Changing Social Reality in R. K. Narayan's The Dark RoomandThe Painter of Signs

Abstract

This research makes an intensive study of R. K. Narayan's novelsThe Dark RoomandThe Painter of Signs,set intwo distinct eras [pre-independence and post- independence] of India.R. K. Narayan faces a peculiar problem of Westernization and Modernizationin these novels. The heroic struggle and self-sacrifice of the protagonist to overcome from the prevailing social structure in Indian society creates the vision of change fromPre-independenceto Post-independence Indiansociety. The principal characters in these novels embody the deep-rooted social awareness in the circle of Malgudi.These charactersexpresstheir love and hate to the respective realities in which they are living. Neverthless, the same Malgudi appears differently inThe Dark Roomand The Painter of Signs. In comparison toThe Dark Room, Narayan'sThe Painter of Signs expresseshis vision of changing social realities around him and maps an enchanting tale of progress oftheMalgudi, the fictional projection of India as a nation.