BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

R. K. Narayan was a prominent writer of early Indian literature in English language. His Brother
R.K. Laxman was a cartoonist and had illustrated for many of R.K.Narayan's works as well.
Narayan is most widely known for the creation of the an imagery town called
"Malgudi". His book named "The Bachalor of Arts" which was printed with the help of his mentor
Graham Greene and was a huge success. Another of his book called "Swami and friends" also
became a classic masterpiece. The language that he used in his writing is so simple and easy to
understand and is read by both, old and young alike. Also known as the William Faulkner of India,
Narayan has written in several styles and genres. His famous novels are "The English Teacher",
"Waiting for the Mahatma", "The financial expert", "The vendor of sweets" and "The Guide". "A
write's nightmare" is a collection of essays by Narayan. He also wrote a travelogue called, "The
Emerald route". So, R.K.Narayan domain as a writer was a vast one.

SUMMARY
R. K.Narayan's essay "Beauty and the beast" was published in his collection of essays called
"Next Sunday". In this essay, while talking about the various types of beauty competitions, the
writer shows the reader the reality of those competitions. Narayan raises his voice about the ill
effects of such competitions on an individual's mind as well as the minds of a society as a whole.
The girls from a very young age are taught that they have to be beautiful and that is a very
strange idea to the author because the standards of beauty change with the change in time and
the change in place, so the definition of beauty
keeps varying. One thing that the writer makes clear is that no one should be the judge of other
person's beauty as the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. What looks beautiful to one
person will not look beautiful to another. He gives example of a child. Other people might think
that there is nothing special about a child but to its parents that child will be the most beautiful
child in the world. The author also feels that a camera cannot capture the beauty of a person as
there are many people who look more beautiful in real life than they look on a photograph. So a
person's beauty cannot be judged from the photograph, it will be very unfear. Narayan is
criticizing the very idea of beauty competitions and he has treated this idea with his usual
element of humour and satire when he says in the end that there should also be an ugly pageant
along with a beauty pageant.
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS:
Q) What do you think is the main theme of the essay " Beauty and the beast" by R.K.Narayan?
Ans) The Main theme of the essay "Beauty and the beast" by R.K. Narayan is the objectification
of human beings especially women. When women are judged on the basis of beauty standards
that are almost unachievable, they are objectified and it has unhealthy results because when a
society objectifies its members, its heart leadens. Objectification will further make people
insensitive towards one another and they will not even realize it because it will be conditioned
deep into their mentality and they will take this attitude as normal.

