A study of similarities and differences between Eastern and Western culture in Raja Rao's novel "The Serpent and the Rope"

Abstract

Raja Rao's The Serpent and the Rope is an autobiographically-based novel that follows a man's journey to seek truth. The book was critically acclaimed and was honored with the Sahitya Akademi Award for Literature in 1964. Its narrator, Rama, is a native of India; throughout the book, he analyzes traditions and life in his birth country and brings to light the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western cultures. Every incident or conversation that takes place in the life of the narrator is presented in the context of furthering or hindering his progress on his quest for truth and knowledge. The way the narrative is presented is as timeless as India itself, with the familiar blend of fact and fable. The novel tells the story of Rama and particularly his marriage while reflecting on the flavor and tradition of India. The novel also ruminates on themes of East meets West as Rama leaves his native India and moves to Europe. Rama is described as a kind young man who is somewhat frail because of his tubercular lungs. He has been living and studying in France and has married a French woman, Madeleine. Rama plans to finish his thesis on the Albigensian heresy and then to move back to India, bringing Madeleine with him. Early on in the novel, from the moment Rama first references his wife, the reader gets a sense that something is not right in their marriage.