Suffering is the feeling of physical or mental pain or a state of acute pain. Agony is the intense feeling of suffering. Suffering and pain are, generally, used in the same sense; however, there is a difference between these two experiences. Suffering stands for mental experience, whereas pain is a physical experience which when acute can result in suffering. The word suffering may be related to the desires. Every man has certain desires. When he fails to fulfil these desires, the result is suffering and agony.
This experience can be on various levels – physical, mental, psychological and spiritual. It is as integral to life as death is. The suffering has always been an important theme in the literature of all languages and all ages. Even in the two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharta, there is the suffering of many characters. The English novel, ever since its inception, has mostly been written on realistic life, dealing with the manners, modes, rituals, beliefs, and customs of a particular age. Most of the English fiction presents the sufferings and misfortunes of the people of contemporary age.
The theme of suffering and agony also runs through the novels of Indo-Anglian writers. Almost all Indo-Anglian writers have shown in their literary activities a keen awareness of the suffering of human beings, however, the degree of suffering varies from writer to writer and so also the ways of presentation. Some novelists have succeeded in creating pathos by depicting human suffering, whereas some others have used satirical mode to expose the realities of life. In many novels of Anglo-Indian writers, the theme of suffering generally arises from poverty and caste-system.
The characters in these novels suffer because either they belong to the lower castes or they are poor people. In some novels, the suffering of the characters also arises from the exploitation of individuals by the industrialists or by those who belong to the high strata of life. In the case of the novels of R. K. Narayan, not only these few causes can be attributed to the suffering of his characters. Apart from poverty, cast-system and exploitation in the industries, there are several other causes that become responsible for the physical and mental or psychological agony of the characters in his novels.
A close study of Narayans novels reveals that he has presented suffering and agony from various angles. Death is the main cause of suffering in The English Teacher. Domestic disharmony in The Dark Room and generation gap in The Vendor of Sweets are the contributing factors to the suffering of respective protagonists. R. K. Narayan highlights physical suffering of individuals subjected to torture inflicted by others. Manu, the Rishi, has classified the entire span of mans life in four distinct Ashrams or stages Brahamacharya, Grihastha, Vanprastha and Sanyasa, each period roughly covering twenty-five years.
The theme of suffering in Narayans very first novel Swami and Friends is suggestive of first stage of the Ashrama-system, namely Brahamcharaya Ashram. In The English Teacher and in The Guide, Narayan has presented the suffering of grown ups and that of an old man in The Vendor of Sweets. It seems logically significant that Narayan, who was to delineate the entire life-span of his characters in his later novels, should begin at the beginning of life itself. (Dnyate) In Swami and Friends, Swaminathan is mere a child when the novel opens. The novel unfolds a number of his experiences and adventures.
We observe a psychological change in his character as the story progresses. His character develops through physical and psychological suffering. His experiences at the school and his being beaten by the policemen cause him physical pain. Narayan writes: Now as he turned there was a pang about his hips. And then he felt as if a load has been hung from his thighs. And again as he thought of it, he felt a very monotonous pain in the head. (p. 103) Swami has to undergo intense mental suffering in the course of the novel right from the beginning to the end.
In Narayans novels, school and fear of examination contribute to the mental suffering of school-going characters like Swami, Babu and Raju. Swami is full of anxiety when he realizes that first terminal examinations are approaching. Finding a change in the behaviour of his farther and that also of his close friends, he feels vexed. Through Swami, Narayan has, thus, given a psychologically true picture of the mind of a child who feels anxious when his father compels him to study even after the examinations are over: If one has got to read even during holidays, I dont see why holidays are given at all. (p. 84)
Not alone Swami, but there are also some other characters in Malgudi who feel worried at the very thought of school and examination. Babu, in The Dark Room, dreads the school and has a total lack of interest in learning. Mali, in The Vendor of Sweets, also not shows any interest in his studies. Raju, the protagonist in The Guide, hates school and study and always tries to run away from his books. He curses his fate to be in the company of his father who teaches him Tamil and arithmetic: Two and two four; four and three, something else. Something into something, more; some more into less. Oh, God, numbers did give me a headache. . 13)
Thus, for the younger generation of Malgudi, the main cause of mental suffering is the school and the study. Narayan has brought this out through the mental confusion of the younger characters of his novels. He has thus focused on to show that in the teen-age, one is not able to reflect on certain important and valuable issues of life and hence, whatever seems impossible to one in this age, makes one suffer psychologically. Human life is a journey from childhood to old age, and the span is punctuated by joys and sufferings. In The Dark Room, Narayan presents marital unhappiness and domestic disharmony.