Q) Do you find the idea of beauty pageants patriarchal according to the author of "Beauty and
the beast"?
Ans: The very idea of beauty pageants is patriarchal. As R.K.Narayan says in his essay
"Beauty and the beast", the beauty queens keep on changing on a yearly, monthly and even a
weekly basis. The women are told to be beautiful and graceful from a very young age. These girls
work hard a lot in order to win beauty competitions. When they win, their happiness just like their
title is quite momentary. First od all, these young girls are pressurized to fulfill the standards of
beauly set up by the society, when they are able to achieve it, hey realize that it is not enough
and that all their hardwork had been for nothing. They are used and replaced like a product and
they are objectified by the society which is patriarchal just like the beauty standards imposed on
them. Hence, beauty pageants are the tool to make the women a prisoner of patriarchy.
Q) Why does the writer in the essay "Beauty and the beast" say that it is not fair to judge
someone's beauty?
Ans: According to R.K.Narayan in the essay "Beauty and the beast" no one can be the judge of
someone else's beauty because it will be very unfair. He makes his argument valid by giving the
reason of ambiguity of beaty standards. The standards of beauty change from time to time and
place to place, they vary, they are not universal and they are very fluidic.
What is considered beautiful in one part of the world might be considered ugly in the other part
of the world. The author gives example of the nose ring and says that a nose ring can be
considered popular in the southern part of India but not so in the northern part of India.
What is considered beautiful in the present might have been considered ugly in the past.
So, the beauty standards are not stable and they put their followers under tremendous pressure.
The writer also gives example of a photograph and says that a beautiful person might look not so
beautiful on camera. Hence, beauty should not be judged from the beauty tandards Or the
photographs.
@ What according to you is the importance of the title?
Ans) The title of the essay "Beauty and the beast" by R.K. Narayan takes its title from a very
popular fairy tale by the same name. That fairy tale is about a beautiful girl who falls in love with
a beast and then the beast transforms into a very handsome prince. In this essay, the husband
find the beauty of his wife when he gets used to her appearance. It is because he is told to see
the girl once and decide whether he wants to marry her or not. Even if the ugliness of the wife
was hidden beneath the ornamentation, the husband is conditioned to believe that marriage is
was hidden beneath the ornamentation, the husband is conditioned to believe that marriage is
forever. Hence, he will start finding beauty in the ugly features of his wife. So, in this case
something ugly transforms into something beautiful as well. It is also because of the fact that
beauty lies in the eyes of beholder and with time partners fall in love with one another and see
beauty and nothing else. Another way of interpreting the title is that the beauty and the ugliness
which are the two extremes are placed side by side. As the standards of beauty are slippery, that
is non-clear, what is beautiful to one person will appear ugly to another person. Hence, what is
beautiful is also ugly. Both of them are the two sides of the same coin.
Q) What do you think about the writing style of the writer ?
Ans) The language used by R.K. Narayan in the essay "Beauty and the beast" Is very simple and
can be easily understood. The literary devices used are also limited in number. The author is
against the setting up of beauty standards and is not in favour of beauty pageants. The tone of
this essay is satirical. The title itself is quite satirical. In order to enforce satire, the element of
humour is added when the author states that ugly pageants should be organized as well and
their sponsor can be a sweater making company. Just as cosmetics claim to make one beautiful,
a drape company will claim to make one "look like a tub" or a train journey claiming to transform
one into an ogre. The point of view in this essay is the third person point of view and it is quite
neutral. Of course the author is not in favour of beauty pageants but he gives the reasons and
justifies himself.
Q Do you think that in the modern world beauty has been overly commercialized? Present your
point of view by giving justifications from the essay "Beauty and the beast" by R.K. Narayan.
Ans) Commercialization as well as industrialization of beauty is a modern phenomenon which has
been pointed out by R.K. Narayan in his essay "Beauty and the beast". In the essay Narayan talks
about how the standards of beauty are set by the cosmetics industry. Many of the times those
standards of beauty are nearly unattainable by the young women targeted by the cosmetic
industry. The main aim is to make the young women feel ugly so that they would buy the beauty
products introduced in the market. That is one of the reasons why the cosmetic companies
endorse the beauty pageants and not only that they also make the winning girl their brand
ambassador for a short time until another girl wins the next time. Due to this reason the author
makes fun of the beauty competitions and says that an ugly pageant should also take place
endorsed by sweater making company or a drape making company with promises to make one
look as ugly as possible. Another thing that the author points out is that in order to keep going
the cosmetic companies need to keep introducing new trends.
One trend enters the market as soon as the older trend dies down. The Ider trend dies down after
a fer weeks or perhaps a few months in the market and the new trend will also pass with the blink
of the eye. This is very much a modern phenomenon called fast fashion. New trends come and
replace the old ones with the speed of light. If the cosmetic industry will not maintain this
replace the old ones with the speed of light. If the cosmetic industry will not maintain this
mechanism of its working, it will die down. On the top of that, it needs to make the consumer feel
that the consumer is not beautiful enough. This has to be done constantly so that the consumer
who is mainly a young girl, would keep on buying products that she would not even need but
would buy only because the cosmetic industry introduced it. This is how humans are reduced not
only to objects but also to a mere money minting machine in the commercialized modern world.
Q) Comment on the ending of the essay "Beauty and the beast" by R.K. Narayan?
Ans) R.K.Narayan in his essay "Beauty and the Beast" talks about how commercialization and
industrialization keeps on shifting the standards of beauty in the modern world. In the entire
essay he talks about the various types of beauty standards, how they vary from place to place as
well as from time to time. He also talks about the impact of these kinds of standards on the
minds of young women who are the main targets of the cosmetic industry, though he does make
it clear that in reality beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty of a human is such a thing
which cannot even be captured by a modern gadget such as a camera.
Camera can capture a human but not necessarily his or her beauty. Beauty cannot be captured
by measuring tapes and weighing machines. The essay talks about a serious theme throughout.
Towards the end, it becomes funny and satirical. The author says that if there are beauty
pageants held all over the world that celebrate the beauty of the women, then there should be
ugly pageants occurring as well and the brand ambassadors of those pageants will be drape
making company and sweater making company that will promise to make the participants as ugly
as their products, promising to give them a bulbous nose and a tapering forehead. By doing this
the author is poking fun at not only the beauty pageants but also their sponsors. The end is
written in such a way to evoke humour. The style of satire is realized towards the end but it
actually runs throughout the essay when Narayan talks about how women at an early age start
preparing for the competition. Even if they win such a hard game after such an intense hardwork,
they don't own the title for long. This just how the things are and this is just how the cosmetic
industry want things to continue to be.
Q) How does the author introduce the theme of marriage in this essay?
Ans) The author has introduced the theme of marriage by giving the theme of beauty pageants
and ultimately the idea of beauty to the reader. The author made it clear that the beauty lies in
the eyes of the beholder. It is such a thing which varies according to time and place and it is such
a thing which cannot even be captured by a camera. A young man when sees the picture of his
wife to be on a photograph might think her pretty not knowing that humans sometimes are not
what they might appear on camera. When he goes to see her in person with the family, he is
unable to look at her because of the shyness imposed by the culture and society. He looks at her
through the corner of his eye as a result of which he sees her in bits and pieces and he says yes
to the marriage. It is only after the marriage that he actually looks at his wife with a complete
view. What he thought was beautiful might appear ugly. But with time he falls in love with her and
view. What he thought was beautiful might appear ugly. But with time he falls in love with her and
finds beauty in her. In this essay the reader gets an idea of a happily ever after marriage as the
man does not seem to regret his decision. Even a beastly wife turns beautiful to him after
marriage.