MYTH OF INNOCENCE AND PURITY OF CHILDHOOD

Abstract

            This thesis entitled “Myth of Innocence and Purity of Childhood in R. K. Narayan’s novel Swami and Friends” examines how childhood not only embodies fun and laughter, purity and innocence but also equally self centeredness, snobbery, vanity, callousness, cruelty and jealousy that can be seen among adults. It also assesses the novel critically and brings the hidden realities of childhood days into light that children are also not free from vices. Narayan, with the skillful use of humour, tries to capture the world of children as reflected in the growing up of Swaminathan and his companions, and their adventure and misadventure in the mythical town of ‘Malgudi.’ By providing the realistic glimpse of childhood, Narayan shows that children also have contrary qualities and are not free from multiple human natures as can be found in grown up people. As Narayan himself writes in his autobiography—My Days, that children are capable of performing greater cunning activities than grown up and he beautifully puts this belief in Swami and Friends. 

I. Dual Nature of Childhood in Narayan’s Swami and Friends

This project aims to examine the myth of innocence and purity of childhood in R.K.Narayan’s fiction Swami and Friends (1935). This research tries to show how childhood not only includes excitement and amusement, purity and innocence but also self centeredness, coldness, vanity, pretentiousness, resentment and meanness. It can be seen in Swami’s behavior in particular and his other friends in general. There is the presence of multiple nature in all of us and even children are not free from it. Human beings are basically evil by nature and being good is an occational mask. In the novel Swami and Friends Narayan’s portrayal of Swami gives a realistic and simple view on children who break the myth that children are innocent and pure. Swami is natural, impulsive, naughty and yet an innocent child.

  As an Indian scholar Narayan was well aware of myths, legends and tales from Hinduism available in Indian sub-continent. Narayan wrote this novel with his deep learning and secured experience. The influence of the Vedic scripture becomes more distinct in Narayan’s novel inorder to show the content and the conflict between good and evil. He was aware of the dual nature of human beings—the innate positive and negative qualities. He tries to put forward this belief in Swami and Friends. In doing so, he takes childhood as a medium to show that even children are not free from vices besides being innocent. According to Thomas A. Harris:

Throughout history one impresion of human nature has been consistent: that man has a multiple nature. Most often it has been expressed as a dual nature. It has been expressed mythologically, philosophically, and religiously. Always it has been seen as a conflict: the conflict between good and evil, the lower nature and the higher nature, the inner man and the outer man. (1)

This is to highlight wicked and destructive forces which are subdued within. In this sense, Fyodor Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment says, “Man commits sin simply to remind himself that he is free” (57).

 The concept of good and evil is a very broad one—good  and evil always exists in human civilization from the beginning of creation, “Behold, I set before you this day life and good, death and evil” (30:15).  Religious Scriptures say that freedom is possible to those who are enable to render absolute obedience to the law of god. But the heart of man is quite incapable of fulfilling the conditions because the heart of man is desperately wicked: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The distinction between right and wrong, good and evil depend upon the arbitrary will of god. The divine law is the ultimate moral standard. Rightness and wrongness are creations of the will of god. What god’s will is good; all that opposes the will of god is bad. God’s will control absoutely everything. In this context, The Bible explains:

I believe in the remission of sins. When the lord God made the earth and the heavens, no shurbs of the field had yet appeared on the earth, the lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground. Now the lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Evil and there he put the man he had formed. And the God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 1:30)

The account in “Genesis” does not certify that Adam bears the entire responsibility for the evil in the world. He is perhaps not the source but only the first example of evil.

Similarly, The Bhagavat Gita explains:

In this world there are two kinds of created beings:  the divine and the demonaic… It further states Pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance—these qualities belong to those of demonaic nature… They do everything whimsically, according to their own desire, and they do not recognize any authority. These demonaic qualities are taken on by them from the beginning of their bodies in the wombs of their mothers, and as they grow they manifest all these inauspicious qualities. (16:4-7)

This judgment on evil in religious conviction shows that the whole cosmos is its dwelling place.

Thomas Hobbs gives his own view for good and evil. He says, “Good and evil are names that signify our appetites and aversions. Whatsoever is the object of any man’s appetite or desire, that is it which he, for his part, called good” (80).He further says what is desiredd by him is good to him and what is desired by other cannot be so. Every man is enemy to every man in a sense that one’s need conflicts with others. Due to disagreement, conflict results, this is the major cause of war, the innate aggressive drive. As the desired object is same and people attempt to gain it for their benefit, evil takes place.

Similarly, Friedrich Nitzsche takes good as false security where one is held captive in the lies of the good. He writes: “The good taught you to believe in false shores and false security; you were born into and held captive in the lies of good. Everything has been twisted and wraped down to its core by the good” (31). Nevertheless, the ultimate power that rules seems to be that of evil. Man’s life is not a simple struggle towards virtue and holiness: it is quite often a lapsing into vice and sin. Thus evil is not sought as evil, but put under a mask called good. He believes in the presence of opposite forces which work inside the individual. Each person, he says, has a “will to power”. This “will”—or desire to control oneself, other people and the world around one—is “beyond good and evil” (99). It is a force of nature.

Likewise, Sigmund Freud’s discovery shows “the warring fractions existed in the unconscious (2)” and argues that man’s basic nature is primarily made up of instincts, which would, if permitted expression, results in crimes.

Thus evil has influenced human civilization since its origin. In mordern times also, literary texts, mythical narratives historical eposides frequently remind us that evil is a very powerful phenomenon. It does exist in the very heart of human being. It has been abdunantly used from various purposes: to thrill, to horrify, to satarize and so on. So evil exist in the world in its various forms.

In literary texts many writers have tried to show the presence of the opposite qualities in human beings through their imagination. One such writer is Robert Lewis Stevenson who in his novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde portrays the dual nature of man—as good and bad. Likewise, William Golding in his novel Lord of the Flies presents the innate evil in human beings, as when towards the end of the novel, the Lord of the Flies—pig’s head, tells Simon, “You are a silly little boy. Why don’t you run off and play with others. There’s none to help you except me and I’m the beast.I am part of you” (177). It suggests that the beast is human nature or evil is within every one of us and we cannot escape from it.

Similarly, Joseph Conrad’s title Heart of Darkness refers to the ambivalent forces at the heart of the wilderness, it also stands for the central darkness and possibly at the heart of all civilised consciousness. Kurtz’s pronuncement “The horror! The horror! (86)” and his postscipt “Exterminate all the brutes! (66)” refers to his awareness of the ineradicable duality of humankind and of our deeper instincts. Moreover, Conrad uses jungle setting to expose the dark side of human nature and the Congo he portrays is the Congo of the mind that can force a man into horrified awareness of his identity with his own moral opposite, “the serect sharer” (1157).

The concept of evil is very real and universal; it is that in which one’s desires, wishes, expectations etc conflicts with others. People do not like the idea of their wishes, desires being unfulfilled. They may have a number of reasons to disagree with. It goes on and occurs at any places at any times.Good changes not only for societies, but also for a person as his life experiences grow. A child’s idea of happiness differs from that of an adult. A child could see a stern parent punishing him for leaving the room dirt. But the parent’s intension is for correction and for training. Thus, evil becomes moving target that changes with each generation and culture and there is no standard against which to measure people’s opinions of it.

Historically speaking, there are many evidence of wars and cruelty that can be taken as proofs to show how humanity as a whole has undergone the nightmarish experience of evil. The condition since the beginning of recorded history and the result of it are universally the same that every generation brings evil with them. The record of history is so consistently filled with war and evil that compels to change the mind of those who argue against the inherent nature of human to do wrong.

Whether a child or an adult, they are basically evil by nature. If some human have consciously become immoral, and if this is a hostile environment, then it is no wonder because evil was there even before Fall, it might have tortured Gods themselves—that is why he hates it too much. Jesus voluntary sacrifices himself shows the always-already existence of evil in the world. Serpent persuades Eve to eat an apple to “be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). In this sense, Roman Paul writes: “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10). This point that the theology offers, is that man is a sinner by deliberateness, by inheritance, and by charge. Man chooses in his heart to follow the things he wants. So, according to the theology, this means everyone is born as a sinner.

