GIRMITYA ANGST-LOSS,
TRAUMA AND NEUROSIS
36
CHAPTER II
GIRMITYA ANGST: LOSS, TRAUMA AND NEUROSIS
Homi Bhabha says, "The narrative of 'Biswas' and the discourse of 'character'
satisfy those ideological and formal demands of realist narratives. ...But the
driving desire of 'Biswas' conceals a much graver subject: the subject of madness,
illness and loss" (qtd. in Gloversmith 117).
The indefatigable British Empire had colonized almost one third of the world,
spreading its powerful wings in the countries of Asia, Africa, Australia and
America. However, the people of America had risen against the imperial powers
of Britain and had attained independence. The white settlers had brought millions
of black population to work in the cotton and sugar plantations in America. But
due to the efforts of Abraham Lincoln, slavery had been abolished in 1833. The
imperial powers, such as Britain and France, were in need of the cheap work force
to work in the plantations. A new system of labour, which was the indirect form
of slavery had been introduced in the colonies. The labourers were being sent to
work in Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, Uganda and Nigeria for an initial period of five
years. This system was widely known as `girmit'- a mispronunciation of the word
'agreement' by the non-English speaking Indian labourers. The girmit' system
was in practice from 1834 to 1920. The people were transported to various
European colonies to provide labour for the sugar plantations, under the indenture
system. To Mauritius, the number of people transported was 4,53,063; to British
Guyana the number was 2,38,909 and the third great number was 1,43,939 in
Trinidad.
37
The Indian indenture labour system began in 1845 and lasted till 1917 in
Trinidad and Tobago. Sugar constituted the major product of Trinidad. Helena
Leonce in her web article entitled "Shared Memory: Trinidad and Tobago's East
Indian Immigration Records" brings out the story of the indentured labourers in
Trinidad. The Port of Spain Gazette enumerates the nature of these activities from
1838 to 1845. Financial help was provided to African Americans to settle in
Trinidad. But they found the island too hard to live. The labourers brought from
Germany and England were also unwilling to work in the hostile atmosphere.
Chinese workers also found to be the alien lands unaccomodative, as they
switched over to small businesses in their towns. The Trinidad planters were
informed of the success of the indenture system in Isle de Bourbon in 1830,
Mauritius in 1834 and British Guiana in 1838. Finally, Trinidad saw its first batch
of indentured Indians on May 30, 1845. They were kept in one of the smaller
islands of the colony called Nelson Island.
The difference between slavery and indentured labour is that slavery lasts for
life. But indentured labour was meant only for stipulated period of time. Slavery
could think of no return to their homeland. On the other hand, indentured
labourers had promises to go back to the land their origin. The indentured
labourers had chances to live according to the patterns of their own origin culture.
In Trinidad, many indentured labourers purchased or rented small plots of
land at then end of their period of agreement. They built the typical Indian houses,
they followed Indian way of life and worshipped the Indian gods. They were
virtually living like the Indians in the alien soil. They opposed any move of the
relinquishing their own culture, language and religion. As Victor Ramraj explains
38
in his essay, "Still Arriving: The Assimilationist Indo-Caribbean Experience of
Marginality, "These traditionalists cope with the estrangement of kith and kin by
developing even stronger attachment to their culture, which accentuates their
isolation" (81). Soon after the Indian Government's ban on emigration to the West
Indies in 1917, the Indians in the islands were viewed as the settled inhabitants of
the West Indies. They had lost their identity and belonged to no land either India
or West Indies. They lived in a state of flux, living paradoxical life. They were
unable to negotiate their dilemmas and remained isolated in the alien culture.
A grimitya was a particular kind of migrant who left home and settled in a
complex milieu. The girmitya constructed the world'of fantasy, which was full of
dreams of homeland. It stood in sharp contrast to the dynamic, real world.
Vijay Mishra, the diaspora critic of Indian diaspora, calls Naipaul "the
founder par excellence of the girmitiya discourse' who gave form and language of
the girmit ideology" (qtd in Panwar 27). Naipaul is the spokesperson of the
erstwhile indenture or girmitya system, as he is the descendant of the girmitya
family. His vision is shaped by the girmitya ideology. It has moulded his works,
his attitude towards different cultures and his perspective on the changing world.
The girmityas in Trinidad were made to believe that they were forcefully
wrenched from the homeland. They always defined and attached themselves in
relation to their motherland. They believed that they would return to their places
of origin, but they could not do so due to long distance.
Vijay Mishra says:
Behind the literature of the Indian diaspora stands the gigantic figure of
V.S. Naipaul. It was Naipaul who gave form and language to the Girmit
39
ideology; it was Naipaul who gave the Indian diaspora a distinctive
discourse and a consciousness. Two fictive figures borrowed from
Naipaul - Biswas and Ganesh Pandit - sum up Nandan's character types:
the tragic hero, Biswas, trapped in the contradictions of the fragment and
its fictions, finally, fails to recognise himself in the mirror, and the comic
hero, Ganesh, seeking release from the girmit ideology through the
mastery of a colonial language. (n.p)
Vijay Mishra opines that Naipaul is the founder of girmitiya ideology. He has
shaped the sensibilities of Indian girmitya descendants through his fictions.
Behind the characters depicted in his fictions, we could see the psychological
trauma of the girmityas. They underwent the unspeakable experiences of
bitterness, loneliness, alienation, suffering in the unknown lands. They were not
sure whether they would return to their homeland, although the agreements had
assured them of safe return to their homelands at the end of five or ten years. The
untold miserable experiences had been deftly portrayed by Naipaul in his fictions.
The girmitya ideology is most explicitly depicted in the protagonists of Naipaul's
earlier fictions. Ganesh Ramsumair in The Mystic Masseur and Mr.Biswas in
epitomize the girmit ideology. The former stands for the comic and lighter side of
indenture labourer's life, while the later presents the stark and grim reality of the
alienated Indian community, caught in the diasporic dilemma.
Mr.Biswas is none other than the portrayal of existential and stoic virtues of
Indian community in Trinidad. He rebels and submits himself to fate and events
on many occasions. He tries to seek the ways in order to get himself released
from the clutches of the hegemonic forces of colonialism. Even though the
40
colonial structure appears in colourful and tempting forms, the basic and inherent
nature never changes. Mr.Biswas has undetstood it ever since his younger days.
As he is displaced after the death of his father, he constantly looks for the stable
identity of his own. He moves from place to place in order to attain the elusive
identity. He thinks at first that identity is something that could be grasped like the
solid matter. But he accepts his defeat that identity in an alien land is something
impossible to attain. The more he has tried to move towards it, the farther it
eludes him. He has understood the ways of the colonial world. However he has
attempted, he finds it difficult to understand identity in the hostile atmosphere. To
him, everyone looks like an alien. Even the members of his family appear to be
enemies.
Trauma and fear psychosis played a vital role in the lives of the indentured
labourers and their immediate descendants. Still fresh from the memories of
colonial past and its dark slavery-like treatment had put them under a great stress.
They felt it difficult to come out of their mental ghettos. They feared the loss of
lives, as they had already lost their self in the indenture experience. When one is
in trauma, he or she would not be ready to trust anyone. Soon after the recovery
of the trauma, the affected individuals would look on others with suspicion and
distrust.
The diasporic Indians in Trinidad were not able to grasp their sense of
identity, due to their rootlessness. Inability of self-assessment leads them to have
an urge of learning about the world and people. Naipaul says in his Nobel lecture:
"Half of us on this land of the Chagunas were pretending ... that we had brought a
41
kind of India with us, which we had brought a kind of India with us, which we
could, as it were, unroll like a carpet on the flat land"(n.p).
Naipaul's grandmother's house in Chaguanas resembled the Hanuman House
in A House for Mr.Biswas. It consisted of two parts- the front part was made up
of bricks and plaster, painted in white. The back of the house was a timber
building, which was modeled on the French Caribbean style.
Naipaul has drawn inspiration from his father's stories on the life of Indian
community. He inherits his father's diasporic consciousness by getting the
knowledge of Indian sensibility. He further states, "These stories gave me more
than knowledge. They gave me a kind of solidity. They gave me something to
stand on in the world. I cannot imagine what my mental picture would have been
without those stories" (n.p.).
V.S.Naipaul's father, Seepersad Naipaul was suffering from depression and
neurosis for some time. Sullivan in his web article quotes Seepersad Naipaul
saying, in his Letters Between Father and Son, "I was the victim of a neurosis
myself many years ago. . . But I got over it.. . . So do not be afraid. In my own
case some religious literature helped, but only in a superficial way. They were a
palliative, not the cure. The cure I got from the books 'Outwitting Our Nerves' and
'Psychology of the Adolescent.'. . . You see, my dear Vido, we are not just a mass
of flesh and bone. We are also what our ideas"(n.p.).
Trauma is a kind of psychological state, experienced by a person who
undergoes the shock from a mind-shattering event or accident or loss. Shock may
be simultaneously physical and mental. A traumatic person could ordinarily not
come out of shock. He will get the insane visitations. At times, he would sink
42
deep into state of depression and he would not come out of it for many days and
even for many months. Unless helped by the external forces, he goes deeper and
deeper into his depressing state. The traumatic nature makes him lose all the
external contacts. There is no gainsaying that Mr.Biswas becomes mad when he
sees that his efforts go wrong. His frail effort of building a small house ends up in
total collapse. He sinks in the destroyed remnants of his house in Green Vale.
