Crime and Punishment by R.K.Narayan

 Crime and Punishment 

by

R.K.Narayan

This blog is a task assigned by Megha Ma'am from the Department of English M.K.B.U.  In this particular blog we used to write dynamic roles of teacher and student and try to give some suitable examples of movies, novels, short stories related to the major themes of this story.

R.k.Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami was a well-known Indian writer famous for his set of work and writing in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was one of the leading and famous authors of early Indian literature written in English along with two others, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

R.K.Narayan's greatest achievement was to make India accessible to the outside world through his writing and powerful words in his literature. Narayan's biography is always centered on his friendship with Graham Greene. Because he was Narayan's mentor and close friend. He was actively involved in identifying and getting publishers for Narayan's first four books. 

In 1941, he founded his own publishing house and his works quickly found a permanent and favorite place in the bookshelves of almost all the Indian homes. When he was at the peak of his fame in his successful career, Narayan was then awarded a Padma Bhushan in 1964 and 36 years later, just a year before his death at 94, another prestigious Padma Vibhushan award in 2000. 

Best Works

Among the best works of RK Narayan among his 34 novels, The English Teacher (1945), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets (1967), and A Tiger for Malgudi (1983) were the best.

Crime and Punishment

R. K. Narayan’s short story ‘Crime and Punishment’ is about a school master and his student. The school master commits a crime and the punishment he undergoes. This story is set in an Indian background. The teacher, purely out of monetary benefits, takes tuition, to a clever and naughty child, of rich and educated parents.

That rich parents want the boy to secure a double promotion but at the same time want him to be taught in their line of child psychology. They do not favor corporal punishment. They lecture to the teacher their views on infant psychology every evening. It seemed to the teacher that the boy was made of thin glass.

For the parents, the boy was a little angel, all dimples, smiles, and sweetness – only wings lacking. But the teacher was convinced that he was in charge of a little gorilla and what needed to make the youngster a normal citizen was not cajoling but an anna worth of cane.

One day the teacher slaps the boy in a fit of anger when he failed to answer a simple question, even after repeated correction. The teacher thought that the boy was trying to fool him. When the boy threatened to tell his parents about it, the teacher was horrified. He tries to pacify the boy. The boy takes the opportunity and blackmails the teacher. He makes the teacher close the lessons for the day, makes him the station master, tells him stories and at the end makes him run around the garden thrice.

R K Narayan mingles humor, sarcasm, irony and a serious undertone in his story. He portrays his characters, in a vivid and realistic manner, and they seem to spring up from the society around us. The hopes and dreams of the parents, the poverty of the school master which makes him take tuition class after six hours of working in the school, the mischievous nature of the boy, the silly mistakes that they commit, the dilemma the teacher faces, the predicament of the boy at the end, all are finely woven together.

The story highlights the truth that over caring and over parenting spoil the child. It proves the old saying, 

“spare the rod and spoil the child”.

   The Teacher

The role of the teacher in R K Narayan’s story “Crime and Punishment”, is a symbol of traditional teachers in the Indian States of South India. He does six hours of teaching in the school during the day but his poverty forced him to take tuition to a mischievous boy of rich parents for thirty rupees a month. He had to teach the boy three hours every evening and listen to the child's psychological theories of the parents and pretend that he agreed with them. In his heart he knew that he was in charge of a little gorilla and not the little angel in the opinion of the parents. He was prepared to advance the ana for buying the cane which was all that was needed to make the boy a normal citizen. The teacher commits a crime of slapping the boy and suffers the punishment of suffering the boy’s blackmailing. 

The Student

In this short story the student is the little boy, who is a child of rich parents. When the teacher commits the crime of slapping that little boy, the boy starts blackmailing him and takes the situation in hand and makes the teacher dance to his tune. At first the boy made him stop the lessons for the day and then made him the stationmaster. When the train stopped moving, he had to tell the boy stories. At the end the boy made him run around the garden thrice. However, he saves the boy from the parents and hopes that the boy would not betray him.

The relationship between student and teacher is one of the most beautiful relations in the world, every teacher inspires his or her student in its own way. Every time a teacher tries to do good for their student and always inspires them to work hard, work smart. Teacher always wants to find out the talent of the student and wants their student to be successful in their future. There were many bollywood movies which tell interesting stories of the relationship between student and Teacher. 

3 Idiots

The very first movie is 3 idiots, this movie is a comedy drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani. In this movie the main character is Rancho- Ranchoddas shamaldas Chanchad, who is a talented student of engineering. In this movie Rancho is Amir khan, Farhan is R Madhavan and Raju is Sharman Joshi. 

They three form an unbreakable bond with each other and their unconventional teacher, Viru Sahastrabuddhe, famously known as "Virus" (Boman Irani). 

Throught the movie, Rancho emphasizes the importance of pursuing the importance of pursuing one's happiness and success. This message resonates with both students and teachers. Urging them to embrace their unique talents and follow their hearts. In this movie the relationship between teacher and student is inspiring. Rancho is the character who studied joyfully and smartly, and on the other side there were many students who were always under pressure. At the end when Rancho's teacher gets to know that his student is extraordinarily talented and sincere, their bond becomes stronger. 

Hichki

Rani Mukerji's 2018 release was a classic example of how teachers selflessly try to look out for their students and what's best for them. We saw Rani play the role of a teacher who is living with Tourette's syndrome and that doesn't stop her from wanting to be a teacher. When she gets a chance to teach a bunch of misfits, she makes the best of this opportunity and disciplines them.

Black

For a teacher, there's no challenge, all they want is to see their student excel and no other film showed this more beautifully and realistically like Black. The film starring Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan has been one of the most loved Sanjay Leela Bhansali films for portraying a beautiful student-teacher relationship between Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji's characters.

Conclusion

To conclude, R. K. Narayan's short story "crime and punishment '' showcases how over parenting and over caring of a child spoils the child who is our future generation and because of that child the teacher suffers a lot.