R.K.Narayan from his secured knowledge and learning uses childhood as a medium to show the multiple nature of human being and to make us aware of the positive and negative qualities inside us. He is of the opinion that a child has a capacity for more cunning activities than an adult and he believes potential for evil is part of humanity. Narayan in his memoir—My Days writes, “I had started writing, mostly under the influence of events occurring around me” (64). The day to day life of ordinary people has influenced Narayan’s literary life. He was very familiar with these things and thus grew to be a typical Indian. Commenting on Narayan critic Srinivasa Iyengar writes:

His art is of resolved limitation like Jane Austen, he too is content with his little bit of ivory just too many inches wide.  He confuses himself to his own society and its surroundings with ordinary people and their lifestyle. He takes a small group of character from narrow scene and brings them forth in their additives and angularities and explores the inner countries of their mind, heart and soul; catch the uniqueness in the ordinary, the tragic in the prosaic. (360)

He is at his best in depicting human drama centered in a sensibility that is true all over the world. All of his principal characters including Swaminathan of Swami and Friends bear the human traits. His novels express different dimensions of life that he has gone through in the process of living. Narayan takes his material from Hindu Scriptures, myth, legends, and folktales. His orientation to it has been reflected in this writings.In this context, commenting on Narayan, Machiwe writes: “There are the straight narratives and stories without any philosophical complexity which takes the Hindu psychosis for granted like R.K. Narayan novels” (105).The cause of this Hindu psychology is the Hindu upbringing of Narayan.  His Grandmother during his early education family supervised his lessons. She told him many tales from Hindu myths and epics. And the Grandmother is the repository of oral tradition in all the works of Narayan including Swami and Friends.

Narayan typically highlights the peculiarities of human relationship and ironies of Indian daily life. Narayan through his novels expresses that the values of life preached in Hindu scriptures are still relevent to human life in the present context.

Narayan’s primary focus is in character. He says “I value human relationship very much, very intensely” (qtd. in sharan 10). The family is the immediate context in which his sensibility operates and his novels are remarkable for the subtlety with which this relationship is treated. Another faceted of his writing shows that Narayan’s heroes are constantly struggling to achieve maturity and each one of his novels is a depiction of this struggle. But Narayan’s heroes accept life as it is, and this is a measure of their spiritual maturity and this maturity is achieved with in the accepted religious and social framework. So is the case with Swaminathan in Swami and Friends.

Swami and Friends created and recreated for the first time the now famous ‘Malgudi’. Malgudi is the mythical town with which Narayan’s name is inextricably associated. Narayan returns to its setting again and again and uses its eccentric citizens to mediate upon the human conditions to a global context. The place becomes the backdrop of the customs, beliefs and way of life. Malgudi operate in two levels, the human and topographical on one level, Malgudi appears to enclose the grand humanity like grandmothers and grandaunts with their oral tradition and religious rituals; while on the other there are hotels, cricket clubs, and railwayline—in fact all modern amenities. Readers becomes familiar with the human world rather than with the human topography. Narayan seems more interested in human world than in the vast expanse of nature. In this context, William Walsh correctly points out: “The Physical geography of Malgudi is never dealt with as a set piece but allowed to reveal itself beneath events” (54). In Swami and Friends we should be equally attentive to the wider universal quality of Malgudi as whatever happens in Malgudi happens everywhere. Commenting on this, Shrinivasa Iyengar in his book, Indian Writing in English writes: “the inhabitants of Malgudi – although they may have their recognizable local trappings – are essentially human, and hence, have their kinship with all humanity” (360).

The story of Swami and Friends revolves around a young boy named Swaminathan and his different activities with his friends. Life for Swami consists mainly of having escapade with his friends, avoiding the misery of homework, and coping as best as he can with the teachers and other adults he encounters. His greatest passion is the MCC—the Malgudi Cricket Club which he founds together with his friends, his greatest day is when the examination are over and school breaks- up- a time to celebrations and cheerful riotous. With the growing up of the main character, Nararyan beautifully shows the delicate use of detail sympathically observed  he establishes for us the child’s world as the child himself see it: and beyond the adult community  he will one day belongs to in Swami’s case.

 The novel describes the rainbow world of childhood and early boyhood of boys of the likes of Swami growing up in the interior of Malgudi. It seems that Narayan’s personal experience as a child and at school has gone into the making of the novel. We get a vivid portrayal of the thoughts, emotions and activities of school boys. It is as though everyday reality has taken over Narayan’s pen and written this universal classic of all our boyhood days. This novel is remarkable for the author’s understanding of child psychology, for depiction of the carefree, cheerful world of a school boy. Some writers have the tendency to convert their childhood into shrines and further to mystify their own boyhood. Narayan has consciously avoided that because he never wrote anymore tales of boyhood after Swami and Friends.  

Narayan provides a keen insight into human psychology through the reactions of the childrens. He tries to explore the inner human nature through them. He understands his people so completely that every gesture they make is in their character and adds to our knowledge of them. One of the critics Graham Greene sees a strange mixture of humor, sadness and beauty in Narayan’s novel. He comments on Narayan’s “Complete objectivity, complete freedom from comments” (qtd. in Hariprasanna 189). He also paints life as it is, without caring for any immediate or remote aims. Like a detached artist he never identifies himself with his characters, never loses his sympathy for them. He presents them as what they are without condemnation and praise.In this respect Narayan’s novels are more universal in nature than others.

Narayan’s presentation of Childhood life is realistic. His writings basically reflect the “Indian soil and way of existence” (qtd. in sharan 8). Without being didactic, Narayan reveals a deep vision in his novel. The structure of Swami and Friends is eposodic in nature, which is exactly what the life of a young boy or child tends to be. Children on the whole do not have long-term plan; they live for the moment, act on impulse, they follow new enthusiasms and abandon old. Boyhood friendship, though, can persist, even if they may be violent and aggressive. Narayan is also a realist because of his presentation of minute details regarding the ways of people, their like, dislikes without glorification. Narayan provides real life situation in his writing by drawing widely from the real ordinary life of people, their hope, passions and emotions.

The present research on R.K.Narayan’s Swami and Friends is prepared to study on ‘myth and innocence and purity of childhood’ in the text. The writer’s main motto behind writing the text is to arouse the  presence of dual nature in humans. In other words, Narayan is trying to show that even children carry contrary qualities besides being innocent. He is of the opinion that both good and evil is a part of us all. Good and evil is the inherent human nature which the writer tries to portray and in doing so he takes children as a medium. Narayan’s message through this novel is that the moment the child is born evil influence him/her and is also prone to evil. He believes that the criminal behaviour is already there from the start and good is an occational mask. Therefore, the basis of analysis of this thesis is the text itself which will be critically analysed citing evidences from the text to prove the hypothesis. 

                           

II. Myth of Innocence and Purity of Childhood in Swami and Friends

            This research focuses how R.K.Narayan in Swami and Friend, exposes the myth of childhood’s innocence and purity. In doing so he dramatizes the problem of child’s own joys and sorrows, their fears and terrors, deep anguish, hopes and expectation that may seem small as seen through an adult eye. He presents with telling vividness the realistic picture of a child's world. He makes his characters stand as an impulsive and mischievous, though they look deceptively good and innocent. There are no good and bad characters in Narayan’s novel. Human nature is presented veraciously and interestingly and there is no overt condemnation or praise.

This dissertation tries to show that Children are not innocent and pure as they are generally supposed to be, rather they are also not free from evil and opposite qualities; children carry contrary qualities within them as can be seen among adults. Traditional view regards children as innocent and pure and the poet and critic William Blake is one among them that takes children as symbols of purity and innocence. Blake’s collective poems,“Songs of Innocence, “expresses the sharp quality of innocence, simplicity and naturality of the child with that of the lamb as both share the qualities of meekness, mildness and innocence. This belief is further highlighted and demonstrated in Blake’s poem, “The Lamb”:

He is meek, and he is mild;

He becomes a child.

 I am child and thou a lamb;

We are called by his name.

Little lamb God bless thee!

 Little lamb God bless thee! (160).

 This line presents us a very attractive and simple description of lamb, together with a child’s natural affection for it. Here, both the lamb and the child share the qualities of meekness and mildness and are the symbols of purity, innocence and joy. Similarly, William Wordsworth is another poet that views childhood as a stage free from the miseries of adult and worldly life. He considers children as pure and immortal and very close to god, nature. Nature and innocence are always synonymous in the sense of purity as well as in vision of mystery. 

