In Language we read “An Astrologer’s Day” by R.K. Narayan and got a new task to tackle. To write an opinion piece on the story and to focus on:

-Characters
-Plot
-Ironic elements
-Setting in place (justifications – quotes)
-Themes

This is my opinion piece:

In the following text I will talk about the story, “An Astrologer’s Day” by R.K. Narayan:

In the beginning of the story the Astrologer is packing up and about to go home. Suddenly, Guru Nayak appears and the Astrologer convinces him to give him advice. If Guru is satisfied with that, the Astrologer demanded eight annas. So the Astrologer starts talking about how Guru was left for dead once, a knife had passed through him once. The man was liking what he was hearing. The Astrologer continues and tells him that the criminal had died four months back, run over by a lorry. When the Astrologer goes home to his wife he shows her all the money he had earned and only by that one man. Turns out, the man who had left Guru Nayak for dead was the Astrologer. He claimed that ‘a great load was gone from him that day’.

The main characters in the story are: Firstly, the Astrologer, a phoney. He tells whatever he think his customers would like to hear. He doesn’t know a thing about the profession but people still believe he is actually genuine. This makes him quite greedy. He’s also a criminal that deserves to be punished. Also, Guru Nayak, the Astrologer’s last customer of the day and victim. The Astrologer passed a knife through him and left him for dead. He comes to this town to seek revenge. Lastly, The Astrologer’s Wife, a kind and moral being. She is shocked to find out her husband almost murdered a man.

In this story there is an ironic element you can’t miss. It’s ironic how Guru Nayak is sitting right next to the person who did him harm and he doesn’t realize it actually is him. If he ever found out, the Astrologer would be in a huge problem.

 The setting is not actually said in the story but due to the coin (Rupee) mentioned in this text, we can tell where the Astrologer works and lives. The words “cowrie shells”, “jaggery” (a coarse dark brown sugar made in India by evaporation of the sap of palm trees), “pyol” (porch in English) are very Indian-like as well. And lastly, the author is Indian so that could be another hint at the setting in place.

The two main themes I found in this story are ‘crime and guilt’. Crime and guilt can be linked with the Astrologer. He committed a crime while drunk and left a man for dead. He later feels guilty and we know that because of this quote: “After dinner, sitting on the pyol, he told her, ‘Do you know a great load is gone from me today? I thought I had the blood of a man on my hands all these years. That was the reason why I ran away from home, settled here and married you. He is alive.’” Here we see he is very relieved and glad he didn’t actually kill a man. The other theme is ‘human greed’. The Astrologer is actually very greedy. He’s not even a real Astrologer. He just tells made up things to people and they actually think his words are ‘wise’. It seems he only cares about the money and not helping others.

1) Describe the astrologer. Do you sympathize with him?

The astrologer is a phony, a fake. He’s greedy and a criminal. Even though he didn’t actually kill Guru Nayak, he still left him for dead. I don’t sympathize with him because I think it was cowardly of him to run away from his town instead of helping the man he stabbed. He pushed him into a well and left him to die. Although he was drunk, he eventually realized what he had done and he just ran away and did nothing about it. When he and Guru talk, he even lies and tells him that the criminal had been dead for 4 months. Another cowardly act.

2) What ironic elements can you find in the story? Explain.

An ironic situation I found was when the astrologer and Guru are talking very naturally just like two strangers chatting. The irony here is that Guru is talking about wanting to seek revenge and making the criminal pay when he’s right in front of him.

3) What is the setting in place of the story? How do you know? Justify your answer with a quote. 

The setting in place is in India. In the story the Rupee (the Indian coin) is mentioned, the author is Hindu, as well as the fact that there are quite a few common words used in India like pyol, which is ‘porch’ in English.

4) Explain the meaning of the following terms, illustrate them and create hyperlinks.

– Gleam: A brief beam or flash of light.

– To be well disposed: disposed to be kindly, friendly or sympathetic.

– Paraphernalie: The articles used in a particular activity; equipment

– To look careworn: showing the effect of grief or anxiety

– To feel piqued:  feeling of wounded pride.

– Bluff: To impress, deter, or intimidate by a false display of confidence.

– To hoot: The cry of an owl

– Cheroot: A cigar with square-cut ends.

– To mutter a few incantations: the chanting or uttering of words purporting to havemagical power.

– To peep: To look through the key hole of a door spying

– A punch of: (what your hand can hold) of something

– Jaggery: a coarse brown sugar made in the East Indies from the sap of the date palm

– Pyol: porch

In Language we’ve been learning about how to use reported speech. Our teacher recorded a Vocaroo with a dialogue we had to report using introductory verbs:

Pilar apologized for arriving late. She begged not to  be punished. She promised she wouldn’t do it again. Pilar explained she was having so much fun, she didn’t realize what time it was.

She also asked us to make a dialogue of our own so one of my classmates could report it: