THE APPRENTICE — ARUN JOSHI

THE APPRENTICE – ARUN JOSHI

# Write the theme of the novel ‘The Apprentice’.

Ratan Rathor, the protagonist and also narrator of the story in the novel ‘The Apprentice’, who recounts the story of his own life in an episodic and reflective manner. He is initially an idealist like his father whose martyrdom gave him a strong impression on idealism and moral values but later he sacrificed his idealism and moral values in the face of the harsh, frustrating realities of bourgeois (middle class) existence.

It may be argued that ‘The Apprentice’ is predominantly about money, power, politics and corruption. The novel basically deals with how the New Slavery has come into existence after independence with new masters: politicians, officials (bureaucrats) and the rich.  At the outset the narration of the story in the novel is directly aims at exposing social degradation and political corruption of post-independent India. It is also be argued that the novel deals with the problem of character building, since Ratan Rathor the young idealist authored an essay ‘on the crisis of character’ to his college magazine which won the first prize for the year.   

Ratan Rathor has seen two pictures of India: the colonial India that produced a nation of clerks, the pillars of British Raj, and the post-independent India, which, in spite of fervent patriotism, ancient heritage, and Gandhian moral enthusiasm, is still overwhelmed by the British colonial tradition, which emphasis the spirit of docility and obedience as values that makes the middle-class so blindly follow its masters. The unique class of clerks is ironically portrayed by Joshi in his novel ‘The Apprentice’ as a class of emaciated men whose ambition does not extend beyond the constricting goals of clerkship, career-hunting, matrimonial game-planning and other highly charged ritualistic games involving status and money.

It was in the India of the 1940s and 1950s; Ratan Rathor first finds himself confronting with two worlds: one, the world of his father that is the world of idealism, patriotism, social and moral concern and the other is crippled world of bourgeois filth. No doubt poverty is a fertile soil for breeding crime, but it is seen in both the rich and the bourgeoisie of the pre-independence and the post-independence periods, who will do anything to gratify their indulgent lust for money. Joshi’s astute analysis of crumbling values of the bourgeoisie and its complete absence of ethical values and concerns in the name of aristocracy reveals the nature of the moral and psychological conflict among the people like Rathan Rathor, who has come from bourgeois class of society. Ironically, Ratan Rathor’s mother, a tuberculosis patient, is a staunch realist who knows fully about the practical value of money states categorically that without money life and all its idealism are totally meaningless. Rathor’s mother warned her husband not to give up his Law-practice for the sake of the falsetto idealism of Mahatma Gandhi. Following her husband’s sacrificial death, she is more convinced about the value of money. 

The self-destructive confusion and moral ambivalence of Ratan Rathor, which finally make him succumb to the mounting temptation of accepting tainted money by sacrificing his patriotism and honour, result from the spineless structure of bourgeois morality. By accepting the bribe from Himmat Singh, he has risked the lives of thousands of patriotic soldiers who fought with the enemy with inferior weapons. Ironically, when it comes to rationalization –— one of the last resorts of a criminal like our hero –— Ratan Rathor is frantically obsessed more by his honour than by the severity and magnitude of his crime.  

Ratan Rathor is guilty of accepting a bribe would characterize as compound fraud, the sin against community. His bribery and fraud threatened his honour for which he determined to take revenge from Himmat Singh, and then from the Secretary who hatched a conspiracy of supplying defective weapons to the army and also responsible for the committing suicide of his childhood friend Brigadier. Ratan Rathor did not opt for death like his Brigadier friend for his guilt of accepting bribe but expiate his guilt in more Gandhian way than Vedantic way:

“Each morning, before I go to work, I come here. I sit on the steps of the temple and while they pray I wipe the shoes of the congregation. Then, when they are gone, I stand in the doorway. I never enter the temple. I am not concerned with what goes on in there. I stand at the doorstep and I fold my hands, my hands smelling of leather and I say things. Be good, I tell myself. Be good. Be decent. Be of use. Then, I beg forgiveness. Of a large host: my father, my mother, the brigadier, the unknown dead of the war, of those whom I harmed, with deliberation and with cunning, of all those who have been the victims of my cleverness, those whom I could have helped and did not.

After this I get into my car and go to office. And during the day whenever I find myself getting to be clever, lazy, vain, indifferent, I put up my hands to my face and there is the smell of hundred feet that must at that moment be toiling somewhere and I am put in my place.”

Thus Ratan Rathor’s search for spiritual identity includes his concern for humanity. Ratan Rathor is freed from the fear of a possible judgement of society, but he remains bound to his own moral conscience in a voluntary attempt to redeem himself from the sin he had committed. However, in the process of discovery of self, there are magical moments when the individual sees congruence between social morality and individual consciousness.

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# Write an essay on the character of Ratan Rator, the protagonist of the novel, ‘The Apprentice’

Ratan Rathor, the protagonist, who narrates the story of his life to a N.C.C. cadet who came to New Delhi to participate in the Republic Day parade. Ratan narrates his own story an episode after another episode ranging from his childhood to his apprenticeship and as a shoeshiner on the steps of a temple as a sort of expiation (redemption) for his sins. The novel, ‘The Apprentice’ deals with Ratan Rathor’s adolescent innocence, his manly experience and his saintly expiation.

Ratan Rathor presents before us a background of his childhood life both before and after the death of his father. Ratna has been an eye-witness to the sight of his father lying dead, who was brutally killed by a British Sergeant while he was leading a procession protesting against British Rule in India. Ratan Rathor, with the background of his middle class family, is torn between the world of his father’s idealism and his mother’s pragmatism. On one hand his father, an ardent patriot, gives up his lucrative practice as a lawyer to politics at Gandhi’s call. Up holding moral values, he donates everything to the national cause without thinking of his family’s difficulties. On other hand his mother, who was disillusioned about the sacrifices made by the patriots during the freedom struggle. A woman suffering all the time physically, mentally, and economically may become almost cynical about money as it is the only means needed to make a man’s life happy in this world.

As a student Ratan Rathor also had ideals like his father and hoped that free India will bring new light to the citizens of the Republic. But, after the achievement of Independence all his hopes for better India have shattered.  He thought that the politicians of free India are worse substitutes for the alien Englishmen. This problem becomes so nagging that Ratan Rathor compelled to think that it has simply given us New Slavery: “yes a new slavery with new masters; politicians, officials, the rich, the old and new. Swindlers in fancy cars.”