            As regards the concept of the innocence of childhood, some thinkers like William Golding and Freud argue about the presence of inherent evil in humans and requires some careful re-definition, and if such innocence means innate goodness. It is probably a mistaken view of human nature. The innocence of childhood results rather from lack of time and opportunity to realize the inborn potential wickedness. The potential for rebellion is evidently there from the start. According to Christian belief all humans have a potential for wickedness. Thus humans could be sinners. Nevertheless, it is equally true that some have more indignation towards committing sin than others do not. There is an inherent element of criminal behaviour inside all humans. The Bible also confirms this fact.

Far from within out of the heart of man proceed with evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, theft's covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and defile the man. (Mark 7:21-23)

That human beings are by birth and nature sinners is also mentioned in the Bible. William Blake in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, the two groups of poems, explores and represents the world as it is envisioned by what he calls “two contrary states of the human soul (156)”, the first represents the goodness, and the second represents the evil side to human psyche and nature.

            R. K. Narayan also believes in ancient religion and philosophy that evil is inherent in humans. It does exist in the heart of human being in its various forms, and he beautifully portrays with delicate humour and irony that children have also evil quality besides being innocent.Evil cannot be separated from the human heart. It is an inborn quality of a human being. As soon as the child is born, evil influences him. In this context Thomas Hobbs, in his essay, Levithan writes:

In human nature, we find three principal causes of quarrel or evil. First competition; second diffidence; thirdly glory. The first makes the men invade for gain, the second for safety, and the third, for reputation. The first use involves to make themselves master of other men’s persons; second, to defend them; the third for trifles. (Qtd in Abrahms 53)

Similarly, another critic William Golding in his essay Fable writes, “Man produces evil as a bee produces honey” (qtd. in Kevin McCarron 2). Likewise in his novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding depicts the innate nature of evil in human beings. Golding believes that humans are evil by nature, and the evil culture is injected to the innocent child for their collective benevolence.

            Sigmund Freud challenges the preconscious notion that human being is guided by rationality. According to him, human beings are in fact irrational by nature. Human personality is shaped by the unconscious factors rather than consciousness. Human life is not a simple struggle towards virtue and holiness: it is quite often a lapsing into vice and sin. Thus, evil is not sought as evil, but put under a mask called good. Different psychoanalysts have studied this complexity in depth. Erich Fromm says, “Freud has broken through the fiction of rational purposeful character of the human mind, and opened a path that allows a view into the abyss of human passions” (40). Kenneth Walker puts this matter in this way:

Freud’s investigation of the contents of the submerged parts of the mind showed that these were of a very primitive nature. According to him, we are white sepulchers and are only outwardly decent and cultured. We all carry evil within us, locked in some dark cellar of the mind, not a comparatively respectable skeleton, but a full-bodied and lascivious savage. In spite of our efforts to isolate this unwelcome guest in his cellar, he sells our thoughts and actions. (50)

Another critic Friedrich Nietzsche also believes that human being has two opposite qualities: Apollonian and Dionysian. According to him, Apollonian qualities are those qualities which basically focus on good things whereas Dionysian incorporates evil and bad aspects. For the betterment of human life, these two qualities must be balanced. Nietzsche delves deep into this cultural ocean and sees, “Only the jungles, where animals’ eye glowers, yellow, with hunger and malice … the violent turbulence of the ocean, churning storm fronts, and hurricanes. Everything is at-sea… (34)”.

Nietzsche shows the relation between sin, guilt and good.

If the idea of god is eradicated so too must also is the ruling of sin as a transgression against divine precepts, as a contamination of a creature consecrated to God. What remains after this has gone is probably very closely entwined in and related to the fear of punishment by a secular justice, or fear of men’s disdain, but discontent caused by a pang of experience, the sharpest sting of all is the experience of guilt. (36)

Similarly, in the Bhagawat Gita, the holy scriptures of the Hindus also, Bhagawan Sri Krishna says:

There are two types of created beings in this world: one is called Divine’ and other ‘Demoniac’ … the demoniac does not know the way of ‘Prakriti’ – action and the way of ‘nivriti’ – renunciation. Neither purity, nor good conduct, nor truth is found in them. Taking shelter of insatiable lust and filled with pride, false prestige and arrogance holding wrong views due to delusion, they work with impure resolves … the demon says, ‘I have obtained this today; I will attain this desire as well. This much wealth is mine and this much wealth, likewise, shall be mined in the future. I have killed this enemy, and others will also be killed by me. I am the God. I am the enjoyer. I am the Perfect one. I am endowed with power, and I am happy’. (16:6-13)

This emphasis on evil is in all religion, including the Bhagawata Gita and the Bible, which shows that evil is pervasive not only in human, but the whole universe is its residence.

            Therefore, based on the above mentioned points that good and evil are the two sides of a coin. This text is analyzed, throwing light on how children also carry contrary qualities like jealousy, fear, anger, cruelty, vanity etc.   

            Swami and Friends is a delightful account of a school boy, Swaminathan, whose name, abridged as ‘Swami’ gives a characteristically Narayanesque ironic flavor to the title as the word Swami raises the expectations of bearded and aged figure and his friends could naturally be expected to be either his disciples or of same age  which the actual narrative neatly demolishes. Swami’s story is that of the average schoolboy with its usual rounds of pranks and punishments, but Narayan tells it with skillful use of humour and understandings of a boy’s will that he recaptures all the freshness of boyhood days. It seems that Narayan has caught the spirit of the schoolboy no matter what his race is. The portrayal of childhood adventure in the novel proves that the quality of childhood is universal. The central theme of the novel is the exploration of childhood as reflected in the growing up of young Swami. He is a spontaneous, impulsive, mischievous and yet an innocent child.Narayan delves deep into the psyche of a child and tries to recreate a child’s perception of the world.

            In his autobiography—My Days, Narayan writes, “In Childhood fears and secrecies and furtive acts happen to be the natural state of life, adopted instinctively for survival in a world dominated by adults. As a result, I believe a child is capable of practicing greater cunning than a grown-up” (21). In Swami and Friends, Narayan echoes out this belief. Swami’s childhood has its share of anxieties and secret perils, mixed in with happier experiences. Narayan does not hesitate to portray the real child nor does he hesitate to say something in words to express his views. The novel therefore becomes, unpretentious and extremely charming because we see in it the quality of life of children that everyone of us has come across. He gives us a realistic view on childhood and its particular way of behaving. Childhood is rightly reflected in the novel by Narayan through his deftly etched characters, his uniquely stylized language and his long sense of humor. What one misses is the sense of pathos and pain that one unmistakably gets in a much more complex chronicle of childhood.

            To Narayan, Childhood not only includes fun and laughter, purity and innocence; he also highlights childish self-centeredness, vanity, snobbery, insensitivity, callousness and cruelty at several places. At the beginning of the novel itself, we find Swami being brutally frank in reacting to his teacher’s appearance:

While the teacher was scrutinizing the sums, Swaminathan was gazing on his face, which seemed so tame at close quarters. His criticism of the teacher’s face was that his eyes were too near each other, that there was more hair on his chin than one saw from the bench, and that he was very-very bad looking. (2)

In this extract, we are left in utter shock to hear such merciless remarks from a young child. Swami does not like the “fire-eyed Vedanayagam” and when the class teacher is examining the home exercise, he begins to think of the teacher’s face and concludes that he is very bad looking (2).

            Another instance in the novel reveals the insensitive and cruel aspects of Swami’s behavior. When his grandmother has a severe stomachache, she asks him to buy her a lemon immediately, Swami refuses to oblige since he wants to rush to the cricket ground. He is ruthless in his behavior and shows little or no respect to his loving grandmother. He however has to deal with the guilty conscience and make amends later:

I have a terrible pain in the stomach. Please run out and come back, boy. He did not stay there to hear more. However, now, all the excitement and exhilaration of the play being over, and having bidden the last 'good night' . . . He thought of his grandmother and felt guilty. Probably, she was writhing with pain at that very moment. It stung his heart as he remembered her pathetic upturned face and watery eyes. He called himself a sneak, a thief, an ingrate, and hard-hearted villain. (127)

Here, we see the insensitive and ruthless behavior of Swami towards his loving grandmother who asks him to buy lemonade as she has a terrible pain in the stomach. Swami in trying to get to the cricket field to practice and ignores his granny’s pain but after returning in the evening, in this mood of self-reproach he is seized with the horrible passing doubt, whether she might not be dead—of stomach-ache.

