The Apprentice (1974) probes deeper into the individual's inner conscience with the aim of exploring, on the one hand, what the novelist calls " that mysterious underworld" and on the other, tries to focus on the decaying moral values ​​in society. In this novel, he has made in confessional form a significant commentary on the decadent values ​​of a degenerate civilization. It is the story of a young man who, due to exhaustion from unemployment and deprivation, is forced to renounce his father's honesty and old-world morality to become an "apprentice" of corrupt civilization. The Apprentice condemns materialistic values ​​but in his own way. The novelist used monologue and narration for a boy who is present in everything only symbolically. According to World Literature Today:The novel is structured in a series of Browning-like monologues, dedicated to a boy whose protagonist, burdened by the pain of a "wasted life", lays bare the motives, aspirations, dilemmas and frustrations of his past. The protagonist of this novel is a very simple man who comes to the city with a lot of hope of getting a good and respected job. Contrary to his expectations, he actually faces numerous difficulties to survive in the city. He is disappointed with this job search path. Gradually all his ideals, morals and enthusiasm fade away and he begins a life full of compromises. Ratan Rathore is a young man whose soul has two distinct aspects: the higher self and the lower self. Throughout the novel, his soul is torn apart by these conflicting pulls of the lower and higher self, between idealism and realism. In reality he is the son of a double heritage. He got patriotic and idealistic values ​​from his father and worldly wisdom from his mother. H… half of the paper… and very beautifully the writer suggested that more and more money cannot bring us peace of mind and true happiness. Despite all the luxuries and entertainments of Bombay, Ratan is not happy. He felt an inner void: the more money I accumulated, the more dissatisfied I was and the more determined I was to “enjoy” life. And all the time I thought about death. (Joshi 85) The novel commands the value of humility and self-purification. In this sense the novel is a study in the loss and recovery of one's soul. As he himself stated: References: Joshi, Arun: The Apprentice Delhi:Orient Papers, 1993 Print Prasad, Hari Mohan: Arun Joshi, Liverpool: Lucas Publication, 1985 Joshi, Arun: The Foreigner, Delhi: Orient Papers, 1993 Joshi, Arun: The Strange Case of Billy Biswas, New Delhi: Orient Papers, 2008 Joshi,Arun:The Last Labyrinth, Delhi:Orient Papers, 1981