When Ratan Rathor comes to Delhi, ‘a city of opportunities’, after his graduation in search of a job for his livelihood, he is disillusioned with stark realities of the present system. In his search for employment he realizes that the posts advertised are already filled in some manner. Even his father’s friends could not come to his aid for finding job for him. During his stay in Delhi he gets shelter in a sarai (inn) beside a masque where several others also occupy the same room with him. A stenographer living at the same inn, manages a temporary job for him in a Government office, dealing with war purchases.   

Thus Ratan Rathor begins his life as an apprentice clerk. Ratan Rathor keeps his eye upon his career despised by his father as bourgeois filth. He leaves the inn as soon as he gets the job to settle somewhere and tries to keep himself away even from the stenographer who had been instrumental in securing a job for him. He works hard to please his superintendent. In very short time of six months, on the recommendation of the superintendent, he gets confirmation in the service on his assurance that he would marry the superintendent’s niece. Henceforth he never looks back and on the superintendent’s retirement he gets this most coveted post which brings him every comfort in his life. With the accumulation of riches, Ratan rather gets engulfed in the vices associated with wealth such as taste for wine and woman. In Bombay he once gets engrossed in ‘fantasies of pleasure.’

There is nothing unethical about the fact that the son of the freedom fighter runs after a bureaucratic career. But it is highly illegal, unethical and unscrupulous that he should get corrupt and act against the national interest. During the time of the nation’s adversity, he is not only one to gain prosperity by clearing sub-standard war materials supplied by the Sheikh Himmat Singh, being used in Indo-China war without caring for the lives of innocent people. The gravity of the offence committed by Ratan Rathor is surely more intense than the solution of polishing the shoes in front of the temple. Ratan rather forms a view that a successful career cannot be achieved through diligence and sincerity, but be realized through flattery and cunning. So he deceives his very close friend by giving a false statement without admitting his crime. Ultimately, the Brigadier commits suicide. Similarly, Ratan plays havoc with many who are sacrificing their lives for the nation’s cause. Ratan deceives Himmat Singh, a contractor holding him responsible for the supply of defective materials, but the words of Himmat Singh exposing the character of Ratan Rathor are soul-searching when he comments: “You are bogus, Ratan Rathor…. from to bottom. Your work, your religion, your friendship, your honour nothing but a pile of dung”.

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Arun Josh’s Novel “The Apprentice” – A Mirror of  the Society 

The novel “The Apprentice” reflects the Indian beliefs, myths, cultural, social and spiritual imprints and ways of thinking. It mirrors the present day life. The outer surroundings of society stand for empty materialism, which is symbolic of the inner emptiness of modern human beings. The moral values are the true spirit of human culture and if it collapses, it creates a deserted path for future. It is the tale of conscience torn man with a curious mixture of idealism and docility, a vague sense of values.

Man is basically, a rational creature. Being a part of its social structure he must fit himself at home in these religious and social norms. If he feels uprooted for want of scientific evidences, he is totally, frustrated and finds support of a society through language. For him this life becomes simply a journey from nothingness to nothingness leading to dilemma. Thus, it is said, “Literature is the mirror of society.” Every aspects of the life of the people are reflected through literature. The modern Indian literature, which was born on Indian side in the hands of Indians, is widely acclaimed even outside the land of its birth. It becomes more picturesque, crystal clear and deep penetrating when the author is skillful and expert in delineating the situations, circumstances, dark crisis of characters and efforts of men of our time. The portrait delineated in “The Apprentice” has become a mirror of contemporary society “the image of all and of no one.”1 It has become the symptomatic symbol of “A man of our times” and a revelation of inner world of Ratan Rathor. The dreams of Ratan Rathor are a sort of revolt against the system of society existing in that generation. Ratan Rathor was a child of double inheritance, brought up in an atmosphere of anti-ethical philosophies of life with Gandhian values. His mother had a pragmatic approach towards life and money that influenced Ratan because his mother was suffering from tuberculosis and he had no money for her treatment. Thus, it is clear that no one can survive in this phony and materialistic world without money. So, efforts were made by him to acquire wealth by any means. The sophisticated and materialistic attitude of his wife was compelling him to satiate her day-to-day needs engrossing himself for corruption. The futile effort of job hunting has shattered Ratan’s hope of idealism but the humiliation, insult, starvation and the trauma of physical breakdown drained his hopes and brought him to the verge of collapse. Once, Ratan managed to procure the job of temporary clerk in the department of war purchasing with the help of fellow

Ratan was constantly pursuing the aim of making career and for that, he was ready to do whatever was possible. For the sake of money, he decided to marry his boss’s niece. Seeing the girl before marriage for seeking mothers consent was mere formality for him, because he has already finalized the deal. Another corrupt deal at the end of the novel costs the life of Brigadier, who was Ratan’s closest friend. He becomes the modern man in real sense by following cunningness, deceptiveness, selfish and easygoing attitude. From the beginning of his career under the tutorship of Superintendent, it seemed more profitable to him to follow the zeitgeist than the idealism of his father. The pomp and show of the modern world engaged him for a bribe of hundreds of rupees to change the note on the file. The thirst for power and money compelled him to disregard the rules, no respect for nation’s security deceiving his own friend and never admitted his guilt for manipulating the war materials of degrading quality, which led to the lives of people. Now a day’s people adopt favorable end. They desire to become rich regardless of any means. The character of Ratan painted by Joshi represents the trend of modern people for fulfilling his ends. 

He does not care for the life of soldiers who are devoting their life for protecting the integrity of the nation. Joshi tries to make his hero a portrayed mask and mirror of the modern man baffled as much as by the loss of parameters to judge right from the wrong as by the absence of moral values. In The Apprentice Arun Joshi has correctly painted the picture not of the contemporary society but also the problems of modern India. The character of Ratan tells the young and present generation that situation is very dismal so the future is uncertain. He penned down that still there is a ray of hope for the youth of the country who are willing to learn and ready to sacrifice. In fact “The Apprentice” is an X-ray vision of RatanRathor’s soul, a character fighting against many inner violent forces and with the unfortunate destiny. The character of Ratan in “The Apprentice” is a combination of humanism and religion, which teaches the society that whosoever is steeped in corruption, can save the society by way of following the path of religion. In this way, Arun Joshi succeeds in drawing the kaleidoscopic picture of modern youth facing numerous odds. The hero feels that it is necessary to alienate in this phony worlds to adjust him in this modern society. The modern man tries and adjusts to others, society, system abdicating his true self or he may strive to keep himself fit in the corrupt society. Ratan’s moving towards corruption under various compelling forces is the demand of the modern world. Ratan is a model icon for the youth’s that there is nothing wrong to try to lose heart, and not yield at any cost.

