LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:1 January 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Teacher’s Dilemma in Githa Hariharan’s Novels
The Ghosts of Vasu Master and In Times of Siege

G. Kayal Vizhi, M.A., M.Phil.

The Teachers in the Novel

The role of the teacher is often formal and ongoing. Teaching is a social process and to define it is very difficult, because teaching is influenced by the political and social backgrounds of the country. In Githa Hariharan’s novels The Ghosts of Vasu Master and In Times of Siege, the central characters Vasu Master and Shiv Murthy play the roles of teachers. The Ghosts of Vasu Master begins with the retirement of Vasu Master. Haunted with the question “Who am I?” he is not sure about himself, knowing not what he is and what he has to do. As his professional career comes to an end, he begins to realize that he was a teacher. However, his retirement starts a new beginning for him, to know himself. It becomes a search for his own identity.

Tales Told by the Teacher

The novel is filled with the tales told by Vasu and their eloquence and meaning lead the way to understanding the teacher. Every tale has a parabolic significance, and it is not directly stated. This is the peculiarity of the novel. Vasu Master’s memories haunt him like ghosts. His abnormality was that he was seeing the ghosts of his father, wife, grandmother and many others. Since he leads his life in isolation, these ghosts disturb him. Breing a person of split personality, mentally and physically, he was a problem to himself. He often says, “I am not sure what different pieces have to do with one another, I am digressing” (GVM 17). As a man he seems to be a failure as he fails to maintain relationship, and as a teacher after retirement he faces frustration.

Process of Self-Discovery

The process of Vasu Master’s self-discovery is speeded up by the arrival of Mani. At first, Vasu thought that there could be no change in Mani. This pessimistic approach shows that the teachers are not honest in their profession and are not ready to face the modern challenges and this is perhaps because of their individual problems. In a counselling session, it is Vasu who suggests that Mani should be admitted somewhere in a good school. This is indicative of Vasu’s own limitations and ignorance. But Vasu Master after his tutoring of Mani realizes that there are changes possible and Mani is better than he had ever expected. A teacher like Vasu teaches the same class for forty plus years and is unable to read the psyche of his students. It shows that he lacks the knowledge of educational psychology. He himself accepts, “I had spent a lifetime with boys like these and I still had to imagine what went on in their heads” (GVM 2).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

G. Kayalvizhi, M.A., M.Phil.
Department of English
The Standard Fireworks Rajaratnam College For Women,
Sivakasi – 626123
Tamilnadu
India
kayalvizhiraja@yahoo.com
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