What is the character sketch of the astrologer in "An Astrologer's Day"?

In "An Astrologer's Day," the main character is the astrologer. He is an ordinary man who practices to be a genuine astrologer. At midday, he begins his job by seeking out people who need to know more about their futures. 

Punctually at midday he opened his bag and spread out his professional equipment, which consisted of a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook, and a bundle of palmyra writing. 

In a prophetic like glare, he seeks out customers. They take his mysterious stare as being genuine in that he knows something about the future. 

His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted. 

The astrologer worked in an area that had poor lighting. At night, he used the light of the neighboring vendors who sold nuts, fruits, and ice cream to name a few things being sold. He did what had he had to do to earn a living.

When a client would sit down, he would allow the client to talk for ten minutes. By this time, the astrologer had enough information to go on. He was a good judge of character. He could read people very well. His job was one of guess work for "he knew no more of what was going to happen to others than he knew what was going to happen to himself the next minute."

The astrologer was shrewd. He understood the problems of life. He understood financial woes and marriage problems. He would guess his way through an encounter with a client.   

He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent customers. Yet he said things which pleased and astonished everyone: that was more a matter of study, practice, and shrewd guesswork. 

No doubt, the astrologer knew what to say after he listened to a client for ten minutes. He understood life's problems and he could guess what was wrong after hearing his client pour his or her heart out. 

As evening approached, the astrologer saw a man passing by and assumed he would be a potential client. This client was Guru Nayak and he would not be played with. He tried to get away from the astrologer, having little faith in his abilities. Guru Nayak lit a cheroot and the astrologer recognized him as a man he had stabbed and left for dead many years ago. Nervously, the astrologer tried to back out the deal the two had made. But Guru Nayak would not hear of it. He insisted that the astrologer would tell him if the man he searched for was alive or dead. Guru Nayak wanted to know where the man was who had stabbed him and left him for dead years ago. 

Finally, the astrologer tells Guru Nayak what he wants to hear. He claims the man who stabbed him is dead. The astrologer knows what to say since he was the man who had stabbed him years ago. Fortunately, Guru Nayak does not recognize the astrologer. He satisfies Guru Nayak and makes extra money off him. 

Guru Nayak leaves, satisfied that his attacker is dead. The astrologer makes it home late. His wife is waiting at the door. He gives her the extra money and shares his story of meeting a man whom he thought he had killed years ago. The astrologer is relieved to know he didn't kill the man. He stretches himself out to sleep a good night's sleep. 

The astrologer is an impressive character. As the story says, if he had stayed in his village

...he would have carried on the work of his forefathers namely, tilling the land, living, marrying, and ripening in his cornfield and ancestral home.

But when he was forced to flee the village he was able to develop a whole new personality and survive in a heavily populated urban environment by using his intelligence. The story suggests that many people who live in primitive rural conditions could likewise develop all sorts of hidden talents if they had the opportunities. 

The astrologer lives by his wits. He knows how to put on a show to attract passers-by, and he knows what to tell them, even though he is well aware that he has no mystical knowledge. He has no education and is probably illiterate. But he has "street smarts." 

He had a working analysis of mankind's troubles: marriage, money, and the tangles of human ties. Long practice had sharpened his perception.

He only collects small coins for his consultations, no doubt because most of the people who stroll in the park for recreation have little extra spending money themselves. It is apparent that he must sit for long hours in order to collect enough to keep himself and his family alive from day to day.

...his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted.

Money is of great importance to him in his precarious profession. In addition to his superior intelligence, he is courageous and determined. When he is dealing with Guru Nayak and his life is in imminent danger, the astrologer still insists on haggling over money. He brings every single coin home to his wife so that she can buy food for the family. Evidently he is a devoted husband and father.

"An Astrologer's Day" is a study of the vicissitudes of life and of one type of adaptation. The astrologer would have been an ignorant peasant if he had remained in his village, but the big city forced him to adapt to entirely new conditions, and he managed to find a niche in which to survive, marry, and reproduce. He is a survivor. We can identify with him because we all have to learn to survive in this world by adapting to our environment.