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ARUN JOHSI’S THE APPRENTICE IS A CONFLICT BETWEEN ‘LIFE’ AND ‘LIVING’

Arun Joshi is one of the most prominent writers among the younger Indian English novelists. His place in the field of Indian English Literature during the post-independence era is undisputed. Joshi came into the limelight with his very first novel The Foreigner which appeared in 1968. He instantly grabbed the attention of readers as well as critics by his new thematic concerns in the genre of novel. Unlike his predecessors he neither writes fiction for entertainment nor for any social or political propaganda. He experiments with the medium of novel writing, for studying the modern man’s predicament, particularly the motives responsible for his actions, and the effect of these actions on his psyche. Arun Joshi himself explains that, “My novels are essentially attempts towards a better understanding of the world and of myself” (qtd. in Dhawan, 18). Joshi probes deep into the psyche of the protagonist and picturises their mental toil and anxiety. Trapped between the Indian upbringing and Western influences, his protagonist suffers from evils of materialism which leads to up-rootedness, cynicism, loss of faith, and an identity crisis. Joshi’s protagonists are modern men of this world who are lost in a society of mixed ideals. His heroes, who rather turn anti-heroes due to this confused idealism, are running a fruitless expedition. They are struggling to sustain their faith in a world which stands in opposition to them. They are unable to hold on their identity in such a world of moral confusion. So either they revolt with the society or completely yield to it. In both cases there comes an alienation. If the character revolts he is alienated from the society, and if he yields, he in turn gets alienated from his own ‘real’ self. The result initially is restlessness, and finally a self-exploration and self-introspection.

Joshi’s protagonists are the contemporary modern men, who are in a constant search for a way of life that would help them to face the existential problem of this world. This ‘crisis of character’ or the crisis of existence has been depicted in all his five novels. All his protagonists are restlessly searching for their roots as well as trying to attain a rational understanding of the purpose of their existence in this universe. Thus, his protagonists are, invariably, ‘questers’ or ‘seekers’. They make a journey from illusion to reality.

The third novel of Joshi, The Apprentice, like his earlier two novels, explores the inner recesses of a character that is torn between two conflicting philosophies – the ‘life’ and the ‘living’. ‘Life’ connotes the idealism, patriotism, and faithfulness taught by Ratan Rathor’s father, a freedom fighter and a martyr. The ‘Living’ connotes the survival instinct in a world which is full of chaos, corruption, hypocrisy, and absurdity – where ‘Money’ has the supreme ruling power. Ratan Rathor, the protagonist of the novel, is a child of double inheritance. On one hand is his father’s idealism which teaches him to be a complete devotee for the general good of his country and his fellow people. His father gives up his lucrative career of a lawyer in order to serve his country and fight for its independence. To pursue a career for personal benefits is termed by his father as “Bourgeois filth” (The Apprentice p. 32). But, ironically, on the other hand stands his mother’s pragmatic worldly view. Rathor remembers her advice:

Don’t fool yourself, son, she said. . .. it was not patriotism but money, she said, that brought respect and bought security. Money made friends. Money succeeded where all else failed. There were many laws, she said, but money was law unto itself. (The Apprentice p. 19)

Such opposing ideals led to the crisis in his character. He never in his life felt competent of differentiating between the right and the wrong. He became a man of ‘double’ personality, where he thought in one way and acted in the other. There remained no synchronisation between his thoughts and action. So, consequently, he felt powerless and alienated from his own self and his surroundings as well. Tapan Ghosh observes in this context:

Crisis in the soul of an individual, who is entangled in the mess of contemporary life with its confusion of values and moral anarchy and his untiring quest for a remedy lie at the core of Arun Joshi’s exploration of human reality in The Apprentice.

Initially when he comes to Delhi, a land of opportunities, he is full of hope and optimism. His rustic innocence reminds us of the men who came to America, lured by the ‘American Dream’ of being successful and famous. Similarly, Ratan Rathor arrives in Delhi with a desire to earn a name and prosperous future for himself. He says:

“And I had no doubt that . . . I should make a mark on the world, a mark as visible and striking as my father’s” (The Apprentice p. 23).

As long as Ratan followed his father’s idealism he retained his moral core – he had a ‘life’ within him. But the cut-throat competition and a corrupt and materialistic society tested his ethics and patience at each and every step. He undergoes a humiliating experience while searching for a job, and is rejected and jeered at every interview. He realised that:

“the jobs would be filled by people who had, in some manner, been pre-selected”                    (The Apprentice p. 29).

Threatened by a bleak future, without influential connections, Ratan undergoes a profound change. As a consequence, he completely yields to the sham standards of his society. He learns to keep up appearances by discarding even ordinary decency and friendship. However, it was not his ‘real’ self. He was compelled and pressurised by the society itself. Thus, he was always aware of his hypocrisy. He describes his own deviation from the correct path and says:

I had added a new dimension to my life. I had become, at the age of twenty-one, a hypocrite and a liar; in short, a sham . . .. From morning till night I told more lies than truths. I had become a master faker . . .. a faker soon forgets who he really is . . .. That is when all starts to crumble. (The Apprentice p. 27)

Though he realises that somehow, knowingly or unknowingly, he is proceeding on the wrong path, still he feels helpless. He cannot stop himself because ‘living’ is more important than a ‘life’ of ideals. And to ‘live’ he has to become practical and selfish. Earlier it was the question of survival, but later it became mere indulgence. Ratan couldn’t realise that once a man starts lying and deceiving, he is forced to continue it. It becomes difficult to free oneself from the hold of corruption. Such is the power and enchantment of ‘money’ that Rathor takes a bribe when he least needed it. Basically there was no specific reason for taking the bribe – neither need nor compulsion.

. . . I did not need the money. I am quite sure of that. I needed it no more than sitting here, after two cups of tea, I need a third. I may drink it because others do, or because it is offered free, but I need it neither for survival nor happiness.           (The Apprentice p. 58)

He realises, during his confession, that corruption had become a natural part of his existence. It was as natural to him as breathing – done throughout the day, without giving it a second thought. Ratan finds himself completely lost in this atmosphere. For the sake of job security and promotion, he even agrees to marry his boss’ niece. At that time, he had no plans of marriage, but still he agrees because he gets an assurance from his superintendent that he would never become jobless. More than the proposal of marriage, he was satisfied by this assurance. Gradually, he realises that the world runs on ‘deals’. In fact, his marriage too was a deal for his career.

