The American

See The man

The man

The man comes riding into the story in a yellow station wagon. A businessman who works in New York and commutes from Connecticut, he is dressed in the khaki clothing worn by American tourists in the tropics. He typifies the "Ugly American": he speaks only English, but is surprised and a little annoyed to find that Muni can speak only Tamil, and although he is in the tiniest village in India, he expects to find a gas station and English-speaking goatherds. Once he sees the statue of the horse, he must own it for his living room, with no thought for what the statue might mean or who might value it. Even when he can't speak the language, he knows that money talks.

Muni

Muni, an old and desperately poor man, is the protagonist of the story. Once he was prosperous, with...