Syed Mujeebuddin says on the theme of loss in the fiction:
Right from the start the novel posits the theme of loss. Mr.Biswas faces the
primal loss of his finger, and then his father, repeatedly loses a series of
homes accompanied by the constant loss of his paternal and professional
position and finally the loss of his son, Anand....The anxiety of loss is
coupled with a sense of incompletness (130).
Loss makes one psychologically deprived of normal functions. Certain
coping-mechanisms operate within human mind to reduce the level of anxiety.
The emotional response to anxiety brings down the awareness of the reality of the
world. When everything goes wrong, the mind says 'no' and wants to escape.
Consequently, confusion predominates in the mind. It gives rise to anger and
resentment. Herbert G.Ligren states in his web article about the nature of loss:
It is often expressed as a protest against what seems to be a cruel, unfair
and incomprehensible fate. It is a reaction to frustration-the source of
which cannot be removed, so the person feels trapped and helpless. When
this happens, the individual may project his anger onto more accessible
targets (e.g. spouse, family member, hospital, physician, the government)
or others involved in the loss chain. Overt anger, such as verbal outbursts,
43
sarcasm, and unreasonable or persistent demands, should be recognized as
an understandable response to a traumatic situation and not necessarily as
a personal attack. (n.p)
Loss of home is the favourite theme of the diasporic writers. Home forms the
corpus of the relations between the global migrations and transnational identities.
Migration at shorter intervals would be pleasing both to the mind and the body.
But when one is estranged from home for a considerable period of time, he or she
longs to return home and have a sense of togetherness and wellbeing.
Naipaul's earlier career is marked by the short stories that he wrote when he
was working in the Carribean Voices in BBC. The first of these stories was This
is Home written in 1951 for radio broadcast. It narrates the story of a man's
lonely condition and of desire to possess love and home. The East Indian man and
woman go to the top of the hill and he says to her that this is home. He says, "We
never can live alone. We need protection. We created mutual protection in a
society and called it love: called it marriage and home" (qtd. in Cudjoe 22).
A House for Mr.Biswas is an excellent document of the theme of loss of
home. The imperialist discourse of the colonizers has been epitomized through
the symbol Tulsi family in the Hanuman House. Homi Bhabha brings out the
proposition that the diasporic people are always haunted by the sense of
`unhomeliness.' In the state of flux and instability, they are constantly placed in a
state of ambivalence, looking for the ways either to look toward their homeland or
toward their host country. Biswas, the prototype of the diasporic Indians in
Trinidad, feels that he does not have a home of his own. In the state of
unhomeliness, he suffers from the colonial neurosis. He longs to attain selfhood
44
and wholeness in his abode. He constantly travels from place to place in his
journey in the imperial domain. When Tulsi family strives to establish the Indianlike domain in Trinidad, which Bhabha terms it colonial mimicry, Biswas feels
uneasy. He wants to escape from the clutches of the colonizer-like Tulsi family.
Biswas is seen as a tragic figure who aspires to fulfill his ambitions, but ends up in
failure. Since his birth, he has been portrayed as the one with an inauspicious
birth with an extra finger. Even his end also is perilous, as he is unable to live his
contented life in a house of his own. His education is not complete and his child
hood days are not happy.
Biswas creates his own fictional world in which he distances psychically from
the temporal world. In the diasporic space, he is unable to befriend anyone. His
irritability and ill-temper have been significantly noted in his relationships with
his relatives. He estranges himself due to the fact that his hand in any act with
others would be destructive. He is guilty, as he becomes responsible for the death
of his father. When he was an infant, his inauspicious sneeze made his father
Raghu's right leg was injured in an ox-cart. Raghu loathed Biswas, "This boy will
eat up his family in truth" (16) and "This boy will make us all paupers" (17).
His father's death, the subsequent poverty and the disintegration of family
give way to despair and depression. The death of Dhari's calf and the subsequent
death of his father in the pond drew Mr.Biswas to the extremes of guilt. The
fatherless Biswas does not know the trail of his life's journey. He is not
influenced by his innocent mother, Bipti. She is neither tactful nor pragmatic in
the administration of home and children. Hence, Biswas is not at all influenced by
his parents to strive and succeed in life. Deprived of his father's guidance and
45
mother's direction, he feels that he is 'shipwrecked.' He is at the cross roads to
move on. He has lost his guiding post to attain his goal. In this context, he
becomes his own mentor and tries to sustain by his own efforts. His existential
plight of the girmitya self drives him to find haven in his own psyche. The Indian
girmityas who were left stranded in the alien soil longed to seek psychical refuge.
Biswas's childhood is traumatic. He constantly struggles to gain identity.
The lack of parental guidance has a lasting impact on his life's events. In an
effort to find a house which he thinks would provide him affection, he shifts from
one home to another. Homi Bhabha says, "The house becomes not a
representation of all homes, or The Home, but a part of the complex series of
homes that define the novel" (qtd. in Fenwick 49).
When he is driven mercilessly by the external factors, he seeks shelter in
reading Marcus Aurelius, Epicteus and Samuel Smiles. He looks at himself not as
pundit, but as a Samuel Smiles hero. "Samuel Smiles was as romantic and
satisfying as a novelist, and Mr.Biswas saw himself in many Samuel Smiles
heroes: he was young, he was poor, and he fancied he was struggling"(HB 78).
Biswas has found pleasure in striving hard to achieve aims in life. He loves to
read Epicteus who was a Stoic philosopher. Epicteus says that health, pleasure
and properties are of no value. According to him, virtue is the highest goal in life.
Biswas's longing for a house of his own is a metaphor for the quest for love,
affection and warmth of good relations. He feels that he does not have any of
them, as he suffers from loss of home. Ever since he was born, he was branded as
unlucky. His sneeze at the time of his birth was considered to be inauspicious.
He constantly shows his anger against his merciless fate. He fights against all the
46
odds of his life. Whenever he rises against fate, he is overcome by it. His sense
of sarcasm and cynicism emanate from his inherent tendency of failure. In fact, he
becomes a victim of fate and people's criticism.
Swain states, "The life of its protagonist Mohun Biswas, is the story of the
Indian immigrant's dilemma. It is the tale of an exile's desire to strike roots and
attain an authentic selfhood" (182). The fiction records the transformation of
communities by the larger socio-cultural forces. It brings about the changing
pattern of a colony from a rural to an urban society; from the East Indian village to
the urban Port of Spain. Naipaul focuses on the ethnic and social history of the
Indian girmitya community in an alien society in order to gain identity. The life
of the protagonist, Mr.Mohun Biswas and that of the community are intermingled.
The life Mr.Biswas is inextricably connected to the history of his Indian
girmitya community. He feels that he is separated from the changing phase of the
alien land, in which he is living. Some of fellow-ethnic Indians are able to adapt
themselves to the grip of change. But he remains static, due to his girmit
sensibility. In the midst of socio-cultural change, Biswas is striving to find an
order and identity. He represents the servile people who carry a great burden of
slavery in the foreign land.
Mr.Biswas struggles between his desires and the hostile milieu. He has lived
out the life of painful infancy. He has suffered from malnutrition. His bony
physical frame has the shallow chest and weak limbs. He undergoes the throes of
metamorphosis from childhood to manhood. He understands later that his life is
determined not by his mind, but by the uncontrollable events of his life. He finds
that his life has become fragmented and fractured.
47
A House for Mr.Biswas depicts the theme of isolation, frustration and
negation, connected to the gin-nitya experience in a hostile society. It sheds light
on the issues-the clash of old and new cultures; a quest for identity and the
protagonist's monotonous journey. Quest for identity is the dominant theme in
Naipaul's fictions.
The dominant theme of the novel is the protagonist's inability of adjustment in
Tulsidom and his constant desire to achieve freedom. House is the symbol of
stability and security. "(House) has always symbolized ancestry, clan, dynasty,
family tree, kindred, line or lineage. So the interest of the novelist falls upon the
persistent conflict of maintaining the dignity and continual promotion of one of
these factors in a house" (Kirubahar 44). However, living a secluded life in a
separate house looks more western than the traditional mould of Hindu family
system. He leans towards the western model of nuclear family. It is contrasted
with the Hindu mode of living with kith and kin in a joint-family system. He
opposes the practices and policies of Tulsi family. He is restless in the hostile
company of his relatives.
Mr.Biswas' marriage in the Tulsi family contributes to his failure and denial
of freedom. Any incident of asserting identity and voice of freedom is choked in
Tulsidom. The sons-in-law of the Tulsi family are expected to work in the Tulsi
farmlands and to look after the animals like the slaves. Mr.Biswas does not like
it and so he suffers. He could not come out of the world of slavery as he has no
means of livelihood. Santhosh Chakrabarthi says, "It is a dilemma which is
symptomatic to that of the East Indian who cannot assimilate with his social
milieu and yet does not have the resources to get out of it" (48).
48
Naipaul's writing focuses on the failure of the postcolonial societies and also
on the damaging effects of colonialism on the tradition, culture, language, land
and history of the colonized. In this state, the colonized feels anxious and uneasy.
Naipaul's negativity brings in the devastating effect of the loss of culture,
language and honour.
Mr.Biswas longs to attain a unified sense of being, which has been ruptured
the girmitya angst. It is impossible to return to one's original self, which is already
lost. He feels that he cannot feel at ease in the alien land, Trinidad. There is the
constant dangling sense between continuity and discontinuity. He remains
detached like the other Indo-Carribeans who felt that they did not belong to the
history of the West Indies, due to the fact that they came to the West Indies much
later than the African West Indians. The West Indian history denotes mainly the
culture of African slaves and their successors.
