In many of R.K. Narayan's short stories, miscommunication between people leads to an open ending. Examples of this can be particularly seen in A Horse and Two Goats, The Watchman, and The Evening Gift. In A Horse and Two Goats, miscommunication is conveyed through a language barrier; In The Watchman, it is brought about by an age difference; and in The Evening Gift it is illustrated through drunkenness. The three situations of miscommunication lead to an open ending, in which the story isn't completely resolved, and we don't completely know the protagonist's outcome.
In A Horse and Two Goats, the miscommunication becomes evident relatively later on in the story. An old Indian man, Muni, was sitting on the pedestal of a horse statue with his two goats. Two foreigners approached with intention of buying the statue, which was property of the municipality. He thought they wanted to buy his goats.
Bengali author Sankar speaks at the UN
English: "She had a sword in her lap as she sat do...The old man spoke only Tamil, while the men from New York obviously spoke English:
The stranger was completely mystified by the gesture. For the first time he said, "I really wonder what you are saying because your answer is crucial. We have come to the point when we should be ready to talk business."
A long conversation followed, with neither party understanding the other's viewpoint. Obviously talking business was out of the question since neither of the parties understood the other's language. Eventually Muni took the money which he thought was for the goats, leaving them behind and going home to his wife:
"I have sold our goats to a red-faced man. He was absolutely crazy to have them, gave me all this money and carried them off in his motor car!"
Hardly had these words left his lips when they heard bleating outside. She...