Provide a character sketch of the astrologer in "An Astrologer's Day."

In “An Astrologer’s Day,” by R. K. Narayan, the astrologer is a calm, observant and deceptive character who we find at the end lives in fear every day of his life. This is true of his identity and his occupation. The astrologer makes his living deceiving people by making observations about their attitudes and behavior. If he has to twist the truth to make them believe what he wants them to--it is of no consequence. He sends them away as believers. He lives in fear, however, as we learn at the end of the story, that his past will come back to haunt him because the one person the astrologer cannot deceive is himself. We, as an audience, do not realize that his worst fear has come true until after the fact. This is the one instance in which honesty works better than twisted observations, and he convinces his mysterious visitor that the man he is seeking--the man who fought with him and left him for dead, has himself since died. The astrologer provided the man with vague details that are close enough to the truth that he believes the astrologer. This leaves the astrologer with a new emotion--one of safety, as he has observed that the driving force of revenge on the man who left him for dead has been eliminated, and the stranger will have no other need to ever venture so far from his home again. It is only after the astrologer gets home that we learn how really calm he is as he confesses to his wife that he was the man the stranger was looking for.

Describe the character of the astrologer in "An Astrologer's Day".

The protagonist in "An Astrologer's Day" is an interesting character because he is a survivor. He came to the big city from one of the many small villages in India and had to find some way to exist without having any formal education or marketable skills. We do not know how he obtained his astrological paraphernalia, but it is possible that he found it somewhere and decided to become an "astrologer" on the spur of the moment. His "professional equipment" consists of

...a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook, and a bundle of palmyra writing.

The man who had owned the equipment before him may have been better versed in the pseudo-science of astrology, but he may have lacked the present owner's intelligence, glibness, personality, and "moxie." It is obviously very hard for any astrologer to make a living in this city because most people don't have any money to spare for anything but the bare necessities.

The astrologer's day is a long and precarious one. He has a wife and small daughter waiting for him at home. Even when he encounters Guru Nayak and his life is in danger, he resolutely insists on talking about money. Because of his brains and adaptability, he is able to bring home even more coins than usual. He lives from day to day. He doesn't even want to think about what he is going to do tomorrow. He has gotten through one day and that is enough for him.

"Time to sleep," he said, yawning, and stretched himself on the pyol.

The astrologer might be said to represent the millions of men who are migrating to the big cities of India from the villages. His story is just one of the many stories of these people, whose survival in the cities depends on their adaptability to very difficult living conditions.

He had left his village without any previous thought or plan. If he had continued there he would have carried on the work of his forefathers namely, tilling the land, living, marrying, and ripening in his cornfield and ancestral home. But that was not to be.

It is interesting to see how this nameless man has become transformed into a big-city dweller who deals with great numbers of people every day in order to eke out a living for himself and his tiny family. He needs money to survive and support his family, and he has to get that money from other people by providing something in exchange. The great subcontinent of India is changing in many ways because of globalization, expanding population, and other factors. "An Astrologer's Day" represents the macrocosm in a microcosm, which it what makes it such a memorable short story.

How is the astrologer characterized in "An Astrologer's Day"?

The astrologer is a survivor. He showed his strong temper in stabbing Guru Nayak back at their village and leaving him for dead. We get the impression that the other man is bigger, stronger, and fiercer than the astrologer; yet the astrologer keeps his cool even when he finds himself face to face with the man he thought was dead.

The astrologer comes from a long line of peasant farmers.

He had left his village without any previous thought or plan. If he had continued there he would have carried on the work of his forefathers namely, tilling the land, living, marrying, and ripening in his cornfield and ancestral home. But that was not to be. He had to leave home without telling anyone, and he could not rest till he left it behind a couple of hundred miles. To a villager it is a great deal, as if an ocean flowed between.

Finding himself in a big, noisy, overcrowded city, probably without any money, the protagonist proved his adaptability by becoming an astrologer. He knows nothing about the stars or about fate. He probably became an astrologer by pure chance when he found the discarded "professional equipment" of some other man who had given up the struggle for existence. The protagonist of this story is tough, adaptable, and determined, but he also has brains and talent. He knows how to handle people. He proves this by the way he handles the formidable Guru Nayak.

