Abstract This thesis entitled “Myth of Innocence and Purity of

Childhood in R. K. Narayan’s novel Swami and Friends” examines how

childhood not only embodies fun and laughter, purity and innocence
but also equally self centeredness, snobbery, vanity, callousness,
cruelty and jealousy that can be seen among adults. It also assesses the
novel critically and brings the hidden realities of childhood days into
light that children are also not free from vices. Narayan, with the skillful
use of humour, tries to capture the world of children as reflected in the
growing up of Swaminathan and his companions, and their adventure
and misadventure in the mythical town of ‘Malgudi.’ By providing the
realistic glimpse of childhood, Narayan shows that children also have
contrary qualities and are not free from multiple human natures as can
be found in grown up people. As Narayan himself writes in his
autobiography—My Days, that children are capable of performing
greater cunning activities than grown up and he beautifully puts this
belief in Swami and Friends.

I. Dual Nature of Childhood in Narayan’s Swami and Friends This

project aims to examine the myth of innocence and purity of
childhood in R.K.Narayan’s fiction Swami and Friends (1935).
This research tries to show how childhood not only includes
excitement and amusement, purity and innocence but also self
centeredness, coldness, vanity, pretentiousness, resentment
and meanness. It can be seen in Swami’s behavior in particular
and his other friends in general. There is the presence of
multiple nature in all of us and even children are not free from
it. Human beings are basically evil by nature and being good is
an occational mask. In the novel Swami and Friends Narayan’s
portrayal of Swami gives a realistic and simple view on children
 who break the myth that children are innocent and pure.
Swami is natural, impulsive, naughty and yet an innocent child.
As an Indian scholar Narayan was well aware of myths, legends
and tales from Hinduism available in Indian sub-continent.
Narayan wrote this novel with his deep learning and secured
experience. The influence of the Vedic scripture becomes more
distinct in Narayan’s novel inorder to show the content and the
conflict between good and evil. He was aware of the dual
nature of human beings—the innate positive and negative
qualities. He tries to put forward this belief in Swami and
Friends. In doing so, he takes childhood as a medium to show
that even children are not free from vices besides being
innocent. According to Thomas A. Harris: Throughout history
one impresion of human nature has been consistent: that man
has a multiple nature. Most often it has been expressed as a
dual nature. It has been expressed mythologically,
philosophically, and religiously. Always it has been seen as a
conflict: the conflict between good and evil, the lower nature
and the higher nature, the inner man and the outer man
II. The story of Swami and Friends revolves around a young boy named Swaminathan and his
different activities with his friends. Life for Swami consists mainly of having escapade with
his friends, avoiding the misery of homework, and coping as best as he can with the
teachers and other adults he encounters. His greatest passion is the MCC—the Malgudi
Cricket Club which he founds together with his friends, his greatest day is when the
examination are over and school breaks- up- a time to celebrations and cheerful riotous.
With the growing up of the main character, Nararyan beautifully shows the delicate use of
detail sympathically observed he establishes for us the child’s world as the child himself see
it: and beyond the adult community he will one day belongs to in Swami’s case. The novel
describes the rainbow world of childhood and early boyhood of boys of the likes of Swami
growing up in the interior of Malgudi. It seems that Narayan’s personal experience as a child
and at school has gone into the making of 15 15 the novel. We get a vivid portrayal of the
thoughts, emotions and activities of school boys. It is as though everyday reality has taken
over Narayan’s pen and written this universal classic of all our boyhood days. This novel is
 remarkable for the author’s understanding of child psychology, for depiction of the carefree,
cheerful world of a school boy. Some writers have the tendency to convert their childhood
into shrines and further to mystify their own boyhood. Narayan has consciously avoided that
because he never wrote anymore tales of boyhood after Swami and Friends. Narayan
provides a keen insight into human psychology through the reactions of the childrens. He
tries to explore the inner human nature through them. He understands his people so
completely that every gesture they make is in their character and adds to our knowledge of
them. One of the critics Graham Greene sees a strange mixture of humor, sadness and
beauty in Narayan’s novel. He comments on Narayan’s “Complete objectivity, complete
freedom from comments” (qtd. in Hariprasanna 189). He also paints life as it is, without
caring for any immediate or remote aims. Like a detached artist he never identifies himself
with his characters, never loses his sympathy for them. He presents them as what they are
without condemnation and praise.In this respect Narayan’s novels are more universal in
nature than others. Narayan’s presentation of Childhood life is realistic. His writings
basically reflect the “Indian soil and way of existence” (qtd. in sharan 8). Without being
didactic, Narayan reveals a deep vision in his novel. The structure of Swami and Friends is
eposodic in nature, which is exactly what the life of a young boy or child tends to be.
