Vices are Self-Destructive: A Message of R. K. Narayan's The Man Eater of Malgudi.

Abstract

R.K. Narayan is a representative novelist of Indo¬Anglian literature. His interesting novel The Man-Eater of Malgudi contains two prominent characters; Nataraj and H. Vasu M.A. Nataraj owns a small printing press while Vasu is a taxidermist, i.e., one who stuffs the skin of animals. Both characters represent two aspects of human; noble and evil. Vasu is an incarnation of 'might is right'. He is a person whose dictionary is empty of words like courtesy, kindness to the innocent creatures, politeness, and gratefulness. This giant man whom none can tame suffers the consequence of his own action and finally dies because of his own slap, which conveys the message that evil forces are self¬destructive. This article tries to delineate this truth by establishing Vasu as a vicious character and then showing how he meets his death. For this the article uses some expressions of Vasu, some dialogues between Vasu and Nataraj and some situations to focus on Vasu's nature and to prove him to be an evil person who demolishes himself.