Gita Mehta, one of the best-known authors of Indian literature, is the author of the novel “A River Sutra ”. One of the main characteristics of Mehta's work is his ability to explore and explore human psychology and its limits, with the aim of communicating an overall or moral message to the reader. To achieve this, the author introduces a unique and interesting technique based on interconnected framed stories, where each of them has their own personal conflict regarding love, desire and family. Furthermore, this article seeks to study and compare both “The Story of the Monk” and “The Story of the Master” by connecting them and developing the meaning of family in each of them, but more specifically, to demonstrate the balance between personal attachment and detachment. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, regarding the theme of detachment, “The Monk’s Story” presents an internal conflict between family values ​​with duty and wealth. Being the son of a wealthy merchant, the monk has always been afforded the opportunity for luxury and privilege. However, he never found himself satisfied or completely satisfied by this. It was when the character was finally able to see the hunger and poverty in the world that he realized the impact money has on his life and how it causes impartiality between his family and his relationships. Everyone around him expects him to follow his father's business and become another rich man who will continue to spend instead of investing in a better world. This unfortunate event clarifies the monk's ideas and makes him understand that wealth has completely taken over and replaced the role and values ​​of the family. Additionally, the monk's personal detachment is seen throughout the chapter, but a great explanation of the character's honest thoughts can be seen in this quote: "For the first time... he hates violence more." (Mehta, 1993, p. .25-26). Here the excellent description and diction underline the monk's opinion and point of view towards the life he lives, revealing a sense of disappointment and discontent. Likewise, Gita Mehta chooses this protagonist to make the narrative reliable, since he is the only one who can completely communicate the idea and its meaning. Furthermore, the theme of detachment in “The Teacher's Story” can be similarly contrasted with the previous story. . Master Mohan's character finds himself demotivated and despondent towards his family, due to the fact that his wife and children only care about wealth, eradicating any possibility of living in a loving and caring environment. This situation is the product of a past economic event, in which Master Mohan's wife did not receive her father's death inheritance, bringing great anger and disagreement into the marriage. As much as the protagonist wanted, he could no longer provide money by exploiting his true talent and passion, music, due to his severe tuberculosis, forcing him to become a teacher and give music lessons. This business could not provide the lifestyle his wife and children wanted, making him a daily victim of verbal abuse from people who should have loved him unconditionally. Due to his family's materialism, Master Mohan no longer has the patience nor care for them, causing him to enter a desperate state that would lead to complete emotional detachment. Unfortunately he no longer had the love or support of a family; no glimmer of hope to stop him from committing suicide and ending his life. Forillustrate his hateful lifestyle, in chapter four: “Prevented by pride… shut up.” (Mehta, 1993, p. 56-57) the author decides to use the omniscient narrator of Tariq Mia to tell the story, as he is attracted and understanding of the verisimilitude of human life. Furthermore, Mehta decides to use long sentences and rich vocabulary to infiltrate the reader's psyche and make him analyze, discuss and compare the circumstances between the monk and Master Mohan. On the other hand, after both characters accepted the separation from their families, they now had this void within them that could only be filled by the true passions that their respective relatives and the desire for money had kept locked away for years. In the case of “The Monk's Story,” the monk did not feel entirely satisfied with his family's beliefs and values, until he was finally able to reveal his true self through the power of faith and religion. He found the attachment he was looking for in Jainism, a religion that gave him the ability to be who he truly wanted to be while conserving and caring for everything around him. Furthermore, he sees that life is not a smooth path but full of difficulties and pains, and instead of rejecting it, he embraces its flaws and accepts it exactly as it is, giving him the opportunity to choose his path in life. A universal phrase that comprehensively summarizes this whole story is the one that the author gives us at the beginning of the chapter: "I have only loved one thing in my life". (Mehta, 1993, p. 14). Here we can implicitly deduce that everything the monk had received in his life had not mattered as much as the fact that he could finally be with himself throughout Jainism, the only side of himself that he had truly loved. By using simple, concise sentences like this, Mehta allows the reader to have a more personal interpretation towards the text, creating a greater connection and impact between the story and its audience. In opposition to the kind of alternative attachment that “The Story of the Monk” has with religion, “The Story of the Master” offers a new affectionate connection to the most symbolic element of the tale: music. As previously mentioned, Master Mohan had a deep love for music, but due to his illness he had to leave much of it behind. Surprisingly, the teacher reconnects and finds his new family in the young character of Imrat, a blind boy with a hard life but with an amazing, angelic voice. Likewise, the teacher and the boy quickly develop a legendary bond and quickly gain fame and money together, giving Master Mohan the greatest and most rewarding feeling of happiness of his entire life. Just like the monk, Master Mohan becomes the person he always wanted to be and finds himself in the child, connecting all his buried emotions to his longing and burning dream. To elaborate the deep relationship between the two characters, Gita Mehta uses powerful and descriptive adjectives for the reader to visualize the scene, for example: “Somehow Master Mohan… to the world.” (Mehta, 1993, p. 67-68). Furthermore, the author uses a happy and relaxed tone to describe how Master Mohan begins to care for and treat Imrat like family, as well as the joy he receives in finally being completed by the power of music. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay After carefully analyzing and comparing two frame stories of Gita Mehta, we can conclude that the author managed to create a strong relationship between them with the help of literary terms and such a valuable thematic as family. Even if the.