CHARACTER SKETCH OF RAJU from R.K. Narayan's THE GUIDE

√ For a beautiful answer, always start your introduction with a quotation. 

INTRODUCTION -“It is written on the brow of some,” Raju tells Velan, “that they shall not be left alone. I am one such, I think.” Railway Raju the central character of the novel 'The Guide' grows up near the railway station and becomes a shopkeeper and then a resourceful tourist guide. He meets Rosie, and her husband Marco.Raju becomes infatuated with Rosie. He is so obsessed with Rosie that he forgets his business, falls into debt and loses his shop at the railway station. He also loses his mother's respect because he is living with a married woman. Raju's mother moves out of their house and the house is claimed to pay off his debts. Later when Raju with his efforts is successful in making Rosie now Nalini a famous classical dancer, he becomes vain (arrogant) and when he forges Nalini's signature, he is put behind the bars and Nalini leaves him. Later after coming out of bars he goes to another village Mangla and with destiny at work becomes a spiritual guide.

√ Then write directly what is being asked without wasting time, for example it is character sketch question so I am writing all of his characteristics which defines his character.

HIS CHARACTERISTICS -Many of Raju’s characteristics can be noticed in childhood which come forward when he grows up. For instance, 

• He loves talking to people

• He loves money, does not like when someone claims his things as their own.

• He wants full freedom to do what he wants. School disinterest him, so does listening to his parents. 

• He is alive when he talks to people and guides them.

√ You should write as many quotes as you can from the story or given text in your answer as evidence. 

"I spent all my time in the company of those working on the track, listening to their talk and sharing their jokes. More trucks came, bringing timber and iron. A variety of goods was piling up on every side. Presently I began to collect sawn-off metal bits, nuts, and bolts, and I treasured them in my mother’s big trunk, where a space was allotted to me amidst her ancient silk saris, which she never wore."

"A boy grazing his cows approached the spot just below the mound on which I was playing a game by myself. the little fellow had dared to step on the slope where I played. I was beginning to have a sense of ownership of the railway, and I didn’t want trespassers there. " 

√ Try to keep your answer balanced. Not too positive or too negative. (This character is not your relative or your enemy. :)

He has Good and Bad features in his character. Thus he is not unrealistic or some superhuman kind of guy, he is normal human being like us. As a tour guide and lover he is impulsive, unprincipled and self indulgent. After his imprisonment and after his transformation as a holy man he is careful, thoughtful and self disciplined. He is transformed from a sinner to a saint, though he is never truly sinner and never truly a saint. (I also didn't understand this line fully but I think it's an important line.)

HIS BAD FEATURES -

• SELF OBSESSED - The readers, without even knowing the past of Raju as a guide or as Rosie’s lover can understand that the man loves attention and admiration and is self-obsessed. "When I watched her in a large hall with a thousand eyes focused on her, I had no doubt that people were telling themselves and each other, “There he is, the man but for whom—"unless I sat there Nalini would be unable to perform. She needed my inspiring presence. "

• SELFISH - Caught up in his own egotism, he fails to realize the needs of others. Never he tries to understand Rosie’s sensitive, introspective nature. Bharatnatyam, to him, is simply “the greatest art business”. Rich with Rosie’s money, Raju begins to feel “vastly superior to everyone”, and ironically resembles Marco when says– “She (Rosie) was my property.” Later when she continues with her career independently, Raju shockingly realizes how his own creation, Nalini the dancer, has outgrown him. "he turned back without letting his eye dwell on the barren branches of trees, and the ground covered with bleached mud without a sign of green." “The village people do not know how to remain peaceful. They are becoming more and more agitated. At this rate, I think I’ll look for a new place.” He went back to sleep, unable to take any further interest in their activities." "If Velan was hurt, he’d get healed; that was all. And now the brother’s description of the injuries, whether false or true, suited his program. There was no urgency to go and see Velan. He feared that if they made it a habit he would not be left in peace, as the villagers would always have a reason to call him out." "Perhaps she wanted fewer engagements, but that was not possible." "You wanted to dance; you have done it.” “Till the thought of it makes me sick,” she added.

• OPPORTUNISTIC - Raju knows how to make the best of opportunities—as evidenced, for instance, in the way that he takes advantage of the railway that is newly constructed in Malgudi to create a career for himself as a tourist guide. And when he sees how Velan and others think him as a saint, he becomes a saint. His greatest talent lies in re-inventing himself. He becomes the holy man all because a simple villager called Velan thinks him to be a sage due to his appearance. Raju is always good when it comes to pretending and since he does not have many options he becomes what Velan thinks him to be. 