The girmitya predicament in A House for Mr.Biswas is so painful that Biswas
is not free from the colonizer. The novelist seems to propose that there are no
ways of redemption for the ambivalent position of the gimityas. He feels that he
has lost his identity and is longing for the unified self and culture like Ralph Singh
in The Mimic Men.
V.S.Naipaul has created Mohun Biswas as a symbol of the girmitya who feels
humiliated and alienated by the external forces. Though his future course of
events has been predestined at his birth, Mr.Biswas fails to have power over his
fate. In his early life, his father dies, due to his reckless act of hiding truth. He
seeks shelter with his relatives. He is haunted by despair and frustration with
them. He is constantly bestowed with the challenges of his experiences in his
49
relatives' houses. In the later period of instability, he feels frustrated, as he is
unable to maintain his equilibrium in the Hanuman House. After his marriage
with Shama, one of Tulsi's daughters, he determines to seek his identity. Thorell
Tsomondo says, "The terms of survival in Hanuman House demand
subjugation....The husbands and fathers till the Tulsi land, tend the Tulsi animals
and help in the Tulsi store...Mr.Biswas rebels against this disregard for his
individuality verbally. He hurls invectives at the family continually" (25). His
revolt against the matriarch, Mrs.Tulsi and her brother-in-law, Seth results in
conflict. His internal and external tensions deprive him of support either from the
other slavish sons-in-law or also from the unkindly sisters-in-law.
Biswas strives to establish his own home. His homelessness begins in his
birth. He is born at his maternal grandfather's house, following discord between
his father, Raghu and Biswas's grandfather. The same event recurs in the later
pages of the novel. Biswas's conflict with his wife Shama and other sons- in-law
drives him out of Hanuman House. Shama takes her children and go to her
mother's house. Naipaul makes the successors of girmitya move from place to
place. In the continuous movement, Mr.Biswas and his family are overcome by
the ever-persistent sense of grief, pain, betrayal and agony. His fate or the
incorrigible turn of events plays havoc in his life. He is unable to escape from it.
At the time of his birth, the local pundit predicts that Biswas's father Raghu
should avoid seeing his son for twenty-one days. On the ninth day celebration,
Raghu tries to see his son, but he is sent out by the pundit. When Raghu goes for
work, Biswas sneezes. The father gets involved in a fatal incident and later dies in
a pond. Biswas is blamed mostly for no fault of his own. People have criticized
50
him that he has "eaten up his own father" (31). Social criticism and mental unrest
drive to seek his own house. He travels to various houses in the novel in his
quest for his own house. He moves not on his own accord, but is forced by people
and circumstances. He does not feel quiet there, as these houses do not give him
safe shelter. He is driven by the eccentric behaviour of the inhabitants of these
houses. He fails again and again in his quest.
The diasporic pain of arrival is brought out in the fiction. Arrival, in the
general sense, is always the positive and happy experience. But in the case of the
diasporans, arrival is mostly painful and harrowing. The first generation of Indian
indentured labourers in Trinidad had almost lost their homeland and was destined
to live on the foreign land at least for a period five years. They were at loss, as
they had lost their links with their homeland. So they could not completely settle
or arrive in Trinidad. Kavita Nandan says in her web article "V.S.Naipaul: A
Diasporic Vision", "Arrival also refers to the birth of the main character, Biswas,
who is a symbol of the post-indenture generation that has to cope with Trinidad's
diverse and destabilized world and Trinidad's entry into the independent phase of
its history" (n.p).
After his cursed birth and his father's death, he is initiated into the training of
a Hindu priest. Only Brahmins are permitted for panditry. As he is abandoned by
everyone and stands helpless, the new.role of panditry comes to his rescue. But
his panditry is also short-lived. He is driven away by his mentor, for spoiling the
holy atmosphere in the Brahmin household. So Biswas hates to be the pundit. His
father Raghu records his profession as 'labourer' in Biswas' birth certificate. In
the same way, Biswas, like his father, records his job as 'labourer' in his son's
51
birth certificate. He throws away his religion and goes towards his own objective
of personal fulfilment. He abandons his personal identity as pundit and loves to
be Smiles-hero. To him, Samuel Smiles is a source of inspiration. The imaginary
character has given him courage in order to escape from the world of grim reality.
"Mr.Biswas saw himself in many Samuel Smiles heroes: he was young, he was
poor, and he fancied he was struggling" (HB 78).
Naipaul, like his protagonist Mr.Biswas, abhors religion, though he descended
from the Brahmin family. He inherited his disbelief in rituals and religion from
his father. His mother's family was known for the rigid religious observances.
Naipaul states that his mother's family was religious and gave importance to
rituals and ceremonies. He did not like it. In an interview, he says, "I really
miraculously had no faith at all, was born without faith and have continued to be
without faith.... I have no religious sense with me" (Kohn n.p). He further says
that he inherited his father's anger towards the rituals and ceremonies.
Before he enters the Hanuman House, he gets a job in the rum-shop. He has
bitter experiences with the family of Bhandat, who cheats Tara with his forged
calculations. He is teased and abused by Bhandat and his sons. He is blamed and
beaten by him. He is accused of stealing a dollar from Bhandat's pocket. He
complains to his mother with his bleeding cheekbone. "You see, Ma. I have no
father to look after me and people can treat me how they want" (66). He comes
to the conclusion that he is being misused and abused by the people, as he is
stripped of his identity with a sense of determination and optimism. He takes up
decision, "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" (66). Being victimized by people, he
52
determines to seek his identity. He feels that identity comes with possessing
house.
Sign painting proves to be a turning point in Mr.Biswas's life. It is creative
and it leads him on to positive affirmations of life. His friend, Alec, introduces
him to this new act. He begins his profession by writing a slogan 'Idlers keep out
by order' (75). Alec says that it is 'a good sign.' (75). 'A good sign' has ironically
become the opposite. He loves to do the sign painting for various assignments.
He satisfies the shopkeepers with different styles of lettering. 'Idlers Keep Out'
sign seems to be premonitory to his uneventful entry into Hanuman House.
Though he enters with the profession of sign-painting, he has to give it up
following his marriage. He starts off well as a sign-painter. He expects that he
would be given dowry. But he could not approach either Mrs.Tulsi or Mr. Seth.
He has realized his folly of marrying in a big family. "At Hanuman House, in the
press of daughters, sons-in-law and children, he began to feel lost, unimportant
and even frightened" (97). Even his newly-wed wife, Shama, ignores him. He
becomes so restless that he does not inform his mother about his marriage. He lies
to her that he is to go away on a job. Contrary to his expectations, Mr.Biswas has
been duped by the matriarch and her assistant. "Mr.Biswas had no money or
position. He is expected to become a Tulsi. At once he rebelled" (99).
Mr.Biswas's desire to live in the grand house has actually put him in the
confinement. He wants to free himself from the confines of Tulsi House.
Being goaded by the impulse of ambition, he finds that Mr.Biswas has talents
in sign-painting. In his great desire to carve out niche for himself, he becomes a
sign painter. It is noteworthy that reciting mantras and prayers during the rituals
53
is more than slavish imitation. Mr.Biswas in his teenage realizes that recitation
will lead him nowhere. He gradually undergoes the process of metamorphosis
from bondage to freedom. He thinks that sign painting, though monotonous it
may seem, relieves him from stress. It gives him a sense of contentment of
creativity. He feels a sense of freedom in designing letters. With Alec's help,
"Mr.Biswas became a sign painter and wondered why he had never thought of
using this gift before" (HB 75). "It was satisfying work" (76). When he is urged
by Govind, the other son-in-law in Tulsi House to give up sign painting,
Mr.Biswas strongly protests, "Give up sign painting? And my independence? No,
boy. My motto is: paddle your own canoe" (108). Sign painting is viewed as the
profession of independence, much against working the estate. His mother, Bipti
urges him to marry, so that her life would be complete. His mother's talk on
marriage diverts him to read novels of Samuel Smiles. The heroes of Samuel
Smiles appear to be romantic and satisfying to him. He realizes that the fictional
heroes would strive to pursue their meaningful ambitions. "He had no ambition,
and in this hot land, apart from opening a shop or buying a motorbus, what could
he do? What could he invent" (78).
Pratap is shown as an optimistic man. He has become successful in the
practical world. "And Pratap, illiterate all his days, was to become richer than
Mr.Biswas; he was to have a house of his own, a large, strong, well-built house,
years before Mr.Biswas" (20). Mr.Biswas is not interested to work in the estates.
He is contented to read books like 'Meditations' of Marcus Aurelius. When his
father died in the pond, the family was disintegrated. His sister, Dehuti has gone
to live with Tara. Both Pratap and Prasad are sent to a distant relative to work in
54
the estate. Eventually, both Bipti and Mr.Biswas are left alone. The hut and the
land are sold to Dhari. Naipaul describes the plight of the homeless Mr.Biswas,
"And so Mr.Biswas came to leave the only house to which he had some right. For
the next thirty-five years he was to be a wanderer with no place he could call his
own, with no family except that which he was to attempt to create out of the
engulfing world of the Tulsis"(38).
Hanuman House in the novel is ironically named. Hanuman was the loyal and
obedient servant of Rama in Ramayana. His chief mission was to discover Sita,
the divine consort of Rama and to carry out the messages from her to his master.
Hanuman was the symbol of diasporic imagination, as he had flown from India to
Sri Lanka and vice versa. Hanuman was to act as the messenger of his master.
Naipaul in his novel names the grand house of Mrs.Tulsi as 'Hanuman House.'
