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