• ARROGANT - There was a lot of money at his disposal which made him arrogant and blind with power. He treated common people, small artists and poets as if they were inferior to him and did not deserve his attention and time. "Sometimes I observed how big a crowd waited for me outside, through the glass window in the hall, and I made a strategic exit through a side door, straight on to the garage, and from there dashed to the gate, while the visitors looked on helplessly. I felt vastly superior to everyone."Raju merely raised a hand and waved it as if to say, “Be peaceful; everything will be all right; I will fix it with the gods.“Is the car ready? Please have it at the other door, away from the crowd. I’d like to take her out quietly.” It was a false statement. I really liked to parade her through the gaping crowds.

• DECEPTIVE - Raju has no qualms about twisting facts—and even reality—to suit his interests, a skill which he deploys relentlessly in his role as host to tourists in Malgudi. Raju’s penchant for duplicity is also evidenced in the affair that he commences with Rosie behind the back of her husband, Marco, who also happens to be one of Raju’s customers.and said, “You can spare a little time, I suppose? I’ll ask my cousin if she is free.”I walked through the kitchen curtain and she was standing there. I grinned at her and winked at her. She stood stock still and grinned back at me. We were enjoying this piece of stage-management; we felt we had already begun to put on a show. She had tied her hair into a knot, decorated her forehead with a small vermilion dot, lightly sprinkled a little powder on her face, and clad herself in a blue cotton sari—an effect of simplicity produced with a lot of preparation. After five minutes of silent waiting, I nodded, and she walked out.

• NARCISSISTIC - He thinks Rosie cannot do anything by herself if he is not there.His success as a guide provokes Raju to consider himself a kind of omnipotent master, able to shape the fate of others if he wants. As the tourist guide, he pretends to know every detail about the sites. He relishes his role as Rosie’s impresario. In the prison, he revels at being “the master of the show”. The humble villagers of Mangal also admire him, believing that he can really control the destiny and “fix it with the gods”. Raju is eager to maintain his superficial importance. He dresses in better clothes for the outing with Rosie, spends money extravagantly to secure a place in the Malgudi high society, and keeps a beard and a long hair to look like a true hermit. He assumes that the best bait for winning Rosie is to show interest in classical dance, and for making fools of the villagers, to create an air of mysticism." he addressed them on all kinds of things. He was hypnotized by his own voice; he felt himself growing in stature as he saw the upturned faces of the children shining in the half-light when he spoke. No one was more impressed with the grandeur of the whole thing than Raju himself." "No show started until I nodded to the man peeping from the wings, and then the curtain went up. I never gave the signal until I satisfied myself that everything was set. " "Gradually I began to say, not “I am going to Trichy for a performance by Nalini,” but “I am performing at Trichy on Sunday, on Monday I have a program . . .” and then, “I can dance in your place only on . . .” I demanded the highest fee, and got it, of anyone in India. 

• GREEDY - Driven by a desire for wealth, Raju’s greed is apparent in the way that he exploits Rosie’s immense talents as a dancer to enrich himself once he again reinvents himself as her manager. "It seemed absurd that we should earn less than the maximum we could manage. My philosophy was that while it lasted the maximum money had to be squeezed out. We needed all the money in the world." Sometimes she asked me to taken to see a famous temple or a shop or some local sight. I always replied, “Yes, yes. Let us see if we can fit it in,” but it was never done, as I always had to catch another train so as to fulfill another engagement. "We needed all the money in the world. If I were less prosperous, who would care for me? Where would be the smiles which greeted me now wherever I turned, and the respectful agreement shown to my remarks when I said something to the man in the next chair? It filled me with dread that I should be expected to do with less."

• OSTENTATIOUS - means showing off money. The stylish house at New Extension was more in keeping with our status. It was two-storied, with a large compound, lawns, garden, and garage.I had a large staff of servants—a driver for our car, two gardeners for the garden, a Gurkha sentry at the gate with a dagger at his waist, and two cooks because our entertainments were beginning to grow. "the style of living and entertaining which I had evolved was eating up all our resources. Sometimes she said, “Spending two thousand a month on just two of us. Is there no way of living more simply?” “Leave that to me; we spend two thousand because we have to. We have to maintain our status."