Cohen stresses the relevance of Ramayana to the Indian diasporans in Trinidad:
The ...constitute aspect of the Hindu diaspora was the adoption of the
Ramayana as the key religious text. This occurred, Parekh maintains, for
four reasons. First, the book's central theme was exile, suffering, struggle
and eventual return — a clear parallel with the use of the Bible by religious
and Zionist Jews. Secondly, the text is simple and didactic, with a clear
distinction between good and evil, a useful simplification in the harsh
world of the plantation. Thirdly, the Ramayana hammered home what the
Brahmins and conservative men wanted to hear....Finally, as the Hindu
traditions go, the Ramayana was relatively casteless, but it especially
stressed the virtues of the lower caste, namely physical prowess and
economic resourcefulness" (64).
55
Mr.Biswas, who has gone to the impenetrable house on the mission of 'sign
painting' is caught in a trap. He goes to the house in order to come back, but he
could not. He has no strength to escape. Hanuman too had been caught in the
land of the imperial Ravana, as his tail had been set on fire. Mr.Biswas has been
constantly attempting to escape from the imperial Tulsidom. The appearance of
Hanuman House is so enchanting and, of course, haunting.
The facade that promised such amplitude of space concealed a building
which as trapezoid in plan and no deep. There were no windows and light
came only from the two narrow doors at the front and the single door at
the back, which opened on to a covered courtyard. The walls, of uneven
thickness, curved here and jutted there.... Awkward, too, were the thick
ugly columns, whose number dismayed Mr.Biswas..." (HB 82).
The appearance of Hanuman House, with its Tulsi store, presents the
vision of horror, which is hidden within its four walls. The description of the
house reminds us of the Nazi concentration camps, which had imposed the deathcausing labour on the Jewish victims, leading finally to death.
Mr.Biswas' migration to the Hanuman House is symbolic of the arrival of the
Indian indentured labourers in Trinidad. His mission of 'sign painting' is akin to
the indentured labourer. Indians, who had gone to Trinidad on the agreement of
labour, did not know about the conditions of slavish life. They travelled with the
hope of seeing the romantic world. But they began to experience the traumatic
life of 'new from of slavery.' Though they were given space, food, clothing to
live with their families, they were punished severely for any transgression. IIItreatment of Indians in the colonies during the nineteenth century is quite evident
56
from Mahatma Gandhi's attempts to rescue the life of Balasundaram, the Tamil
indentured laborer in South Africa.
Mr.Biswas's first encounter with Mrs. Tulsi is alarming: "Mrs.Tulsi appeared.
She was as laden as Tara with jewellery; she lacked Tara's prightliness, but was
statelier; her face, though not plump, was slack, as if un-exercised. [...] Mrs.Tulsi
spoke some abuse to Shama in Hindi, the obscenity of which startled Mr.Biswas"
(85). Mrs.Tulsi stands for Soojee, the grandmother of Naipaul. Like Mrs.Tulsi,
she had lost her husband and she married off her daughters without paying a
dowry. "Soojee, the powerful matriarch of the Lion House, was a small, stout,
fierce, dark-skinned woman who spoke rarely and was listened to with awe"
(French 25). Mrs.Tulsi is so cunning and deceitful that she gets the would-be
sons-in-law in the marital trap of claustrophobic Tulsidom. Her words are
carefully planned in advance, so that the victim does not know that he is already
trapped. "Mr.Biswas puzzled by her use of the words 'your father.' At first he
had thought she was speaking to Seth alone, but then he saw that the statement
had wider, alarming implications." ( 92).
A causal word or a thoughtless deed sometimes brings out serious and
dangerous consequences in our life. Mr.Biswas, who casually enters the illusory
Hanuman House as a sign painter, is not then aware of the dire consequences of
his future. It is quite difficult to predict the course of events. But it is possible to
control one's own passions and emotions. Mr.Biswas has lost control of his
thoughts in the presence of the matriarchal Mrs.Tulsi, the fearful Seth and
seductive-looking Shama, Mr.Biswas could not escape from being trapped.
The world was too small, the Tulsi family too large. He felt trapped. How
57
often, in the years to come, as Hanuman House or in the house at
Shorthills or in the house in Port of Spain, living in one room, with some
of his children sleeping in the next bed, and Shama, the prankster, the
server of black cotton stockings, sleeping downstairs with the other
children, how often did Mr.Biswas regret his weakness, his
inarticulateness, that evening! How often did he try to make events appear
grander, more planned and less absurd that they were (92).
Biswas had no ambition till he has gone to Hanuman House as a sign painter.
He is struck by the magnitude of the House. It had been built by Pundit Tulsi, the
founder of the Tulsi family. In this awful place which 'stood like an alien white
fortress' (81), Biswas is enthralled by the enchanting smile of Shama, one of the
daughters of Mrs.Tulsi. When he is questioned by Mrs.Tulsi for giving a note of
'I love you', he is asked if they force him to marry Shama. He answers in the
negative. However, "The world was too small, the Tulsi family to large. He felt
trapped" (92). He is elated that he has become one of the members of the large
family. He is happy that he has achieved status, as he has lost it earlier in various
places since his childhood. When he was born with six fingers, he was branded as
unlucky. The midwife said, "... this boy will eat up his own mother and father"
(12). The pundit warned that he would become a lecher, a spendthrift and also a
liar in future. In Hanuman House, he is separated from his brothers, Prasad and
Pratap and his mother.
His mirage-like status is illusory. He regrets his marriage later. He boasts to
Alec, "Good family. You know. Money. Acres and acres of land. No more signpainting for me" (93). Mr.Biswas is trapped. His life in Tulsi House would no
58
more be romantic, much against his earlier wishes. As soon as his marriage with
Shama is over in the registrar's office, Mrs.Tulsi has become indifferent. "At
Hanuman House, in the press of daughters, sons-in-law and children, he began to
feel lost, unimportant and even frightened" (97). Even his wife has ignored him.
Being dejected and frustrated by his mother-in-law family's indifference, he
devises the plans to escape. The other sons-in-law in Tulsi family have almost
become slaves to work on the Tulsi land, tending the animals. As he has no
money, he feels that he is marginalized. "He was expected to become a Tulsi. At
once he rebelled" (99). Mr.Biswas's revolt is a silent one. He has learnt the ways
to distance himself from his wife, Shama. She causes the great stir in the midst of
other members that he does "his best to break her heart and create trouble in the
family" (99). He decides to break off his ties with her and goes to his mother and
Tara for advice. They suggest to him that he should return to the Hanuman House
to live with his wife. In this context, a shop in the Chase is promising to him.
Following his revolt, Shama begins to serve food in the long room upstairs meant
for them. "At these times Shama was not the Shama he saw downstairs" (105).
During the dining sessions, he used to scold Tulsi people. He would say,
"Family? Family? This blasted fowlrun you calling family?" (106).
Having been driven out of his father's home after his death, he realizes that he
does not have a house of his own to marry Shama. He expresses his thoughts to
Mrs.Tulsi, Shama's mother, "Well, it's only that I have no money to start thinking
about getting married" (92). She replies, "If your father was worried about money,
he wouldn't have married at all" (92). Biswas agrees and 'felt trapped' (92).
During the marriage negotiations with Mrs.Tulsi, Seth has been present. Seth
59
is Mrs.Tulsi's brother-in-law and rules the Tulsi power structure as the other half.
Without him, Mrs.Tulsi is nothing and vice versa. Seth is a shrewd and pragmatic
personality.
Mrs.Tulsi manages to get Biswas as her son-in-law, as she believes that he
comes from 'good blood'. She says, "I can just look at you and see that you come
from good blood" (96). 'Good blood' means being a Brahmin. He connects
'good blood' with 'unfailing conscience.' The first generation immigrants had
great regard for the unhybridised second generation immigrants. Biswas, unlike
other ethnic communities, remains puritan in his blood and sensibility. True to his
conscience, Biswas begins to question the policies of Tulsidom. The Tulsi House
in Trinidad stands for corrupt and stagnant Hinduism. It is already tottering and
struggling in its foundation. The westernized creole culture of Trinidadian society
destroyed the Hindu customs and beliefs of the Indian diasporans. As a result it
produced religious ambiguity and syncretism. The Tulsis celebrate Christmas with
English apples, cakes and ice-cream. Though the poojas are performed in Tulsi
house every morning by Hari, the other son-in-law, the Tulsi family does not
know its meaning. The Hindu culture is gradually disintegrating. Mrs.Tulsi
permits the Christian symbols in her home and sends her two sons to the Roman
Catholic College in Port of Spain. They marry the Westernized Presbyterian girlsDorothy and her cousin. Biswas calls her a Roman Catholic for her act. He
criticizes the 'little gods', Shekhar and Owad for wearing crucifixes and
performing Hindu poojas at the same time. Biswas reacts to their non-Hindu way.
"At the Catholic College they make him close his eyes and open his mouth and
say Hail! Mary" (129). Being a Hindu, he does not find meaning in shifting to
60
Christianised Hindu sensibility. He opposes the hybridized Hinduism. To show
his protest to the Christianised Hindu house, he joins the Aryan Association. In
this context, Mr.Biswas finds an alternative to show his protest and anger. He
joins hands with Pankaj Raj in Arya Samaj. He accepts the main doctrine of
Samaj, "after thousands of years of religion idols were an insult to the human
intelligence and to God, birth was unimportant; a man's caste should be
determined only by his actions" (119). The diasporan's refusal to acculturation is
exhibited through Biswas who has been looking for avenues to show his protest
against acculturation.
