The Guide: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

That the novel opens on a riverbank is significant, given that the river (and water more generally) is used symbolically to allude to Raju’s spiritual state. Indeed, there are already indications that Raju is undergoing some kind of transformation. The stranger who looks up reverently at Raju clearly mistakes him for some kind of a holy man, and this foreshadows Raju’s forthcoming spiritual transformation into a genuine holy man.

This flashback to the haircut at the barber reveals that Raju, in fact, has a dark secret—he has committed a crime, although the reader is not told exactly what it is. Furthermore, the conversation at the barber’s reveals that Raju is at a point in his life where he is unmoored and unsettled; after his release from prison, he must find a new path forward.

The villager’s attitude of devotion and respect towards Raju is ironic—given that Raju is in fact not a holy man or a saint, but a newly released convict. This disconnect between what Raju appears to be, and who he actually is, calls attention to the gap between illusion and reality—a recurrent theme in the novel.

The abrupt jump to Raju’s own life story emphasizes that Raju—like Velan, who is seeking his help—has had troubles of his own. In Raju’s narration, Rosie clearly plays a very important part, given that Raju associates his troubles with her. Rosie’s “exotic” and non-traditional name—which is not Indian—alludes to the way that she straddles the divide between tradition and modernity.

Raju’s flattery of Rosie in spite of her status as a married woman points to his dubious morals; clearly, he has no qualms about overstepping the bounds of propriety with Rosie behind Marco’s back. This also points to Raju’s propensity for deceit.

Raju’s statement that he was fated to become a guide points to the role that destiny, or dharma, plays in the novel, particularly in the unfolding of Raju’s own life. Raju seems to follow a preordained path. Raju’s remark that he grew up in a house before the arrival of the railway in Malgudi indicates that Raju’s early childhood took place before the arrival of industrialization and modernization in the town.

The occupation of Raju’s father as a small shopkeeper suggests that the family lives modestly—although all their needs are met through the father’s business. Raju’s own childhood seems to reflect the way in which the family exists between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, even as a child, Raju must already work helping his father at the shop. On the other hand, the father’s insistence on giving Raju morning lessons suggests that education—a marker of modernity—is also important to the family. Raju’s father wants his son to be educated, but the education he provides him with is clearly rudimentary, as indicated in the fact that Raju is released to play with the arrival of the father’s first customer.

In making profound statements to Velan about the universality of people’s problems, and in referencing the Buddha, Raju seems to be taking on the part of a wise holy man that Velan is projecting onto him. But the motivation behind Raju’s wise statements seems to be self-interest: he clearly enjoys the way that Raju venerates him, and makes him feel important. Raju’s own posture of superior wisdom is also ironic, given that he himself is confronting a major problem for which he as yet has no solution—he has been released from prison, but doesn’t know where he will go or what he will do.

Velan’s difficulty with a recalcitrant younger half-sister, who refuses to accept the match he has made for her, points to the theme of gender and conflicts over gender relations as a central theme of the novel. The rebellious young sister foreshadows Rosie, the novel’s heroine, who also often acts outside of the bounds of her prescribed gender role. Raju’s rejection of Velan’s gesture of respect and gratitude suggests that Raju—who is only play-acting the part of a wise man, after all—is aware that he does not deserve the respect that Velan shows him.

Raju’s act of looking at the river is significant, given that water in the novel is a symbol of Raju’s purification and redemption. As such, his preoccupation with the river here suggests the beginnings of this process of purification. Furthermore, his fantasy about becoming a famous night guide for the skies foreshadows his role, at the end of the novel, as a spiritual guide who sacrifices himself for the sake of bringing rains from the skies to relieve the drought-stricken villagers. As such, by the end of the novel, Raju does become a “a famous […] guide for the skies” in a sense.

Raju clearly has set events in motion without being quite ready to deal with their consequences. Velan’s presence with his sister even before Raju wakes alludes to the way in which Raju’s life slowly begins to be invaded by others. The food that Velan brings Raju as a gift of gratitude, however, indicates that Raju can also benefit from Velan’s presence in his life and space.

Raju play-acts when he tells Velan that they must wait for the god to eat his fill. Knowing that Velan believes him to be a holy man, Raju dissimulates in such a way so as to confirm, rather than correct, Velan’s mistaken impression. And yet, Raju’s performance is not foolproof, as suggested by the fact that he loses the most important thread of the story that he begins to tell Velan and his sister about Devaka.

Raju’s memories of listening to his mother tell stories about Devaka evoke the warm, close relationship that Raju shared with her as a child. This vision of closeness both foreshadows, and stands in contrast with the conflicted relationship that Raju will in fact develop with her in adulthood. Furthermore, Raju’s memory of his mother here suggests the way in which Raju continues to be haunted by his past. Although he is pretending to be, and acting as though, he were a new person (a holy man), he cannot reinvent himself completely, as fragments from his previous life continue to bubble up in his mind. This moment also explains why Raju can’t remember the point of the Devaka story—he always fell asleep immediately.

Raju’s memory of his mother seems to unsettle him, as indicated by his sudden irritation with Velan and his sister. The question that Raju asks—to himself or to Velan, it is not entirely clear—is both profound and ambiguous. Raju has indeed been in prison, of course, but his thought that perhaps he has been in some sort of “transmigration” alludes to the fact that he feels some profound change coming over him. Velan’s statement that the course of things is pre-determined in the same way that the course of a river is, brings attention to the role of water in the novel. As a symbol for Raju’s purification and redemption, the emphasis on the river, as well as the characters’ act of gazing on the river in this scene, suggests that Raju’s process of purification has begun.