Page 1 of 8
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 03
March 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 797
An Overview of R.K. Narayan's Novel – ‘The Painter of Signs’
Nisha
Ex Student,
Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra
Abstract: The Painter of Signs (1976) marks a significant shift from the other novels of
Narayan in so far as it mirrors the changing and developing trends of society regarding
the chat tying priorities and objectives of women in the late seventies. R.K. Narayan has
put his fingers on the pulse of the times and has caught its mood. The momentum which
started with the idea of woman liberating herself from the shackles of traditions, taboos
and male tyranny, displayed in the character of Savitri in The Dark Room (1938),
partially successful in Rosie in the novel The Guide (1958) has completed itself in the
person of Daisy, the female protagonist of The Painter of Signs. Daisy is a woman with
liberal outlook in the true sense of the term. The Painter of Signs was written in 1976, a
time when women all over Indies had started coming to the forefront, becoming career- conscious and holding responsible positions in reputed sectors along with men. A rapid
change in the lifestyle and in the way of thinking, generally in every realm viz. economy,
management, advertisement, media and particularly the notion regarding the position
of woman in society was easily discernible. Many age-old concepts were being
questioned. In other words, society was undergoing a process of tremendous change in
all spheres. Woman was no longer restricted to the hearth and home. Education had
started bringing about a sense of awareness in her regarding her rights. She stepped out
of her house in search of a job to make herself financially independent. Conventions and
orthodoxies were being replaced by common-sense and broad-mindedness. Woman
was no more seen as a subordinate. Her worth was realized and she was seen as an
Page 2 of 8
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 03
March 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 798
equal, particularly in the middle-class society. Woman felt a need to realize herself not
only as a wife and a mother, but also as a human being. She had begun to realize her
duty towards herself, besides fulfilling her duty to her family. It was, thus, a time of
drastic change when the novel The Painter of Signs made its entry in the literary world.
And the protagonist Daisy voices this general change. Her character may appear a little
larger than life but in fact it is true to life and preserves the authenticity of the story.
Keywords: R.K. Narayan, Malgudi, Female Protagonist, Authenticity, Woman,
Introduction: The Painter of Signs, on the superficial level, is a pensive story of an
incompatible relationship and a short-lived and unsuccessful love-affair between Daisy and
Raman. Like almost all other career-oriented female characters of Narayan's if i, Daisy is an
outsider in Malgudi. Raman is a sign-board painter who lives in Malgudi with his old aunt— a
thoroughly orthodox and traditional childless widow. She regulates her life and attitudes
according to the conventional Hindu mores. She follows strictly the religious duties and
prescriptions for conduct. Raman flatters himself that he is the young generation man of
enlightenment who will scotch the old superstitions and inappropriate an 'Age of Reason'. Daisy
is a social worker and feminist who arrives in Malgudi to introduce the Birth Control
Programme in the district. She employs Raman to paint propaganda signs for her depopulation
campaign and to accompany her to the areas where she lectures on sex-education,
contraception, family-planning and the like while he paints slogans and signs on the walls.
Raman falls in the love with Daisy and wants to marry her. She also becomes attracted to him
and allows herself to enjoy the bliss of love with Raman. But for Daisy, who has an extremely
independent disposition, it is simply unthinkable to live in the imperative and inescapable
bindings and compulsions of the Hindu marriage system. Finally she agrees to live with him in a
relationship revoking the Hindu conditions of marriage but accommodating Daisy's principles of
liberation and professional priorities. They consent to opt for the 'Gandharva' marriage – an
Page 3 of 8
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 03
March 2019
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 799
exceptional way to enter into a wedlock. Daisy is made of a different fibre and is not fit for the
drudgery of the married life.
Married life is not for me. I have thought it over. It frightens me. I
am not cut out for the life you imagine. I can't live except alone. It
won't work.
The novel is truly enough Narayan's statement about the sense of confidence and self- reliance that the New Woman displays in herself. She has shed her inhibitions and facing the
world squarely in a positive way. It may be taken as the novelist's acknowledgement of the fact
that equipped with education and the obvious awareness that accompanies it, a woman's
validity as a human being depends, rightly, on how she sees herself in her own eyes.
His portrayal of life is as authentic and his narration as fluid and
graceful as ever. ... The style is again episodic with a string of
incidents following one another in quick succession.
The Painter of Signs has, as it's male protagonist Raman, who, as Daisy accurately
observes, is an "incurable romantic." His mind is, if anything, sex-obsessed. But there is
another facet of his personality. He is not by any means like the customary sign board painters.
He has been a student of the local college and has a phonetic flair for the collection of variety of
books. In his small library at home are preserved books on Plato. Decline and Fall, Pickwick
Papers by Dickens and many Tamil classics. Whenever he is free from his work, he picks up any
one of the books from his collection rand wads it. He belongs to a respectable middle-class
family. He views himself as a man with a logical bent of mind and is determined to enforce the
Age of Reason in the world When the lawyer, his client, for whom he has painted a sign-board,
insists continually that the letters must lean to the left because his astrologer has
recommended it to be auspicious for his ruling star Saturn, Raman becomes very upset. His