Children on the whole do not have long-term plan; they live for the moment, act on impulse,
they follow new enthusiasms and abandon old. Boyhood friendship, though, can persist,
even if they may be violent and aggressive. Narayan is 16 16 also a realist because of his
presentation of minute details regarding the ways of people, their like, dislikes without
glorification. Narayan provides real life situation in his writing by drawing widely from the
real ordinary life of people, their hope, passions and emotions. The present research on
R.K.Narayan’s Swami and Friends is prepared to study on ‘myth and innocence and purity of
childhood’ in the text. The writer’s main motto behind writing the text is to arouse the
presence of dual nature in humans. In other words, Narayan is trying to show that even
children carry contrary qualities besides being innocent. He is of the opinion that both good
and evil is a part of us all. Good and evil is the inherent human nature which the writer tries
to portray and in doing so he takes children as a medium. Narayan’s message through this
novel is that the moment the child is born evil influence him/her and is also prone to evil. He
believes that the criminal behaviour is already there from the start and good is an occational
mask. Therefore, the basis of analysis of this thesis is the text itself which will be critically
analysed citing evidences from the text to prove the hypothesis.

Myth of Innocence and Purity of Childhood in

II.

Swami and Friends This research focuses how R.K.Narayan in Swami and Friend,
exposes the myth of childhood’s innocence and purity. In doing so he dramatizes the problem of child’s
own joys and sorrows, their fears and terrors, deep anguish, hopes and expectation that may seem small
as seen through an adult eye. He presents with telling vividness the realistic picture of a child's world. He
makes his characters stand as an impulsive and mischievous, though they look deceptively good and
innocent. There are no good and bad characters in Narayan’s novel. Human nature is presented
veraciously and interestingly and there is no overt condemnation or praise. This dissertation tries to
show that Children are not innocent and pure as they are generally supposed to be, rather they are also
not free from evil and opposite qualities; children carry contrary qualities within them as can be seen
among adults. Traditional view regards children as innocent and pure and the poet and critic William
Blake is one among them that takes children as symbols of purity and innocence. Blake’s collective
poems,“Songs of Innocence, “expresses the sharp quality of innocence, simplicity and naturality of the
child with that of the lamb as both share the qualities of meekness, mildness and innocence. This belief
is further highlighted and demonstrated in Blake’s poem, “The Lamb”: He is meek, and he is mild; He
becomes a child. I am child and thou a lamb; We are called by his name. Little lamb God bless thee!
