There are three main themes in R. K. Narayan’s short story ‘A Horse and Two Goats’. Those are the theme of cultural clash between east and west, the theme of poverty and wealth, and finally the theme of knowledge and wisdom.
(Click and follow the links above to read detail analysis of the themes used in the story.)
 
The story presents the two characters Muni and the American, two men with totally different social and cultural identity to show the cultural clash between the east and the west. They are different in every aspect of day to day life. He also depicts their difference in terms of relative wealth. One leads an affluent life while the other barely earns a living to survive. Again, the American is well-educated and enjoys full benefit of that while Muni has no formal education and is ignorant of the outer world. Moreover, there are minor themes like caste system and suppression of upper classes, superstition and so on.