If men forgot how to make deals the world would come to a stop . . .. It is not the atom or the sun or God or sex that lies at the heart of the universe: it is DEALS . . .. They are simply there, like air. (The Apprentice p. 48)

So he becomes well-settled in life and enjoys all the material comforts, still there is no satisfaction at heart. Discontentment had become a way of life for Ratan. He feels that there is something that he still lacks due to which he is not content. In order to fill that scarcity in life he goes to every extent of indecency. He starts taking interest in women, visits prostitutes, takes alcohol, and all other immoral acts. But still he is not satisfied. With the advent of ‘monetary’ power, his ‘life’ becomes more monotonous and dead. He is ‘living’ without ‘life’. However, he is shaken off this moral and spiritual inertia by the death of his brother-like close friend, the Brigadier. Rathor comes to know that the bribe he took for clearing the contract of defective weapons, had directly affected the Brigadier’s life. The Brigadier had to desert his post during the Indo-China war because he was supplied with defective weapons. As a result, he couldn’t fight and had to recede. Due to this desertion, he was going to face a court-martial. The Brigadier became mentally disturbed by such social embarrassment and had a nervous breakdown. And finally he committed suicide. This incident makes Rathor look back at his life and his actions. He is ashamed of himself and feels guilty for the Brigadier’s death. It is then, that he realises the extent of his degradation. He saw:

. . . the vision of the vast pit at the bottom of which my [his] life crawled. Like a worm. And, now, this vision trailed me wherever I went . . .. I felt a fear . . . that I was going mad. . .. There is no fear like the fear of madness. . .. Those who descend into madness descend alone. Immobilised, fuddled, tongueless, misunderstood, laughed at. Thus I sank. Like a stone. (The Apprentice p. 124)

Arun Joshi seems to be largely influenced by Albert Camus’ The Fall (1956), which is an intense dramatic monologue of an ethically downtrodden character. The Apprentice is also narrated in a confessional tone. Rathor uses this mode to express his dilemma and the social reality. In a retrospective style, he narrates his journey from innocence to experience. He, very passionately, picturises every minor and major incident that brought his downfall. Rathor makes an honest confession, without hiding or manoeuvring any detail that would reflect his hypocrisy, treachery, debauchery and finally degeneration. Rathor narrates his life-story to a young college student from the hilly areas of Punjab. Rathor hadn’t confessed his guilt to anybody else earlier, but he feels an inclination to narrate everything to this boy. He says that the young boy reminds him of his father who was similarly “grave and clear-eyed” (The Apprentice p.7). Ratan’s father’s sacrifice had made an indelible impression on Ratan’s psyche. So it seems that he is making his honest confession, actually, to his father’s image; his father being the only epitome of sincerity and selflessness, in his life.

When after the death of his friend, Ratan realises his great betrayal, he seeks repentance. Initially he blames the Sheikh for all this mess, because he was the one who brought the offer to Ratan. But when Ratan confronts the Sheikh or Himmat Singh, he realises that one cannot always accuse others for one’s mistake. He realises that the culprit could be found nowhere but in one’s own self. The real culprit lies within us, who very easily gets enchanted with shams and the pompousness of this materialistic world. Ratan realises that one could not reform the world, but oneself. Earlier he used to think that life is like a ‘zero’. A man could not take anything from a zero. But now he understood that:

“you can take things out of a zero! You can make it negative” (The Apprentice p.142).

So it is better to let it be a zero rather than making it ‘negative. And

“it becomes negative when you take out of it your sense of shame, your honour” (The Apprentice p.142).

It is generally believed that Joshi was influenced by the European existentialist philosophers. But in The Apprentice we comprehend that Joshi was equally influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of social service as well as the karma principles of Bhagvad Gita.

According to Gandhi, the greatest religion of man was to put oneself to selfless service which only suffering and sacrifice can make possible. (Sharma, Siddartha: Arun Joshi’s Novels: A Critical Study p. 75)

Thus Ratan Rathor, letting the world live its corrupted standards, goes to the temple every morning, before office, and does the selfless service of wiping the shoes of the congregation. And he keeps on reminding himself of being good, being decent, and being of some ‘use’ to others. He remembers his father’s words which laid emphasis on the ‘karma’ of a man: “whatever you do touches someone somewhere” (Joshi 143). This way he reaffirms his faith in ‘life’ and seeks to get his heart rid of the ‘bourgeois filth’.

While Ratan narrates his story to the young student, one comes to realise that Ratan’s life was, obviously’ a conflict of ‘life’ and ‘living’. From his childhood itself he was oppressed by this conflict. He was attracted towards both poles. ‘Life’ was symbolised by his father while his mother was a symbol of ‘Living’. It becomes apparent that a child brought up in such an atmosphere of conflict, would later turn out to be a confused personality. He wants both, but is able to justify none. When he is idealist he is starved to death. He sees through the harsh reality of life where money, power, links and deals were the ruling factors. So he opts for such a life. But when he becomes practical, he loses contentment. All the material comforts that an ordinary man craves for, prove to be incompetent in appeasing him. Though he takes bribe and lives an indulgent life, but somewhere in heart he is always guilt-ridden. And that’s why he always tries to justify his actions.

If I had taken a bribe, I belonged rather to the rule than the exception . . .. A bribe could get you a bed in a hospital, a place to burn your dead . . .. For a sum of money politicians changed sides. For a larger sum they declared wars. . .. And now if I had happened to have accidentally indulged in a little slip-up, the sky was not going to fall. (The Apprentice p. 109)

There was always a “little squeaky voice” which tried to guide Rathor to the true path (The Apprentice p. 115). This ‘little squeaky voice’ was none other than the inner conscience of Rathor which always resisted the wrong and insincere path. But Rathor had gradually ‘hardened’ and become ‘a man of this world’ – docile, selfish, and corrupt. And so he turned a deaf ear to this voice. It is towards the end when he realises his mistake and seeks repentance, that he acknowledges the essence of his existence. He realises that life cannot be lived on extremes, i.e. completely idealist or completely practical. One needs to find a balance, a middle path – the golden path – that makes ‘life’ possible. Though making a ‘living’ is equally important, but that cannot be carried out by putting at stake one’s honour, his virtues, and his conscience. A man can be ambitious, money-minded, and even selfish but he should not be a ‘lifeless soul’. To survive a balance should be reached between ‘life’ and ‘living’, else life becomes a complete ‘waste’.