Again, we see Swami’s attitude to the younger children of the “Infant Standards” (27). To Swaminathan, who did not really stand over four feet, the children of the “Infant Standards” seemed ridiculously tiny:

He felt vastly superior and old. He was filled with contempt when he saw them dabbling with wet clay, to shape models. It seemed such a meaningless thing to do at school! Why, they could as well do these things resembling elephants, mangoes and whatnots, in the backyards of their house. Why did they come all the way to school to do this sort of thing? Schools were meant for more serious things like geography, arithmetic, Bible and English . . . . (28)

Here, we see Swami's attitude to the younger children of the “Infant Standard” when he is alone in the school and misses his friends, he feels superior and old after seeing them playing with wet clay, to shape models and concludes that is a meaningless thing to do at school. He believes school is meant for serious things.

On the day of the hartal, Swami, “an unobserved atom in the crowed”, succumbs to a child’s sense of mischief: following the example of another “unobserved atom”, he uses the occasion to settle a few scores with his Headmaster:

Swaminathan could hardly help following his example. He picked up a handful of stones and searched the buildings with his eyes. He was disappointed to find at least seventy per cent of the panes already attended to. He uttered a sharp cry of joy as he discovered a whole ventilator consisting of small square glasses, in the headmaster’s room, intact! He sent a stone at it and waited with cocked-up ears for the splintering noise, a fraction of a second letter, and the piece crashed on the flower. It was thrilling. (99)

Swami is not being patriotic in joining the rebellion against the British. He is rather impulsive. He thoroughly enjoys himself at the cost of the poor little children of the Board School, who were “huddled together and shivering with fright” (100):

 He charged into this crowd with such ferocity that the children scattered about, stumbling and falling. One unfortunate child who shuffled and moved awkwardly received individual attention. Swaminathan pounced of him, pulled out his cap, threw it down and stamped on it, swearing at him all the time. He pushed him and dragged him this way and that left him to his fate. (100-101)

In the above extract, we are left speechless and shaken to see Swami’s cruel and violent outburst. In Narayan’s Malgudi, Swami’s political adventures have results—narrow escape from serious injury at the hands of the police and expulsion from school. The expulsion scene is highly dramatized when Swami bursts out in desperation, snatches the cane from the headmaster and runs saying: “I don’t care for your dirty school” (107).

            Childhood mischief and cruelty are further displayed when Swami and his two friends, Mani and Rajam, tortures, harass and bully a young cart driver:

Mani tapped a wheel and said: 'The culvert is weak. We can't let you go over it unless you show us the pass' . . . The cart driver was loath to get down. Mani dragged him from his seat and gave him a push towards Swaminathan. Swaminathan scowled at him, and pointing at the sides of the animal, asked: 'Why have you not washed the animal, you blockhead?'. . . Swaminathan asked, pointing at the brown patch . . . 'Birth? Are you trying to teach me?' Swaminathan shouted and raised his leg to kick the cart driver. (81)

In these lines, we see the naughtiness and cruelty of Swami along with his two friends—Mani and Rajam. They act like policemen and hold a young cart driver on the charge of trespassing. They harass and torture a cart driver and ask the young cart driver to show the pass. They even drag him from his seat, shout and kick the cart driver.

             Narayan shows the cruelty children show in their childhood by illustrating how Swami threatens a very small child of the First Standard of the Albert Mission. Swami promises two almond peppermints on doing his work. The small boy does his work and pathetically asks with small voice over the wall: “Where is my peppermint?” (151). Swami tosses a three- paisa coin at the boy, but when the small boy reminds Swami, who has promised two peppermints. Swami threatens the boy to be happy with what he has:

'Come on, catch this'. He tossed a three-paisa coin . . . 'I may say a thousand things', things, answered brusquely,' but isn't a three-paisa coin sufficient? You can buy an almond peppermint if you want' . . . 'Now be off, young man. Don't haggle with me like a brinjal seller. Learn contentment', said Swaminathan and jumped down from the stone'.  (151)

In this given extract, we can see Swami as a child “tending to look down on boys smaller than him” (qtd. in ML 17). This is the case where Swami thinks he is senior and powerful to the small boy and shows his superiority in getting rid of the boy by threatening and commanding him to be happy with what he has, as seen common among the children of his age.

            Fear is a dominating quality in a child’s life. Narayan skillfully brings out this aspect of childhood in Swami and Friends. His aversion to what are seen as ambushes designed less to test knowledge than to humiliate, inspire fear and reinforce discipline, surfaces recurrently in his novels. In Swami and Friends, the tension associated with the fear of the approaching exam is explored with sensitivity.  Swami seeks to turn aside his rising fear by making a list of his exam stationary requirements, but sees his hopes of going out shopping “jingling with coins” dashed by an insensitive, ill-tempered father: “How deliciously he had been dreaming of going to Ameer Mart, jingling with coins, and buying things!” (59). Later in the examination hall, Swami comes up with what he believes to be a concise answer to a particularly tricky question:

What moral do you infer from the story of the Brahmin and the Tiger? . . . Swaminathan had never thought that this story contained a moral. But now he felt that it must have one since the question paper mentioned it. He took a minute to decide whether the moral was: “We must never accept a gold bangle when it is offered by a ‘tiger’ or ‘Love of gold bangle cost one one’s life.' He saw more logic in the latter and wrote it down. (61)

Here, we see Swami's fear when he realizes his mistake in the examination. On leaving the hall, however, his doubt begins to mount as others tell of their response, and we now begin to share his sense of error and mild panic.

            Narayan further examines how fear overpowers child’s life in the incident where Swami runs away from home. When he gets lost along the way, fear creeps, and he gets all sorts of wild imaginations:

Now his head was full of wild imaginations. He heard heavy footfalls behind, turned and saw a huge lump of darkness coming towards him. It was too late. It had seen him. Its immense tussles showed faintly white. It comes roaring . . . he heard stealthy footsteps and a fierce growl, and before he could turn to see what it was, heavy jaws snapped his ears, puffing out foul hot breath on his nape. He kept looking back . . . there was no escaping it; he held his breath and with the last ounce of strength doubled his pace [. . .]. (165-66)

In the above extract, Swami is in fear when he gets lost in the deceptive curve on the Mempi forest road. Night falls suddenly, and his heart beats fast. His mind is full of wild imaginations and feels that an uncanny ghostly quality is following him. Swami is frightened as there is no escaping. He has the impulse to run, and he holds his breath and doubled his pace.

            We see Swami gripped in fear in yet another incident.The son of the coachman who had cheated Swami of some money appears an unlikely threat; yet, his possession of a penknife along with an aggressive appearance is enough to throw Swami into “cold fear”(91). In the grip of this emotion, Swami spends a tension—ridden evening at his father’s club, where the coachman’s son happens to work as a tennis court ball boy. Imagining himself the victim of an assortment of ambushes, Swami dogs his father’s heel, yet finds it impossible to articulate his fears. No assault takes place, of course, and Swami escapes home, mopping his brow with his dhoti. This clearly shows the significant role that fears play in a young child’s life and how it drives the child into scary thoughts and peculiar behavior.

            Similarly, we see Swami in the grip of fear on the last day of the exams. When the headmaster after a short speech declares that the school will remain closed till the nineteehth of June and opens again on the twentieth. A great roar of laughter followed this among the boys and after a minute of prayer they might disperse and go home. At the end of the prayer the storm bursts. With the loudest, lustiest cries, the boys flooded out of the hall in one body:

All through this vigorous confusion and disorder, Swaminathan kept close to Mani. For instance, there was a general belief in the school that enemies stabbed each other on the last day. Swaminathan had no enemy as far as he could remember. However, who could say the school was a bad place. (65)

In the fear of being stabbed Swami moves close to Mani, the strongest boy in the class who breaks the skull with his wooden clubs. This quality of fear drives the child into horrible thoughts and behavior.

            Again, Narayan brings to light Swaminathan's tension and laziness after freedom and rest of Saturday and Sunday hates to go to school on Monday. He can't even concentrate on his studies and gets into the Monday mood of work and discipline:

He considered Monday especially unpleasant in the calendar . . . he shuddered at the very thought of school: that dismal yellow building; the fire –eyed Vedanayagam, his class teacher; and the headmaster with his thin long cane [. . .] (1).

