Godaan: Character sketch of Hori

Character sketch of Hori: The Character has been taken from the novel Godaan written by Premchand. It is one of the most important questions for the BA English honours students of the first Semester at BBMKU and VBU University. The Website Jpathshala.com has been made for BA English Students. Join us for regular news updates.

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Write a Character sketch of Hori.

Hori is a small farmer in Premchand’s novel “Godan.” His full name was Hori Ram. Dhaniya was his wife, and they had three children; one was a son, Gobar, and two other were daughters, Sona and Rupa. Hori has two siblings, Shobha and Hira. Hori brought up Shobha and Hira as their son because their father had died when they were a child. Hori had a great desire to have a cow at home, but his economic situation was not good to buy a cow. He knew that his land rent was unpaid, and he had taken debt from Bisesar Shah was also outstanding, so he knew that he would never be able to buy a cow without a trick.

At the beginning of the novel, Hori is in a hurry to go to Rai Shahab to appear before him to make a good bounding with him so that Hori could get some advantages because several people were thrown off their land as their land rent was unpaid. When Hori reached Rai Shahab, he realized that Rai Shahab would organize a party for which he would have to collect twenty thousand rupees, and Hori’s village would have to contribute five hundred rupees. Hori was furious after listening to that, but he calmed himself by saying, “One cannot fight with a crocodile while living in the water.”

Once Hori tricked Bhola to get his cow. He made him false promise that there was a woman in his low village whose husband left her three or four years ago so Hori would help him to get married to that woman. After listening to this, Bhola became happy and offered him a cow. Thus, Hori’s dream of having a cow came true, but it was for a short-term period. As he took the cow to his home, his two brothers, Shobha and Hira, got jealous of him, and Hira poisoned the cow to death.

Hori was a kind-hearted man. However, he knew that Hira had poisoned the cow, but still, he requested the police not to inquire about Hira’s house. He helped Puniya a lot. He planted Hira’s field in the absence of Hira though his field was barren. Hori accepted Jhuniya as a daughter-in-law when he knew she was pregnant, and Gobar fled away, leaving her alone.

Hori’s life was full of struggles. He had a lot of problems in his life. He was being exploited by zamindars and moneylenders like another peasant. He had to take the debt with high interest to pay the land rent. Moreover, When the society came to know about Jhuniya’s matter, Hori had to give a fine of a hundred rupees that he got by mortgaging his home. And Bhola took his two bullocks, so Hori had to work as a labour in Dattadin’s field. Hori had no money, so he fixed Sona’s marriage by mortgaging his field, and he has done Rupa’s marriage with a half-aged man. Hori had to work as a labour for eight annas a day in the last stage of his life, and while doing this work, he died one day.

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