Book Analysis of The Vendor of Sweets by R K Narayan
THE AUTHOR
The author of “The Vendor of Sweets” is R. K. Narayan. His full name is Risipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami. He was born on 10th of October 1906 in Chennai, India. He majored in the University of Mysore. He was one of the 3 leading figures of early Indian literature in English. He is an Indian writer best writer known for his works set in the South Indian town of Malgudi. His other books were The Guide, Swami and Friends, Malgudi Days, The English Teacher and The Bachelor Of Arts. He was awarded with awards such as Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for his works. He wrote “Vendor of Sweets” after his visits to the America. In his book he illustrates the communication and generation gap between a simple businessman and his ambitious son.
PLOT SUMMARY
The story revolves around a sixty year old sweet vendor, Jagan, and his son Mali who live in the small town of Malgudi, South India. Jagan is an honest, hardworking, humble person. He is strong believer of Ghandian ideologies of simple living. Mali is his only son and he love him very much. He is always concerned about him. Jagan lost his wife when Mali was still small, and Jagan tried to keep Mali happy and fulfilled all his desires. But, there was always an invisible barrier between them. Jagan felt awkward and embarrassed to talk to his son. On the other hand, Mali who is living on the clouds with his ambitions doesn’t help at all to build the bridge. A cousin of Jagan becomes the mediator between them. Mali drops out of collage in order to go to America to learn story writing, and tells this to his bewildered father who lacks the courage to confront his son. Eventually Mali leaves for America. He sends Jagan letters, and as the time goes by Jagan appreciates Mali’s decision. But this is short lived and it turns into embracement since Mali comes home after three years with his “supposedly” wife, Grace, who is a half Korean half American. Now, out of his story writing mania, Mali
The author of “The Vendor of Sweets” is R. K. Narayan. His full name is Risipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami. He was born on 10th of October 1906 in Chennai, India. He majored in the University of Mysore. He was one of the 3 leading figures of early Indian literature in English. He is an Indian writer best writer known for his works set in the South Indian town of Malgudi. His other books were The Guide, Swami and Friends, Malgudi Days, The English Teacher and The Bachelor Of Arts. He was awarded with awards such as Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan for his works. He wrote “Vendor of Sweets” after his visits to the America. In his book he illustrates the communication and generation gap between a simple businessman and his ambitious son.
PLOT SUMMARY
The story revolves around a sixty year old sweet vendor, Jagan, and his son Mali who live in the small town of Malgudi, South India. Jagan is an honest, hardworking, humble person. He is strong believer of Ghandian ideologies of simple living. Mali is his only son and he love him very much. He is always concerned about him. Jagan lost his wife when Mali was still small, and Jagan tried to keep Mali happy and fulfilled all his desires. But, there was always an invisible barrier between them. Jagan felt awkward and embarrassed to talk to his son. On the other hand, Mali who is living on the clouds with his ambitions doesn’t help at all to build the bridge. A cousin of Jagan becomes the mediator between them. Mali drops out of collage in order to go to America to learn story writing, and tells this to his bewildered father who lacks the courage to confront his son. Eventually Mali leaves for America. He sends Jagan letters, and as the time goes by Jagan appreciates Mali’s decision. But this is short lived and it turns into embracement since Mali comes home after three years with his “supposedly” wife, Grace, who is a half Korean half American. Now, out of his story writing mania, Mali