(-) Bring
out the main theme of the story
A horse and two goats by R.K Naryan what is humorous in the
story
Answers
R. K. Narayan has depicted in his story how the cultural and linguistic difference between two men can create a humorous situation. Muni, a common Tamil villager in India who knows only two words in English – ‘yes’ and ‘no’ meets by chance an affluent American, a ‘red-faced man’, who has come on a tour here.
The red-faced man was driving a station wagon. It stopped near where Muni was sitting under the clay-horse. The red-faced man got down and asked Muni “Excuse me, is there a gas station nearby, or do I have to wait until another car comes –“. Then the man looked up at the clay horse and cried “Marvellous!” twice. Muni didn’t understand anything and got frightened. He took the stranger to be a policeman or a soldier by his khaki dress and wanted to run away, but could not. He was afraid that the man might chase or shoot him if he ran.
When the stranger greeted him saying “Namaste! How do you do?”, Muni merely uttered “yes, no”. Then Muni went on to give his introduction in Tamil language which the man couldn’t understand. When the man offered Muni a cigarette, he received it with surprise. When the man offered him a light, he blew it on and put it out, being confused. When the man offered him his card, Muni thought it to be an arrest warrant and shrank away from it. He knew that a murder had been committed nearby a few weeks before and thought that the policeman might be looking for the culprit.
Muni pleaded the man to go away as he did not know anything of the murder and promised that he would catch the bad character for him if he found. He assured that their village had always had a clean record, so it must be the other village. The foreigner understood nothing but listened courteously and nodded his head.
Thus, neither of the two could understand what the other was saying. Both of them tried to guess the topic by following the other’s finger direction, look or the physical objects like the card. In the process, both of them ended up revealing their personal life, key concerns and their cultural difference. Interestingly, while only the readers get to know about the two characters’ identities and concerns, they themselves don’t actually understand anything about each other. And this is where the fun comes from. It makes the conversation humorous and enjoyable, building the curiosity at the same time.
Most funny situations were created when Muni thought the card to be an arrest warrant and when he puts out the light with a blow. Again when Muni was talking about punishing the thieves, the foreigner thought that Muni was talking about chopping woods with an axe and went on to remember how he loves this job every Sunday.
The man pointed to the clay horse and wanted to know about it. He found it a great work of art and wanted to buy it and take home. He even guessed it that Muni was its owner, by the way he was sitting under it. By the man’s gestures, Muni knew that he was interested in the horse and started his story of how the horse would come to life and carry away the good people after the Kali Yuga ends and the world gets destroyed. By this time, Muni was at ease with the stranger and he was not really aware that the red-faced man was unable to understand him. He also asked about his offspring and the man knew by the tone that it was a question. So he thought that Muni was asking about the price he could offer and answered “I said a hundred”.
When the man offered him a one-hundred rupee note for the horse, Muni realized that some financial element was entering their talk. He thought that the man was asking for change of a thousand or ten-thousand-rupee note and so directed him to go to the village chief instead. He also expressed disgust for the chief who hoards money by deceiving people.
When he was talking about his goats entering the chief’s garden, he pointed to the goats by his finger. The red-faced thought that it would be a good strategy to show interest in the old-man’s pets to impress him and buy the horse-statue easily. But humorous enough,
What are the themes of "A Horse and Two Goats"?
Culture clash is the central theme of “A Horse and Two Goats .” Two men from different cultural backgrounds meet and are unable to understand each other’s way of life. Muni is uneducated, rural, and Indian, while the American is affluent, urban, and learned. The gentlemen get along with one other even though they don’t speak the same tongue. Unlike in many stories with culture clash as a theme, “A Horse and Two Goats” does not portray any real harm. However, confusion emanating from the culture clash in this text is quite apparent. For instance, each man speaks about his personal...