Good Essay On Reaction Paper—fiction: Short Story Forty-Five A Month

Forty-five a month by R K Narayan

As I read Forty-five a month by R K Narayan, I got interested in the storyline just after reading the first couple of lines and wanted to know why the little girl, Shanta in the story wanted to reach home at five. Once I had finished the story, I was touched by the story and the struggle of a father, Venket, torn between his duties to provide for his family, show responsibility for his work in office and take care of the simple needs of his little girl. He is angry, frustrated, unhappy and sorry at the same time with the state of affairs. I was hoping for happy ending in the story and him only consolation was the meagre increment of five rupees for the father. I am sure Venket is one of those several office-goers how are caught in the rut of life, afraid to make changes and move on. He is sacrificing quality time that he needs to spend with his family and is not brave enough to take some hard decisions.
I read the portion of the story where Venket is writing his resignation and the conversations between him and his manager. I read those lines against so as to understand the flow of the story and what was going on in the mind of the characters of the story. I thought his manager would have a change of heart and will allow him to go in time. But he is smart enough to read Venket’s mind and decides to raise his wage in the last minutes. Venket will never be able to win the situation and will probably get treated in the same way in his office with loads of work and miserly increments. He can see how others can take advantage of his weakness and situation.
I like reading simple and short stories and feel that the story has been told wonderfully buy the author and can give the message. The story could be read by any age group. The children going to school would enjoy it as well as the adults. The words are simple, and the flow of the story goes on at a steady pace and the story as well as its message could be easily understood by any. Children will relate to it well as they are well aware of the excitement and enjoyment of family outings. The grownups are well aware of situations like these in offices and will also think about spending more time with their family and loved ones.

Reference page

Narayan, R.K. (2006). Forty-five a month. In Malgudi Days (Vol. 1, p. 288). Penguin classics.