________________
The Collective Worlds of John Steinbeck, Anantha Murthy and Raja Rao
317
already thrives. The title, Samskara, refers to a concept that is central to Hinduism. Apart from the most common meaning being 'a rite of passage or life-cycle ceremony' the word also connotes "refinement', 'preparation and the realizing of past perceptions'. All these meanings contribute to an unraveling of the issues taken up here. Refinement would imply ridding society and self of ungainly thought, notion and action. A realization of past perceptions is suggestive of a memory that is both collective and individual. The thematic concern of all four novels, it may be emphasized, is that they all wish to "redo" the structure" of society and this is undoubtedly the most dominant if not only intention of the writers here. In Kanthapura it is Gandhi's ideals and teachings that border on the divine and have a "real" spokesman for the simple village people in the character of Moorthy. As critics have already pointed out, Gandhi ceases to be a figure in flesh and blood here in this novelit is the spirit of his ideals that bears wings and enters the souls of men so much so that he transcends all fleshly barriers to become a living "myth". Gandhi is too massive and spirit-like to hold down to fit into a single entity. In this manner, Gandhi becomes a living emblem of the Indian people just as Sir Arthur and his Knights were an emblem for the spirit of England, and just as Danny and his friends become the desired spirit of Steinbeck's American society, not to forget Mack and the boys of Cannery Row' either. For Steinbeck or Raja Rao or the author of Samskara, life is an amalgam of so many diverse creatures, big or small, strong or weak. In Cannery Row this conviction is stated very simply yet very effectively:
"Our father who art in nature, who has given the gift of survival to the coyote, the common brown rat, the English sparrow, the house fly and the moth, must have a great and overwhelming love for no-goods and blots of the town and bums, and Mack and the boys. Virtues and graces and laziness and zest. Our father who art in nature" (CR 387).
In keeping with the spirit of the main theme of the novels we find a simplicity and directness of language that surpasses any affectation and thus effectively tells the story of human life that should be lived with dignity, fearlessness, and take the maximum of what Nature has to offer. Nature's role in these writings cannot be understated. In fact, it would be an offence to not to refer to it again and again as a force that guides and controls, teaches and nurtures all human and living creatures alike. Nature also becomes the primeval setting for any ideal human society. Not that the urban scene is decried, but the writers do exhibit a kind of uneasiness in their depictions of the town life which becomes a site for real evil. To come to another point of concern, Steinbeck is very clear about what is really good and evil although it is unconventional. Tortilla Flat depicts the ideal state of human society where stealing and going against one's word is not a sin at all. In fact, one human being feels free to take something from another if he so requires. However, to come back to the nature descriptions of all the novels under discussion, it may be observed that each writer transfuses the soul of the living consciousness of men with that of nature without demarcation or a sense of separatedness. Together, that is man and nature, can intermingle with the forces of change so that one stage of life melts into another without sting or shock. This aspect is beautifully brought out in Cannery Row in the following manner. As afternoon came down on Monterey “as imperceptibly as age comes to a happy man," Pilon and Pablo "sat under a pink rose of Castile in Torelli's yard and quietly drank wine and let the afternoon grow on them as gradually as hair grows". In the evenings they "sat about the stove and discussed the doings of Tortilla Flat with the lazy voices of fed Gods." The descriptions seem to tumble out of nowhere and yet everywhere. Again in Samskara when Praneshacharya enters the dark layers of the forest, his being soars and he experiences a oneneness with the universe that he
