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RATAN RATHORE - AS AN APPRRENTICE PRESENTED BY ARUN JOSHI
Gopal K. R.
Abstract:
The Apprentice is chronologically the third novel by Arun Joshi. The novel, depicts the pitiable plight of the contemporary man who is roaming without any norm, direction, purpose in the society and very confused too. It is a confessional novel where in the narrator-protagonist Ratan Rathore, unfolds the story of his life in the form of an internal-monologue. Ratan Rathor, who is both the hero and the anti- hero of the novel, probes deeper into his inner life and exposes the perfidy, chicanery, cowardice and corruption of his own character at the mock-heroic level. The action of the novel takes place in India, though there are references to the British rule. The social scenario of the post-independence period becomes the background of the novel. He is nevertheless always haunted by morbid fear of losing his job and suffers from keen desire for getting promotion and an intense preoccupation with work. He is almost invariably in a high strung mental condition. He has a powerful instinct for survival through defiance.