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 ARUN JOSHI’S THE APPRENTICE: GANDHIAN IDEOLOGY VERSUS CROOKED BELIEFS

The Novel, THE APPRENTICE is a close account of the post-independent Indian Social Conditions and the Facts that have moulded the young generation. It closely examines, through the eyes of the Protagonist— Ratan Rathor, the changes in the Indian Socio-Political System not only in the post-independent India but also contradicts and draws parallels between pre-independent India and post-independent India. The ideology of Gandhi that was based on Truth, Non-violence, Honesty, Simplicity and Accountability, has been replaced by the crooked beliefs and practices in the post-independent India.  Gandhian idealism and values that were defined in the pre-independent era, have completely changed in the post-independent era. So, the Corruption, the Violence, the Unaccountability and Dishonesty have become epitome in the day to day life of the people.

The novel narrates the story in the form of a monologue of Ratan Rathor addresses to the young student, telling details of the truth, the truth of post-independent India. The issues raised by Ratan Rathor are not political to a great extent but, in reality, the story is more related to values and ethics of present young generation. The situation becomes more questionable when the young generation is torn between different beliefs and ideals. The independence movement was driven by the selflessness, the sacrifices of the comforts and luxuries, based on the belief that I have sacrificed myself to the nation for the better future of young generation.

Ratan Rathor — the protagonist of THE APPRENTICE— is an inheritor of two philosophies. On one side is the philosophy of his father who was influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of idealism. He was a lawyer by profession and could have lived a happy life with his small family and could have left great property to Ratan as his heir. But he did not continue the practice of law after coming in contact with Gandhiji and left it to join the independence struggle marked by the ideology of Gandhi that was based on idealism. This idealism was based on the theory of simple living and high thinking. Ratan’s father left behind for Ratan the legacy of simplicity and sacrifice. He was killed during the independence struggle, leading a procession.

The mother of Ratan Rathor was a down-to-earth lady and had a practical approach to life. That is why she asks Ratan to earn money and argues that compared with wealth, everything else is pigmy. This fact can also be inferred from the argument she advances to Ratan when she remarks:

“Don’t fool yourself, son. Man without the money was man without the worth. Many things were great in life but the greatest of them was the money”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 20).

She continues in the same vein:

“...it was not the patriotism but the money that bought respect and brought the security. Money made friends. Money succeeded where all else failed. There were many laws but the money unto itself was a law” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.18).

Besides mother and father, a brigadier influences the mind-formation of Ratan Rathor. The brigadier’s episode is there in his mind because of the importance Ratan gives to him. The episode took place in Ratan’s childhood when some miscreants tried to manhandle him. It was the brigadier’s selfless love that rescued Rathor. Hence, selfless love of the brigadier helps haunting Ratan Rathor.

The protagonist Ratan Rathor like other young people of contemporary period is torn apart by the ideologies of Idealism and utilitarianism. Hence, the identity-conflict was inherent in their personality make up. The post-independenat India is simply transfer of power from the white elites to the Indian elites and the functioning of the system remained unchanged from the British Raj to the “Baburaj”. The continuity and change are the basic elements of society and they are automatically transferred from one ruling class to the other with the passage of time. The other notable change that took place in society was the new meaning of success, acquired more out of the influence of “Individualism” of the west where the success was measured in terms of property, wealth and size in the fast moving, competitive world order. In it, to accumulate wealth and succeed leg pulling and back-biting had become the established norms in this period. Indifference to morality and social values and ethics had become the accepted norms of life.

Gandhiji may not be the inspiration of the youth but Gandhi is still living with the people. Today’s Gandhiji may not be in the hearts of the people but he lives on currency notes. Gandhism is converted to Goondagari but time has its own discourse to prove that the Gandhism may not be there but “Gandhigiri”, as depicted in the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, will certainly be cherished.

In the initial part of the novel, the most important aspect that emerges is that Ratan Rathor has cowardice in his nature. It is not known as to why he is cowardly. But this flaw of cowardice in Ratan’s personality makes him struggle with the identity-crisis. In fact, he was unsure of his true identity. He could not himself decide which way to go and if going were inevitable, he did not from home to do it. His is a divided self. His ego instincts pull him in different directions. And he does not know which way to go and whom to follow: father or the mother. As a result of the confrontation between the two beliefs, he has been reduced to a split self.

The most ironic situation arises when he decides to join Subhash Chandra Bose’s Army and he starts thinking that he has started to move in the right direction towards his destination. Hence, he announced:

“I am excited for the long journey...” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 21).

But just after

“moving a few miles comes the sweating and exhaustion”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 21).

He breaks up and weeps. While weeping, he broods whether he made for such hardships of life or for enjoying the luxuries of life?

He sits and talks to his mother. The mother, as in history all mothers did, said that she wanted to see his son in comfort and happiness and she puts a ray of hope in his mind. She asked Ratan to approach the acquaintances of his father in Delhi who could help him to find a job in Delhi. He comes to Delhi and moves from one place to the other but everywhere he was “interrogated, examined” but he was interrogated and examined only to be “rejected” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 30).

Now Ratan could relate the post-independent India to the Independence struggle and realise how this short span of time the very ethics and philosophical pillar of the nation: simplicity, idealism and efficiency had been replaced by opportunism, treachery, dishonesty and inefficiency. At this juncture, he remarks:

“The nation for which his father has laid down his life was a nation of frustrated men sailing about in a confused society, a society without norms, direction, without even, perhaps a purpose” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.74).

The wind of change that he witnessed made him even more frustrated and perplexed. The frustration is reflected in his anguish while talking to the student:

“There is nothing in the world as sad as the end of the hope, not even the death”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.26).

His short sojourn to Delhi changes his personality changed forever. It is reflected in the statement when he confesses:

“I had added a new dimension to my life. I have become a hypocrite and a liar at the age of twenty-one” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.28).

From now onwards, the personality of Ratan Rathor starts degrading, his personality has changed, his identity is under threat and everything crumbles. However, it is to be noted that though the personality of the Ratan is undergoing changes for the more, yet the Gandhian idealism is still with him, because whatever he may have become, at least he is sincere in his confessions. He never blames others for his supposed failure, though they might be actually at fault. Herein lies the greatness of Ratan. He has learnt at least advocacy of truth from the Gandhian philosophy.

