R. K. Narayan - The English Teacher

Krishnan, the central character of R. K. Narayan's 'The English Teacher', undertakes an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual journey during the course of the novel. At the start of the novel he is an English teacher, living and teaching at the same school where he was once a pupil, and at the end we see him resigning his post, beginning work at a nursery school, and learning to communicate psychically with his dead wife.Krishnan's change comes about not as a result of any grand plan or ambition, but as a result of a series of challenging circumstances which arise once he begins to take steps away from the cloistered and protective environment of his school.But although Krishnan's journey is unpredictable, a number of themes are being worked out in the course of the novel. These themes might be said to be Krishnan's progress from predictability to unpredictability, from the academic world to the real world of life and death, from adulthood to childhood, and from a western
mentality to an eastern mentality.From predictability to unpredictability.Krishnan repeatedly finds himself being drawn out of situations which ought to have been predictable and ordered by events which are spontaneous and unpredictable, and it is clear that he finds spontaneity and unpredictability to be stimulating and life-enhancing, while predictability and order, although providing a cushion of comfort and security, is ultimately stifling and deadeningSusila, his wife, brings unpredictability into his life at every turn. For example when they go to look at a house she wants to make a long diversion to walk by the river and bathe her feet, where the rational orderly Krishnan would have naturally taken the most direct route, and it is clear that he finds her unpredictable behaviour a source of delight and inspiration.The turning point of the story arises from Susila's unpredictability. When they go to look at the house we could not possibly predict that she would go for
a walk on her own, get stuck in a contaminated lavatory, and then become ill.The futility of clinging to the belief that life can be orderly, predictable, and knowable is shown in two central, and symmetrical, predictions which occupy a prominent place in the novel. The first is the doctor's assertion that typhoid, which Susila has contracted, 'is the one fever which goes strictly by its own rules. It follows a time-table' and that Susila will be well in a few weeks. But in spite of his further assurances that her attack is 'Absolutely normal course. No complications. A perfect typhoid run' Susila dies.The other prominent demonstration of the futility of believing that life can be knowable and predictable is seen in the headmaster's belief in a prediction made by an astrologer, 'who can see past present and future as one, and give everything its true value' that he will die on a given date. But although (just as the doctor had asserted that Susila's typhoid was 'A pe
rfect typhoid run') the headmaster has found that his 'life has gone precisely as he predicted', the headmaster lives.Both of these episodes show the limitations of man's ability to know and predict the world. The truth is that we cannot know, and cannot predict, and any view of life, whether deriving from modern western science, or ancient eastern mysticism, which disregards the unknowable and sees only what is supposedly known, and supposedly predictable, is hopelessly inadequate.From the academic world to the 'law of life'While these episodes fail to provide Krishnan with anything rational to believe in, they do bring him face to face with the reality of life and death, and confronting the realities of life without retreating into the safe cerebral world of literature and philosophy is an important component of his journey.In coming to terms with the death of his wife literature, philosophy, and rationalism, are no use to him. They are all illusions, and the journey he
is on involves leaving illusions behind. The truth Krishnan wants to discover cannot be found in Shakespeare, Carlyle, or Plato, it is found only among real people leading real lives, it is 'the law of life'.From adulthood to childhoodChildren are very much in evidence throughout 'The English Teacher', and are important guides for Krishnan on his journey. The children who help to show him the way are the younger children, his own daughter, Leela, and the children at the nursery school she attends.The most prominent character in the novel, after Krishnan and his family, is the headmaster of Leela's school. He is a champion of childhood, having devoted his life to children since receiving the prediction that he would die, and believes they are 'angels', 'the real gods on earth', and employs what he calls 'The Leave Alone System' in his school.In the second half of the novel Krishnan's discovery of children as an effective countermeasure against 'the curse of adulthood', and
the opening of his mind that he is experiencing through meditation, pave the way for his resignation from his old job and the adoption of a more genuine lifestyle.From west to eastAnother component of Krishnan's journey is that he encounters the coexistence of western and native cultural attitudes, which also represent the attitudes of Indians of a newer and older generation. For example when Susila is ill she is treated both by a doctor who practises western scientific medicine, and by a Swamiji who uses mystical methods of healing. The Swamiji is summoned by Susila's mother, representing an older generation than Krishnan himself, who believes the 'Evil Eye' has fallen on her daughter, and it is notable that Krishnan feels 'ashamed' that the doctor finds the Swamiji in the house, showing that he is alienated from, and embarrassed by, the native culture of the older generation of his own country.The final stage of Krishnan's journey takes him further from the from the we
stern intellectual frame of mind, inherited from the British, in which he was embedded at the opening of the novel, and further towards native Indian spiritual practices. To reach his goal of 'a harmonious existence' he takes up his deceased wife's psychically-communicated challenge, which he receives initially through a medium, to develop his mind sufficiently to communicate with her psychically himself, and bridge the gap between life and life-after-death. Although initially he had been bemused by his wife's devotional practices, mocking her with 'Oh! Becoming a yogi!' he now relies on her to guide him, from beyond the grave, in his 'self-development'.In the final chapter the issues of the novel come to a head with Krishnan's resignation from his post as English teacher and his psychic reunion with his wife. In his attack on the system he is rebelling against he criticises not English Literature itself 'for who could be insensible to Shakespeare's sonnets, or Ode to the
West Wind' but India's adherence to an educational system which stifles the spirit of its students and alienates them from their native culture:Read the full version of this essay at: /essays/narayan.html

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