Naipaul’s A House for
Mr. Biswas
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: A House for Mr Biswas is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul,
significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas It is the
story of Mohun Biswas, a Hindu Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for
success and mostly fails, who marries into the influential Tulsi family only to
find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own
house. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas It relies on some biographical elements from the experience of the
author's father, and views a colonial world sharply with postcolonial
perspectives. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked A House for Mr Biswas number
72 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language
novels from 1923 to 2005.
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: Mohun Biswas (based on V. S. Naipaul's father, Seepersad
Naipaul) is born in rural Trinidad and Tobago to Hindu Indian parents and his
father is a Brahmin. His birth was considered inauspicious as he is born
"in the wrong way" and with an extra finger. A pundit prophesies that
the newborn child "will be a lecher and a spendthrift. Possibly a liar as
well", and that he will "eat up his mother and father". Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas The
pundit advises that the boy be kept "away from trees and water. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas Particularly
water". A few years later, Mohun leads a neighbour's calf, which he is
tending, to a stream. The boy, who has never seen water "in its natural
form", becomes distracted and allows the calf to wander off. Mohun then
hides in fear of punishment. His father, believing his son to be in the water,
drowns in an attempt to save him, thus in part fulfilling the pundit's
prophecy. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas This leads to the dissolution of the family. Mohun's sister is sent
to live with a wealthy aunt and uncle, Tara and Ajodha. Mohun, his mother, and
two older brothers go to live with other relatives.
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: The boy is withdrawn prematurely from school and apprenticed
to a pundit, but is cast out on bad terms. Ajodha then puts him in the care of
his alcoholic and abusive brother Bhandat, an arrangement which also ends
badly. Finally, the young Mr Biswas decides to make his own fortune. He
encounters a friend from his school days who helps him get into the business of
sign-writing. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas While on the job, Mr Biswas attempts to romance a client's
daughter but his advances are misinterpreted as a wedding proposal. He is drawn
into a marriage which he does not have the nerve to stop and becomes a member
of the Tulsi household. Mr Biswas becomes very unhappy with his wife Shama
(based on Droapatie Naipaul) and her overbearing family.
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: The Tulsis (based on the Capildeo family), and the big
decaying Hanuman House (based on Anand Bhavan aka the Lion House) where they
live represent the communal way of life which is traditional throughout Asia.
Mr Biswas is offered a place in this cosmos, a subordinate place to be sure,
but a place that is guaranteed and from which advancement is possible. But Mr
Biswas wants more than being just a gharjamai. He is, by instinct, a modern
man. He wants to be the author of his own life. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas That is an aspiration with
which the Tulsis cannot deal, and their decaying world conspires to drag him
down.[5] Despite his poor education, Mr Biswas becomes a journalist, has four
children with Shama, and attempts several times to build a house that he can
call his own, a house which will symbolise his independence. Mr Biswas'
desperate struggle to acquire a house of his own can be linked to an
individual's need to develop an authentic identity. He feels that only by
having his own house he can overcome his feelings of rootlessness and
alienation.
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: A House for Mr. Biswas follows the life of Mr. Mohun
Biswas, a protagonist inspired by Naipaul’s father, as he struggles to find his
freedom and a house of his own. The son of a poor laborer in Trinidad, Mr.
Biswas is forced to live as a guest in one crowded, inhospitable house after
another. After his father dies, his family moves in with his mother’s sister,
Tara, and he is humiliated and beaten by Tara’s brother-in-law Bhandat. Mr.
Biswas vows, "I am going to get a job on my own. And I am going to get my
own house too. I am finished with this" [p. 64].
He goes to work as a sign-painter for the Tulsi family, and
there he begins a flirtation with Shama. After his love letter is discovered by
Mrs. Tulsi, Mr. Biswas is bullied into marrying Shama, thus beginning a long
and unhappy marriage that produces four children, a constant struggle for
money, and countless bitter quarrels. After a brief and failed attempt to run a
dry goods store in The Chase, Mr. Biswas and his family return to live with the
Tulsi family, a pattern that recurs thoughout the novel. It is in Port of Spain
that Mr. Biswas comes closest to happiness, working as a journalist for the
tabloid Sentinel, writing outlandish stories, and achieving a degree of
local fame. Here, too, his son Anand excels in school and shows signs of talent
as a writer. But Mr. Biswas’s fortunes suffer several reversals, and it is not
until the very end of his life that he is finally able to buy a house–only to
find the experience much different than he had imagined.
Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas: A vivid portrait of a man who fights to free himself from the entanglements of
family, custom, and religion, A House for Mr. Biswas is also an
unforgettable look inside colonial society at the beginnings of great
transition.
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