaster dies symbolically. Both have lives after their deaths which are far more fulfilling than the ones they used to have.

     Young children are depicted throughout as symbols of spontaneity and naturalness. The headmaster calls them angels and says that they have taught him to speak plainly. Had Narayan too been influenced by his contact with children, first his students  and then his own daughter, to be so frank and simple in expression?  Through Krishna, who agrees with the headmaster that conventional education puts blinkers on children, the writer seems to mourn how children lose the very quality he admires in them. Like Krishna, Narayan too had given up after a short stint as a teacher. Krishna, unlike Narayan, goes as far as to find a solution to the situation in the experiment with an alternative system of education.

     Juxtaposing two opposing facts such as social demands and individuality, modernity and tradition, western education system and the Leave Alone System, headmaster and Krishna, Krishna’s family and the headmaster’s family add a vivid quality to the plot.

     Things are always at conflict creating tension and changes. Society demands Krishna to be an aloof husband, he wants to murmur sweet-nothings to his wife on the road: “I will call you jasmine, hereafter,” which draws a shy protest from his more conservative wife. Society wants Krishna to send his daughter to his parents and get married as soon as possible. The old woman on the bus in chapter four says: “A man must marry within fifteen days of losing his wife. Otherwise he will be ruined.” Krishna adamantly refuses both ideas. Society demands a professional to maintain a façade, but the headmaster wears wrinkled clothes and his hair is overlong. Suisila wants to have ‘bathroom’ tiles on walls of the living area of her home. Krishna ridicules her for it, playing the agent for the norms of ‘civilized world’. 

     The doctor brought into treat his sick wife by college educated Krishna meets the holy man consulted for the same purpose by his mother-in-law. Krishna becomes embarrassed. Western education which has taught him “classifying, labelling, departmentalizing” is responsible for his shame in a system of beliefs that is a part of his culture (179). Under similar circumstances a Christian would most probably not find it embarrassing if a clergyman should visit his/her home to bless a sick person. Krishna himself in the last chapter says that the system of education he was part of made “a nation of morons” ashamed of their roots. Coupled with the scathing sarcasm in the term “camp followers”, the phrase looks at products of ‘education’ offered at schools like Alfred Mission College with acidic scorn which bites deep into the flesh.

     Narayan uses humour liberally relieving first half of the book from becoming a sombre monologue of a bereaved husband. Krishna provokes his colleagues into an argument with the comment on the ‘u’ in honour. This gives the reader a humorous glimpse of the petty quarrels of the academia. These figures that are often put up on pedestals are seen with their clay feet exposed. An amusing glimpse to the trials and tribulations of hostel life is given in the following conversation between Krishna and a second year student ‘hogging’ the bathroom.

Student: Sir, have I kept you waiting long?

Krishna: Yes, my dear fellow, but could you come out before finishing that masterpiece of song?

 The interlude between the protagonist and the half-blind old man whose house Krishna rents, Krishna’s agitated behaviour on the station platform, the incident with tome and the alarm clock and how Krishna tricks his wife to believe that he has composed a poem on her while reciting Wordsworth are moments that have their value as being humorous. But humour comes to a screeching halt after Susila becomes sick and later dies. The starkness of the second half of the book is highlighted due to the lack of humour in it. Krishna does not find life humorous anymore.

     In giving details of the funeral, the writer provides a diary entry. It is almost a disembodied observation of the entire traumatic incident. The first person ‘I’ liberally used in the previous sections is almost nonexistent. It is as if the writer/Krishna is trying to distance himself from the life-altering experience. This sense is further highlighted when Krishna says: “I am blind, dumb, and dazed…The sun is beating down mercilessly but I don’t feel it. I feel nothing, and see nothing…I am unable to do anything, but quietly watch in numbness.” Repetition of the word ‘nothing’ heightens the void he feels within him.

     Once again Krishna’s grief is contrasted with the behaviour of the priests and the carriers: “Lively discussion over prices and quality goes on.”

     Foreshadowing is anther technique used quite effectively by Narayan. Listening to his sick wife’s breathing Krishna observes, “[T]he stentorian breathing, which appears to me the creaking of the hinges of a prison gates, opening at the command of a soul going into freedom.” There is no doubt in the mind of the reader from there onwards that Susila is going to die and to her death means freedom from a prison – her earthly body.

     Narratives of Narayan as a norm are not overly long but they manage to convey the essential details of individuals and events making them much more than caricatures despite the economy of words. This is seen in the use of a diary entry to describe the way the last rites are performed which takes only two and half pages.   

     The writer, in most occasions, refrains from analysing the motives of his characters. Instead he relies on the strength of his concise yet stunning descriptions to be the vehicles of his impressions and opinions. Narayan’s descriptions present his protagonist as a round, dynamic figure with warts and all. The reader knows his strengths, weaknesses and eccentricities as in the case of his adamant refusal to part with the alarm clock that required the exclusive service of Taine to stop its temperamental screeching. Krishna is not always duty conscious as in the case of the lesson on Lear. Being unprepared, he reads through an entire period to pass time. But he is an attentive son, a loving husband and a caring father. He matures through the experiences life thrusts upon him. Krishna the reader sees at the end of the book is a creature comfortable with himself and in tune with the world around him.

     S Krishna, writing a commentary on Malgudi Days says, “The novel is an outstanding accomplishment, and a perfect example of emotions recollected in tranquillity” (x).

Work Cited

“The English Teacher.” home page. Randomhouse. 17 Nov. 2009  <htt://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/isbn=8781400044764&view=quotes>.  

Iyenger, Sirinivasa. R K Narayan, Indian writing in English. 6^th ed. New Delhi: Sterling,   1987.

Krishnan, S. Memories of Malgudi.New Delhi: Penguin India, 2002

Narayan, R K. Swami and the Friends. Madras: Indian Thought P, 2008.

Narayan, R K. The English Teacher. Madras: Indian Thought P, 2008.