His confession of his degeneration, adds new dimension to his personality. Though he thinks aloof from the society and the friends he succeeds in getting the job of a clerk in the department of war purchases. From this point onwards, he wishes to have a new identity altogether. The story of the protagonist of the novel, from now onwards is not that of his alone. Instead, he becomes the spokes-person of the young generation.

He forgets his seniors, who are academically higher than him, because he considers himself superior to others now. For him, the meaning of life is going up and up, getting promotion after promotion by keeping the boss happy in all manners. He gives a dog like obedience to his master. He finds that in this fast-moving competitive world, it is the secret of success. The world knows the identity by the power and the power that comes through money or the order that one could pass to his juniors. Accordingly, he thinks aloud:

“Some survive through defiance, some through ability. Still others through obedience, by becoming a whore or becoming the servants of the power of the world” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.35).

He no more bothers what the others say about him. He is deaf blind to everything, except to the orders of the boss. Ultimately, the boss for him is god. He is indifferent to what other tell about him. Ratan Rathor is now a big man. He has grown up as shameless. Hence he shamefacedly tells the young student:

“I am a thick skin now, a thick skin and a wash out but, believe me, my friend. I too have thoughts such as these. But what was to be done? One had to live. And to live one has to make a living. And how was a living to be made except through the careers” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p.46).

The new mantra of success has not come to Ratan in a short span of time. Rather the circumstances have compelled him to do what he was doing. Till yesterday, he was a rejected person, to be interrogated, examined and rejected but suddenly he has become efficient. The fault is not with the protagonist but with the system. But none has the guts to blame the system, since everyone wants a good career and promotion.

The Gandhian idealism has been replaced by utilitarianism and the latter is based on the theory of capital formation. Above all, Ratan’s mother had warned him:

“Don’t be fool yourself, son...The man without the money is the man without worth”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 50).

In his present situation, the legacy of his father seems to be of no use to Ratan. He must have thanked his mother on the journey of his career since the advice she had given to him at his tender age later became the guiding principle for his success.

But, in its pursuit, Ratan becomes too ambitious to make a distinction between the good and the bad. He is bound exclusively to the interest and happiness of his boss. He erroneously thinks that if the boss is happy, the staff will be naturally happy; his ambitions had him to betray even his friend. On a promise of confirmation from his bosses, this insult by the friends has very little effect on him. Normally the day one’s refuse to have tea with one should be the most insulting day for an employee. But, to utter surprise, it does not affect Ratan at all. There could be no worse insult for an employee, and it could have been a turning point for many others but strangely for Ratan, it is a common thing that happens to a fast-moving careerist. Many like him hold that when people start criticizing, it is time to believe in the progress of the venture undertaken. Hence, they opine that advance criticism should be ignored to somehow achieve the desired goal. The utter servility people showed to him also amazed Ratan. He was confused by the way of the world and confided his doubts and fears to the superintendent, his mentor. But the latter’s reply leads to confusion worse confounded, it is what he says:

“You know, Rathor he said, nothing but God exists. You can be certain only of Him”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 45).

He further admonishes him:

“There was no point in looking for truths aside from the truth of God. Money in the world always changed hands. God was only concerned with what one did with the money” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 45).

But Ratan couldn’t accept an explanation that gave no cognizance of the purity of means and the consequences of one’s actions. His perplexity knew no bounds and he wondered:

“Was graft in His eyes, the same as any other money? And what about the consequences, consequence for what was termed as the ‘character’, of the giver and the taker? Or, was ‘character’, just a myth that I had somehow picked up?”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 45).

Here, is evinced an indelible impression of the Gandhian values on Arun Joshi. For Arun Joshi, it is the means that justify the end and their sanctity is all important. But the superintendent neither believed in the validity of the means nor did he give cognisance to the consequences of one’s actions. At this juncture, it seems that there is a metamorphosis in the nature if Ratan, but the truth belies it. He has not changed at all. On the contrary, he has become more hypocritical. Gradually, he starts heartening away the remainder of his spiritual self as well.

As the story proceeds, Ratan is seemingly more practical in his field. Now he comes to believe that the world is not governed by God, or sex or such other things. Instead, he is convinced that life runs on its own conditions and that these conditions are determined by the deals. Also he thinks that under such a deal, he was married to the niece of the superintendent, and that the meaning of the deal was clear to him. Obviously, it was made for promotion, higher salary and other benefits. He is now confirmed and dozens of clerks work under him. Gradually, he is promoted to the post of an officer in the same department.

The department which requires the utmost honesty and transparency is most corrupt and it is not known to the people of the outside world. The other colleagues of Ratan hold this old positions and salary. The deceit and treachery were the means for Ratan Rathor to reach such a position. He has become more expert in this field, because in it to grow one has to learn the mantra of success--the dedication: the dedication not to the work but to the boss.

The promotion and other facilities may sound well to Ratan Rathor, but the quest of the self keeps haunting him, now and then. He has the best that could be expected from the career, but he is not satisfied; nor is he happy and has to pass sleepless nights. If the higher rank was truly a means to establish the identity, he should have been satisfied. But the higher instinct of man cannot be satisfied by the worldly success and possessions. Hence, it leads to the inner conflict in Ratan’s self.

When the inner self is in conflict with the hypocritical, deceitful outer self, the metabolic and physiological order is adversely affected. As a result of it, the protagonist lost his sleep. In such a condition, Ratan tries to find a solution and the solution to the problem, according to him, lies in material pursuits. Following his lower instinct, he again commits the same mistake of falling a prey to the accumulation of materialistic possessions. He purchases new car, a flat, a refrigerator and such other things. Besides, he has a bank balance of twenty thousand rupees. So, he gathers all the things he could afford to make life sense for him.

Rathor lives this dual life in the city of the Bombay. It has been righty observed by various thinkers that with the advent of the modernisation and urbanization, people have to wear different masks on different occasions. Ratan has no words to appreciate the superintendent for the thoughts he gave to Ratan to enlighten him. In the Ratan’s eyes, the superintendent is not a prince like the other superintendents, but he is a priest.