The novel examines the marriage relationship in a state of crisis. (Harrex) It presents the suffering of a woman protagonist, Savitri. She belongs to a middle class family of Malgudi who has to undergo intense mental suffering due to marital incompatibility. Narayan has presented male chauvinism prevailed in Malgudi, and Ramani, the husband of Savitri, is the mouthpiece of it. He has portrayed Ramani as a dominating character in the story who has a complete control over the family. He behaves like a dictator and regards his wife merely as a slave, and this is enough to give mental and psychological suffering to Savitri.
The novel mainly recounts relationship between the husband and the wife, but Narayan has been very much successful here, though probably unknowingly, in projecting the suffering of women class in Malgudi at the hands of men who have always been dominating force in Indian culture and Indian society. In the novel, we find that Savitri retreats into a dark room when she is full of grief. This escape to the dark room underlines and symbolizes her mental agony, her restlessness and her helpless lot. Wherever she goes, the dark image of the dark room follows her like a shadow.
Thus , Narayan has been successful in presenting the darkness of the dark room as the externalization of her mental anguish. She, in fact, represents thousands of Savitris of India who suffer mental tortures at the hands of their husbands. (Mohod) The domestic life of Savitri completely shatters when Ramani develops a love-affair with Santa Bai, a new employee in his office. This is too much for Savitri who is already disintegrated within. She feels neglected and frustrated and at this stage, she seems to be an intense sufferer. To quote Narayan: A wife is an orthodox milieu of Indian society was an ideal victim of such circumstances.
My novel deals with her this philosophy broadly in the background. As Ramani refuses to change his ways, she rebels and shouts at him: Dont touch me! You are dirty, you are impure. Even if I burn my skin I cant cleanse myself of the impurity of your touch. (p. 112) The scene vividly depicts the agonized and tormented wifes rage and anger. In a desperate condition, she decides to leave her home, her husband and her family. She doesnt want to take anything with her, believing that woman can possess nothing in this man-dominated world: Things? I dont possess anything in this world.
What possession can a woman call her own except her body? Everything else that she has is her fathers, her husbands, or her sons. (p. 113) Chapter seven of the novel is a long interior monologue by Savitri. She is on her way to drown herself in the river. Her mind is numb otherwise she could never have walked through Malgudi at midnight. She is surprised at her own behaviour and ponders over her plight: And I must be someone else posing as Savitri because I couldnt have had the courage to talk back to my husband. I have never done it in my life. (p. 115-16) Savitri is an ideal Indian wife.
She can never think of indulging in a controversy with her husband. Thus, after her decision of leaving home, she is caught in a conflict between her wifely devotion and her new individual existence. A. Hariprasanna writes in this connection: There is a conflict within her between the traditional values of ideal womanhood where it is a sin even to talk back to ones husband and disobey him, thus, and her new found individuality. At the time of her departure from her husbands house, in a fit of mental agony, she at first attempts suicide and then decides to live under open sky in her future life.
She is completely unaware of the fact that situation in her new-found individual life can be worse than her previous life at home; and this is exactly what happens. Her loneliness in the temple and stillness in the atmosphere make her suffer terribly. She realises that she cannot live alone and needs a support. Her mental agony makes her feel pity for women who live without any support. She laments: What despicable creations of God are we that we cant exist without a support. I am like a bamboo pole which cannot stand without a wall to support it. (p. 9)
Through the suffering personality of Savitri, Narayan has presented the unselfishness of Indian women who do not surrender in the moments of high crisis in life and feel proud even in suffering. This marital disharmony does not enter the family of Savitri only, but it is also seen in the house of Rosie in The Guide. This novel also deals with the disturbed married life of an oddest couple who, in fact, have not been made for each other. Rosie and Marco, the wife and the husband, are yoked together unnaturally, having nothing common in their tastes, attitudes and passions. Both are poles apart even in their nature.
