Raju, the protagonist

 The Guide has been considered the best novel of R.K. Narayan. The central character, Raju grows from an aimless and purposeless boy into a saintly figure, though the saintliness that comes over him at the end of the novel is at first thrust upon him by a naive rustic, Velan, The transformation of a happy-go-lucky young man into a saint, ready to sacrifice his own life for the good cause of the community that looks upon him with reverence has been very skilfully worked out in the novel. The story of the transformation, is ne.rrated both by the novelist in the third person narrative and by the protagonist himself in the first person. This bifocal narrative places the life of Raju in the right perspective so far as the reader's comprehension is concerned. The sinner turning into a saint is an archetypal theme.

Raju is a tourist guide in Malgudi. He keeps a shop at the Railway Station and when tourists come to visit the caves in Mempi, he escorts them and guides them round, showing his ingenuity and imagination in explaining the genesis and beauty of the paintings in the caves. Once, an archaeologist, Marco, and his wife, Rosie, the dancer, come to Malgudi as tourists. This marks a turn in the routine life of Raju. Though as a tourist guide he is supposed to help Marco in his archaeological discoveries, he .gets attracted to Rosie. Marco's interest in the Mempi caves is so strong that he is totally absorbed in his explorations, neglecting his wife, also necessitating his having to stay at Malgudi for a long time, unlike the other tourists. These circumstances help in bringing Raju and Rosie closer so much so that the initial attraction of Raju towards Rosie blossoms into love. Her husband's indifference towards her turns Rosie towards Raju. Besides her loneliness what drives Rosie to Raju is Raju's own interest in her dancing talents which have not been recognised and encouraged by her own husband. Thus a situation congenial to the development of love between the two arises.

On her own confession, Rosie is not considered respectable or even civilized: “I belong to a family traditionally dedicated to the temples as dancers; my mother, grandmother, and, before her, her mother. Even as a young girl, I danced in our village temple. We are viewed as ; public women..... We are not considered .respectable; We are not considered civilized.“ (P.75) Not withstanding the prohibition, which was valid at a time .when the socio-ethical values were scrupulously adhered to, the love between Raju and Rosie in the modern social