Wednesday, September 16, 2015

How does Narayan characterize Guru Nayak in "An Astrologer's Day"?

The author characterizes Guru Nayak through his speech and his behavior as a crude peasant who is ignorant, superstitious and pugnacious. He pretends he no longer has faith in astrologers or their science; nevertheless, he keeps consulting them and letting them take his money. Narayan also characterizes him by contrasting him with the astrologer, who is relatively sophisticated. The reader can understand why a bully like Guru Nayak might have gotten into a fight with the young man who became the astrologer. 


The astrologer has become sophisticated through his years of living in a big city and surviving by his wits. The reader can see that Guru Nayak himself has acquired a certain amount of sophistication by his exposure to big-city people and big-city living conditions. He has spent a long time searching for the man who nearly killed him in their village. He is obviously not a gullible peasant but a dangerous adversary. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

What was the device called which Faber had given Montag in order to communicate with him?

In Part Two "The Sieve and the Sand" of the novel Fahrenheit 451, Montag travels to Faber's house trying to find meaning in th...