The Vendor of Sweets - R.K. Narayan
R.K. Narayan (1906-2001) is one of the most widely read Indian novelists. He wrote the majority of his works in English, with an energy that captures the humor and passion in the average life.
The Vendor of Sweets is a short novel that follows the difficult relationship between Jagan and his son, Mali. The dissension is caused primarily by a generation gap; Jagan can't understand his son's careless actions, and Mila resents his father's rigidity. The main focus on the novel, however, is on Jagan's spiritual development.
Jagan was a follower of Ghandi during India's revolution, and was even jailed for acting in demonstrations. He follows all Ghandi's edicts without fail--he wore a simple robe, ate simple food (no rice--just cooked wheat, etc.), and lived without extraneous possessions. He has written a book on living naturally, and patiently awaits its publication. Jagan runs a prosperous sweet-shop, but beyond this business, he lives an ascetic life within the society.
Mali, however, doesn't follow his father's example. He is rather the average, aimless college student. He declares he wants to be a writer and uses his father's money to attend school in the United States. Jagan is at first concerned by Mali's cunning--he stole the hidden money and kept his plans a secret--but attributes that cunning to intelligence and takes pride in his son's actions.
When Mali returns home (bringing with him, Grace, a wife of uncertain heredity), he explains to his father that he is no longer going to simply write--he is going to mass-produce a novel-writing machine. He plans to market the machines so successfully, that there will be one in every Indian home, and India's literary output will rival western countries'. Narayan description of the novel-writing machine is amusing, but his motives for introducing this far-fetched creation are grave. When writing becomes process and formula, it loses its beneficence.
It is implied that more than literature is at stake--the machine endangers all of Indian civilization. Jagan argues that Vyasa, Kalidasa, and all other great Indian authors relied on not on machines, but on inspiration from God. The machine that Mali proposes to build replaces man's connection to God with dependence on machine.
Mali requires capital, however, to fund his business, and expects it from his father. Jagan does not have the amount of money Mali needs, and through their continual miscommunication, this fact is never clarified. In addition, as the plot unfolds, Jagan learns that Mali and Grace have not actually married. He is infuriated at the taint they have brought upon the family home. He does not wish to speak to them, for fear of sullying himself further, and he finds it harder and harder to keep his distance at home.
Jagan worries about his son and his sweet-shop for a lifetime. On his sixtieth birthday, traditionally considered to be a time of rebirth (of beginning a new janma), Jagan suddenly releases himself from the burden of earthly cares. He walks away from his shop, leaving the keys with his cousin. He decides that his son can take care of himself. He repairs to the run-down temple in the idyllic countryside, freed from his worldly obligations. He has, in effect, died from the world and discovered eternal peace.
World religions are not strangers to the idea of asceticism being a release from earth and propulsion to God. Jagan's separation from his cares allows him the clarity he missed before. He understands that his son and Grace live in a different world, and he knows that their actions will not taint his soul, for he is a separate being reliant only upon his connection with God.
The Vendor of Sweets is a short novel that follows the difficult relationship between Jagan and his son, Mali. The dissension is caused primarily by a generation gap; Jagan can't understand his son's careless actions, and Mila resents his father's rigidity. The main focus on the novel, however, is on Jagan's spiritual development.
Jagan was a follower of Ghandi during India's revolution, and was even jailed for acting in demonstrations. He follows all Ghandi's edicts without fail--he wore a simple robe, ate simple food (no rice--just cooked wheat, etc.), and lived without extraneous possessions. He has written a book on living naturally, and patiently awaits its publication. Jagan runs a prosperous sweet-shop, but beyond this business, he lives an ascetic life within the society.
Mali, however, doesn't follow his father's example. He is rather the average, aimless college student. He declares he wants to be a writer and uses his father's money to attend school in the United States. Jagan is at first concerned by Mali's cunning--he stole the hidden money and kept his plans a secret--but attributes that cunning to intelligence and takes pride in his son's actions.
When Mali returns home (bringing with him, Grace, a wife of uncertain heredity), he explains to his father that he is no longer going to simply write--he is going to mass-produce a novel-writing machine. He plans to market the machines so successfully, that there will be one in every Indian home, and India's literary output will rival western countries'. Narayan description of the novel-writing machine is amusing, but his motives for introducing this far-fetched creation are grave. When writing becomes process and formula, it loses its beneficence.
It is implied that more than literature is at stake--the machine endangers all of Indian civilization. Jagan argues that Vyasa, Kalidasa, and all other great Indian authors relied on not on machines, but on inspiration from God. The machine that Mali proposes to build replaces man's connection to God with dependence on machine.
Mali requires capital, however, to fund his business, and expects it from his father. Jagan does not have the amount of money Mali needs, and through their continual miscommunication, this fact is never clarified. In addition, as the plot unfolds, Jagan learns that Mali and Grace have not actually married. He is infuriated at the taint they have brought upon the family home. He does not wish to speak to them, for fear of sullying himself further, and he finds it harder and harder to keep his distance at home.
Jagan worries about his son and his sweet-shop for a lifetime. On his sixtieth birthday, traditionally considered to be a time of rebirth (of beginning a new janma), Jagan suddenly releases himself from the burden of earthly cares. He walks away from his shop, leaving the keys with his cousin. He decides that his son can take care of himself. He repairs to the run-down temple in the idyllic countryside, freed from his worldly obligations. He has, in effect, died from the world and discovered eternal peace.
World religions are not strangers to the idea of asceticism being a release from earth and propulsion to God. Jagan's separation from his cares allows him the clarity he missed before. He understands that his son and Grace live in a different world, and he knows that their actions will not taint his soul, for he is a separate being reliant only upon his connection with God.
posted by Ashley at
2:30 PM
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