This quality of 'Monday fear' in Swami projects our own fears and laziness on Monday. This Monday phobia in Swami also strengthens what Narayan himself experiences as a child and writes in his memoir – My Days: “Monday as the day of reckoning seeming far away and unreal” (43).

            Likewise, since Saturday and Sunday come so rarely to Swaminathan it seems absurd to waste them at home, gossiping with Granny and mother or doing sums. It is his father's definite orders that Swaminathan should not start loafing in the afternoon, and that he should stay at home and do school work. But this order is seldom obeyed. For Swami staying at home in the evenings is extremely irksome. He sighs at the thought of the sandbanks of Sarayu and Mani’s company. But his father forbids him to go out till the examinations are over in spite of that his father makes him read books after the exam gets over. Swami feels it as injustice, and argues, “If one has got to read even during the holidays, I don’t see why holidays are given at all” (85). This line supports what Pip says in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, as “In the little world in which children have their existence, there is nothing so finely perceived and finely felt as injustice” (63).

            Similarly, the arrival of the new-born child in the house shows the beginning of sibling's rival for attention. Swami seems to find it hard to understand the goings-on and why the lady doctor is treating the house as her own and why everyone, including his father seems to abide by what she is saying and commanding. Here, we see the cold and reserved nature of the child-Swami who feels uncomfortable without his mother's attention and misses her very much in the kitchen; she has been abed, and her appearance depresses him. Swami feels being neglected and “received the news without enthusiasm” when his “Granny told him that he is going to have a brother”, he has been skeptical about his brother's attractions and possibilities (47). But later he seems to like the 'new comer' as a "funny-looking looking creature” (49).

            Narayan while examining the childhood experiences also traces the development of the perspective and experience of the boy — Swami, his mental life in the fictional world of Malgudi. In the beginning of the novel, Swami protests against his scripture master, Mr. Ebenezer, a fanatic one. Mr. Ebenezer, during teaching, praises Christianity and undermines the features of Hinduism. This is one of the methods employed by Narayan to show the Tamil Brahmin— Hindu upbringing of Swami:

The fanatic teacher Mr. Ebenezer condemns Hinduism: 'Oh, wretched idiots!' the teacher said, clenching his fist. 'Why do you worship dirty, lifeless, wooden idols and stone images? Can they talk? No. Can they see? No. Can they bless you? No. Can they take you to heaven? No. Why? Because they have no life. What did your gods do when Muhammad of Gazni smashed them to pieces, trod upon them, and constructed out of them steps his lavatory? If those idols and images had life, why did not parry Muhammad's onslaughts?' (3)

Mr. Ebenezar always attacks and satirizes the Hindu Gods, as an introduction to glorifying Jesus. The above citation also supports Narayan’s own experience as a child student in “Lutheran Mission School” (12). Narayan writes in his autobiography – My Days, like the scripture teacher Mr. Ebenezar, “The scripture classes were mostly devoted to attacking and lampooning the Hindu gods and violent abuses were heaped on idol-worshippers as a prelude to glorifying Jesus” (12). He then turns to Christianity and praises with breathless mouth ceaselessly:

'Now see our Lord Jesus. He could cure the sick, reliance the poor, and take us to heaven. He was a really good. Trust him and he will take you to heaven; the Kingdom of heaven is within us.' Tears rolled down Ebenezer’s cheeks when he pictured Jesus before him. Next moment his face becomes purple with rage as he thought of Sri Krishna: 'Did our Jesus go gadding about with dancing girls like your Krishna? Did our Jesus go about stealing butter like that arch-scoundrel Krishna?  Did our Jesus practice dark trick on those around him?' (4)

In the above-mentioned lines, Swami after seeing the process of superiorizing Christianity and inferiorizing Hindu religion, the teacher is intolerable. “Swaminathan's blood boiled” (4). He suddenly gets up and asks, “If he did not, why was he crucified?”, this is a strong and bold statement from a boy on the behalf of his indigenous norms and values leading him to challenge Ebenezer and having his ear severely pulled and pinched inconsequence (4). This event reminds what Narayan told Ved Metha about himself is relevant here: “To be a good writer anywhere you must have roots both in religion and in family. I have these things” (qtd. in Srinath 417). We find religion and family have an impact, one subtle, the other direct, on men and women in Malgudi.

            Similarly, Swami avenges the insult by delivering to the headmaster his father's complaints against the teacher with whom Swami had a clash. This shows the innocent nature of Swami. Swami, acts spontaneously without thinking what the consequence will be. Again, we can see childhood vanity in him when other students are waiting outside the headmaster’s room to know about the subject matter, however: “[w] hen Swaminathan came out of the room; the whole school crowded around him and hung on his lips. But he treated inquisitive questions with haughty indifference” (6).

            Again, we see the peculiar behavior of children when Swami tells his friends about the action his father has taken in the scripture master affair. There is a murmur of approval. Some boys were bestowing on Swami a broad gin and some looked serious and says “whatever others might say”, Swami does the right in setting his father to the job (8). The mighty Mani half closed his eyes and grunted and approval of sorts. He was only sorry that the matter should have been handled by elders. He sees no sense in it. Things of this kind should not be allowed to go beyond the four walls of the class room. If he were Swaminathan, he would have “closed the whole incident at the beginning by hurling an ink-bottle, if nothing bigger was available, at the teacher” (8). Well, there is no harm in what Swaminathan had done; “he would have done infinitely worse by keeping quite. However, let the scripture master look out: Mani had decided to wring his neck and break his back” (8).

            Narayan here shows the will to power of the boy-Mani who thinks that a school matter should not be allowed to go beyond the four walls of the class room. Narayan presents Mani as a child full of vanity because he considers himself capable to handle and face the teacher, and is a threat to the school, leading him to lord over his circle of friends.

            Narayan while portraying the boys growing in the fictional town of Malgudi shows the joys, envies and travails of childhood. Narayan provides a gentle exegesis of adolescent power. There is rivalry between Mani and Rajam for domination in the class. A tense atmosphere between Rajam -- the new comer in the class and Mani who is in the habit of bullying the new comer takes place, Swami is to act as a code of communication between them. Pieces of paper are passed in the classroom such as, “Are you a man?”, “You are the son of a dog if you don’t answer this” (14). Swaminathan agrees to help his mighty friend-Mani in his dangerous plan who takes it into his head to bundle up Rajam and throw him into the river called Sarayu – “the pride of Malgudi” (11):

When the work for the day was over, Swaminathan, Mani and Rajam adjourned to a secluded spot to say what was in their minds. Swaminathan stood between them and acted as a medium of communication. They were so close that they had spoken in whispers. But it was a matter of form between enemies to communicate through a medium. Mani faced Swaminathan steadily and asked 'Are you a man?' Rajam flared up and shouted, 'which dog doubts it?' (15-16)

From the above lines, it is seen that the two boys withdrew all diplomatic relations and talk, as at the international level, through a third party—Swami. Swami's services were soon dispensed with that gave him no time to repeat their words. Rajam shouted in one ear and Mani in the other. This is a situation where two boys as rivals collide with each other and the hostility between them moves in its peak.

            Likewise, Mani advises Swami, "Well, have a care for your limbs. That is all I can say”, after the latter (Swami) has the audacity to talk to a new comer who has challenged Mani's supremacy (13). Here, Narayan provides the explanation of the language and thoughts of the boy's will to power. As when, Swaminathan admiringly asked whence Mani derived his power. Mani replied that he has a pair of wooden clubs at home with which he would break the back of those that dared to temper with him. But these are empty threats: nearly every altercation ends in picnics by the river, the boy's pockets stuffed full of sweets from their mother's kitchens.