The next sections of the novel reveal that he was not free from inner conflict, the conflict of identity. Suddenly, a sense of the patriotism becomes uppermost in the following passage suddenly a sense of the patriotism has occurred in the mind of the protagonist. Indo- China war has been declared and all at once his father comes to his mind. The father stood for courage and his nation so much that he sacrificed his life for it. Consequently, Ratan felt that it was a matter of shame for him to sit quietly in such national emergency. He changes for the time being; his inner self calls him a son of the revolutionary and so he should also be a revolutionary for the nation at the time of the crisis. He collects donations at the camps and at other different places for the soldiers sacrificing their lives at the border. He suddenly finds a new assignment and sees his own people and the nation engulfed in ruin and debt. He feels that they have to save the nation and thus preserve the legacy left by Gandhi, his father and other like patriots. He is inspired by the Bhagawad Gita and with the help of some other holy texts he writes the article “Crisis of Character”. But whose was the character being still difficult to define.

Such pretentions stem from the dubious nature of Ratan and are a result of his inner conflict. He confessed to the young student that just before attack on the nation, he took the huge bribe, nothing less nothing more, but as per the deal. So, this overnight change is hard to swallow.

Once the degradation of morality sets in, it has its own way of slithering down, without the least control of the human self. The same thing happens with the protagonist of the novel. On the one side, he thinks for the nation in the time of national emergency of Chinese attack on India, but, on the other side, he is ready to compromise the nation’s vital security inputs--the arms and ammunition. It happens that when he was posted in Bombay a deal between him and Himmat Singh takes place. Under this deal, he has to approve an order for the defective arsenal to be used at the front. This deal takes place without the consent of the brigadier.

In Indo-China war, India is defeated at every front because of the poor quality of the ammunition. Many soldiers become a prey to the defective arsenal and have to lose their lives. The brigadier returns from the battlefield and an enquiry is held. It holds the brigadier responsible for the poor quality of the arsenal. He is court-martialed and put under observation.

The news comes to Ratan Rathor. In fact, the brigadier was not guilty of the corruption he was held responsible for. The real culprit was Ratan and he knew it. A sense of guilt haunts him and the conflict between his lower and higher instincts, utterly confuses him. The acceptance of the fault on his part can save the life and dignity of the brigadier. But it will also doom his career, besides heaping humiliation on him.

The higher instinct reminds him of the childhood experience of the selflessness love of the brigadier. It was the Brigadier who had saved him from the hooligans. That rescue was the most memorable incident in the life of the Ratan in the childhood period, next to the memories of his mother and father. At a call of the higher instinct, he is ready to accept the fault and writes to the enquiry team headed by the superintendent. But to one‟s utmost surprise, on the day of confession his lower instinct predominates and he claims in front of the superintendent that he is not aware of one thing and that he is not involved in such things.

The brigadier has a health problem and is shifted to the hospital. The inner self of Ratan brings him to see the brigadier, but at the entrance of the hospital, he comes to know that the brigadier does not want to meet him and he hears the brigadier saying that the closest to him is the person who betrayed him the most. The brigadier knew that it was none other than Ratan who was the real culprit. But instead of saying so, he likes to remain silent. Ratan’s refusal to accept the fault has a far reaching impact on the personality of the brigadier. He likes to himself end his life and does not want to be held guilty by the authorities. He commits suicide and with his suicide end the tragic linkages that could prove Ratan, a culprit.

Like Raskolnikov of Crime and Punishment by the Russian novelist Dostoyevsky, he is in a trauma, the way Raskolnikov was after the murder of the widow and her sister. Ratan has again the loneliness and frustration within his self. But a man of mistakes always makes others a scapegoat. He thinks that the system is corrupt and so is he so, he alone should not be called corrupt as everyone else also takes the bribes.

His investigates and finds corruption in the whole hierarchy of the system and that every organ of the system was involved in this malpractice; and feels that he was not an exception to the system. The account he gives of the corrupt is an eye opener to all the citizens. The peons of the office, the government officials, the traffic policemen and the railway conductors alike are involved in this nefarious activity. He finds the whole system of administration as corrupt. In his perception, even the non-governmental bodies were involved in the same practice. Even the priest, the so-called the saviour of the truth at the door of the God--where everyone chants the truth--is also involved in this corrupt mechanism. And thus he justifies his own action of taking the bribes.

His degeneration has reached such a low level that he looks at the opportunity to take the bribe as the heaven-sent opportunity by war. The comment of the M.P: “Nobody lost a war these days. There were always compromises. To be candid he whispered who cared for the wilderness that we are quarrelling over” further strengthens the position of Ratan. The other example is of Himmat Singh himself who remarks that he:

“Conducts the operations for neither money nor power but in order only to clear”

(Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 60).

It reflects his dictatorial bent of mind. Himmat Singh reminds one of Hitler who that whatever he regarded is truth would prevail. It is a different matter that Hitler’s convictions resulted in untold suffering to mankind. Ratan indirectly justifies the stand of Hitler by citing the example of Himmat Singh. What Ratan fails to understand is that life is not created by man and if does not have the power to create life, he does not have the right to destroy it as well. If perceptions and notions are allowed to prevail, like that of Hitler, Himmat Singh and Ratan they are likely to lead to anarchy. Precisely it is what, according to the protagonist, prevails in the post- Independent India.

But one also feels that a new dimension has been added to the identity of the protagonist. Any person involved in crime has to repent at a later stage of life. It is almost for twenty years that the protagonist has been indulging in corruption and opportunism. Gradually, Ratan starts questioning himself. He is haunted by the thoughts of morality and immorality, and he seeks to console himself. To do so, he finds different means in different situation.

Moral bankruptcy of the minds of Ratan and Himmat Singh becomes evident Himmat Singh by division of mankind into two type of people. According to him, one is the ruling class that is phony in nature and the other is the ruled class that comprises of simply brainless chickens. He further held that there was nothing moral or immoral because there were no God and holy texts to define morality. The God himself was the creator of a handful of influential people of the society and the holy texts prepared by them to serve their own interests. All this may found plausible, but the protagonist, at this stage was in need of solace and such philosophy of Nihilism could not provide peace to his mind.

Arun Joshi successfully draws a parallel between different thoughts in the mind of protagonist: Ratan’s jutifications & Himmat Singh’s extreme atheistic views. Finally, the fact is that whatever highlighted argument one may use to justify oneself the mind will not be at peace with itself until and unless the repentance is sincere and humble.

Following the discourse with Himmat Singh, he introspects to discover where he has gone wrong. He interrogates himself from the first day of his life when he entered this profession and recounts how

“the gears began to slip” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 67)

after his country’s

“tryst with destiny” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 67)

—the famous words to use of Nehru at the dawn of Indian independence.