Kenneth Champeon makes an important observation on Mr.Biswas's
allegiance to Arya Samaj in a new light:
Mr.Biswas is not a good Hindu. Though he is a Brahmin, and though in
his youth he tries (and fails) to become a pundit, he is uncommonly
skeptical of Hinduism. For a time he espouses the cause of the so-called
"Aryans": Hindus hoping to rid Hinduism of its most abhorrent qualities,
namely caste and misogyny (n.p).
Mr.Biswas feels that his freedom is deprived on being questioned by Seth,
"You come here, penniless, a stranger. We take you in, we give you one of our
daughters, we feed on, we give you a place to sleep in. You refuse to help in the
store, you refuse to help on the estate" (111). Seth's voice is undoubtedly the
voice of the colonials who extracted work from the indentured labourers
mercilessly. These girmityas were treated like animals. Following Govind's
betrayal, Mr.Biswas has been questioned for being disloyal to the royal Tulsi
family. Being the symbol of the diasporic people, Mr.Biswas tries to show his
61
protest silently by instigating Govind, the co-sufferer in Tulsi household. He is
asked to apologize to Mrs.Tulsi for his disloyalty, but he shouts, "I not going to
apologize to one of the damn lot of you" (113). He shows his anger by threatening
the Tulsis that he would go out of Tulsi family. He is persuaded by his sisters-inlaw not to go out. Chinta, Govind's wife pleads that he should not go for the fault
of her husband.
The Tulsi family stands not only for the communal world of Trinidad but also
for the cosmos. Mr.Biswas has been provided a place in it, but with the
dependence status. He rejects it and proceeds to create a space for his own. With
the collapse of Tulsi family, Mr.Biswas feels that he is no more suffocating under
the spell of the domineering personalities like Mrs.Tulsi and Seth. With the split
in the family between these two, Mr.Biswas gains access with his mother-in-law,
who almost treats him like her son. Mr.Biswas is luxuriated under the motherly
grace of Mrs.Tulsi till her own son Owad returns from England after his medical
studies. The old queen's mood swifts when her own son comes back to Tulsi
family. She no more loves Mr.Biswas. Events lead him to rebel against the
family and determine to come out of it. It makes him take the hasty decision of
buying the weak house from the solicitor's clerk. Much against the consternation
of his wife, Shama, he gets into the trap of the cunning clerk, who manages to sell
the toy-like house to the irritable Mr.Biswas.
Mr.Biswas's shifting of residential places coincides with that of his
professions, reciting incantations in priesthood, sign painter, shopkeeper, overseer
and journalist. His constant migration results not only at the physical plane, but
also in intellectual spheres too. Sometimes, he plunges deep in depression.
62
Escaping into schizophrenic state relieves him from the conscious states of pain.
Depression acts as a kind of palliative from the pain of placelessness. He is afraid
that he might lose his profession as a journalist. While he is serving in Sentinel,
he is at times thrown into the fit of apprehension that his wife's brother, Sekhar
might conspire to throw Mr.Biswas from the job through the moves of his political
party.
A House for Mr.Biswas highlights Naipaul's desire to depict the problems of
creolization and acculturation. For the girmitya, the very thought of co-existing
with others is crucifying. As he had already lost his trail of his much preferred
homeland, he constantly moved from one place to another in order to find
meaning in life. It is quite harrowing for the placeless and rootless individual to
get along with the fellow-citizens of the foreign land. He constantly lived under
the perpetual fear that he might lose his self, as he had already lost his physical
space. He invented imaginary space within himself and withdrew into it. Like the
girmityas, Mr.Biwas, already uprooted from various places, comes to live in the
barracks in Green Vale, which is full of trees. In Tulsi House, he has had many
heart-rending experiences with his mother-in-law, Mrs.Tulsi, Seth and the 'little
gods' Shekhar and Owad. He has made up his mind to forsake the imperialistic
house and move over to Green Vale. He works as a supervisor of labourers at a
salary of twenty-five dollars a month. Though he is under the control of Tulsi
family, he is acting as a chieftain in the little domain at Green Vale on Saturday.
Other days in a week are ordinary. His work in the estate is not easy. He
experiences the physical irritation. The living conditions at the barrackhouse are
not healthy. He is bitten by flies and he bathes everyday to escape from the sweat
63
and fatigue.
As soon as he moves into it, he wants to construct his own house. His stay at
the barracks with the labourers gives him insurmountable courage to face life.
However, the fateful events go against his wishes. He perpetually complains to
his wife, Shama that she and her family are responsible for his plight. Shama
leaves for Tulsi House without informing him. Unaware of the fact that Green
Vale is just an extension of Hanuman House, he seeks to establish his identity.
But he faces failures only. On the day of Christmas, he buys a doll's house for his
daughter, Savi. He gives it in front of Mrs.Tulsi, and she is irritated. His
presentation of little doll house is nothing but the replica of the one he constructed
in Green Vale. As the doll's house is destroyed by Shama, his real and frail house
is destroyed in a great wind and rain. Shama damages the toy house in order to
satisfy her sisters's jealousy. Mr.Biswas contacts the builder called Mr.Maclean
who lived in a small Negro settlement near Arwacas. He wants to build a small
house with two bed-rooms, a drawing-room and a gallery at the cost of three
hundred dollars. He asks Seth to rent a piece of land to him to build a house. The
site is located about two hundred years away from the barracks.
Biswas creates his own fictional world in which he distances psychically from
the temporal world. In the diasporic space, he is unable to befriend anyone. His
irritability and ill-temper have been significantly noted in his relationships with
his relatives. He estranges himself due to the fact that his hand in any act with
others would be destructive. He is guilty, as he becomes responsible for the death
of his father. When he was an infant, his inauspicious sneeze made his father
Raghu's right leg was injured in an ox-cart. Raghu loathed Biswas, "This boy will
.J
64
eat up his family in truth" (16) and "This boy will make us all paupers" (17).
The Tulsi family has been moving towards westernization under the colonial
influence. Mrs.Tulsi's two sons have are sent to a Roman Catholic college.
Mrs.Tulsi herself looks like "Roman Catholic, that's what she is!" (119).
Arya Samaj in India was established by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875
to eradicate the timeless evils-idol worship, animal sacrifice, ancestor worship,
caste system, untouchability, child marriages and the discriminations against
women. His clarion call was "India for Indians" and he was the first one to say
even before Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Swaraja call. It was brought to Trinidad after
1910 by Indian missionaries in order to bring about Hindu renaissance.
Though
Mr.Biswas is not a devout Hindu like Hari, the official pundit of Hanuman House,
he strongly opposes any move to destabilize the religion of his ancestors. Biswas's
initiative to join the Aryan Association sounds like independent thinking and
living, away from the Tulsi family.
Biswas's commitment to the Arya Samaj in his conversation with Hari is
revealing:
He was speaking of the Protestant Hindu missionaries who had come from
India and were preaching that caste was unimportant, that Hinduism
should accept converts, that idols should be abolished, that women should
be educated, preaching against all the doctrines the orthodox Tulsis held
dear.
'What do you feel about the Aryans?' Mr.Biswas asked.
'The Aryans?' Hari said, and started on another mouthful. His tone
declared that it was a frivolous question raised by a mischievous person.
65
(117).
On the one side, the Tulsi family swears to adhere to the Hindu ideals and on
the other, it compromises with the Christianity. Biswas does not believe in idol
worship, which is devoutly performed by Hari earlier and Govind later in
Tulsidom. To his progress in the Aryan Association, there is a great protest from
Seth, who accuses him of spoiling the fame of Tulsidom. Mr.Biswas is criticized
for propagating his radical ideas on marriage and idol worship. When Owad
offers the camphor flame to Biswas, he refuses to touch it and tells him that he
does not believe in idol worship. Biswas's first revolt against the Tulsi family
occurs when he spits on Owad. While Owad is standing downstairs, he throws
food out of the window on to his head. Owad reports it to his mother and the
there is riot-like confusion. Govind beats Biswas blue and black. Lettie A.Myers
observes, "The safeness of Hanuman House for Mr.Biswas seems so complete as
to be violate when Govind, the fellow son-in-law who had beaten Biswas
mercilessly in their last encounter, carries him into it" (77). Govind supports
Owad. Biswas expects a kind of support from his equals, but miserably he could
not get it either from Govind or from Hari. Thus the diasporic people's dilemma
is so pathetic that they could not get any kind of solace and support. They are
shocked to find that they stand alone and fight for their survival.
Despite the use of Christian relics in the Tulsi house and the celebration of
Christmas, the Tulsi sisters are not able to compromise with Dorothy, the
Presbyterian wife of Shelchar. They hate Dorothy's Presbyterianism. Dorothy
uses Spanish when she speaks to her five daughters and to Shekhar in the presence
of her sister-in-law, Chinta. She wears short frocks and is not worried about lewd
66
behaviour. She arouses the jealousy of the Tulsi sisters by bringing her cousin to
the Tulsi house.
The Hindu rituals are performed regularly in Tulsidom and verses from
Ramayana are recited everyday. Tulsis have not been fanatic Hindus. They have
showed ambivalent attitude in religion and marriage. While Mr.Tulsi has been so
conservative in marrying off all her daughters to all Hindu brahim bachelors, she
has been so lenient in allowing his elder son, Shekhar to marry Christian woman.
He breaks away from the orthodox Hindu culture and prefers to live with his
wife's family. Mrs.Tulsi's racial attitude is so horrific, when she finds him as a
man from 'good blood,' namely, a good Brahmin. "I can just look at you and see
that you come from good blood" (96). Mrs.Tulsi is unable to control the changes
happened in Hanuman House. She accepts them very quietly, as she is physically
weak. As matters are beyond her reach, she feels pain and weeps. The last days
of Mrs.Tulsi are pathetic: "She would speak to no one, refuse to eat, reject all
care. She would sit, feeding her eyes on the green, the tears running down her
slack cheeks below her dark glasses" (551).
