Hypocrisy and Disguise Theme Analysis

Raju, the protagonist and occasional narrator of N.K. Narayan’s The Guide, is a character whose entire life is built upon the sins of hypocrisy and dissimulation. His multiple careers—including his work as a tourist guide in his hometown of Malgudi, southern India, his career as a “dance manager” for Rosie/Nalini (the seductive dancer he begins an affair with when she visits Malgudi with her husband, Marco), and his final reincarnation as a holy man in a small village in southern India—are all premised on deceptions and lies. The novel dramatizes the ways in which Raju’s propensity for deceit leads him into trouble. Ultimately, Narayan suggests that Raju’s deceptions not only lead to his complete corruption, but also to the destruction of everything he holds dear.

The various roles that Raju invents for himself—a tourist guide, dance manager, and holy man, respectively—all rely upon the spinning of fabricated stories and illusions. In recounting to Velan, the villager to whom Raju tells his life story, his past life as tourist guide in Malgudi, Raju emphasizes that he felt no qualms about spinning tales on a regular basis. Raju tells Velan that his lectures to the visitors about the sights depended largely on the mood he was in on the day he escorted clients. He ascribes different ages to the same site, for instance, according to his humour. He exaggerates the singularity of some of the sights, contending that a particular spot in town is “the greatest, the highest, the only one in the world,” when this is not necessarily true. He also adjusts his stories and “facts” according to his customers, depending on what he thinks they want to hear. Raju’s dissimulation and consistent misinformation is so successful that his reputation only grows as a result, leading tourists, innocent of his deceptions, to seek him out in droves, asking for him by his nickname, “Railway Raju.”

Raju’s tendency toward deceit and disguise continues when he takes on the role of promoting Rosie’s classical dance career, in his capacity as her manager. He changes his appearance—dressing “soberly” for the part of classical dance manager and sporting rimless glasses—all to play more convincingly the new part that he has assumed. Much of his work managing Rosie’s career consists of creating an illusion of importance. Raju takes to sitting in a particular spot at each of Rosie’s performances, and he inquires in great detail about the preparations for each show, so as to create a tension that further supports Rosie’s career. He speaks, acts, and moves as though he is an immensely important man, and even begins to believe in this illusion himself—taking full credit for Rosie’s immense success. It is only later, in retrospect, that he realizes that Rosie was responsible for her own success.

After being released from prison for forging Rosie’s signature, Raju reinvents himself once more, this time as a spiritual guide on a riverbank by a small village. When he finds that the villagers’ misguided faith in his spiritual powers means that he is well-nourished by the offerings they bring him, without him having to do much, he embraces the role enthusiastically, again dissimulating his true identity. He changes his appearance accordingly—growing his beard and hair long to more convincingly resemble a holy man, all the while keeping his past a secret from the villagers. He takes to uttering “mystifying statements” to the villagers who gather around him every day, and in this way manages to project an aura of wisdom and sainthood that has no basis in reality.

Raju’s dissimulation and hypocrisy is not only limited to his work, however. This tendency extends to his personal relationships as well. Raju’s hypocrisy in particular becomes apparent when he escorts Marco, the scholar of ancient civilizations who comes to Malgudi to study cave paintings, bringing along his beautiful wife Rosie. On the one hand, Raju plays the part of the consummate tourist guide to Marco, arranging his travels, showing him the sites, and organizing his comfortable stay at Peak House, the house at the top of the Mempi hills near Malgudi where Marco spends some time examining nearby cave paintings. On the other hand, Raju deceives and betrays Marco ruthlessly by courting and successfully seducing his beautiful young wife, Rosie. Under the pretence of entertaining her by showing her the sites while Marco is at work, Raju flatters and courts Rosie, taking advantage of her dissatisfaction with her husband. Raju ends up winning Rosie after Marco abandons her upon discovering her affair with his tourist guide. However, Raju’s inability to reign in his deceitful tendencies ultimately ends up destroying his own relationship to Rosie. Jealous of Marco’s reappearance in their lives after the publication of Marco’s book on ancient civilizations, Raju hides news of Marco from Rosie and lies to her about the correspondence he receives from Marco’s lawyers addressed to her.

Raju’s hypocrisy and lies ultimately lead to his complete corruption and the destruction of his relationships. This is reflected in the criminal act that Raju commits—when he forges Rosie’s signature on a document that Marco’s lawyers send to Rosie, in order to procure a jewelry box belonging to her without her knowledge. Ultimately, it is discovery of this deceit by the police—and Raju’s subsequent trial and imprisonment—that leads him to lose everything, including his reputation and the love of his life, Rosie.

The Guide takes a critical view towards the failings of its protagonist. While Raju’s deceptions and exaggerations seem harmless at first, merely a means through which he cleverly reinvents himself time and again, his propensity for deceit ends up infecting all aspects of his existence. In this way, Raju not only corrupts himself, but also destroys his most cherished relationships, and ends up losing everything that he holds dear as a result.