After Indian independence, the people’s aspirations of a prosperous and strong nation remained unfulfilled and a sense of disappointment and helplessness prevailed among the masses. The corridors of power became the hot bed of politics and the people’s interests became secondary. The ministers started giving wrong information in the parliament to mislead the nation. A whole new generation of politician emerged who had nothing to do with the philosophy of idealism of Gandhi and others who had led the struggle for Indian independence. It seemed that Bhagat Singh was right in his conviction that the power transfer in the post-independence India was merely the transfer of the power from the white ruling class to India’s black ruling class and what Gandhiji discussed as the empowerment of the people of the nation was buried somewhere in the dust of the memory to be celebrated on different occasions.

In the new set-up in the post-independence India, was there a combination of power and politics. This power politics is driven by money and muscles. The ruling motive of merit and decency was thrown out of the window and with the change of the wind they were Gone with the Wind forever.

It is sometimes argued that Ratan has cowardice in his nature and that he is a slave of circumstances. Despite these apparent facts, it cannot be denied that he is responsible for his misdeeds and betrayal of his conscience. This betrayal of the inner self leads to think that he was a man without an entity and identity and he accepts:

“I was a nobody. A NOBODY— deep down I was convinced that I had lost my significance: As an official, as a citizen, as man” (Arun Joshi, The Apprentice p. 73).

He gradually becomes an alienated man and wherever he goes, he finds guilt. All his colleagues, his wife, his family, his friends are gone from his life. He has been left with nothing except the search for his entity and identity.

The story of his involvement also comes to an end. Though he was convicted and found to be involved in the deal, yet the interference of the secretary and the ministers let him free from the clutches of the law. He may have been given a clean chit, but his mind has not given him a clean chit. Wherever he goes, the voice that he was a murderer goes with him. He needs solace in life and finally reaches the temple. But, unfortunately, there also he finds the priest to be a liar, a betrayer of God, because the priest turns the hand of Ratan to give a bribe to get his son, who had been convicted for low quality of work in the public works, released. Thus he learns that no religion was a remedy for his malaise.

The solace of the self he was searching for has never been achieved without suffering and suffering of the self. Ratan suffers immediately and finds a way to console himself eliminating all those who are responsible, in his opinion, for his degeneration and identity-crisis. He finds Himmat Singh—the Sheikh—to be the number one enemy and wants to eliminate him but at the confrontation with Himmat Singh, he finds that the Sheikh was merely an instrument involved in the deal and the real culprits were none other than the Secretary and the Minister and thus he changes his mind to murder, Himmat Singh and the gun rotates towards the Secretary and the Minister. But the inner conscience does not permit him and he postpones the murder. At the same time, he also finds that the life of Himmat Singh was not different from his own. Himmat Singh was also conducting the operation to eliminate everyone from top to bottom because it was the society that had made a whore of his mother and it was his mode of vengeance as well. He also comes to know that Himmat Singh too was the son of a revolutionary and should have become a revolutionary in the post-Independent India but he too falls a victim to the socio-political set-up of new India. The whole episode, after self-examination, gives him the idea that there was no other way to salvation and repentance and to overcome the crooked ways of the world, the only way was to reform the self. The reformation of the self, for him, could be possible by putting himself into social use.

The idea that has entered the mind of Ratan at the closing of the novel is derived from Gandhian idealism. Gandhiji himself has said, that the greatest religion of man is to put himself to selfless service. But only through sufferings and sacrifices, Ratan Rathor comes to have complete faith in God and in selfless social service. Thus idealism and morality become his means for the ultimate salvation.

He leaves the world of comforts that he had gained after the degeneration of his personality and walks to the doors of the temple, where he polishes the shoes of the visitors of the temple, thinking that it is the best possible way for him to serve society in a selfless manner and to find consolation and solace in his life.

This metamorphosis of the identity of Ratan Rathor reflects the amalgam of his father’s and the other values that he has learnt from his childhood. The identity of Ratan was full of the conflicts and the conflict had to be washed away one day. The Karma yoga and Dharam yoga are the means to achieve it. The Ratan Rathor’s identity is a symbol of the young generation. Whatever mistakes Ratan committed in his youth should not be made by the young generation. At the same time, his identity warns that if there is pollution in the system of society, one should not be blind to it. Rather to change the system, one need be an active player of the system. But what is important is to keep in mind that the means should be pure to achieve the end. The identity-formation is not a day’s work but the identity is formed in a long span of life. This is the identity that the world remembers after the death and thus it was the last identity of Ratan that will be remembered. If he had not repented for his mistakes, Ratan Rathor would have died without an identity.

The fictional technique adopted by Arun Joshi is another important element contributing to the uniqueness of The Apprentice, so that the novel has sometimes been tagged as a fictional experiment. Very ingenuously and with excellent oratorical skill, Ratan pours out the events of his life to a listener, whose name one never learns; of this imaginary dialogue, however, Joshi brings to the text only the narrator’s speech and not his interlocutor’s, leaving the reader with the impression of a monologue. Yet, though apparently mute in the text, the listener is extremely active in oiling the mechanisms of the conversation with Ratan: Joshi’s secret is that the interlocutor is kept well-hidden in the shades of discourse. As the story unfolds, one learns that he is young, well-mannered, patient, idealistic, and proud of being a National Cadet. He pays great attention to every detail of the story he is being told, so that he helps Ratan to find the thread of his thoughts again every time the narrator’s unavoidable digressions lead him to forget the starting point of his tale. His questions are wise and sharp, so that he is even said to take on the role of the inquisitor; however, his esteem for Ratan is so high that he does not hesitate to put all his other chores aside. In short, he is the ideal listener.

On the other hand, Ratan is the ideal orator, who needs a public to fully achieve his goal. One knows very little of his present situation until nearly the end of the novel, when his predicament is fully exposed. In the meantime, however, he grips the reader’s attention, thanks to his brilliant use of a variety of rhetorical devices. Sentimental, self-centered, as much a prisoner of his own telling as is his listener/reader (if not more so), an astute orator-deceiver, he is the one who, for instance, humbly declares:

“Let me not, however, get on the pulpit again. I have not the right”

(The Apprentice p. 84),

while knowing full well that he would not go on were he not relentlessly in a commanding position. Ratan Rathor is a little past middle age, talks with the self-confidence of an experienced man, and is educated, sensible and extremely intelligent.

*****