• POSSESIVE - Jealousy and a desire for control are the other hallmarks of his character, qualities which, along with his deceitful tendencies, ultimately land him in prison. "I silently fretted. I liked her to be happy—but only in my company" I had a monopoly of her and nobody had anything to do with her."She was my property. This idea was beginning to take root in my mind."She felt annoyed at my interference. “Why should you come and pull me out of company? Am I a baby?” I expostulated with her that it was for her own good that I did so. I knew it was only a partial truth. If I examined my heart I knew I had pulled her out because I did not like to see her enjoy other people’s company. I wanted to keep her in a citadel.

• CUNNING - He is portrayed as a cunning and manipulative person who is adept at minting money from the tourists."anything that interested my tourists was also my interest." "Raju soon realized that his spiritual status would be enhanced if he grew a beard and long hair to fall on his nape. A clean-shaven, close-haired saint was an anomaly." "I ascribed to any particular place depended upon my mood at that hour and the type of person I was escorting. If he was the academic type I was careful to avoid all mention of facts and figures and to confine myself to general descriptions, letting the man himself do the talking. You may be sure he enjoyed the opportunity. On the other hand, if an innocent man happened to be at hand, I let myself go freely. I pointed out to him something as the greatest, the highest, the only one in the world. I gave statistics out of my head."

• IRRESPONSIBLE - He also proves to be a rebel by not following the norms of the society by falling in love with a married woman. It is his rebellious nature which led to his tragic end. Also, his irresponsible nature forced his mother to spend her old age far from her own house at the mercy of her brother. "He now saw the enormity of his own creation. He had created a giant with his puny self, a throne of authority with that slab of stone. He left his seat abruptly, as if he had been stung by a wasp," "My expenses were mounting. The shop was my main source of income, together with what Marco gave me as my daily wage. I knew that I ought to look into the accounts of the shop a little more closely.if I cared to look at my savings book I could know at a glance how the level of the reservoir was going down. But I did not want to examine it too closely.The only reality in my life and consciousness was Rosie. " "Living with Rosie under the same roof was enough for me. I wanted nothing more in life. I was slipping into a fool’s paradise. By not talking about money, I felt I had dismissed the subject—a stupid assumption."

HIS GOOD FEATURES - 

• WITTY - I found that everyone who saw an interesting spot always regretted that he hadn’t come with his wife or daughter, and spoke as if he had cheated someone out of a nice thing in life. Later, when I had become a full-blown tourist guide, I often succeeded in inducing a sort of melancholia in my customer by remarking, “This is something that should be enjoyed by the whole family,” and the man would swear that he would be back with his entire brood in the coming season. “This is a far better job I am doing than the other one. I am seeing a lot of places and getting paid for it; I go with them in their car or bus, talk to them, I am treated to their food sometimes, and I get paid for it. Do you know how well known I am? People come asking for me from Bombay, Madras, and other places, hundreds of miles away. They call me Railway Raju.

• CHARMING - Raju possesses a charismatic and charming personality that enables him to effortlessly win over people and manipulate situations to his advantage.I never said, “I don’t know.” Not in my nature, I suppose. If I had the inclination to say “I don’t know what you are talking about,” my life would have taken a different turn. It was not because I wanted to utter a falsehood, but only because I wanted to be pleasant. "Once I take charge of anyone, I always feel that they are my responsibility." "There were five hundred prisoners in that building and I could claim to have established a fairly widespread intimacy with most of them"

• OBSERVANT - He is a shrewd observer and can read people’s mind from their body language and gestures. This quality helps him to understand the preferences and likes of tourists and use them to his advantage."As soon as a tourist arrived, I observed how he dealt with his baggage,whether he engaged a porter at all or preferred to hook a finger to each piece. I had to note all this within a split second," "Even as the train steamed in at the outer signal, I could scent a customer. I had a kind of water-diviner’s instinct. If I felt the pull of good business I drifted in the direction of the coming train; I could stand exactly where a prospective tourist would alight and look for me: it was not only the camera or binoculars slung on a shoulder that indicated to me the presence of a customer; even without any of that I could spot him. If you found me straying away in the direction of the barrier while the engine was still running through the lines onto the platform you might be sure that there was no customer for me on the train. In a few months I was a seasoned guide."

• INSIGHTFUL - Raju recognized Rosie’s extraordinary talent in dance when he watched her dance moves for the first time. "The cobra raised itself and darted hither and thither and swayed…[Rosie] stretched out her arm slightly and swayed it in imitation of the movement; she swayed her whole body to the rhythm—for just a second, but that was sufficient to tell me that she was, the greatest dancer of the century." "Malgudi and its surroundings were my special show. I could let a man have a peep at it or a whole panorama. It was adjustable. I could give them a glimpse of a few hours or soak them in mountain and river scenery or archaeology for a whole week."

