Genre
Indian Writing in English, Short Stories
Setting and Context
An imaginary town of Malgudi, located in southern India
Narrator and Point of View
Most of the stories are written in third person.
Tone and Mood
Humorous, Sympathetic, Optimistic, Ironical
Protagonist and Antagonist
The title characters of the stories are the protagonists. The talkative man appears as a protagonist in three of the stories and his antagonist is the chairman of the municipality.
Major Conflict
In the stories of R.K. Narayan the clash between human values is the major conflict. Some of the stories portray the conflict of an invidual with his or her society and social customs.
Climax
In "The Doctor's Word", the doctor resorts to God at last and his prayer miraculously saves the patient.
Foreshadowing
In "Iswaran", Iswaran's consecutive failures in the exam break his self-confidence. He loses faith in himself and it foreshadows his death which occurs at the end of the story.
Understatement
When Leela loses her gold necklace in "Leela's Friend", the writer understates the character of Sidda to create a tension in the story.
Allusions
The stories of Narayan allude to post-colonial situation of India.
Imagery
In "The Axe", the imagery of the axe cutting through the trees becomes heart-wrenching for Velan.
Paradox
In "Iswaran" the death of the protagonist is paradoxical.
Parallelism
The characters of the stories of Narayan resemble the mindset and attitude of Indians in post-independence era. The plots reflect Indian society. The fictional town of Malgudi is a quintessential representation of India.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
In "The Axe", the farm is personified and it becomes a close companion of Velan.
