Crime and Punishment by R.K.Narayan

This blog task assigned by Megha madam.

Exploring the Dynamic Roles of Teacher and Student: R.K. Narayan’s Crime and Punishment in Conversation with Hard Times and Dead Poets Society.

R.K. Narayan’s Crime and Punishment: A Microcosmic View of Education and Control

Published as part of An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories, Narayan’s Crime and Punishment is a deceptively simple narrative. It focuses on a young schoolteacher hired by a wealthy family to tutor their spoilt child. The teacher, himself meek and financially dependent, is constantly humiliated and ordered around by the boy’s parents, particularly the domineering mother. Despite his qualifications, the teacher is forced to endure daily insults, perform chores beyond his role, and teach an unmotivated child.

The turning point comes when, out of frustration, the teacher slaps the boy for lying about his homework. Fearing dismissal, he is terrified when the child threatens to report him. However, in a twist, the boy lies to his mother to protect the teacher, saying he fell and hurt himself. The teacher is overwhelmed—not just by guilt, but by the unexpected affection or at least complicity that the boy shows.

Major Themes in Narayan’s Story:

Power and Powerlessness: The teacher holds academic authority but is socially powerless. This tension mirrors colonial hierarchies—educated Indians placed in subordinate roles within oppressive structures.

Punishment and Compassion: The slap represents a breakdown in rational authority, revealing the emotional and ethical dilemmas of disciplining a child.

Role Reversal and Mutual Dependence: The boy, initially the passive subject, becomes the protector. The teacher, though adult and learned, is infantilized by his social circumstances.

This nuanced portrayal of the teacher-student relationship provides fertile ground for comparison with two other seminal works: Dickens’ Hard Times and the film Dead Poets Society.

Novel:

Dickens’ Hard Times: The Industrialization of Learning

Charles Dickens’ Hard Times (1854) is a scathing critique of utilitarian education. Set in the fictional Coketown, the novel centers on Thomas Gradgrind, a schoolmaster obsessed with facts and rigid discipline. Gradgrind’s pedagogical model suffocates imagination, empathy, and individuality—qualities vital for a meaningful life.

Just like Narayan’s teacher, Gradgrind operates within a system that values conformity over creativity. But while Narayan critiques the social class structure, Dickens takes aim at industrial capitalism’s dehumanizing effect on education. The children in Gradgrind’s school, like Sissy Jupe, are reduced to vessels for data, stripped of emotional and moral development.

Connecting Themes:

Authoritarian Pedagogy: Both Gradgrind and the parents in Narayan’s story see education as a tool for control.

Loss of Human Connection: The systems in both stories diminish the relational, empathetic side of teaching.

Rebellion Through Compassion: Sissy in Hard Times, like the boy in Crime and Punishment, undermines the system not through confrontation but quiet resistance and emotional intelligence.

Movie:

Dead Poets Society: Reclaiming the Soul of Education

Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989) flips the model entirely by presenting a teacher who resists conformity. John Keating (played by Robin Williams) teaches at Welton Academy, a conservative boys’ school in 1950s America. Through poetry, he urges students to "seize the day" and think for themselves.

While Keating represents the ideal of a liberating teacher—antithetical to Gradgrind and the powerless tutor in Narayan’s story—the film still explores the dangers of transgressing institutional boundaries. When tragedy strikes, Keating is blamed and dismissed, exposing the system’s intolerance toward radical pedagogy.

Connecting Themes:

Institution vs. Individual: Like Narayan’s teacher, Keating is ultimately at the mercy of those in power.

Student Agency: Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society mirrors the boy in Narayan’s tale—they both demonstrate that students are not passive recipients of knowledge, but moral agents.

Emotional Education: All three works suggest that true learning involves empathy, imagination, and moral growth—not just factual knowledge.

Cross-Textual Reflections:

Theme	Crime and Punishment (Narayan)	Hard Times (Dickens)	Dead Poets Society (Film)
Educational Power Structures	Social hierarchy dominates teacher	Utilitarianism suppresses creativity	Traditional system resists reform
Role of the Student	Becomes emotionally empowered	Dehumanized by rote learning	Gains voice through inspiration
Moral Complexity	Guilt, compassion, discipline in flux	Morality sacrificed for facts	Emotions central to learning journey
Teacher's Identity	Oppressed and conflicted	Enforcer of oppressive ideology	Catalyst for transformation but scapegoated

Conclusion: Rethinking Education Through Literature and Film

The power of Crime and Punishment lies in its quiet realism—how a brief, personal encounter opens up questions about authority, ethics, and the human heart within education. Paired with the brutal critique of mechanized learning in Hard Times and the romantic humanism of Dead Poets Society, Narayan’s story serves as a poignant middle path: one where the teacher is neither villain nor hero but a figure caught in social contradictions.

Together, these works remind us that education is not merely about the transfer of information. It is a moral and emotional enterprise, shaped by relationships and systems. When these systems dehumanize either the teacher or the student—or both—the cost is not just academic failure, but a failure of empathy, imagination, and dignity.

Reference:

• Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Edited by Fred Kaplan, Norton Critical Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.
• Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos, 30th anniversary ed., Bloomsbury Academic, 2000.
• Narayan, R. K. “Crime and Punishment.” An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories, Indian Thought Publications, 1947.
• Schulman, Tom, screenwriter. Dead Poets Society. Directed by Peter Weir, performances by Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke, Touchstone Pictures, 1989.

Thank You !!!