V.S. Naipaul : The Mystic Masseur.

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I have planned to focus on the main character in this book. I am also planning to express my feelings and thoughts about this character.

The book is about a great man Ganesh Ramsumair known as a great mystic all over the world and later a British representative at lake success, but when I first met him in the book he was still a struggling masseur at a time masseurs were ten a penny in Trinidad. The Mystic Masseur describes his entire life.

His struggle and transformation from a failed primary school teacher and a struggling masseur to an author, revered mystic and MBE.

As I said in the beginning this short novel was written by Mr. Naipaul and it briefly describes the life of Ganesh Ramsumair and his success story. I look at Ganesh as a good hearted, humoristic, and naive man who always looks on the bright side of life, and a man with a passion for books. Books in all different shapes and colors. I think that books had a great affect on him during the time when he studied at Queens Royal Collage in the Trinidadian capital Port of Spain.

In order to make you understand his compulsive and almost obsessive behavior of buying books, it is mentioned on page five that he had more than 1500 books in his little hut at Fuentes Groove where he lived and worked as a mystic. So it is clear that he is a very educated man and it is mostly because of his education he later reached wealth and fame.

Ganesh affected me deeply. It is touching to read about a man with visions such as Ganesh. Already before he obtained his popularity and fame he knew that his life was meant to be a success and he always believed in himself even though the people around him doubted whether he was a great intellectual or just an author who did not write any books. I am referring to page 73, where Ganesh says that he is going to write a book by himself and have it printed.

His wife who is more materialistic than Ganesh and who wants to move into a beautiful house, is trying to persuade him to take an ordinary job with a salary. Later on she even left him for a while because she thought that he was a fraud. But even though his wife left him he did not stop believing in himself, quite the opposite actually. He started to work even harder on his book and later got it printed.

The printing of the book was like a turning point for Ganesh. Because even though it did not sell that well, people on the little island started to know who he was and his family admitted him as the great person he was. This local fame made it a lot easier when Ganesh decided to change occupation into a mystic. A mystic is almost like a local doctor on Trinidad. A person who believes in methods of curing people beyond the science.

At this point Ganesh had already past his trials and I love the way he did pass them through. He never gave up and even though everything seemed hopeless he never stopped believing in himself. It reflects his personality. He is truly a man of honor and the hope was the last thing which abandoned him.

After all those trials which he handled so well Ganesh walked away with pride. He got his book printed, his wife came back to him and he was considered a great man all over the island. He finally become successful.

The whole beginning of the book approximately 70 pages were about how he managed to take himself through all the bad thing that happened, so when luck started to change and things started to go his way it was a relief both for me and for him. I felt that he deserved all the luxury and greatness that he had in the end. The rest of the book (after the turning point) was a defilation. He was risen to greatness.

But even though the book was filled with funny phrases and words e.g. names like the great belcher which made it a comedy, the end enlightened me and made me realize the price we have to pay in order to reach fame.

The end was sad and affected me deeply. As I told you in the beginning Ganesh was a very goodhearted warm and kind person. But in the end it was obvious that he had changed after he became famous.

I noticed it when one of his old patients from his masseur time he had treated with such respect saw him on the railway station, saluted and tried to give him a hug. “ Ganesh” ! he cried running towards him.

Ganesh answered coldly “G Ramsay Muir”.

The conclusion of my response is that the main character Ganesh affected me deeply. Especially when he struggled in the beginning of the book. I admired his courage in tough situations and his great self confidents (that he had) during the periods of time that things did not go so well and nobody believed in him. His goodhearted way during this tough period made me sympathize with him.

I have to admit that I occasionally felt very sorry for him. That mad...