• ARTICULATE -His character is shown as a good storyteller who can spin a yarn to enhance his credibility. Raju himself was not certain why he had advised that, and so he added, “If you do it you will know why.” The essence of sainthood seemed to lie in one’s ability to utter mystifying statements."We may not change it, but we may understand it,” Raju replied grandly.“And to arrive at a proper understanding, time is needed.” Raju felt he was growing wings. Shortly, he felt, he might float in the air and perch himself on the tower of the ancient temple. " "Heaven knew where I had found all this eloquence. I delivered such a lecture on the importance of our culture and the place of the dance in it that they simply had to accept what I said."I never knew I could speak so fluently on cultural matters. I had picked up a little terminology from Rosie and put it to the best use. I described “The Dancing Feet” and explained its significance word by word and almost performed the dance act myself." "Whether they were homicides or cutthroats or highwaymen, they all listened to me, and I could talk them out of their blackest moods. "

• FLEXIBLE- he changes from being a shopkeeper to a Tourist Guide to a manager to a saint. "I too felt changed; I had ceased to be the old Railway Raju."Raju demonstrates remarkable adaptability, seamlessly transitioning from a tourist guide to a spiritual advisor, highlighting his resourcefulness and ability to navigate various roles in life. “In a few months I was a seasoned guide. I had viewed myself as an amateur guide and a professional shopman, but now gradually I began to think of myself as a part-time shop-keeper and a full-time tourist guide.

• INDEPENDENT - He is the one who encouraged and motivated Rosie to pursue her career as a dancer. It is with his support and planning that she attained that height and position in the society which she could not have dreamed without him by her side.When she came to his house, he took her in without showing anything. Raju is an example of a free-spirited man who does not hold back under the pressure of the culture and society. 

HIS INNER GOODNESS - And yet, as low as Raju may go, he seems always able to rise again. In the privacy of his own mind, Raju still tends toward selfishness and impatience, but the more time he spends with the villagers, the more he grows in character. Arguably, by the end of the novel, as a result of his fasting and praying, he achieves enlightenment and truly does becomes a holy man.

In his final reinvention as a holy man or spiritual guide on the riverbank near a small village after his release from prison, Raju comes to fulfill the destiny of “a guide” in the highest sense. Although initially playing the role of “swami” so as to exploit the villagers’ generosity, Raju ultimately lives up to the villagers’ faith in him by risking everything to save them.

 “For the first time in his life he was making an earnest effort, for the first time he was learning the thrill of full application, outside money and love; for the first time he was doing a thing in which he was not personally interested.” 

 "It occurred to him that the best course for him would be to run away from the whole thing.Velan and the rest would look for him and conclude that he had vanished to the Himalayas.But he felt moved by the recollection of the big crowd of women and children touching his feet. He felt moved by the thought of their gratitude."

√ Now you can also write how that character is in one word, you can also leave it if you can't remember it. Remember quality matters more than quantity.

AS A CHARACTER -

COMPLEX - The railway Raju becomes Raju guide and entrepreneur and a convict, a seducer like Alec. With narration, We are enable to see the action as Raju sees it, and as the latter Raju sober sees the earlier Raju Drunk. At once he tells Velan that “I am not so great as you imagine. I am just ordinary.” when Velan thinks him as a saint. "He realized that he had no alternative: he must play the role that Velan had given him." “It was not because I wanted to utter a falsehood, but only because I wanted to be pleasant.” His role as lover and stage manager is very appreciable. After his seduction of Rosie, he is dismissed by her because of her guilt and Marco’s knowledge about them. Though he is obsessed by her, he does not pursue her. Rosie comes to his house on her own as she has been deserted by Marco. His love for her motivates him to look after her physical and artistic needs. The storage of money and Rosie’s devotion to dance compels him to arrange a public performance for her. 

UNCONVENTIONAL - He is a true lover who loved Rosie from the core of his heart. He gave up his family, business and social status for her. When Rosie appeared at his door after she was abandoned by Marco, he welcomed her whole-heartedly in his house and life. His undying love for Rosie proves that he was not a conventional type of lover who gives up on his beloved under the pressure of family and society. He confronted his uncle when he tried to bully Rosie and asked her to leave the house, ‘At this a big sob burst from her. I was completely maddened by it. I flew at my uncle and knocked the cup out of his hand, shouting, “Get out of this house.”