Little lamb God bless thee! (160). 18 18 This line presents us a very attractive and simple description of
lamb, together with a child’s natural affection for it. Here, both the lamb and the child share the
qualities of meekness and mildness and are the symbols of purity, innocence and joy. Similarly, William
Wordsworth is another poet that views childhood as a stage free from the miseries of adult and worldly
life. He considers children as pure and immortal and very close to god, nature. Nature and innocence are
always synonymous in the sense of purity as well as in vision of mystery. As regards the concept of the
innocence of childhood, some thinkers like William Golding and Freud argue about the presence of
inherent evil in humans and requires some careful re-definition, and if such innocence means innate
goodness. It is probably a mistaken view of human nature. The innocence of childhood results rather
from lack of time and opportunity to realize the inborn potential wickedness. The potential for rebellion
is evidently there from the start. According to Christian belief all humans have a potential for
wickedness. Thus humans could be sinners. Nevertheless, it is equally true that some have more
indignation towards committing sin than others do not. There is an inherent element of criminal
behaviour inside all humans. The Bible also confirms this fact. Far from within out of the heart of man
proceed with evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, theft's covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and
defile the man. (Mark 7:21-23) That human beings are by birth and nature sinners is also mentioned in
the Bible. William Blake in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, the two groups of poems,
explores and represents the world as it is envisioned by what he calls “two 19 19 contrary states of the
human soul (156)”, the first represents the goodness, and the second represents the evil side to human
psyche and nature. R. K. Narayan also believes in ancient religion and philosophy that evil is inherent in
humans. It does exist in the heart of human being in its various forms, and he beautifully portrays with
delicate humour and irony that children have also evil quality besides being innocent.Evil cannot be
separated from the human heart. It is an inborn quality of a human being. As soon as the child is born,
evil influences him. In this context Thomas Hobbs, in his essay, Levithan writes: In human nature, we
find three principal causes of quarrel or evil. First competition; second diffidence; thirdly glory. The first
makes the men invade for gain, the second for safety, and the third, for reputation. The first use
involves to make themselves master of other men’s persons; second, to defend them; the third for
trifles. (Qtd in Abrahms 53) Similarly, another critic William Golding in his essay Fable writes, “Man
produces evil as a bee produces honey” (qtd. in Kevin McCarron 2). Likewise in his novel, Lord of the
Flies, Golding depicts the innate nature of evil in human beings. Golding believes that humans are evil by
nature, and the evil culture is injected to the innocent child for their collective benevolence. Sigmund
Freud challenges the preconscious notion that human being is guided by rationality. According to him,
human beings are in fact irrational by nature. Human personality is shaped by the unconscious factors
rather than consciousness. Human life is not a simple struggle towards virtue and holiness: it is quite
often a lapsing into vice and sin. Thus, evil is not sought as evil, but put under a mask called good.
Different psychoanalysts have studied this complexity in depth. Erich Fromm says, “Freud has broken
through the fiction of rational purposeful character of the human 20 20 mind, and opened a path that
allows a view into the abyss of human passions” (40). Kenneth Walker puts this matter in this way:
Freud’s investigation of the contents of the submerged parts of the mind showed that these were of a
very primitive nature. According to him, we are white sepulchers and are only outwardly decent and
cultured. We all carry evil within us, locked in some dark cellar of the mind, not a comparatively
respectable skeleton, but a full-bodied and lascivious savage. In spite of our efforts to isolate this
unwelcome guest in his cellar, he sells our thoughts and actions. (50) Another critic Friedrich Nietzsche
also believes that human being has two opposite qualities: Apollonian and Dionysian. According to him,
Apollonian qualities are those qualities which basically focus on good things whereas Dionysian
incorporates evil and bad aspects. For the betterment of human life, these two qualities must be
balanced. Nietzsche delves deep into this cultural ocean and sees, “Only the jungles, where animals’ eye
glowers, yellow, with hunger and malice … the violent turbulence of the ocean, churning storm fronts,
and hurricanes. Everything is at-sea… (34)”. Nietzsche shows the relation between sin, guilt and good. If
the idea of god is eradicated so too must also is the ruling of sin as a transgression against divine
