Critically evaluate character sketch of Hori.

     “Godan” is considered as the best novel of Prem Chand. The main theme of the novel is the exploitation of the peasants and their inability to pay their debts. Here different characters represent different walks of life. He presents characters with rural and urban background. Through the rural characters, he presents the Indian peasants of the pre-independence period with their problems of poverty, starvation, poor healthy, misery, humiliation and death. In the matter of characterization, Prem Chand is a progressive writer. In his treatment of rural characters and rural life and not only presents the bitter realities of life, but he also exhibits his progressive attitude. He neither idealizes his characters nor romanticizes them. He simple presents them as they are.

Unheroic Hero,

          Hori is the Unheroic hero of Godan. He is the poor and helpless Indian peasant. He becomes as easy victim in the hands of greedy and money-lenders. It is ironic and tragic that the peasant whole tills the dry and hard lands, sows seeds but ca not harvest the crop because the hungry money-lenders assert their claim on the ripe harvest. Here Hori is such a victim of this cruel and heartless system. He knows well that he has been wronged and exploited, yet he is so much afraid of tradition and customs that he has no courage to move towards modernity or change.

As a family-Lover:-

          Hori is a family loving father. He is an affectionate father, sensible and feelingful husband, a true brother and a generous father in laws. When Gob  was a small child, he did often worry about his nourishment as a Gobar didn’t get milk to drink, BY these time his Sona and Rupa, grow into youth, he worries about heir marriages and finding proper suitor like an affection ect. He becomes angry to the children who work under the not sun in his father. He doesn’t tell anything about his cow’s death and his brother Hira’s cruel act of giving poison to a cow. Hori is a husband who drinks sorrow silently without uttering a world to his family members.

Religious-God-fearing man:-      

          Hori is a flat character of the novel. He is a conservative farmer and religious-god-fearing man. He does not exhibit much change in his life. He is used to a familiar way value. He is a god-fearing person with a blind faith in religious authority. The novelist presents his character as simple and innocent. Hori submits to all kinds of exploitation by the rich. He has n unshaken faith in the destiny. He makes his life miserable by his blind obedience to orthodox religions beliefs. Thus he seems like the hero of Dostoevsky’, to be “Under the curse of saintliness”. This tradition bough poor saint has no capacity to revolt against tradition. His philosophy is: “It is God who creates the high and the lower. One comes into wealth after a lot of penance. It’s the fruit of the deed of our past life. We sowed nothing and we have nothing to reap.”

          On the matter of Gobar and Jhunia, he has one again metaphysical reflection when he is led to panchyat. He expresses his faith in panchyat.

The hero, Hori says, “It is the voice of God that speaks through the Panches, but what is written must happen. Nobody quarrels with Fate”.

His ambition to  get a cow:-

          Hori is an ambitious, and his ambition is very simple, strange and unusual. He as novelist says, has no ambition to live on Bank interest or buying land of  agriculture, these things are too big to little  heart. He wants to have a cow of his own. He is Mr. Biswas of Naipaul work “A House for Mr. Biswas. He is too poor to buy a cow for family is an unattainable thing for his. He has all the love and passion for this idea to buy a cow. He considered it as proud possession a matter statue in faming and village. He has intense desire to purchase a cow. While his conversation with Bhola, we can trace Hori’s dream of buying cow and its reason. For buying a Cow he goes to Bhola and sympathies his loneliness living is isolation as  a widower and gets a cow from him with the coming of a cow to his house, his zeal-test of living raises. But his own brothers Hira, Kill the cow with a poison. It is a sorrowful even in life. From this event problems and struggle begin to come in his hose. At the time of his own death he is asked to donate ‘a cow’ to a Brahmin. Thus His ambition dream are never fulfilled.

A Large- Hearted man/ Hori’s love for Hira:-

          Hori was a large-hearted man. He could forgive the greatest offences done to him. His brother, Hira poisoned the cow and ran away from his house. He knew it for certain that Hira had done the offence. Hori had suspicion when he was Hira at about eleven o’clock near his house. Yet Hori tried to save the honour of Hira. He requested to the Police Inspector not to search Hira House. He beat his wife Dhaniya who wanted to announce to the whole village that Hira had killed the cow. He even went to the extent of placing his hand on Gobar’s head to swear that he gad not seen Hira near the cow’s through. This shows his love for Hira.

                                    

Hori a representative of Indian farmers:-

          Godan is a tragedy of Indian peasantry. Hori, the hero is the representative of Indian peasantry. He has blind faith in age-old traditions and religious beliefs. He is the embodiment of ideas and selfless service, He is so much tradition-bund that he can never stand against the exploitation by the rich. Through his life, he has been exploited and wronged by the money-lenders, but he bears all the injustice and exploitation silently. His son Gobar, sis fin favour of a radical change in society and he appears as the representative of change and modern value. Prem Chand says, “Tyranny at least creates as spirit of revolt in man makes him conscious of his rights.

          Like a common Indian pleasant, Hori is brought up in an atmosphere of the rigid social setup where orthodox religion beliefs dominate their life – style. In this context, the helplessness and sufferings of Indian peasantry unable to stand against the powerful setup which constitute one of the leading theme in “Godan”. Thus Hori presents the recurrent life story of Indian peasant. His life is tale of helplessness and suffering. He never gets relief from pain and suffering. Throughout the novel, he suffers and suffers without and hope of redemption.

His tragic death; a grandeur episode and of life:-

          Through out the novel, Hori doesn’t show any resist or words of struggle and opposition. He remains the roadside victim under the adverse circumstance. He cherishes the ideal of sacrifice in the novel. He dies in harshness. In psychological terms he becomes a victim of the molten interplay of Eros and Thanatos. Hori works hard beyond his capacity and his deal wish Thanatos of a helpless farmer ultimately leads to his ruin.  When his son Gobar comes from Lucknow and asks his father to let him handle the situation. Hori gets annoyed wit him and considers it a sing against his sense of dharma and urges his son to leave him as such . This is the greatest irony in his life that he struggled throughout his life to buy a cow but now in his death, a cow has to given in charity to a Brahmin like Dattadeen. Hori has a dream of owning a cow and in his moments, he felt sorry tat he can not offer a cow to a Brahmin. Thus his life has been as universal tale of helplessness and misery.

Conclusion:-

          In portraying the character of Hori Premchand’s Malti-aim is to present society with hollow ideals. An individual is an indivisible part of such a society. Hori remains in the memory of the reads as the representative of the Indian peasantry. The greatness of soul reveals  in the character of a small farmer makes him  an unheoric hero.