Even without his consent, the Tulsis have decided to send him to a shop in a
village called The Chase. Meanwhile, he is protesting against the hegemony of
Tulsis. He is viewed as 'troublesome and disloyal, and could not be trusted. He
was weak and therefore contemptible" (104). He soon gets himself antagonized
by Owad, the younger brother-in-law. Owad wants Mr.Biswas to apologise to
Mrs.Tulsi. But he is not ready to do it.
Life in a shop at the The Chase is not easy and amiable, as Mr.Biswas has
thought. He might have thought of exercising his freedom in a new place. But his
67
sensibility disallows him to be compatible with the external circumstances. He
wants to 'paddle his own canoe.' He is very happy to move into new habitatat. It
is significant that he has a chance of living in a house independently, since he has
lost his 'house' after his father's death. Life in the Chase looks romantic in the
metaphorical sense, but he fails to notice the hidden dangers. A shop in the Chase
belongs to Seth. It is a short, narrow room with the rusty galvanized roof, dusty
floors and insecure walls of bamboo and grass. There are two rooms not plastered
and thatched roof. It has a dark kitchen made of tin, bamboo and canvas at the
back of the shop. The dilapilated shop is just an extension of Tulsidom.
There is a marked change in the life of Mr.Biswas couple. While he has his
own freedom in a new habitat, his innocent wife, Shama has changed her attitude.
She has been crying and complaining. Then, she has become active to clean and
wash the dirty shop. "He was not prepared for such a change in himself; but then
he was astonished at the change in Shama..." (150). He is happy that he has been
in a new place, which is temporarily his own. When food was served to him by
Shama, he could not help himself from exclaiming: "He could not look on it as
simply food. For the first time a meal had been prepared in a house which was his
own" (150). Mr.Biswas is very well aware of his present place. He understands
that the life in The Chase might be temporary. He was longing for his 'own'
place. "Real life was to begin for them soon, and elsewhere. The Chase was a
pause, a preparation" (151). He has bitter experiences of being caught in a legal
tussle with the local stick man, Mungaroo.
Earlier, he felt alienated in his house, during the house-blessing ceremony.
"Mr.Biswas found himself a stranger in his own yard. But was it his own?" (156).
68
He felt distanced from the company of his brothers-in-law. He gets angry when
he finds that his wife, Shama is sitting submissively before Hari during the ritual
performance. "Mr.Biswas didn't want to witness the ceremony. It meant sitting
with the brothers-in-law in the tent, and he was sure that the sight of Shama's
submissive and exultant back would eventually infuriate him" (157). His mind is
so uneasy and restless that he had fits of temper. Even the harmless and
unintentional pranks of children in Tulsi family infuriate him. When some
children of the Tulsi family break the bottles of soda water at his shop, he gets
wild and furious. "He lifted a boy by the collar. The boy the collar. The boy
bawled, the girls with him bawled, the babies in the shop bawled.[...] Mr.Biswas
dropped the boy he had seized, and the boy ran outside, screaming louder than the
babies" (158).
Soon after his rebellion and exit from Hanuman House, Biswas prepares to go
to The Chase. "Real life was to begin for them soon, and elsewhere. The Chase
was a pause, a preparation" (151). It is a remote and desolate settlement of mud
huts in the heart of the sugarcane area. Biswas's shop is a short, narrow room
with a rusty iron roof. Both Biswas and his pregnant wife move to their first
home. The Chase has given him an ample chance of being the master of his fate.
It is a kind of transition. Santhosh Chakrabarthi states, "The journey to the Chase
puts an end to his rebellion for all practical purposes and now begins the most
significant chapter of his life-his quest for a house of his own" (41). He is
astonished to see his wife, Shama's adaptability to the new environment. She is
acting like a martyr. He tries to comfort her, but "he needed comfort himself'
(149). Though he desires for a change in residence, he is not mentally prepared for
69
it. He finds the shop lonely and frightening. His irritable existence in Hanuman
House makes him think of it with nostalgia. "Hanuman House would be warm
and noisy with activity" (149). When Shama prepares food, "he could not look on
it as simply food. For the first time a meal had been prepared in a house which
was his own" (150).
At The Chase, there is a note of ambivalence significantly observed in the
character of Shama. Ambivalence is a remarkable feature of all diasporans.
Ambivalence is, according to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, "having or
showing both good and bad feelings about someone or something." She
persuades Mr.Biswas to arrange 'house-blessing ceremony' at The Chase. Since
she moves into the new place, she acts like the wife of Mr.Biswas. When her
relatives come for the ceremony, her nature changes. Shama dominates the whole
event, having embraced her own kith and kin with unfailing affection and warmth.
Mr.Biswas has his own doubts, "Mr.Biswas found himself a stranger in his own
yard. But was it his own?"(156). For the three days, he has no place to move or
exist. Though he has escaped from Hanuman House, his act of migration has
landed him in the other extension of Hanuman House. His sentiments of his own
'space' have been wiped out, the moment he realizes that The Chase is called by
the villagers as the Tulsi Shop, "even after he had painted a sign and hung it above
the door: THE BONNE ESPEARANCE GROCERY M.Biswas Prop Goods at
City Prices" (156). Shama's ambivalence arises from the fact that she is a
thoroughbred Tulsi, having the paramount attitude. "For the last thee days, since
the arrival of her sisters, Shama had become a Tulsi and a stranger again. Now
she was unapproachable" (157).
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The house-blessing ceremony has deprived him of his resources. Moreover,
due to his lack of entrepreneurship, he gets into litigation and feud with the local
goon finally drives him out of business. He chooses names for the child to be
born. But much against his wishes, his daughter, born in Hanuman House, is
named Savi by Seth and Hari. As the name `Savi' is registered with the
government office records, he feels helpless and abandoned. He is shocked to see
the name 'Basso' in place of `Savi' on the birth certificate. Shama tells him that
Basso is the real name of their daughter, Savi as the calling name. Mr.Biswas is
disheartened on hearing these two unpalatable names for his daughter, who is to
become his favourite child later in his life. His occupation is recorded as 'a
labourer.' He protests that his occupation is not a laborer, but a painter. Shama
says that the meaning to be a mere 'painter' would suggest that he is 'a house
painter.'
'Sign-painter? Shopkeeper? God, not that!' He took the certificate and
began scribbling. 'Proprietor', he said, passing the certificate to her.
'But you can't call yourself a proprietor. The shop belong to Mai.'
'You can't call me a labourer either' (168-169).
Mr.Biswas then writes 'proprietor' in lieu of 'laborer' on the birth certificate.
As a father, Mr.Biswas wants to dominate in the domestic affairs and strives to
seek his identity. Kumar Parag says, "Mr. Biswas thinks that life in Chase will
help him discover his own identity, but it is the sense of isolation that looms large
and he fails to find his authentic selfhood. Even it had been demolished by both
Mrs.Tulsi and Seth (4). Mrs.Tulsi tells him, "A year ago, who would have
thought that you would be sitting here, in this hall, with these children, as my son-
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in-law and a father? Life is full of surprises. But they are not really surprising.
You are responsible for a life now, Mohun" (170-171). Mr.Biswas does not relish
it to be branded as the labourer and wishes to be given equal status, since he
migrates to The Chase. Little does he realise that he is living in just another
extension centre of mega-structure, Hanuman House. Here the plight of the
indentured labourers in the erstwhile imperial colonies is to be viewed in the
backdrop of Mr.Biswas's anxiety. The girmitiyas, working in the plantations,
were groveling under the overpowering regime of the colonials. They at times
reacted with rage against their masters. Though they signed in the agreement with
the employers, they made their sporadic protests. Though they were not formally
called slaves, they underwent pangs of near-death experiences. Mr.Biswas's
harrowing experiences in Hanuman House with Mrs.Tulsi and Seth remind one
about the diasporic people's experiences under the colonial masters.
As an objective commentator of his own cultural practices and the
observances of religious customs and rituals, Naipaul's father, Seepersad Naipaul,
had possessed ambivalent sensibilities. While sticking to the native tradition as a
'namesake Hindu', he never failed to criticize the superstitious customs inherent
in Hinduism. He stood for the non-conformist idelas of Hinduism. He was
influenced by the prevalent radical ideas of his time. He never possessed the idea
of escaping to Europe, as he was alienated even among the members of Indian
community. Mr.Biswas's sense of disintegrated family has got embedded in his
unconscious. He is unable to bear with the sense of belongingness in the family
functions in the Hanuman House. He often feels alienated and fails to get
attached to the large family structure. His psychic tensions drive him to despair.
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He even wishes for the break-up of the large family structure. He could see
through the course of events, taking place in the house. Even the relationships are
not genuine, but corrupt to the core. As he has realized the emptiness and
artificiality of human relationships, he desires to seek his identity. He criticizes
his in-laws, and even his wife. As a psychedelic person, he visualizes things that
are not real. He lives in his own world, banishing all those who are inimical to his
immigrant self. Such is the immigrant plight and dilemma, which drive them to
despair beyond comprehension.