precepts, as a contamination of a creature consecrated to God. What remains after this has gone is
probably very closely entwined in and related to the fear of punishment by a secular justice, or fear of
men’s disdain, but discontent caused by a pang of experience, the sharpest sting of all is the experience
of guilt. (36) Similarly, in the Bhagawat Gita, the holy scriptures of the Hindus also, Bhagawan Sri Krishna
says: 21 21 There are two types of created beings in this world: one is called Divine’ and other
‘Demoniac’ … the demoniac does not know the way of ‘Prakriti’ – action and the way of ‘nivriti’ –
renunciation. Neither purity, nor good conduct, nor truth is found in them. Taking shelter of insatiable
lust and filled with pride, false prestige and arrogance holding wrong views due to delusion, they work
with impure resolves … the demon says, ‘I have obtained this today; I will attain this desire as well. This
much wealth is mine and this much wealth, likewise, shall be mined in the future. I have killed this
enemy, and others will also be killed by me. I am the God. I am the enjoyer. I am the Perfect one. I am
endowed with power, and I am happy’. (16:6-13) This emphasis on evil is in all religion, including the
Bhagawata Gita and the Bible, which shows that evil is pervasive not only in human, but the whole
universe is its residence. Therefore, based on the above mentioned points that good and evil are the
two sides of a coin. This text is analyzed, throwing light on how children also carry contrary qualities like
jealousy, fear, anger, cruelty, vanity etc. Swami and Friends is a delightful account of a school boy,
Swaminathan, whose name, abridged as ‘Swami’ gives a characteristically Narayanesque ironic flavor to
the title as the word Swami raises the expectations of bearded and aged figure and his friends could
naturally be expected to be either his disciples or of same age which the actual narrative neatly
demolishes. Swami’s story is that of the average schoolboy with its usual rounds of pranks and
punishments, but Narayan tells it with skillful use of humour and understandings of a boy’s will that he
recaptures all the freshness of boyhood days. It seems that Narayan has caught the spirit of the 22 22
schoolboy no matter what his race is. The portrayal of childhood adventure in the novel proves that the
quality of childhood is universal. The central theme of the novel is the exploration of childhood as
reflected in the growing up of young Swami. He is a spontaneous, impulsive, mischievous and yet an
innocent child.Narayan delves deep into the psyche of a child and tries to recreate a child’s perception
of the world. In his autobiography—My Days, Narayan writes, “In Childhood fears and secrecies and
furtive acts happen to be the natural state of life, adopted instinctively for survival in a world dominated
by adults. As a result, I believe a child is capable of practicing greater cunning than a grown-up” (21). In
Swami and Friends, Narayan echoes out this belief. Swami’s childhood has its share of anxieties and
secret perils, mixed in with happier experiences. Narayan does not hesitate to portray the real child nor
does he hesitate to say something in words to express his views. The novel therefore becomes,
unpretentious and extremely charming because we see in it the quality of life of children that everyone
of us has come across. He gives us a realistic view on childhood and its particular way of behaving.
Childhood is rightly reflected in the novel by Narayan through his deftly etched characters, his uniquely
stylized language and his long sense of humor. What one misses is the sense of pathos and pain that one
unmistakably gets in a much more complex chronicle of childhood. To Narayan, Childhood not only
includes fun and laughter, purity and innocence; he also highlights childish self-centeredness, vanity,
snobbery, insensitivity, callousness and cruelty at several places. At the beginning of the novel itself, we
find Swami being brutally frank in reacting to his teacher’s appearance: While the teacher was
scrutinizing the sums, Swaminathan was gazing on his face, which seemed so tame at close quarters. His
criticism of the teacher’s face was that his eyes were too near each other, that there 23 23 was more
hair on his chin than one saw from the bench, and that he was very-very bad looking. (2) In this extract,
we are left in utter shock to hear such merciless remarks from a young child. Swami does not like the
“fire-eyed Vedanayagam” and when the class teacher is examining the home exercise, he begins to think
of the teacher’s face and concludes that he is very bad looking (2). Another instance in the novel reveals
the insensitive and cruel aspects of Swami’s behavior. When his grandmother has a severe
stomachache, she asks him to buy her a lemon immediately, Swami refuses to oblige since he wants to
rush to the cricket ground. He is ruthless in his behavior and shows little or no respect to his loving
grandmother. He however has to deal with the guilty conscience and make amends later: I have a
terrible pain in the stomach. Please run out and come back, boy. He did not stay there to hear more.