The astrologer not only managed to survive in the big, strange city, but he got married and fathered a child. Existence for every living creature is a struggle for survival and reproduction. For some it is much easier than for others--but it is a matter of survival for everyone. Survival of the fittest. He may be a little dishonest, but a man in his position cannot afford such luxuries as honesty. He has to bring those few coins home to his wife. Otherwise the whole family starves.

Describe the astrologer from Narayan's "An Astrologer's Day."

The astrologer's predominant characteristic at this stage of his life is being able to ironically laugh at himself. This is revealed in the way the narrator describes him. To make the greatest impression on the crowd of people among whom might be customers, the astrologer carefully selected his attire and the right way of presenting himself, complete with saffron turban, sacred ash, and "dark whiskers that streamed down his cheeks," The power in his expression, which  people took for an astrologer's “eye," was in fact the outcome of "a continual searching look for customers.” As a result of his deliberate appearance and demeanor, customers "were attracted to him like bees are attracted to ... dahlia stocks."

The narrator further reveals that the astrologer never planned or desired to be an astrologer. He knew as little about the stars of astrological predictions as his customers:

He had not the least intended to be an astrologer when he began life ; ... He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent customers.

From these details the narrator provides, we can deduce that the astrologer has a bit of a hearty, though ironic, laugh at himself from time to time. Yet he works honestly and with compassion for his customers since he never says anything until the customer has spoken for at least ten minutes. This accounts for the narrator's explanation that the astrologer “deserved the wages he carried at the end of the day."

Earlier in his life, the astrologer--before he was an astrologer--was reckless and foolish and given to drinking--without restraint of common sense--and wasting his earnings on gambling. This led him to embroil himself in the drunken brawl in which he stabbed a man, then left him for dead down a well. The last lines of the story reveal that he is a moral man who has been trying to absolve his crime all through the years. This is evident when he briefly tells his wife the story, then ends with,

"Why think of it now? ... Time to sleep."

He has given the victim--the customer--a report of a suitable punishment and horrible end to the man who stabbed the customer. Now he can rest quietly in a good night's sleep with a giving life's work behind him, for it is revealed by the narrator that he does say things that help and comfort his customers:

He understood what was wrong ... . and this endeared him to their hearts immediately ....

What character traits does the astrologer possess?

The astrologer has many positive character traits. He is self-reliant, intelligent, resourceful, courageous, and industrious. He is willing to work as long as ten or  twelve hours a day every day of the week in order to earn a tiny amount of money to support himself, his wife, and his little daughter. He obviously does not have much of an education. He would have been a simple peasant if he hadn't gotten into a quarrel with Guru Nayak back at their village and had been forced to flee to a big city because he thought he had killed the other man with a knife.

He had left his village without any previous thought or plan. If he had continued there he would have carried on the work of his forefathers--namely, tilling the field, marrying and ripening in his cornfield and ancestral home.

Once in the city he had to find a means to exist without a trade and in an overpopulated land where people die of starvation on the streets every night. He may have acquired his so-called "professional equipment" because some other self-styled astrologer couldn't make a living and abandoned them. The astrologer has to be intelligent in order to convince enough people that he can actually tell their fortunes and give them valuable advice. He has learned that most people have similar life problems and can be satisfied with similar advice. When he is confronted by his nemesis Guru Nayak, the astrologer keeps his nerve and actually makes money from the violent man rather than getting killed in revenge.

The reader, like the astrologer's mistrustful client, is startled when the astrologer calls him by name.

"Guru Nayak--"

"You know my name!" the other said, taken aback.

"As I know all other things, Guru Nayak..."

How can this trickster know the client's name? Does he really possess supernatural powers? We do not find out for some time that by the sheerest coincidence the astrologer is being consulted by the man he thought he had killed years ago. He is both alarmed and relieved. At least the man is not dead, and he is not a murderer. But the client is looking for the man who knifed him and intends to kill him if he finds him. 