The Indian immigrant community in the early years of the twentieth century
had undergone inexplicable anguish and sufferings on the alien land. Mr.Biswas,
who stands for Seepersad Naipaul, reflects the pristine anguish of Indian
diasporans. Despite the cross-cultural currents prevalent in the colonized
countries among the immigrants, the people of Indian community remained true to
their traditions. Hence, they did not allow themselves to be assimilated with the
white culture. The melting pot theory was not suited to the early Indian
communities in countries, like Trinidad. Mr.Biswas's search for identity is on par
with the established Hindu family structure in Trinidad. Though he criticizes the
pitfalls of his own community, he never deviates into the embrace of white
culture. He stands between the two - the East and the West. Unlike the later
fictional heroes of Naipaul, he does not adopt mimicry. Mrs.Tulsi's sons, Shekhar
and Owad are admitted to the Roman Catholic College and they are influenced by
the Christian belief and customs. In spite of being the son of a Hindu pundit,
Shekhar wears a crucifix. Mrs.Tulsi, despite her Hindu sensibilities, comes under
the influence of Catholic practices. She has a crucifix in her room and she gets
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Pundit Tulsi's grace cleared on all Saint's Day. Owad marries a Christian woman.
He is greatly influenced by the western culture. However, Mr.Biswas does not
taint himself in following the western customs, though hd adopts the western style
of dressing and speaking in Creole English.
The children of Tulsi family exhibit the changing phase of acculturation and
creolisation. Though Hindi is spoken in Hanuman House, the younger generation
does not speak it. They use Creole English in everyday conversation. They call
their parents as 'mummy' and 'daddy' instead of 'mai' and'bapu.' Anand, the
representative of the third generation of Indian immigrant community, is
influenced by the western influences. As a result of American influence on
Trinidad, the process of acculturation has been expedited among the younger
generation. Hanuman House has got disintegrated into small units, as Mrs.Tulsi's
sons and daughters have started to live separately. Naipaul brings out the
phenomenon of change among the Trinidadian Indians. "In short, the novelist
shows a transition in the society of Trinidad from the first generation to the third
generation by way of acculturation through the story of the family of Mr.Biswas
and that of Pundit Tulsi"(Mukherjee 169).
Mr.Biswas shares the angst of Naipaul's father Seepersad, who had criticized
the blind Hindu rituals. "Seepersad Naipaul was victimized for criticizing animal
sacrifices in Hindu rituals and consequently had a nervous breakdown-Naipaul has
mentioned this often in later interviews and writings" (Gupta 14).
Trinidad society is heterogeneous. It is composed of divergent cultures.
However, it does not have any hoary past. The original inhabitants of the
Trinidadian society were Arawacks, the aborigines and Caribs. They had been
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wiped out by the colonial settlers. Following Columbus' discovery of the West
Indies, the colonial rulers from Europe had systematically indulged in ethnic
cleansing. The original inhabitants, who were the successors of the West Indian
culture, were exterminated. The slaves from Africa were brought to the islands to
work in the sugarcane plantations. After the abolition of slavery, the labourers
were brought from India under the indenture system. The 'new slaves' worked in
the plantations.
A question arises why those men and women from India agreed to work in the
foreign land. Indian social condition of 1850's was not progressive. As they had
already been suffering under the British hegemony, the landless farmers,
destitutes, social outcastes, the socially-ostracized men and women needed to find
a place to live in. They were socially and economically backward in Indian
society. To escape from poverty and social criticism, thousands of men and
women agreed to sign in the contracts with the West Indian plantation owners. So
the first wave of Indian diaspora began as a result of the poor Indian life of 1850s.
When they had travelled to the settler colonies, they had carried the memories of
the homeland. Many people did not know whether they would return to their
mother land. Even though they travelled for social recognition and economic
prospects, they had the lingering desire in looking back at India. They 'lost' the
homeland and learned to live in an inhospitable atmosphere of the alien lands.
Loss of space is not something that can easily be forgotten. Dislocation causes
psychological impact. The displaced person feels shocked, when he is being made
to move out of his place. Losing country is akin to losing one's sense of identity.
Satendra Nandan highlights the nature of Trinidadian society:
75
Naipaul explores the consciousness of those who have escaped historical
slavery but carry about them the mark, in their attitudes and sensibilities
and convictions, of the slave, the unnecessary man. The theme is
developed in a multitude of details, ideas, and images enacted in the
organization of the Tulsi family. It is the microcosm of a slave society.
(24)
Followed by his failures in his mission in the Chase, he agrees to take up the
job of a driver in the Tulsi estate in Green Vale. His first attempt to live
independently in the Chase failed. So he moved on to the next step in his
evolution. His unfortunate six years proved to be futile.
Even in her last days, Mrs.Tulsi is showing her sympathy for Christianity.
She was not a convert. But she has exhibited a sort of acculturation in the rituals
and manners of Trinidad. This kind of ambivalence had been a striking
characteristic of the descendants of Indian diasporans in Trinidad.
Regularly too, she had pujas, austere rites aimed at God alone, without the
feasting and gaiety of the Hanuman House ceremonies.... For every puja
Mrs.Tulsi tried a different pundit, since no pundit could please her as well
as Hari...She sent Sushila to burn candles in the Roman Catholic Church;
she put a crucifix in her room; and she had Pundit Tulsi's grave cleaned
for All Saints' Day. (551)
Mr.Biswas is viewed as a miscreant. He is rebelling against the imperial
hegemony of Tulsidom. He is very shrewd enough to detect the inherent
weaknesses of the system. However, he does not get support from the other sonsin-law, who have submitted themselves voluntarily to the slavery system. Yet,
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none has the courage to speak about Mrs.Tulsi and Seth. Shekhar is so creepy and
cunning, when he looks at Mr.Biswas. In his view, Mr.Biswas is always a clown.
Shekhar, who has adopted the Christian culture, has been systematically belittling
Mr.Biswas. "Shekhar had never forgotten that Mr.Biswas was a clown, and
whenever they met he tried to provoke an act of clowning. He made a belittling
remark, and Mr.Biswas was expected to extend this remark wittily and fancifully.
To Mr.Biswas's fury, Dororthy had also adopted this attitude" (553).
Though Mr.Biswas differs from the other sons-in-law, he is viewed as
different and clownish. It is due to his discriminatory power of judgement. He
knows the riff from the raff. He is more than an ordinary individual. However, he
is made to believe that he was always wrong. When others such as Govind, the
illiterate and faithful worker of the Tulsi estate and Hari, a sickly religious person,
are ready to be the willing slaves of Tulsidom, Mr.Biswas differs from them in
sensibility. He tries to bring them into his fold, he fails in his efforts. Both
Govind and Hari represent the docile, timid weaklings of the indenture system.
They stand for the spineless labourers, who simply existed in feeding and sleeping
without any strength of purpose in Trinidad. They have got what they wanted.
They are complacent and placated. They lack any solid purpose. Among them,
Mr.Biswas-like rebels are strangers. They are either put down or humbled in the
grand narrative of imperialist ideology.
Naipaul makes his protagonist move from The Chase to Green Vale. In the
chapter entitled `Gren Vale', Mr.Biswas undergoes the extreme pangs of misery
and suffering. Green Vale is the site of Mr.Biswas's gruesome experience in the
estate. It gives them near-death experiences. He is the novice in the management
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of labourers in the estate. Even if he tries to act as an effective overseer, wearing
topee in the manner of Seth, he is being mocked at. The ginnitiya experience is
exquisitely narrated by Naipaul in this chapter. The reader is introduced to the
second-hand experiences of girmitya life through Mr.Biswas. Having been an
example of failure in The Chase, Mr.Biswas tries his hand in the estate. He is
appointed as a sub-overseer at a salary of twenty-five dollars a month in the Tulsi
estate.
Mr.Biswas's life in the Green Vale is different from that of his livelihood in
the Hanuman House. His third habitat is among the indentured labourers of the
estate. He was being viewed as an enemy, as the estate had been grabbed by Seth.
He is considered to be an agent of the overseer. He suffers in solitude. Even his
wife deserts him and goes to live in the Hanuman House. He is alienated from his
wife. He does not get cooperation from the labourers. His solitary life in the
barracks makes him long for his own house. He expresses his desire to Seth, who
tells him to choose the land himself without thinking about the rent. He selects a
site near the barrack at Green Vale. He approaches the Negro builder, named
Geoerge Maclean. He tells him about the plan of his house. He meets Tara and
Ajotha and feels uneasy to ask for money. Maclean has used `crapaud' instead of
concrete pillars to reduce the expenditure with the help of a labourer, named
Edgar. He tries to complete the house, and he pays no interest in aesthetic design
of the construction. He is able to complete only one bedroom and half of the
drawing room. The final result of his efforts is miserable. The asphalt, which is
laid on the roof of corrugated iron to seal its holes melted and hung like snakes in
the room. He has to scrape the asphalt off the floor. One night the asphalt fell on
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him and Mr.Biswas screamed..
Mr.Biswas's dream project of constructing his house originates in the Green
Vale. "As soon as he saw the barracks Mr.Biswas decided that the time had come
for him to build his own house, by whatever means" (214). As he has a little
money, he instructs Mr.Maclean, the builder, to construct the house on a slow
pace. Pasupati Jha and T.Ravichandran state:
This angst is having both intellectual and physical dimensions, closely
entwined with each other. Intellectually, Mr.Biswas is disturbed to
dissipate his energy in a dull estate work, which is not suitable for his
creativity; physically he wants a space of his own where he can breathe
freely without any lingering shadow of his overpowering mother-in-law"
(53).