However, now, all the excitement and exhilaration of the play being over, and having bidden the last
'good night' . . . He thought of his grandmother and felt guilty. Probably, she was writhing with pain at
that very moment. It stung his heart as he remembered her pathetic upturned face and watery eyes. He
called himself a sneak, a thief, an ingrate, and hard-hearted villain. (127) Here, we see the insensitive
and ruthless behavior of Swami towards his loving grandmother who asks him to buy lemonade as she
has a terrible pain in the stomach. Swami in trying to get to the cricket field to practice and ignores his
granny’s pain but after returning in the evening, in this mood of self-reproach he is seized with the
horrible passing doubt, whether she might not be dead—of stomach-ache. 24 24 Again, we see Swami’s
attitude to the younger children of the “Infant Standards” (27). To Swaminathan, who did not really
stand over four feet, the children of the “Infant Standards” seemed ridiculously tiny: He felt vastly
superior and old. He was filled with contempt when he saw them dabbling with wet clay, to shape
models. It seemed such a meaningless thing to do at school! Why, they could as well do these things
resembling elephants, mangoes and whatnots, in the backyards of their house. Why did they come all
the way to school to do this sort of thing? Schools were meant for more serious things like geography,
arithmetic, Bible and English . . . . (28) Here, we see Swami's attitude to the younger children of the
“Infant Standard” when he is alone in the school and misses his friends, he feels superior and old after
seeing them playing with wet clay, to shape models and concludes that is a meaningless thing to do at
school. He believes school is meant for serious things. On the day of the hartal, Swami, “an unobserved
atom in the crowed”, succumbs to a child’s sense of mischief: following the example of another
“unobserved atom”, he uses the occasion to settle a few scores with his Headmaster: Swaminathan
could hardly help following his example. He picked up a handful of stones and searched the buildings
with his eyes. He was disappointed to find at least seventy per cent of the panes already attended to. He
uttered a sharp cry of joy as he discovered a whole ventilator consisting of small square glasses, in the
headmaster’s room, intact! He sent a stone at it and waited with cocked-up ears for the splintering
noise, a fraction of a second letter, and the piece crashed on the flower. It was thrilling. (99) 25 25
Swami is not being patriotic in joining the rebellion against the British. He is rather impulsive. He
thoroughly enjoys himself at the cost of the poor little children of the Board School, who were “huddled
together and shivering with fright” (100): He charged into this crowd with such ferocity that the children
scattered about, stumbling and falling. One unfortunate child who shuffled and moved awkwardly
received individual attention. Swaminathan pounced of him, pulled out his cap, threw it down and
stamped on it, swearing at him all the time. He pushed him and dragged him this way and that left him
to his fate. (100-101) In the above extract, we are left speechless and shaken to see Swami’s cruel and
violent outburst. In Narayan’s Malgudi, Swami’s political adventures have results— narrow escape from
serious injury at the hands of the police and expulsion from school. The expulsion scene is highly
dramatized when Swami bursts out in desperation, snatches the cane from the headmaster and runs
saying: “I don’t care for your dirty school” (107). Childhood mischief and cruelty are further displayed
when Swami and his two friends, Mani and Rajam, tortures, harass and bully a young cart driver: Mani
tapped a wheel and said: 'The culvert is weak. We can't let you go over it unless you show us the pass' . .
. The cart driver was loath to get down. Mani dragged him from his seat and gave him a push towards
Swaminathan. Swaminathan scowled at him, and pointing at the sides of the animal, asked: 'Why have
you not washed the animal, you blockhead?'. . . Swaminathan asked, pointing at the brown patch . . .
'Birth? Are you trying to teach me?' Swaminathan shouted and raised his leg to kick the cart driver. (81)
26 26 In these lines, we see the naughtiness and cruelty of Swami along with his two friends—Mani and
Rajam. They act like policemen and hold a young cart driver on the charge of trespassing. They harass
and torture a cart driver and ask the young cart driver to show the pass. They even drag him from his
seat, shout and kick the cart driver. Narayan shows the cruelty children show in their childhood by
illustrating how Swami threatens a very small child of the First Standard of the Albert Mission. Swami
promises two almond peppermints on doing his work. The small boy does his work and pathetically asks
with small voice over the wall: “Where is my peppermint?” (151). Swami tosses a three- paisa coin at the
boy, but when the small boy reminds Swami, who has promised two peppermints. Swami threatens the
boy to be happy with what he has: 'Come on, catch this'. He tossed a three-paisa coin . . . 'I may say a
thousand things', things, answered brusquely,' but isn't a three-paisa coin sufficient? You can buy an
almond peppermint if you want' . . . 'Now be off, young man. Don't haggle with me like a brinjal seller.