            Again, Narayan tries to capture how the psychological mentality gets much affected in children, as seen in Swami's case. Actually, Swami gets many impressions from Rajam: his polite dress, his behavior, his English speaking ability – “exactly like a 'European'" (12). Swami begins to ignore an offer from his family members. He undervalues their relationship but praises all the day and night the activities of Rajam-an aristocrat. Mani and Swami get impressed in seeing Rajam’s room, furniture, arrangement of books neatly on the table and what impress them most is a time piece. They behold “astounding things like miniature trains and motors, mechanical marvels, and a magic lantern with slides, a good many large picture-books, and a hundred other things” (25). During giving a small treats for his friends, Rajam feels that he must display his authority. The ease and authority with which he addresses his cook fills his friends with wonder and admiration. This event reminds us the behavior of the children to be better than his friends:

'Remove it from the table, you — 'he roared at the cook. The cook removed it and placed it on a chair. 'You dirty ass, take it away, don't put it there'. 'Where am I to put it, Rajam? asked the cook. Rajam burst out: 'You rascal, you scoundrel, you talk back to me?' The cook made away face and muttered something. 'Put it on the table', Rajam commanded. The cook obeyed mumbling: 'if you are rude, I am going to tell your mother'. 'Go and tell her, I don’t care'. Rajam retorted. (26)

In the above lines, Rajam orders his cook and poses as a big officer and scolds the cook in order to impress upon his friends. His behavior instigates a kind of authoritarian landmark in the imaginative personality of Swami and Mani. Swami puzzled his head to find out why Rajam did not shoot the cook dead, and Mani wants to ask if “he could be allowed to have his own way with a cook for a few minutes” (27). Their thinking depicts the transmutable nature of children and to be on top.

Besides this, it is a worth notable fact that a growing friendship with Rajam poisons the heart of Swami, and he starts neglecting his deep relationship with his family members. A sense of “brutal candour” fills his mind (36). Nonsense responsibilities which may not be valuable towards outsider haunts “that he must give his friend something very nice to eat, haunted his mind” or welcome him with sophisticate manner (36). Remembering or experiencing that similar hospitality in Rajam's house, Swami expects from his mother to bring everything to the room. He commands the cook not to wear dirty “Dhoti” instead they will have to wear a clean, “white Dhoti and shirt” (36). One of the most heart rendering incident Swami undertakes is dehumanizing Granny, his grandmother, preventing her from coming to his room in the presence of Rajam because of her oldness, and he does not hesitate to tell his granny, “I have got to tell you, when he is with me you must not call me or come to my room . . . ‘The fact is, you are — well.You are too old’” (36). Commenting upon experience, Margaret Bottrall writes: “Perhaps the worst thing in experience, as Blake sees it, is that it destroys love and affection” (150).

            Similarly, in Rajam, we get a taste of childhood arrogance. He is one who wants to be better than the rest, to be successful to impress and to lead. He is neither affectionate and loyal nor faithful to his friends. When Swami, who is considered being a very crucial member of the team, misses a cricket match resulting in the team's defeat, Rajam’s ego is hurt, and he refuses to forgive Swami. Swami is crushed, but in his innocence, he mistakenly thinks that Rajam will relent and forgive. However, Rajam has decided otherwise and hardens himself against forgiving. There is immense moving in the parting scene between the friends. It is heightened by the fact that we, the readers, know that Rajam has not and will not forgive Swami, while Swami believes that he is forgiven and is grieving for his “dearest friend Rajam” on his departure (181):

 At the sight of the familiar face, Swaminathan lost control of himself and cried: ‘Oh Rajam, Rajam you are going away. When will you come back?’ Rajam kept looking at him without a word and then (as it seems to Swaminathan) opened his mouth to say something, when everything was disturbed by the guard’s blast and hoarse whistle of the engine… Rajam’s face with the words still unuttered on his lips, receded. (183)

In this last chapter, Narayan stresses the difference between the thoughtless Rajam and his two devoted friends, Swami and Mani. Rajam is “dressed like a European boy” his very appearance is alien to them: “Rajam was unapproachable” (182). To Narayan, Rajam’s ways and thinking are different. Rajam, in his superiority does not feel he owes anybody explanation or farewell. Here, Narayan tries to convey to us the truth that every ‘innocent’ child can harbor unforgiveness within it. They can be as insensitive to the feelings of others as adults can be. There is as much vanity and snobbery in them as can be seen in adults. They are not immune to such vices.

All these activities have come to describe the self-centeredness, snobbery and cruelty associated with childhood as can be seen through the protagonist—Swami's behavior. On the basis of this, subject to mimic, is common in children by adopting the habits, assumptions, institutions and values, the result is never a simple reproduction of those traits. Rather, the result is blurred copies that can be threatened. And that threat germinates on the side of Swami from his other friends; therefore locates a crack in the certainty of friendship and relationships because of an uncertainty in its control of the behavior of Swami.

            Similarly, Narayan further examines the role jealousy has in a child's life in the incident where Swami's other friends jealously call him “The tail — Rajam’s Tail” (31). From the very beginning of the novel, it is crystal clear that there emerge a close friendship between Rajam and Swami. And this closeness brings some misunderstanding between Swami and his other friends. For instance, Swami does not get any response from his friends and return to their game. Something seems to be wrong somewhere. Swaminathan could “comprehend very little”except that in the course of playing pronounce “tail” and the rest laugh at this (30). Somu later precisely informs him that Swami has earned a new name – ‘The Tail’. This is probably Swami's first shock in life. It paralyses all his mental process when his mind started working again, he faintly wondered if he has been dreaming. It surprises him more. What wrong in liking and going about with Rajam? Does it make them (his other friends) angry? They even stop talking to Swami. At this the poor boy-Swami becomes wretched, insulted and isolated. And from this time onward, Swami gets “accustomed to his position as the enemy of his company” (32). The arrival of Rajam in Malgudi marks the blooming friendship between Rajam and Swami, who initially creates a tense linkage with his other friends and people. All the same, now and then, Swami has "an irresistible desire to talk to his old friends. He feels a momentary ecstasy, as if he realizes that he is willing to be friendly again "(32).

            Again, this jealousy is further highlighted in the character of Swaminathan when Mani tells him of Rajam leaving Malgudi the next morning, ten days after Swami's return. Swami then asks Mani to call him at five tomorrow morning so that they could go to the station together to bid farewell to Rajam. But Mani says that he is going to sleep in Rajam's house, and go with him to the station:

'No, I am going to sleep in Rajam's house, and go with him to the station'.For a moment, Swaminathan was filled with the darkest jealousy. Mani to sleep in Rajam's house, keep him company until the last moment, talk and laugh till midnight, and he to be excluded! He wanted to cling to Mani desperately and stop his going. (180)

Here, Narayan shows how jealousy poison the heart of the child- Swami, who after discovering Mani going to spend the night in Rajam's company tries to prevent his going and wishes to be there too, but his “dearest friend Rajam” is heartbroken

and don't want to speak with him because they have lost the match to Y.M.U as Swami keeps himself absent on the day of the match (181).

            While we are introduced with the Malgudi world for the first time in Swami and Friends, we are also introduced to the typical Narayan character, Swami. Swami and Friends is a story of Swami and his circle of friends and their mischiefs, envies, anxieties, fears, wishes and wishful thoughts. Narayan evokes male adolescent psychology through an authentic presentation of the bright boys and the indifferent, ever-playful lot, who come across perhaps most colorfully and vividly due to the novelist secret predilection for them. The description of the enormous non academic preparation for the examination provides an ample opportunity for Narayan's humor and gentle irony. Here is an inventory of stationary items listed by Swami to be handed over to his father:

Unruled White papers        20 sheets

Ruled white paper              10 sheets

Black ink                            1 bottle

Clips                                   3-6-12

Pins                                     6-12       (57)

In the given extract, we see Swami in full of tension associated with the fear of the approaching exam. Swami seeks to deflect his rising trepidation by making a list of his exam stationary requirements, but sees his hope of going out shopping with coin in his pocket dashed by an insensitive, ill-tempered father. While Narayan makes fun of the misplaced enthusiasm and easy-to-afford devotion of Swami and his group, he brings out the wisdom of innocence in the boys when, for example, Swaminathan is worried about the ripeness and sweetness of mangos that figure in an arithmetic problem. It is only an adult mind that indulges in the maze of figures and numbers to arrive at a meaningless situation. What does Swami care if one get ten mangoes for fifteen annas or ten annas for fifteen mangoes? The crucial thing is whether they are ripe and sweet at all. In this context Cynthia Vanden Driesen writes: “Often it is through the presentation of the exaggerated working of Swami’s over active imagination that the comic effect is created” (169). Swami’s imaginative involvement with Rama and Krishna prevents him from working out a problem in arithmetic.

