Question

how is the indian society portrayed in the short story a horse and 2 goats by RK narayan

Answer 1

R. K. Narayan in his short story “A Horse and Two Goats” has addressed many important social issues through the use of humour, instead of seriousness. Using the simplest of settings, Narayan has crafted a sensitive yet amusing story, rich in situational comedy.

The title of the story draws attention. By the title “A Horse and Two Goats”, it seems like the horse was also a pet of Muni just like the two goats. But actually it was a clay horse statue. It didn’t even belong to Muni. But due to the miscommunication, it happened so that the American bought the horse statue from Muni thinking him to be the owner. So, the horse statue served Muni more than his goats. Again, it was the horse statue which the man wanted to buy, but Muni thought that he was selling his goats. So the most amusing part of the story lies there in the confusion between the horse and the goats. So, from both the angles the title serves the purpose well.

The story is narrated in the third person narrativetechnique where narration and dialogues are well proportioned. The characterization of Muni, his wife and the American has been great. Narayan has spent just about the right amount of words on each of the important characters.2

The greatest themes in the story have been the theme of cultural clash between the East and the West, the theme of poverty and wealth, and finally the theme of knowledge and wisdom. Moreover, it has been a vivid portrayal of rural lifein India with hunger and poverty, social classes and caste system, prejudices and superstitions