Cultural Ambivalence in R.K. Narayan's The Bachelor of Arts

Abstract

R.K Narayan's The Bachelor of Arts(1937) portrays a typical Indian youth of 1930s,when British colonialism was at its peak. Brought up in India with English education,Chandran is a colonial subject torn between two cultures. In-between fascination and rejection of both cultures, his subject is constructed amidst the cultural, socio-economical and political power play of both British and Indian institutions active at that time and fluctuates in ambivalence both within and without.