Learn contentment', said Swaminathan and jumped down from the stone'. (151) In this given extract, we
can see Swami as a child “tending to look down on boys smaller than him” (qtd. in ML 17). This is the
case where Swami thinks he is senior and powerful to the small boy and shows his superiority in getting
rid of the boy by threatening and commanding him to be happy with what he has, as seen common
among the children of his age. Fear is a dominating quality in a child’s life. Narayan skillfully brings out
this aspect of childhood in Swami and Friends. His aversion to what are seen as ambushes 27 27
designed less to test knowledge than to humiliate, inspire fear and reinforce discipline, surfaces
recurrently in his novels. In Swami and Friends, the tension associated with the fear of the approaching
exam is explored with sensitivity. Swami seeks to turn aside his rising fear by making a list of his exam
stationary requirements, but sees his hopes of going out shopping “jingling with coins” dashed by an
insensitive, illtempered father: “How deliciously he had been dreaming of going to Ameer Mart, jingling
with coins, and buying things!” (59). Later in the examination hall, Swami comes up with what he
believes to be a concise answer to a particularly tricky question: What moral do you infer from the story
of the Brahmin and the Tiger? . . . Swaminathan had never thought that this story contained a moral. But
now he felt that it must have one since the question paper mentioned it. He took a minute to decide
whether the moral was: “We must never accept a gold bangle when it is offered by a ‘tiger’ or ‘Love of
gold bangle cost one one’s life.' He saw more logic in the latter and wrote it down. (61) Here, we see
Swami's fear when he realizes his mistake in the examination. On leaving the hall, however, his doubt
begins to mount as others tell of their response, and we now begin to share his sense of error and mild
panic. Narayan further examines how fear overpowers child’s life in the incident where Swami runs
away from home. When he gets lost along the way, fear creeps, and he gets all sorts of wild
imaginations: Now his head was full of wild imaginations. He heard heavy footfalls behind, turned and
saw a huge lump of darkness coming towards him. It was too late. It had seen him. Its immense tussles
showed faintly 28 28 white. It comes roaring . . . he heard stealthy footsteps and a fierce growl, and
before he could turn to see what it was, heavy jaws snapped his ears, puffing out foul hot breath on his
nape. He kept looking back . . . there was no escaping it; he held his breath and with the last ounce of
strength doubled his pace [. . .]. (165-66) In the above extract, Swami is in fear when he gets lost in the
deceptive curve on the Mempi forest road. Night falls suddenly, and his heart beats fast. His mind is full
of wild imaginations and feels that an uncanny ghostly quality is following him. Swami is frightened as
there is no escaping. He has the impulse to run, and he holds his breath and doubled his pace. We see
Swami gripped in fear in yet another incident.The son of the coachman who had cheated Swami of some
money appears an unlikely threat; yet, his possession of a penknife along with an aggressive appearance
is enough to throw Swami into “cold fear”(91). In the grip of this emotion, Swami spends a tension—
ridden evening at his father’s club, where the coachman’s son happens to work as a tennis court ball
boy. Imagining himself the victim of an assortment of ambushes, Swami dogs his father’s heel, yet finds
it impossible to articulate his fears. No assault takes place, of course, and Swami escapes home,
mopping his brow with his dhoti. This clearly shows the significant role that fears play in a young child’s
life and how it drives the child into scary thoughts and peculiar behavior. Similarly, we see Swami in the
grip of fear on the last day of the exams. When the headmaster after a short speech declares that the
school will remain closed till the nineteehth of June and opens again on the twentieth. A great roar of
laughter followed this among the boys and after a minute of prayer they might disperse and go home.
At 29 29 the end of the prayer the storm bursts. With the loudest, lustiest cries, the boys flooded out of
the hall in one body: All through this vigorous confusion and disorder, Swaminathan kept close to Mani.
For instance, there was a general belief in the school that enemies stabbed each other on the last day.