Rosie is bored by Marcos excessive interest in old stone walls, and consequently lives in a state of despair and feels lonely even in his company: When we are alone and start talking, we argue and quarrel over everything. We dont agree on most matters. (p. 83) Marital incompatibility becomes the main cause of her subsequent suffering in the story. We observe that Marco is insensible and prosaic wherever his wife is concerned. He always neglects her and this is too much for Rosie. Her marriage with Marco, in fact, gives her nothing except conflict the conflict with her husband due to their temperamental incompatibilities.
Her attempt to contain all her needs within marriage ends hopelessly. (Holmstorm) Unlike Ramani, Marco though does not regard his wife as his possession, yet he is totally unaware of her legitimate needs for some of the common pleasures of life. This makes Rosie suffer at mental level. Her mental suffering is undoubtedly inexpressible and this unuttered mental suffering leads her to develop a love-affair with Raju and finally to the ruin of her married life. Thus, once again, marital disharmony becomes the cause of disintegration in family; however, the causes contribute differently in the cases of both Savitri and Rosie.
Marco and Rosie though do not belong basically to Malgudi, yet their dissatisfied married life has a deep impact on another family of Malgudi, the family of Raju, the guide, and moreover, much of the conflict between them occurs in the locale of Malgudi. The same reason of suffering also occurs in The English Teacher. In this novel, though the novelist mainly deals with an ideal marital relationship through the main characters, yet we find that the Headmaster of a school in Malgudi has not an ideal relationship with his wife and this makes him suffer mentally.
The two are again not made for each other and the Headmaster spends much of his time in the school and goes home occasionally. His mind is always full of tensions and he prefers to live in the company of his little students and this comes as a relief to his torn soul. His wifes decision not to send her children to the school adds to his confusions and tensions. His disturbed mental state clearly comes out when he gives vent to his despair: I dont know. I cant say perhaps to the gutter, or to some low class den in the neighbourhood.
They are their mothers special care, you know. . 144) However, Narayan is not a writer who depicts only the suffering of married people due to the misunderstandings between the husband and the wife. In Malgudi, there also live ideal couples like Krishna and Susila, yet their life is not devoid of suffering. But the cause of suffering here is not the contradiction of ideas and personalities. The novel has an autobiographical touch, and the personal loss that Narayan suffered at his young age in the form of the death of his wife, perhaps resulted in the creation of The English Teacher.
The novel “is believed to have been based (mostly the second half) on the writers personal experiences. (Dnyate) The death in a close relation always causes sorrow and suffering; in this novel, the death of wife Susila is the main cause of the agony Krishna suffers. In the general course of his life, Krishna has nothing to complain. He is a sensitive and sincere teacher in a college in Malgudi. He is a devoted husband and thus, stands in sharp contrast to Ramani and Marco. But all happiness of the husband and wife comes to an unexpected abrupt end when Susila suffers from typhoid and finally dies.
Death of ones kin is a potent cause of suffering and when the dead is the wife in relation, it causes irrevocable sorrow. Because Narayan had personally felt it, thus he rendered the grief of Krishna with a remarkable restraint. The first person narrative of the novel gives a considerable account of suffering not only of Krishna but that also of Narayan himself. After Susilas death, Krishna is forced to face the harsh realities of life and is tortured by loneliness that he undergoes. His mental agony at the funeral is both poignant and touching: I cannot resist the impulse to turn and look back.
Flames appear over the wall. . . . It leaves a curiously dull pain at heart. There are no more surprises and shocks in life, so that I watch the flame without agitation. For me the greatest reality is this and nothing else. . . . nothing else will worry or interest me in life hereafter. (p. 96) Susilas tragic death makes Krishna stunned and benumbed. Krishna looses the essential moorings of his life. He has no interest in life and in his work. He finds comfort and solace in his little daughter, Leela, who now takes up much of his time and attention.
