Question

the story A Horse And Two Goats depicts a clash of cultures . Discuss

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Answer:

The main theme of 'A Horse and Two Goats' is the East-West opposition reflected through the troubled communication between Muni and the American. Muni is the representative of Indian native who is poor, rural and uneducated. The American is one who knows no Tamil but expects Muni to understand English. He is wealthy, urban and educated and his only interest with Muni is a business deal of the horse statue. Both Muni and the American are ignorant of each others way of living. The red faced foreigner says Muni of the day of a power failure and had to spend four hours without air conditioning while Muni lives with no electricity.

Here, the American represents the 'West' who is ignorant of the fact that poverty, hunger, bad weather are everyday problems of the 'East'

On the arrival of the American in his station wagon, Muni thinks it as a motor car and a bus. The American offered Muni a smoke as it was common in America while Muni had smoked after many years that was also when the shopkeeper gave it on credit to Muni. When the American tries to introduce and removes a card from his wallet, Muni understands it as an arrest warrant and tries to run away. The American says that his family and he left on to learn about other civilizations while Muni has never moved out of Kritam. Muni was one who thinks about his family while the American is a money-minded person to whom staying away from his family is not a matter. The American guessed a souvenir seller of the horse statue as he was sitting on its pedestal while Muni guesses him to be a policeman or soldier because of his khaki clothes. The American then asks about the price of the statue without thinking about the feelings of the villagers. But we have Muni speaking about the closeness of the statue with the people of Kritam and its history. Both of them give a talk on the horse statue but the only difference being that Muni speaks about its religious importance and the American giving a sales talk. He speaks of not going home by air but by boat after buying the horse statue. The American shows out a hundred rupee note to buy the horse statue while Muni thinks he trades the amount with his goats. These points explain the clash of cultures brought about in the story.