Discussion Topic
Narrative and literary techniques in The Vendor of Sweets
Summary:
In The Vendor of Sweets, R.K. Narayan employs narrative and literary techniques such as third-person omniscient narration, which provides insight into the characters' thoughts and motivations. He also uses humor and irony to highlight cultural and generational conflicts. Descriptive language vividly portrays the setting of Malgudi, enhancing the realism and depth of the story.
What narrative techniques are used in The Vendor of Sweets?
In The Vendor of Sweets, R. K. Narayan primarily uses third-person point of view. The narrator speaks mainly from Jagan’s perspective, and includes long passages in quotation marks that present Jagan’s thoughts.
Narayan also makes extensive use of dialogue. Much of the dialogue consists of conversations between Jagan and other characters, such as his son, Mali. More broadly, however, the author uses conversation as a device to reveal background information and the larger context of the story.
The conversations that accomplish those purposes are generally between Jagan and one of his “cousins,” whom Narayan also terms “the listener.” He is apparently the town gossip, as he is a “man-about-town” who visits many houses and claims “cousin-hood” with many townspeople.
Narayan also presents Jagan’s years of marriage to Ambika using flashback.
References
What literary techniques are used in The Vendor of Sweets?
In chapter 3, Jagan tells the doctor who treated his wife for a brain tumor that perhaps...
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"a nature-cure" would have helped with the treatment. The doctor responds scornfully, telling Jagan, "Nature would sooner see us dead. She has no use for a brain affected by malignant growth." In this quote, there ispersonification. Nature is personified as a cruel, merciless creature who would rather kill than tolerate an imperfect organism. The doctor here is trying to convince Jagan that the natural remedies he has so much faith in are ineffective.
In chapter 4, Jagan is thinking about his son's prospective career as a writer. Jagan feels anxious, because he is not sure exactly what his son plans to write or if he will be any good. When he thinks about his son's writing, this anxiety is revealed by a succession of rhetorical questions. He asks himself, for example, "What does he really write .... Stories? What sort of stories? Poems? Or did he write philosophy?" This quick succession of rhetorical questions indicates that Jagan knows very little about his son's writing and is anxious, because he doesn't know if his son will be able to make a career as a successful writer.
In chapter 5, Jagan is enthusiastically telling everyone who will listen that his son, Mali, has arrived safely in America. The people he tells fail to be quite as excited as he would like them to be and become fixated on why Mali sent news via a letter rather than a telegram. Jagan becomes frustrated and calls these people "Stupid fellows! Frogs in the well!" This is an example of a metaphor. The people with whom Jagan has become frustrated are, of course, not literally frogs in a well, but Jagan uses this metaphor to articulate how stupid he thinks they are. Frogs in a well are unable to see much and live very confined lives. They don't have much life experience. Jagan considers these people (who aren't as excited about his son's journey to America as he thinks they should be) to have also lived very confined, dull lives, which he takes to be the reason for their supposed stupidity.