His emotional attachment to wife and her memories make him change his decision to leave his house. He faces the problem of adjustment, and lives in a state of apathy, restlessness and listlessness. A terrible fatigue and inertia makes him indifferent to his work at the college. He is apathetic to his professional job and is unmindful of its impact on his students. R. K. Narayans picturization of the middle class is an expression of his deep understanding of social psyche. His novels mostly deal with the ordinary strata of life.
His characters represent middle class and through their suffering, he has attempted to show the problems that a common man faces and make him suffer in the course of his life. Financial hardship, universal problem of the middle class families in India, is the cause of suffering of some characters of Malgudi novels. In Swami and Friends, the coachman easily cheats Swami of twelve paises which is a great sum of money for Swami. When Swami wants his money back, the coachman either ignores him or threatens to beat him. Swami and his friend Rajam plan to get money back but they are beaten.
They have to run for their lives. Swami realizes that he was a fool, first to have believed the coachman and, secondly, to have tried to recover his money from a rascal like him. The whole episode results in his discomfiture and suffering. Narayan puts in: Swaminathan took care to walk a little in front of him (his father) and not behind, as he feared that he (coachmans son) might get a stab any minute in his back. (p. 91) In The Vendor of Sweets, financial hardship is the chief cause of Malis tensions. Mali wants to go to America, but Jagan, his father, does not allow him.
He is unwilling to bear the expanses of the tickets. Consequently, Mali is angry with his father and steals ten thousand rupees from his fathers concealed money. Thus, the financial problem leads Mali to commit a theft in his own house. When Mali returns from America, he demands over two lakh rupees for the manufacturing of novel writing machine. He is quite enthusiastic about his plan. But all his hopes are dashed to the ground when Jagan flatly refuses to pay such a huge amount. This results in a lot of frustration and suffering to Mali. Jagan in The Vendor of Sweets, is a great sufferer in Malgudi.
His mental anguish is beyond words. He is a sufferer at the hands of his son, Mali. He is so emotionally attached to Mali that the very thought of his separation from his son depresses him. Malis plan to go to America to learn the art of writing comes as a shock to him. As Mali returns from America, he brings with him a half-American, half-Korean girl from the United States. This act of Mali adds to the mental stress and agony of his bewildered father. Malis untoward behaviour kills the equanimity of the Gandhian father once for all. His deviation strikes at the root of Jagans sanity of sublime tradition.
It is clear that the orthodox Shastra abider Jagan must really have been shocked beyond words, but the Gandhian principle of tolerance seems to have made him accept Grace as his daughter-in law. (Dnyate) To worsen the matter and to add misery to the grieved Jagan, Grace reveals to him the darkest truth. She tells him that she and Mali are not yet married. For a religious reader of Puranas like Jagan, living together for a man and a woman without getting married is to live in a sin. He is not able to swallow and digest the revealed fact. He feels that his son and Grace have tainted his ancient home.
This news comes to him as a shock. He gets disillusioned by his sons ingratitude. He tries to reconcile himself with the new situation, but the last blow of Malis arrest is unbearable to him. He, for once, feels beyond all attachments and learns the fact of life. He apprehends that his suffering is the result of his lenient nature. Ultimately, he decides to run away from the situation and enters the Vanaprastha stage of life, as he says: I will go away somewhere else. Everything can go on with or without me. The world doesnt collapse even when a great figure is assassinated or dies of heart failure.
Think that my heart has failed, thats all. (p. 184) Thus, Narayan has shown that there live real human beings in Malgudi who are not spared by an inevitable aspect of life, that is, suffering. People of all classes and all ages suffer, and Narayan has been very much successful in presenting this in his fictitious locale, Malgudi. The characters of Narayan are, however, not made to suffer as they are in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand, yet there is suffering which we see in our daily life and which is really as integral to life as death is.