The excitement and tension that influence the world of boys are realistically portrayed by Narayan when we see Swami's group itching to start a cricket club and debate over the choice of a name for it, like “ “Friends Eleven” . . .“Jumping Stars” . . . “Friends Union” . . . “Excelsior's” . . . “Champion Eleven” ” and finally Malgudi Cricket Club because of its irresistible magical association with M.C.C (112). Then these nonentities called "M.C.C. Malgudi" write to the sports dealers in Madras in a language and any easy confidence behind which there is neither cash nor credit prompting the dealer to honor the letter.

Dear Sir,

Please send to our team two junior Willard bats, six balls, wickets and others quick. It is very urgent. We shall send your money afterwards. Don’t fear. Please be urgent.

Yours obediently

Captain Rajam

(CAPTAIN)     (117)

In this extract, we see the tension associated with the fear among Swami and his friends and their right to the sports dealer where there is neither cash nor credit asking the dealer to honour their letter. Here, we see the easy to afford devotion of the boys whom their demand will be accepted, and they will have all the goods supplied and they can start practicing the game—“the king of game” (Iyengar, 365).

             Narayan uses the comic-ironic mode when dealing with the limits of common man's world and sees ample scope of recognition of the source of all these adult fears and anxieties, aspiration and actions in the world of boyhood here reveal both the pervading human folly and his own comic sense in probing deep into the less explored regions of human consciousness. The way Narayan presents human folly makes one begin to wonder whether by shedding it one is not depriving oneself of the ‘naivete of human’, to use Walsh's phrase.

            As always, grandmother is the key figure in all Narayan’s writings. She is the storehouse of the oral tradition and a symbol of traditional India. In this novel too, Swami command's granny to tell endless tales, after the night’s meal “with his head on his granny’s lap, nestling close to her Swaminathan felt snug and safe” (19). One can hardly help but laugh at the relation between Swami and his grandmother and the conversations they share. Swami tells her of his friend-Rajam, and she goes on telling him of Harishchandra, a story of a mythical king who loses his throne, wife and child as a consequence of his desire to be true to himself. Narayan had, however, begun to tell this story much earlier in his writhing career. Swami's grandmother – “as always in Narayan the grandmother is a repository of the oral tradition” (John Thieme 28), tries to tell him this tale, only to find her grandson, who is all together more interested in the exploits of his classmates, falling asleep half way through. The Grandmother’s tale seems to speak to a larger “experience of south Indian grandmothers, as well as evoking a particular genre of south Indian oral narrative” (John Thieme 181). And this typifies the weighting of the balance of the “two elements in Swami: the Hindu fable effectively ousted by the English-best school boy narrative. The latter is subtly subverted and the inherent irony of employing such a convention to encapsulate Malgudi experience is inescapable” (John Thieme 28).

            Narayan beautifully brings out the humour of childhood mischief when one day Mani, “the Mighty Good-For-Nothing” after being worried takes every opportunity to pass the exam goes to the school clerk's house with a neat bundle containing fresh brinjals that cost him four annas, and feverishly opens the topic of question papers (36):

I am much worried about my examination. He tried to look pathetic and butted in 'there is only a week more for the examination, Sir . . . 'He asks bluntly, 'Please tell me, Sir, what questions we are getting for our examination. 'You see, sir, I am so worried, I don't sleep at night, thinking of the examination . . . If you could possibly tell me something important . . . I have such a lot to study-don't want to study unnecessary things that may not be necessary for the examination. He meandered thus. (52)

Here, we see the easy to afford devotion of the child –Mani who goes to the school clerk and asks him gives some important questions that are coming in the exam. Mani thinks the clerk has all the knowledge of the question paper as there is a general belief in the school that the clerk is omniscient and knows all the question papers of all the classes. But the little more of the same judicious flattery the clerk is moved to give what Mani believes to be valuable hints in spite of the fact that the clerk did not know what the First Form texts were, the clerk ventured to advice, you must pay particular attention to geography and read all the important lessons again. These answers greatly satisfy Mani on his way home, as he is smiling the cost of the brinjals is not a waste after all.

            This childhood mischief is further highlighted when Swami joins the other boys including Mani on the last day of exams in destroying ink-pots and books and other stationery as the boys come out of the school:

Mani did some brisk work at the school gate, snatching from all sorts of people ink-bottles and pens and destroying them. Around him was a crowed seething with excitement and joy. Ecstatic shrieks went up as each article of stationary was destroyed. One or two little boys feebly protested. But Mani wrenched the ink-bottles from their hands, tore their caps and poured ink over their clothes. He had small band of assistance, among whom Swaminathan was prominent. Overcome by the mood of the hour, he spontaneously emptied his ink-bottle over his own head and had drawn frightful dark circle under his eyes with the dripping ink. (65)

In this extract, we see Swami as a spontaneous child who acts at the spur of the moment, being naughty enjoys and joins with joy in the company of his friends. Here, Narayan portrays the world of children in a mock heroic fashion. The above line is the description of the fight with ink bottles between Swami and his friends.

            While dealing with the life of children in the fictional town of Malgudi Narayan does not hesitate to show the real life in school that is entirely natural and convincing.The softly of idyllic childhood when life for some lucky kids consists entirely of avoiding the homework and playing all the time in the street with friends. At school, Mani is Swami's friends who sits on the last bench and takes more than one year to clear some classes. Together Swami and Mani lord over the class and just barely manage to scrape pass exams. They live for summer vacations.

            Besides, the joys and happiness of the school children, Narayan also deals with the pretty quarrels of the boys for domination in the class:

When Swaminathan entered the class, a giggle went around the benches. He walked to his sit hoping that he might not be the cause of the giggling. But it continued. He looked about. His eyes travelled up to the blackboard. His face burnt red… he turned and saw Sankar's head bent over his note book, and the Pea was busy unpacking his satchel. Without a word Swaminathan approached the Pea and gave him a fierce slap on the cheek. The Pea burst into tears and swore that he did not do it. He cast a sly look at Sankar, who was absorbed in some work. Swaminathan turn to him and slapped his face also. Soon there was a pandemonium: Sankar, Swaminathan and the Pea rolling over, tearing, scratching and kicking one another. (39)

The above lines give the glimpse that is entirely natural and this is a true representation of the nature of children and of their behavior to be on top even among the circle of friends. As when Mani—the strongest boy in the class in trying to stop the fighters from fighting gets into the clash himself. Somu gets into his head challenges his strength with a contemptuous smile calling him, “for a long time I have been waiting to tell you this: You think of too much of yourself and your powers” (40). This is a strong statement for Mani who in reply swings his hands and brings it down on Somu's nape. Somu steps aside and delivers one himself which nearly bends Mani and “the three youngsters could hardly believe their eyes. Somu and Mani fighting! They lost their heads”, and looked accusingly at one another trying to kill each other fighting and rolling everywhere in the field (40).

            In the incident when Swami the child that he is, yearns for a hoop: “Swaminathan's one consuming passion in life now was to get a hoop. He dreamt of it day and night” (66). Swami goes to the coachman who is believed to have magic powers that could turn certain amount of paisa into a larger amount, and is easily be fooled by a coachman who says that if he gives him only six paisa he would easily make them into six rupees and with this amount a hoop can be easily be purchased. He only wants six paisa to start with. Swaminathan crings and begs him to grant him six hours and runs home. He first tries Granny but she almost shed tears that she has no money and holds her wooden box upside down to prove how hard up she is. “I know, Granny, you have lot of coins under your pillows” (68). Swami orders Granny to leave the belt and make a thorough search under the pillows and the carpets. Swami makes all the desperate attempts to get six paisa but nobody is prepared to oblige Swami. His father dismisses the request in less than a second which makes Swami wonder what he does with all the money that he takes from his clients. In the course of trying a last desperate chance Swami is insensitive to this Granny when she asks why he wants money. Swami replies in anger: “If you have what I want, have the goodness to oblige me. If not, why asked futile questions?” (68).

            Here we see Swami who very badly wants a hoop and can go to any extend to achieve it, as we see how he replies to his granny in anger as can be seen among the children of his age. As when Swami pleads to Mani:Give me—urgent—six paisa—got to have it—coachman goes away for weeks—may not get the chance again—don’t know what to do without hoop . . . (71). Swami is so impulsive and stubborn that he continues: “My life depends on it. If you don’t give it. I am undone. Quick, get the money” (72).

