Question

give a character sketch of Muni in the story A horse and two goats

Answer 1

The main characters of the short story “A Horse and Two Goats” by R.K. Narayan are Muni – the old Indian, and the American tourist. In the short story, there is also a mention of a village headman, but he is an absent character and has very little relevance to the plot. Additionally, you should note that in the original version of the story, Muni’s wife is also mentioned in the introduction.

Muni

Muni is an old Indian Man living in a very small village in India.

Outer characterisation

The depiction of his physical traits is done directly by the narrator who describes him as “an old man” (p. 1, l. 24).

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Inner characterisation

Regarding inner characterisation, Muni’s personality traits are revealed through the way he talks, the content of his conversation and the way he acts.

The Indian comes across as a very typical village man. He does not have any general knowledge about the world, as he never heard of New York (p. 185, ll. 15-16) and lives a confined life in his small isolated village.

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The American tourist

The American tourist’s character is constructed in opposition to the Indian man, to explore cultural clashes.

Outer characterisation

In terms of outer characterisation he is depicted as a “red-faced man” (p. 185, l. 7) wearing “a khaki-coloured shirt and shorts” (p. 184, l. 31).

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Inner characterisation

As with Muni’s depiction, the American’s inner characterisation is mostly done indirectly through the way he talks, what he talks about and his overall attitude.

Answer 2

able to perform manual labor on a daily basis and earn enough to be able to “sit on the pedestal of a clay statue of a horse while his cattle grazed around.” This shows that, while he worked hard, he trusted in the abundance of his stock enough to be able to sit down. The entire passage is written in the past tense, which highlights the fact that Muni was prosperous before the story takes place.