Detailed Examination of Themes and Characters in 'Forty-Five a Month'

This essay provides a detailed analysis of R.K. Narayan's short story, 'Forty-Five a Month.' It explores the central themes of family relationships, the impact of work on personal life, and the cultural context of middle-class India. The essay examines the characters, particularly Shanta and her father, Venkatrao, and their interactions, highlighting the father's struggle between his job and his daughter's needs. It discusses the societal values and moral implications presented in the story, such as the importance of family over material gain. The analysis also touches upon the author's writing style and the story's portrayal of everyday life challenges. The essay references the provided sources to support its interpretations, offering a comprehensive understanding of the story's significance and its reflection of Indian society during that era.

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Summary of R.K. Narayan’s Short Story Forty-Five a Month
'Forty-Five a Month' is a beautiful piece created by the legendary Indian writer
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayana. He had authored fourteen novels and five collections of
short stories. Two of his famous retold novels are The Ramayana (1972) and The Mahavarata
(1978). India was going through various reforms as a developing country during the time
when the author was actively working on his writings. It can even be seen throughout his
renowned short stories. His short stories, as the one studied here, is well decorated with the
basic concept of a short story with underlying values of society, culture, family relationship
and many more context (Gale).
Here in the story 'Forty-Five a month' we can primarily see a little girl eager to
complete her school time and go home. Here in the first part, we can see the basic story
showing the kid's eagerness to go home and having conversations with herself, her friend and
teacher concerning that. But she does not disclose the real fact behind hurry to any of them.
But in the backdrop of the primary context that is provided here, we can get an example of
the culture of teachers through the part. India has always believed to produce great prolific
teachers throughout history. Even Santa's class teacher is seen as compassioned, emphatical,
and understanding. She did not pressurized Santa about telling why she wants to go home
early (Mukherjee). But she took the opportunity of Santa's Eagerness to teach the class about
learning to read the time.
The tales are written to a certain degree of imagination, but still believable enough, for
the challenges in the stories are same issues that everyday people experience in everyday

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lives. This tale offers a rather exciting glimpse into middle-class Indian culture. This plot is
summed up by the idea that a little girl called Shanta is leaving school early so she can go to
the film with her dad for the first time. She's ready at five o'clock and waits for her dad. She
even travels to some distance and gets stuck on the streets because her dad doesn't arrive in
time (Devi, 61). Fortunately, a neighbor's servant noticed her and carried her around to her
home. Her father, Venkatrao, is seen reflecting on his mistake in overlooking his daughter's
life for his job and income. He thinks that if his employer doesn't let him go at five o'clock,
he would probably quit his job.
However, his supervisor claims the officers agreed at a recent meeting to raise wages
from 40 rupees a month to 45 rupees a month (Chaudhari). Upon VenkatRao has learned this,
he readily agrees to cover the letter of resignation and returns without another term. He goes
right to looking for his daughter when he gets home at nine o'clock. His heart grieves
profoundly as he sees his sleeping daughter with her beautiful frock and makeup she placed
on to go to the films. But Shanta got upset when her dad attempts to wake her up and kicks
her father. And her dad sighs and then heads away to sleep. The ultimate moral of this tale is
that people nowadays should not to go for money by sacrificing jobs but pay more significant
consideration to their own families and others around them (Kumaraswamy, 167).
investing time in families is just as critical as family care while working long hours
for jobs. The most pathetic thing in this story is that VenkatRao quotes in his reflection, "if he
couldn't, it would be more honorable to die of starvation." However, as VenkatRao sees his
earnings growing, he shuts himself down. He would have done so if he were too happy to
leave his work for his only daughter, even though his employer had agreed to provide more
than forty-five rupees (Biswas). And Shanta’s father had his mind made to scold her if she
was not ready for the film on time.

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On the other hand, her father had told her that he will come on time. Her father never came
on time and gave up on himself as he has to get paid for livelyhood, and her father had to lose
some regard for him from this viewpoint by breaching a vow. The part of Shanta's tale that
she will not lose the dress even while sleeping implies she is expecting her father's pledge
innocently.
However, it is necessary to note that Venkat's selfishness may be determined by need.
He is not a wealthy guy, so for him, the five rupees represent a ton. It is also seen that
Venkat’s boss is disappointed on him. He needs to be there for Shanta, but, when it comes to
the office manager he feels helpless. If something Venkat wants to be there for Shanta and his
boss as well. It is a tough path, and that may be the reason Venkat intends to leave (Djorić
Francuski, 2). However, as Venkat said, when he learned that he was going to have a raise, he
decided that job was more important than his daughter. In no way does the reader feel that
Venkat combines his work life with his home life. Either he is going in one direction or the
other, but he also does not seem to meet the difficulty of sticking with his boss and being
with Shanta at the same time.
Conclusively I had found the ending of the tale is significant because Venkat left
Shanta's life to her mother in several respects. This may be significant because Narayan says
that a generation of men are more attached to work than to families. Venkat is in a
challenging spot, once again. If something, Narayan offers the reader think on what they
might do if they were in the role of Venkat. The family would be starving if he leaves his
work and concentrate on Shanta. That's a tough path to navigate. Yet when he is already
employed, he lets Shanta down and puts her life entirely in her mother's possession (Brown,
622-635). This is the argument Narayan wants to make. He may propose that a generation of
people between their jobs and their home lives would have an unfair mix. It is impossible to
know who is accountable as Venkat has an option, but it is a hard choice. Venkat can quickly

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be viewed as self-absorbed at the end of the novel. The audience will always place
themselves in his shoes, though.

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Works Cited
Biswas, Sravani. RK Narayan’s Malgudi Milieu: A Sensitive World of Grotesque Realism.
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.
Brown, Judith. "Questions for RK Narayan." PMLA 131.3 (2016): 622-635.
Chaudhari, Bhagvanbhai H. The Representation of Region in the Novels of RK Narayan and
Pannalal Patel: A Comparative Study. Diss. The MS University of Baroda, 2015.
Devi, P. Karthika. "REFRAMING THE WORD TO THE ACT: A STUDY OF A SCREEN
ADAPTATION OF RK NARAYAN'S SHORT STORY." International Journal of
Arts & Sciences 9.4 (2016): 61.
Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for RK Narayan's" Forty-Five a Month". Gale,
Cengage Learning, 2016.
Kumaraswamy, M. R. "Eccentricity of Characters: An Analysis of RK Narayan’s The Man-
Eater of Malgudi." International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and
Science (2018): 167.
Mukherjee, A. "Middle class in Malgudi: An evocative portrayal." International Conference
on the Humanities (ICH 2018/2019), Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya,
Sri Lanka, 2018.
Djorić Francuski, Biljana. "Other-languagedness in Stories by RK Narayan, Saadat Hassan
Manto, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and
Culture 20.1 (2018): 2.