The Financial Expert: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Financial Expert" delves into the lives of several major characters in the Indian town of Malgudi, centering on Margayya, a financially astute yet morally ambiguous businessman. Margayya, a financial consultant under a banyan tree, gradually rises to wealth as a moneylender and banker. His ambition, however, leads to personal and professional turmoil, particularly following an assault on an associate that culminates in his downfall. Other key figures include Meena, Margayya's submissive wife, who confronts her husband only when their son Balu faces dire straits, and Balu himself, who struggles with failures and ultimately contributes to his father's demise. Doctor Pal, a self-proclaimed intellectual and journalist, initially aids Margayya but later plays a pivotal role in his downfall by sowing discord and encouraging Balu's recklessness. The narrative also highlights Brinda, Balu's young wife, who faces her own challenges, and various supporting characters such as Madan Lal, the printer, and Arul Doss, the authoritative bank servant. Overall, the characters' interwoven stories reflect themes of ambition, family dynamics, and societal pressures within a changing financial landscape.
The Financial Expert: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: R. K. Narayan
First published: 1952
Genre: Novel
Locale: Malgudi, in southern India
Plot: Regional
Time: The late 1940's
Margayya, the owner of a small business, in his thirties. A wizard with numbers, crafty, and unscrupulous, Margayya earns a modest living as a financial consultant from a spot under a banyan tree in the Indian town of Malgudi. Eventually, he becomes a wealthy moneylender and banker, but when he assaults an old associate, he loses his reputation, his business, and his fortune.
Meena, Margayya's wife, his uncomprehending confidant and his scapegoat. Although she is frightened by his rages and his irrational schemes, she accepts the various changes in her fortune with docility. The only time she asserts herself is when she thinks that Margayya has driven their son Balu to suicide; then her fury and her grief frighten him into going to Madras to find Balu.
Balu, Margayya and Meena's son, who is first seen as a spoiled, uncontrollable baby. He is later a failure at school, a runaway, and even, after his marriage, a wastrel. Ironically, it is his childish destruction of his father's account book that drives Margayya from the banyan tree to a new business venture and wealth. At the end of the book, it is an attempt to stop Balu's debauchery that causes Margayya's downfall.
Dr. Pal, a self-styled journalist, author, and sociologist. A lean, confident thirty-year-old when he first appears, Dr. Pal has a seemingly intellectual patter that awes Margayya. Periodically, he turns up to direct Margayya's life. At first, his influence on Margayya is benign. It is Dr. Pal who sells him the sexually explicit book whose publication becomes the basis of Margayya's fortune; it is he who moves Margayya into the fortunately situated office and pushes him into banking; and it is he who arranges an appropriate if inaccurate horoscope so that Balu can marry the girl whom Margayya has selected. At the end of the story, however, it is Dr. Pal who encourages Balu's debauchery and who takes revenge for the assault by spreading the rumors that ruin Margayya.
Brinda, Balu's wife, a beautiful, sweet seventeen-year-old, the daughter of a man who owns a small tea estate. At first, she is as delighted with her young husband as Margayya is with her and her station. When Balu mistreats her, however, she confides in her father-in-law. These complaints lead to his attack on Dr. Pal. In the collapse of his fortunes, Margayya is comforted by the fact that Brinda's baby will now be living with him.
Madan Lal, the principal printer in Malgudi. A large, red-faced man who is aware of his own importance, he is so fascinated by the sex manual that Margayya has bought from Dr. Pal that he stops work to read it and then arranges to publish it.
Guru Raj, a dark, talkative, and polite blanket merchant, the friendofDr.Pal.HerentsanofficetoMargayya.
Arul Doss, the head servant at the Cooperative Bank. An old Christian, wrinkled, with a white mustache, he has the air of authority that derives from his uniform and his position. When he brings Margayya word that he must leave his place near the bank, Doss frightens Margayya and his clients, even though he himself laughs at Margayya's boldness.
The Inspector, a Madras policeman. A kindly man, he befriends Margayya on the train and finds the runaway Balu for him.
Sastri, Margayya's accountant. A tired old man, he occasionally remonstrates with his employer about his unkindness to customers. He has no real status, however, until Margayya entrusts to him the search for an appropriate wife for Balu.