The Role of Ego in Margayya’s Fall in the Financial Expert -A Psychological Approach

Ego is one of the most important elements in human personality and although everyone has ego, people manage their ego differently. Some people take it very seriously and act in a way to retaliate, if their ego is hurt while others think and balance their ego before it builds aggression which would bring their own downfall. Since people are driven by their egocentric mindset, any disgrace, disappointment or failure would hurt their ego which would force them to build aggression, reduce rational thinking and lead them to engage in unethical and illegal acts. When Margayya’s ego was hurt by the secretary of the bank when he insulted him and almost ended his finance career, he wanted to accumulate more wealth. He didn’t worry about the ways and means but focused on the destination and he was guided by his ego that led him to mistreat and disrespect people throughout the novel. His obsession with money and prestige forced him to act rudely that ended his career as one of the best financial wizards. When people are led by their ego, it would lead them to their own downfall and destruction as they would be guided by lack of self-control and distrust on others. His obsession with money led him to show off his superiority in order to defeat the cooperative bank secretary and earn respect in the society. This paper brings out the Psychological influence of ego in Margayya’s character in the novel, The Financial Expert.

In the Beginning Margayya started his life as a simple man who helped the villagers in that region to get unlimited loan from the cooperative bank and helped them with the forms. For people in the villages around them, Margayya was the only solution for their financial troubles. His name margayya was a given name as his real name was Krishnan. Marg means way and ayya means an honourable word which is used to show respect to the person addressed. Margayya was showing the way for the financial struggles of villagers, and he was a respectful person in the eyes of the villagers. Although the bank didn't like middlemen in their business, Margayya was happy about beating that principle. As the novel brings out, "If the purpose of the co-operative movement was the promotion of thrift and the elimination of middlemen, those two were just the objects that were defeated under the banyan tree". (The Financial Expert 8). Margayya never thought of running behind money and become an ultra-rich man until he was insulted by the bank's secretary, which hurt his ego very much. The fact that he was rude because of the respect he gathered from the villagers who thought he was a man in need when they needed any help suggests that he thought himself as one of the most important persons in their lives. This is brought by the novelist through the voice of a villager: "Oh, they are all very bad, unhelpful people, sir; that's why I never like to go there, but come to you first. Why do we come to you, sir, of all persons in this big city? It's because you know our joys and sorrows and our troubles, our difficulties and --" (The Financial Expert 26). In a traditional Indian village, those who help others would become the village heads and Margayya in the novel feels no less than that.  (Sidhu 71). Although Margayya was an ordinary man leading an ordinary life, he started turning into a demon who chased money. He started to believe that money is everything and he could buy everything with money, including respect and power.
The thought of lack of money blinded his reason and his mind was clouded with the thoughts of living a life like the secretary that would make him rich, affluent and powerful.
Human ego is one of the most important weapons and when it is used positively, it would help people make their lives but if it is used negatively with aggression, indifference and retaliation, it would mar their lives. When people are humiliated, it would hurt their feelings, emotions and self-esteem but if they do not take it in a right sense, they would be forced to engage in irrational acts as they would be blinded by their inability to think. It would force them to overcompensate for what they are humiliated. As Harish Raizada suggests "Margayya is so much obsessed by the power and importance of money in human life that every little humiliation he faces, reminds him of his own lack of money." (Raizada 104). Margayya knows that he shouldn't be under the banyan tree diverting and corrupting the customers of the bank in order to promote his business, besides, he was also using the bank's forms. However, he is forced to believe that it's his right to do business in anyway he wants which led him to his doom at the end. He wanted everyone to respect him including his brother living next door with whom he was not in good terms.
Margayya was a religious man who was guided by his religious beliefs thus, when he came into contact with the temple priest, he asks him what he could do to become a rich man.
The temple priest wanted to see his horoscope to provide him solutions and remedies that would help him amass wealth and power. P. S. Sundaram brings out his anguish and search for spiritual support,"Convinced that money is the only thing that matters, Margayya consults a temple priest regarding his future and the quickest way of making a fortune. His stars, he is told, are propitious: he must worship the goddess of wealth for forty days, with the ash of a red lotus and ghee made out of butter from milk drawn from a smoke-coloured cow." (Sundaram 60). He searched all his old possessions in order to find his horoscope which would help him pursue his purpose and achieve his greatness. Margayya considered the specifics mentioned by the temple priest was intriguing and unusual, but he was ready to go to any extent to achieve his dream. In a typical Indian household, god comes first and it's Margayya was looking to become rich in a short time because he was not led by his reason but by his ego that was hurt. He was desperate which led him to do everything that the priest asked him to do although most things were new to himself. P. K. Singh brings out this by stating "The novel shows us the people's existing ambition for earning more and more money in a short time. Narayan wants to say that a man without corresponding ability cannot succeed in earning desired wealth and power. He also draws our attention towards the evils arising out of the wealth." (Singh 35). When people are guided by their ego, they would engage in actions that would bring disgrace to themselves and their families and Margayya just started heading towards his downfall as he was blinded by his ego and pride.

The Progress
His aim was to satisfy his ego by making more money at any cost and feel the

The Fall
The problem started when he didn't know what to do with the money he was accumulating because he was not a businessman but an ordinary man who was blinded by his ego which ultimately led him to his fall. He enjoys the thrill of seeing the money that flows from everyone. P. S. Sundaram brings out this state of mind of Margayya"When he sees money increasing and multiplying itself without any effort on his part, he is simply fascinated. He enjoys the incidental power which money brings, whether in his son's school Margayya lost everything when the depositors wanted their money back. His son contributed to his problem by spending most of his money and he himself was not making any progress in terms of his business. He just felt proud of his achievement, and he was happy that he amassed lots of wealth without realising that it was not his money. When news spread that Margayya was not in a position to repay the deposit money, people crowded his house and he announced insolvency and requested for police protection. However, at the end of the novel which comes after four months, he ended up where he was insulted once, facing the same people again.

Conclusion
People are the products of their environment, and their values, beliefs, attitudes and worldview would be greatly influenced by their environmental factors. This would mean that their identity would be built from their environment and anything that threatens their identity 39 would also hurt their ego which is the source of their self-esteem, self-respect and selfconfidence. When Margayya's ego was hurt by the secretary of the cooperative bank he felt that he was being cornered by the whole world. So, he waged a war against the whole world by treating people disrespectfully, deceiving people in order to earn more money, not taking care of his family, spoiling his son with material resources etc. He chose a path that led him to his downfall and at the end of the novel, he went back to where he started, under the banyan tree. He was living a ghostly life which alienated him from his surroundings and loved ones. When people are overwhelmed by their ego, they would only see the destination and not the path they choose and, in the process, they would hurt many people which they wouldn't normally do. Margayya became the victim of his own pride, obsession, aggressiveness and indifference that were all part of his ego.