CONTRADICTORY - Throughout the novel, Raju’s character is marked by a constant struggle between his true self and the expectations placed upon him. He grapples with his past mistakes and the guilt associated with them, particularly his involvement with Rosie, a dancer whose life he profoundly influences. Raju’s complexity arises from his contradictory desires for personal freedom and societal acceptance."“True, true,” Raju said, having nothing else to say and not wishing to utter anything that might seem too brilliant. He was beginning to dread his own smartness nowadays. He was afraid to open his lips." "I was afraid to turn round and face her, because I was crying."

DYNAMIC - Raju takes no active role in shaping his own career. He becomes a tour guide by accident and because of his talent and when other people expect it of him; so too he becomes a swami. His only actions are negative ones, and grow from his dual lusts for Rosie and for money. Then he finds himself seized by an egotism that makes it feel as though “some devil was wagging his tongue within my skull,” transforming him into the kind of man described in the Gita as "self-aggrandizing, stubborn, drunk with wealth and pride.” But on the riverbank all that self-interest falls away, and in the end The Guide shows how Raju comes to fulfill his given role. He may enter upon his fast unwillingly, his life as a swami may have started as a kind of imposture, and yet the mask does begin to fit him, or he to fit the mask. His character grows into the plot that’s been written for it, performing the dharma from which the maya of his affair with Rosie, his attachment to the things of this world, had distracted him. We can read it on his brow, and when he tells Velan his story, he discovers that it makes no difference to the esteem in which the villager holds him."I became known because I went about with her, not the other way round. She became known because she had the genius in her, and the public had to take notice of it. I am able to speak soberly about it now—only now"

REALISTIC - has good and bad qualities like human beings.

A FLAWED HERO - Raju is a flawed hero, making mistakes and facing the consequences of his actions. His journey serves as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of selfishness and the pursuit of personal gain.

A GREAT ENTREPRENEUR- an entrepreneur with avision. When railways came to Malgudi, he realized that trading old books would be a growing business in future as there was a huge inflow of students in Malgudi from the nearby villages and cities. He knew how to make more profits as he recalls, ‘I bargained hard, showed indifference while buying and solicitude while selling.’

A GREAT ACTOR - "He felt like an actor who was always expected to utter the right sentence."

Raju felt cornered. “I have to play the part expected of me; there is no escape.” 

 “Well, I can,” said Raju. And he got the appreciative clicking of tongues, which he expected as his legitimate due.

"Raju soon realized that his spiritual status would be enhanced if he grew a beard and long hair to fall on his nape. A clean-shaven, close-haired saint was an anomaly. He bore the various stages of his make-up with fortitude, not minding the prickly phase he had to pass through before a well authenticated beard could cover his face and come down his chest."

A TRUE GUIDE - "You may want to ask why I became a guide or when. I was a guide for the same reason as someone else is a signaler, porter, or guard. It is fated thus." 

“Tell me about it,” Raju said, the old, old habit of affording guidance to others asserting itself. Tourists who recommended him to one another would say at one time, “If you are lucky enough to be guided by Raju, you will know everything. It was in his nature to get involved in other people’s interests and activities. “Otherwise,” Raju often reflected, “I should have grown up like a thousand other normal persons, without worries in life.” The dominating tendency of Raju is to guide – whether the tourists of Malgudi, or Rosie through her career, or criminals at jail or the inhabitants of Mangal. The author suggests this by frequently using phrases like ‘taking charge’, ‘under your guidance’, ‘old habit of affording guidance’ etc. He is affable and articulate, and blessed with “a kind of water-diviner’s instinct” to choose the right word or action in any situation. Simultaneously, he is quite enterprising. Ironically, all these positive qualities fail to overpower his single shortcoming – the lack of judgment. He loves to be admired, and dislikes them who refuse to do so like Marco. Throughout motivated by these self-regarding instincts, Raju’s personal redemption is achieved only when he considers others’ needs above his own requirements.

CONCLUSION - The Guide manages to describe a saint who is neither born nor made, but simply happens almost like the weather. Raju is a captivating portrayal of a flawed yet compelling individual on a transformative journey. Through his charm, moral conflicts, and quest for redemption, discovery of self, Raju serves as a mirror to reflect the complexities of human nature and the societal forces that shape our lives. Particularly it hints at the growth of self search, a spiritual guide en route to the discovery of the essence of India.

IF THERE ARE ANY MISTAKES (human nature), LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

HOPE YOU WILL FIND THIS HELPFUL. YOU CAN CUT IT AND CHOOSE THE HEADINGS YOU LIKE OR WHICH ARE EASY TO REMEMBER FOR YOU. I WROTE THIS IN MY EXAMS AND I GOT MUCH GOOD MARKS... 😊 

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