Raju’s Father Character Analysis in The Guide

A modest shopkeeper in the town of Malgudi, Raju’s father is by turns soft and severe with his son, whom he takes shopping with him at times, and whom he threatens with violence at others—particularly when Raju misbehaves or fails to learn the lessons that his father attempts to teach him. He is a social man who likes chatting with the customers who stop at his shop. When he opens a second shop in the railway station that is built across from his house, he prospers. However, Raju’s father doesn’t survive long—taken ill during the rainy season one year, he dies before his son reaches full adulthood.

Raju’s Father Quotes in The Guide

The The Guide quotes below are all either spoken by Raju’s Father or refer to Raju’s Father. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

One fine day, beyond the tamarind tree the station building was ready. The steel tracks gleamed in the sun; the signal posts stood with their red and green stripes and their colorful lamps; and our world was neatly divided into this side of the railway line and that side.

Related Characters: Raju (speaker), Raju’s Father, Raju’s Mother, Velan

Related Symbols: The Railway, Malgudi

Page Number and Citation: 27

Explanation and Analysis:

Raju’s Father Character Timeline in The Guide

The timeline below shows where the character Raju’s Father appears in The Guide. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Transformation and Redemption Theme Icon

...a small house opposite the railway station of Malgudi, in a house built by his father long before trains arrived in the town. (full context)

Raju’s father made a living from a small shop he built on the premises of the house,... (full context)

...remembers being back in Malgudi, his mother telling him stories as they waited for his father to close his shop. Raju’s mother would send her son out to see if his... (full context)

...tells Velan of the construction of the railway in Malgudi, across the street from his father’s house. Construction workers have begun work on the line, parking their trucks beneath the tamarind... (full context)

...that has become Raju’s territory. Raju pounces and curses the boy, who runs to Raju’s father, repeating the curses that Raju hurled at him. Raju’s father is infuriated and, upon learning... (full context)

...has an endless walk to school, and is often distracted, dawdling on the way. Raju’s father, proud of his son’s education, takes to boasting about the old master who oversees the... (full context)

The railway is good for Raju’s father’s shop, which prospers as a result of the growing population around the railway station. Raju’s... (full context)

Raju’s father makes a deal with a groom, who hires the carriage to sell goods in the... (full context)

Raju’s father is given the privilege to run a fancier, bigger shop at the railway station. The... (full context)

Raju takes his father’s place at the hut shop—the original shop built on the premises of their home. However,... (full context)

...school, he had continued to read in between serving customers at the railway shop. Raju’s father died suddenly during the rainy season of that year. With his mother’s consent, Raju decided... (full context)

...is still civil to Rosie. She thinks that her son has ruined everything that his father built. (full context)