Swaminathan had no enemy as far as he could remember. However, who could say the school was a bad
place. (65) In the fear of being stabbed Swami moves close to Mani, the strongest boy in the class who
breaks the skull with his wooden clubs. This quality of fear drives the child into horrible thoughts and
behavior. Again, Narayan brings to light Swaminathan's tension and laziness after freedom and rest of
Saturday and Sunday hates to go to school on Monday. He can't even concentrate on his studies and
gets into the Monday mood of work and discipline: He considered Monday especially unpleasant in the
calendar . . . he shuddered at the very thought of school: that dismal yellow building; the fire –eyed
Vedanayagam, his class teacher; and the headmaster with his thin long cane [. . .] (1). This quality of
'Monday fear' in Swami projects our own fears and laziness on Monday. This Monday phobia in Swami
also strengthens what Narayan himself experiences as a child and writes in his memoir – My Days:
“Monday as the day of reckoning seeming far away and unreal” (43). Likewise, since Saturday and
Sunday come so rarely to Swaminathan it seems absurd to waste them at home, gossiping with Granny
and mother or doing sums. It is his father's definite orders that Swaminathan should not start loafing in
the afternoon, 30 30 and that he should stay at home and do school work. But this order is seldom
obeyed. For Swami staying at home in the evenings is extremely irksome. He sighs at the thought of the
sandbanks of Sarayu and Mani’s company. But his father forbids him to go out till the examinations are
over in spite of that his father makes him read books after the exam gets over. Swami feels it as
injustice, and argues, “If one has got to read even during the holidays, I don’t see why holidays are given
at all” (85). This line supports what Pip says in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, as “In the little
world in which children have their existence, there is nothing so finely perceived and finely felt as
injustice” (63). Similarly, the arrival of the new-born child in the house shows the beginning of sibling's
rival for attention. Swami seems to find it hard to understand the goingson and why the lady doctor is
treating the house as her own and why everyone, including his father seems to abide by what she is
saying and commanding. Here, we see the cold and reserved nature of the child-Swami who feels
uncomfortable without his mother's attention and misses her very much in the kitchen; she has been
abed, and her appearance depresses him. Swami feels being neglected and “received the news without
enthusiasm” when his “Granny told him that he is going to have a brother”, he has been skeptical about
his brother's attractions and possibilities (47). But later he seems to like the 'new comer' as a "funny-
looking looking creature” (49). Narayan while examining the childhood experiences also traces the
development of the perspective and experience of the boy — Swami, his mental life in the fictional
world of Malgudi. In the beginning of the novel, Swami protests against his scripture master, Mr.
Ebenezer, a fanatic one. Mr. Ebenezer, during teaching, praises Christianity and undermines the features
of Hinduism. This is one of 31 31 the methods employed by Narayan to show the Tamil Brahmin— Hindu
upbringing of Swami: The fanatic teacher Mr. Ebenezer condemns Hinduism: 'Oh, wretched idiots!' the
teacher said, clenching his fist. 'Why do you worship dirty, lifeless, wooden idols and stone images? Can
they talk? No. Can they see? No. Can they bless you? No. Can they take you to heaven? No. Why?
Because they have no life. What did your gods do when Muhammad of Gazni smashed them to pieces,
trod upon them, and constructed out of them steps his lavatory? If those idols and images had life, why
did not parry Muhammad's onslaughts?' (3) Mr. Ebenezar always attacks and satirizes the Hindu Gods,
as an introduction to glorifying Jesus. The above citation also supports Narayan’s own experience as a
child student in “Lutheran Mission School” (12). Narayan writes in his autobiography – My Days, like the
scripture teacher Mr. Ebenezar, “The scripture classes were mostly devoted to attacking and
lampooning the Hindu gods and violent abuses were heaped on idol-worshippers as a prelude to
glorifying Jesus” (12). He then turns to Christianity and praises with breathless mouth ceaselessly: 'Now
see our Lord Jesus. He could cure the sick, reliance the poor, and take us to heaven. He was a really
good. Trust him and he will take you to heaven; the Kingdom of heaven is within us.' Tears rolled down
Ebenezer’s cheeks when he pictured Jesus before him. Next moment his face becomes purple with rage
as he thought of Sri Krishna: 'Did our Jesus go gadding about with dancing girls like your Krishna? Did our
Jesus go about stealing butter like that arch-scoundrel Krishna? Did our Jesus practice dark trick on
those around him?' (