The colonial education of the middle class

The colonial education of the middle class people then tended to createRosetta Stone V3 ental colonization?among them: nglishlanguage and literature instruction played a key role in naturalizing British values?(Boehmer 1995:169). By the early 20th century, students from the colonies were heavily influenced by the excellence of the English language and literature. This factor seems to account for the yncretic?nature of the postcolonial society, which cannot be compartmentalised into either a purely traditional or a purely alien. Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin (1989: 110) contend, he construction of ure?cultural value is always conducted within a radically altered dynamic of power relations? Therefore, a postcolonial reading of R. K. Narayan works, especially essays with regard to his attitude to the English language would likely to reveal that he endeavours to formulate a synthesis between the Indian element and the colonial one. The colonial education that Narayan received might have influenced his views on the English language since in the classroom Narayan had to see English as the first language, his native language being a second language (Walsh 1982). English was the most prestigiousRosetta Stone Japanese subject due to political, administrative, social, economic and scientific reasons. Although Tamil, the language of Narayan province, and Sanskrit, the classical language of India, were taught in the school, they were considered inferior in status and provided occasions for jokes. Narayan (2001b: 464) admits this in his essay nglish in India?But in the classroom neither of these two languages was given any importance; they were assigned to the most helpless among the teachers, the pundits who were treated as a joke by the boys, since they taught only the econd language? the first being English as ordained by Lord Macaulay when he introduced English education in India.Besides encountering textbooks in English in his school and college, Narayan extensively read English literature outside his syllabus. His father library at home and his school library were crammed with books on English literature (Narayan 2001b). Narayan took the full opportunity of the libraries and enthusiastically read Scott, Dickens, Rider Haggard, Marie Corelli, Moliere, Pope, Marlowe, Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy and others (Narayan 1995). He was also in touch with the current literary scene through various magazines such as Little Folks, Nineteenth Century and After, Cornhill, Strand Magazine, Mercury, TheRosetta Stone Spanish Spain Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement and The Manchester Guardian. The cumulative impact of this massive reading of the English literature was that he became very well versed in the English language.