We have to admire this resourceful astrologer in spite of the fact that he is barely eking out a living from day to day. If he lived in a land that offered better opportunities he might become rich. He can't even afford to have his own illumination in the park but depends on the lights of nearby vendors.  We can only imagine what it must be like if the weather turns bad. If it rains for several days in a row, the astrologer and his family may go hungry. But he has the courage and brains necessary to survive under these harsh conditions, and he has even been sufficiently successful to be able to get married and have a child. R. K. Narayan's story tells a lot about India in describing one day in the life of one man.

How are characters portrayed in R.K. Narayan's "An Astrologer's Day"?

The title of the story "An Astrologer's Day" seems to imply that the astrologer's day was "special" and at the same time "ordinary." It was special because he ran into the man he thought he had killed some years before. It was ordinary because he went to work as usual and went through his usual routine until the ground nuts vendor turned out his light and there was nothing to do but go home. As usual, the astrologer brought his wife all the coins he had collected during his long day. Then he went to sleep in order to be rested for the long, hard day tomorrow. His life had been in extreme danger. His nemesis Guru Nayak only failed to recognize him because of the darkness, along with the fact that the astrologer looked different with his turban and his painted forehead and long beard. He was in danger of losing all the coins he had worked so hard to collect that day.

"Stop," said the other. "I don't want all that. Shall I succeed in my present search or not? Otherwise I will not let you go till you disgorge all your coins."

That would have been a serious loss. The astrologer and his wife and child are living from day to day on the coins he collects. Losing just one day's collection would mean going hungry. They must have experienced many hungry days. He doesn't have any options of choosing a new career. He has no trade. He is uneducated. He is probably illiterate, even though he pretends he can read the stars. He is a former peasant with a long line of peasant ancestors. Now he is thrown into a tough urban environment where everything depends on money.

The astrologer leads a precarious existence. He doesn't know from one day to the next what is going to happen to him. He has developed a stoical philosophical attitude. Whatever happens will happen. His really harrowing experience with Guru Nayak that day does not prevent him from putting it out of his mind and falling asleep. Tomorrow is another day.

What is unique about the astrologer in "An Astrologer's Day"?

What is unique about the trickster in "An Astrologer's Day" is that he has a special talent for his profession. He doesn't know anything about astrology and doesn't care anything about it. He never tries to learn any of its esoteric dogma. To know more would be a handicap. This perhaps gives him an advantage over his many competitors, and especially over those who really believe in astrology.

He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent customers. Yet he said things which pleased and astonished everyone: that was more a matter of study, practice, and shrewd guesswork.... He had a working analysis of mankind's troubles: marriage, money, and the tangles of human ties.... Within five minutes he understood what was wrong.

This astrologer is "street smart," "people smart." His flight to a big city forced him to develop talents he didn't know he possessed. His problem was a blessing in disguise. He learns how to interact with people. He understands what they really want from him and he is usually able to give it to them. Most of his clients are looking for confirmation of what they already think and feel. If he listens to them he can sense what it is they want to be told--and then he simply tells them what they want to hear. They are looking for validation, permission, reassurance, confirmation, approval, understanding. Any successful trickster has to have the ability to understand people and relate to them. This man is relatively successful--for an astrologer. He earns enough to be able to support himself and his little family from day to day. And that is what countless millions of people have to do in India. 

Who was the astrologer in "An Astrologer's Day"?

One day a stranger comes to seek the advice of the astrologer. He wants to discover the identity of the man who once attacked him and left him for dead. The astrologer realizes straight away that he himself was the attacker. Ever since that fateful day, he's been wracked by guilt, believing that the man he'd attacked all those years ago had died. But now that he knows that the man survived after all, a huge weight has suddenly been lifted from the astrologer's shoulders. He can now say with confidence that the man who beat the stranger and pushed him down a well has died; he's really not the same person that he once was. As well as being able to reassure the stranger, the astrologer has, at long last, achieved the peace of mind which had eluded him for so long.