            Again we see, Swami opens the subject of how the coachman cheats him of some money. Instead of six paisa the coachman makes Swami pay twelve paisa and then refuses even to recognize him. In desperation Swami turns to Rajam for help. It is planned that Swami will show to Mani the coachman's son and Mani would decoy and kidnap him by pretending to be an enemy to Swami. But the Plea misfires and Swami is abused and beaten to deceive the coachman's son, who is more than a match for them and runs away with a top which Mani uses to tempt him to come away with him. The two friends have to run for their lives as some dogs are set upon them by the coachman and his neighbors. This shows in child’s small territory they think they are the hero.

            Here Narayan tries to show the childhood adventure of Swami and his friends crossing every barrier in trying to get back swami's money in doing so they get themselves in trouble and have to run for their life.

            We can also see childhood innocence in swami when the district forest officer—M.P.S. Nair rescues him from the Mempi forest road and brings home safely to his family. Swami feels indebt to the forest officer for being kind and bringing him back in time for the match. Swami owes him so much for his kindness.

 However, when Mani relates to Swaminathan the day's encounter with the Y.M.U and the depressing results, liberally explaining what Swaminathan share is in the collapse of the M.C.C. Swami who plans to write a letter to the forest officer to thank himis full of anger after he comes to know of the outcome of the match, he recalls the forest officer's lie and his words: "No. No. This is Saturday. See the calendar if you like” (170). Swami remained in silence and says, "I won't write him that letter. He has deceived me” (177). Here Swami forgets his words and dislikes everything about the forest officer and his kindness to him. Instead, Swami becomes angry and calls him a blockhead.

            Childhood mischief and cruelty are further highlighted by Swami when he hits upon a brilliant idea. He pretends illness – “delirium” and visits their family doctor T. Kesavan, at a time when he is alone and requests him for a medical certificate so that he may be exempted for a week from the drill and scout classes and join his friends (143). The doctor expresses his inability to issue a false certificate, but promises to speak to the Headmaster and secure for him the desired exemption. From that very day, Swami stops going to the drill and scout classes. Unfortunately, the doctor does not keep his promise. Next day, the Headmaster takes Swami to task and he is very severe with him:

Swaminathan realized that the doctor had deceived him. He remembered the genial smile with which the doctor had said that he would see the headmaster. Swaminathan shuddered as he realized what a deep-dyed villain Dr Kesavan was behind that genial smile. He would teach that villain a lesson, put a snake into his table-drawer; he would not allow that villain to feel his pulse even if he should be dying of fever. (146)

Swami plans to revenge the doctor who has cheated him with his promise. He is full of hatred, resentment and rage for the doctor. Here we see that children can harbor revenge and are sensitive to the feeling that can be seen in adults.

            We still have Indian grandmothers as our Swami who entertain and instruct their grandsons by telling them the stories from the legends and folktales and from Hindu mythologies. Narayan, perhaps, stands unique among those who have made a sustained use of myth in their writings. His work expresses a genuine formal as well as contextual continuity with the best efforts of Indian literature, which, elsewhere in the world, achieves its typical formulation in a classical period by using not only the literary myths. The imaginative reaction of mythological incidents and situations in Narayan is discernible in this novel too. The main character of the novel, Swaminathan, is modern in the sense that he does not lay any claim to heroism nor does he controls the events—rather he is controlled by them as Swami launches a paper boat with an ant seated in it in a gutter and watches the boat float away:

He watched in rupture its quick motion . . . the boat made a beautiful swerve to the right and avoided destruction. It went on and on. It neared a fatal spot where the waters were swirling round in eddies . . . The boat and its cargo were wrecked beyond recovery. He took a pinch of earth, uttered a prayer for the soul of the ant and dropped it into the gutter. (32)

The imagination of the child is conditioned by the memory of the fairy tales and the myths narrated to him by his grandmother.  Gods and demons inhabit the mental world of the child to be propitiated or feared.

            The incident is narrated in the folk and on the basis of the Indian folk tale and that is why it holds a considerable promise of the hidden poetry and subtle laughter in which Narayan may be said to have succeeded in locating the truth. Though the western influence is evident in Narayan's art, especially in the parodying the forms and patterns, it is not as significant as the artist's actual observation of Indian life delving into the archetypal myths, characters and folklores, which abound in the Malgudi cycle and help us a great deal in deepening our awareness of the timelessness of Malgudi.

            In Swami and Friends, Narayan offers the reader a pure escape into irresponsible boyhood. With Swami and Friends we are in a different atmosphere—an atmosphere at once less sophisticated and more poetically true. There is not a single dull page in the entire novel, and the simple effortless method of the telling harmonizes perfectly with the theme of childhood. Swami and his friends are just ordinary schoolboys. Narayan gives us a realistic and simple view on children. Unlike Kipling's Stalky & Co, where the boys are a set of completely self-possessed rebels, showing wisdom beyond their years, the boys in Narayan's fiction are ordinary, real and lifelike. Narayan does break the myth that children are innocent and pure, but he does it with a very creative and skillful use of humor and irony. He is not as brutally harsh as William Golding is in portraying boyhood in Lord of the Flies. Golding depicts children as brutal, heinous, cruel savages who could go to any extent if they are left unrestrained. However, we do not find such heavy indications of violence and hatred in Narayan's novel of boyhood. He describes the life and adventures of a child with accuracy and a constant sense of humour. In short, it is fitting to point out that Narayan has done justice in his portrayal of childhood in Swami and Friends.

                                             

III. Narayanian ‘Malgudi’

            On the basis of preceding analysis we can conclude that Swami and Friends is a story of a school boy – Swami, who lives in a world of adults which he thinks interfering, be they parents or teachers and his friends and enemies at school. His life is fairly difficult and he has a hard job to do to please both his demanding friends and the stern world of adults around him. He manages his tough balancing act and in doing so he shows his true human nature. Narayan beautifully presents how children also carry negative qualities like hatred, anger, fear, jealousy, cruelty, vanity etc as can be seen among adults, besides being innocent. These are inborn human qualities and children are also not free from it.

            Narayan dramatizes the word ‘Swami’ which means grown-up and aged man who is supposed to be more matured and disciplined but Narayan’s Swami is a rash and naughty child throughout the narration. R. K. Narayan does a wonderful job in bringing out the emotional psyche of childhood as well as the opposite qualities in humans through his medium of storytelling. He is of the opinion that a child has a potential for more wickedness and is capable of performing more cunning activities than a grown up. While Swami sincerely and innocently believes in the purity of his friendship with Rajam, he remains detached and remote.Swami tries to impress his friends and his parents. He acts impulsively and loses control of himself more than one occasion. School is a place where life is tough for him. Constant pressure from all directions finally tells Swami and he bends and ultimately decides to leave Malgudi to return as someone whose response is more patterned and disciplined.  

            Narayan also gently laughs at the world in which Swami lives. Despite the alternating aloof and passionate nature of the people of Malgudi and the confusions that contain the mind of a child in such a transient environment; all those things are brought out beautifully. In the final analysis, Narayan gives insight into the different expressions and quirks of childhood and its moments of crisis and the emotional fall out. To Narayan, childhood is not only about enjoyment, laughter, purity and innocence but it is also equally about pride, arrogance, thoughtlessness, and meanness that we have come across in the preceding chapters through Narayan’s characterization.Through the critical analysis of Swami's behavior we find the different nature of child. Swami is, therefore seen as an impulsive, mischievous yet an innocent child who tends to act impulsively at the spur of the moment without thinking what the consequence will be.

            Narayan passes no judgment on anybody. He presents Swami for what he is and also the world around him for what it is. His style is smooth and simple. His sentences are crisp, yet unconventional. The apparent discontinuity of narration at places serves to enhance, rather than dispel the overall effect. Throughout the novel Swami acts impulsively and tries to escape from his difficulties but he always finds himself in trouble because of his own actions. In giving last attention to Swami, he appears as a lurking pendulum. In the course of the novel, Swami is seen to be a spontaneous, impulsive, mischievous and yet an innocent child.

            Narayan has done justice in his portrayal of childhood in Swami and Friends. Narayan's psychological insight gives rare genuineness to his depiction of life and character. We feel that quality of life presented in the novel is also the quality of life in all places and everywhere, that childhood is motivated by the same passions and impulses in all countries and places. Narayan in this way has raised the regional or mythical town Malgudi to the universal level. Children are basically the same, whether they are in Malgudi or anywhere else in the world. The child’s world as presented in the novel gives the readers a taste of life and events that is universal.

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