Hari is called from Hanuman House to bless the pillar erection ceremony,
before constructing a house. Though Mr.Biswas is not interested, he is
intimidated by Shama. He is aware of the ill-consequences of Hari's blessing in a
shop at the Chase. But his wife is very adamant in beckoning Hari for blessing
ceremony. "I not going to live in that house or even step inside it if you don't get
Hari to come and bless it" (267). Due to Maclean's mischievous and crafty
designs, Mr.Biswas's house is malformed. His house has become the playing
ground for the children. The asphalt on the roof has melted. "The sun shone and
the rain fell. The roof didn't leak. But the asphalt began to melt and hung limply
down: a legion of slim, black, growing snakes. Ocassionally they fell, falling,
curled and died" (275).
Mr.Biswas's trauma is so intense that he is accompanied by his daughter,
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Savi, his son, Anand and a puppy Tarzan too. They have provided him an
occasional solace and comfort in the times of psychic disturbance. He has
developed the symptoms of neurosis. "Late one night, when he had put out the oil
lamp and was in bed, he heard footsteps outside the room" (275). "He tried to
think of landscapes without people: sand and sand and sand, without `coses' ..."
(227). He has bad dreams. He dreams that he is in Tulsi store. He is chased by
two thick black threads. "As he cycled to Green Vale the threads lengthened.
One thread turned pure white; the black thread became thicker and thicker, purpleblack and monstrously long. It was a rubbery black snake; it developed a comic
face; it found the chase funny and so to the white thread, now also a snake" (283).
Such night terrors continue to haunt him during his nights at the Green Vale.
His wife sends word by Seth that she is coming to the Green Vale with her
children for a brief stay. Mr.Biswas's psychosis is so intense that he is shaken by
his own fears. "All morning he was possessed of visions in which he cutlassed,
poisoned, strangled, burned, Anand and Savi,..." (285). He is seized with panic
that he is to kill his own children in his vision. His dangerous thoughts continue
to haunt him all days and nights. He is diagnosed of malarial fever. His wife tries
to comfort him by unbuttoning his heart and putting her hand on his chest. He is
unable to bear it and screamed. "He was violently angry.[...] he said in his quick,
high pitched voice, 'something in my mind all right. Clouds. Lots of little black
clouds" (286). He is violent and trembled in fever. He does not want the
proximity of his wife. He is screaming and crying. He kicks her and she cries in
pain. She is unable to remain with Mr.Biswas. She leaves her son, Anand with
him and goes to Tulsi house. Even in the absence of fever also, he is quite
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abnormal. His conversation with his son, Ananad, has been marked by his sense
of anxiety.
'Who is your father?'
'You'
'Wrong. I am not your father. God is your father.'
'Oh. And what about you?'
'I am just somebody. Nobody at all. I am just a man you know' (291).
Life in the barracks is so horrible that Ananad too hates it. He is afraid of his
nightly stay there. Mr.Biswas makes plans to switch his residence from the
barracks to the finished room of his house. He thinks that it is a positive action.
"And there was his hope that living in a new house in the new year might bring
about a new state of mind. He would have moved if he had been alone, for he
feared solitude more than people. But, with Ananad, he had enough company"
(293). Anand is so dejected that he wants to go back to the Hanuman House.
Ananad is none other than Naipaul himself. He is very much moved by the
pathetic plight of his father. Patric French says, "For the first six formative years
of Vido's life, his father was often absent, mentally and physically" (27). The
mental disturbance of the Indian diasporans was much common during those
earlier years of settlement. Mr.Biswas shows the extreme irritable temper and fear
psychosis, which are the result of his 'unsettled' feeling.
Towards the end of the chapter of Green Vale, Naipaul depicts the graphic
account of Mr.Biswas's madness. On the day of downpour, both Mr.Biswas and
Anand gets into the unfinished drawing room. The rain is very fierce with the roar
of wind through trees. The roof leaks and water falls from the corrugations.
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Anand sees his father in broken-down condition. "He surprised Mr.Biswas
writing with his finger on his head. Mr.Biswas quickly pretended that he was
playing with his hair"(300). Anand sits down and watches his father in terror. He
is pestered by the winged ants. The rain water soaks through the gaps. Mr.Biswas
is muttering: "Rama Rama Sita Rama, Rama Rama Sita Rama. Mr.Biswas was
lolling on the bed, his legs locked together, his lips moving rapidly. The
expression on his face was one of exasperation rather than pain" (301).
Anand is witnessing his father crying in pain. Mr.Biswas is muttering prayer
and cursing Ajotha, Pundit Jairam, Mrs.Tulsi, Shama and Seth. He lies on the
bed, fretting and fuming. During this gruesome night, the forceful wind had
almost destroyed the dream house of Mr.Biswas. "But Mr.Biswas only muttered
on the bed, and the rain and wind swept through the room with unnecessary
strength and forced open the door to the drawing room, wall-less, floorless, of the
house Mr.Biswas had built" (304).
The demolition of Mr.Biswas's dream house, due to the downpour of rain and
fierce winds has the strong impact on his psyche. He is unable to come out of the
shock. He has become insane. The destruction of his house has been predestined.
Mr.Biswas has bought a doll's house for Savi for the Christmas celebrations. He
has earned displeasure of Mrs.Tulsi and others for buying gift only to Savi. There
is unrest among the children of the house. Shama breaks the dolls' house in order
to avert the undesirable consequences in Hanuman House. "The doll's house did
not exist. He saw only a bundle of firewood. None of its parts was whole" (227).
So Mr.Biswas's real house and his doll's house has faced its own decay. Both the
miniature and the mega houses are destroyed and put an end to Mr.Biswas's
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dreams. He is rescued from the broken house and taken to the Hanuman House.
He is kept in the Blue Room for recovery from illness. He hears from Seth that
his house at Green Vale is burnt by hostile labourers and he is crying. Then he
feels relieved. "An immense relief had come upon Mr.Biswas. The anxiety, the
fear, the anguish which had kept his mind humming and his body that now ebbed
away. He could feel it ebbing; it was a physical sensation; it left him weak and
very weary" (314).
After all misfortunes, he has heard that his fourth daughter is born. Instead of
feeling delight, he remains unmoved. He decides to leave the Hanuman House,
his wife Shama and his children. His decision comes after he gets the news of the
arrival of Mrs.Tulsi and her son. He wants to avoid them. He tells his daughter,
Savi, that he is going away. "He was going out into the world, to test it for its
power to frighten. The past was counterfeit, a series of cheating accidents. Real
life, and its especial sweetness, awaited; he was still beginning" (318).
To breathe an air of freedom, Mr.Biswas sets out on the journey in the wide
world. He boards a bus and reaches Port of Spain. After having spent a fornight in
his sister Dehuti and Ramachand's house, he has happened to get into Sentinel
newspaper office. He requests the editor to give him a job in the office. The
editor, Mr.Burnett is not interested in him and he wants to send him away. He
asks Mr.Biswas to paint a sign 'No Hands Wanted' on the wall. Since Mr.Biswas
is much devoted to sign-painting, he painted with great interest. "Sign writing had
taken him to Hanuman House and the Tulsis. Sign-writing found him a place on
the Sentinel" (340).
Sign-writing had become his destiny. It helps him to make out his future. It
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draws him to Tulsi family and causes the undesirable consequences in his marital
life. It has pushed him into the world for a better future. At Port of Spain, he
starts a new life, because of sign writing. Mr.Burnett is carried by his
perseverance and appoints him as the shipping reporter of the Sentinel. He has
chance to go abroad foreign ships for interviewing tourists of different countries.
He becomes an established reporter of the newspaper. He is warmly greeted by
his mother and his brothers. At Hanuman House, he is welcomed by Shama and
his children. He enjoys esteem and respect. Vanadana Dutta says, "It is his job
on the Sentinel that gives him the independence he had always wanted. Even the
Tulsis start respecting him now. But in Port of Spain too, it is the house of the
Tulsis that he is living in" (101).
Mr.Biswas is cherishing his dreams of independence in Port of Spain. Though
he lives in the house of Tulsis, he is able to be active and lively. His work as a
reporter makes him to go to the villages of the island. He creates an imaginary
character, 'Scarlet Pimpernel' in the column of the Sentinel. He announces prizes
for the readers who would recognize it. He exercises his individual powers of
creativity. It allows him to be free.
Mr.Biswas has earlier maintained his individual stance in a shop at the Chase
or in the barracks as an sub-overseer at the Green Vale. He has been failure in
these places, because he is a novice in these professions. He has no previous
experience in these two attempts. He has undergone many painful experiences.
However, he has enjoyed the sense of freedom, where he has got a job in the
Sentinel as reporter. His favourite sign-writing helps him to get a job.
Ramachand acts as a middle man to bring about the reconciliation between
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Mr.Biswas and the Tulsis. Shama takes great care in his clothes. Ramachand and
Dehuti are very glad that Mr.Biswas has started his new life with his family at the
house of Mrs.Tulsi in Port of Spain. He is to pay eight dollars every month to
Mrs.Tulsi out of his salary of fifteen dollars a fortnight. He is very much delighted
to live in a concrete house. His strained relationship with Mrs.Tulsi and her son
has softened. He insists on the discipline of his children. Shama too exercises
total control over the house. She maintains the account of her expenditure in a
Sentinel note book, as she collects rent from the tenants of Mrs.Tulsi. Shama's
new role in Port of Spain is being noticed with surprise. "Unknown to her family
and almost unknown to herself, Shama had become a creature of terror to
Mrs.Tulsi's tenants. To get the rents she often had to serve eviction notices..."
(359). Mr.Biswas attempts to type short stories on the typewriter, but they were all
fragments.
When Owad is to go to England to become a doctor, Mr.Biswas feels sad. He
is sentimental, because Owad has got a chance to escape from the island easily.
However, he does not express his sadness. "More and more students were going
abroad; but they were items of news, remote. He had never thought that anyone
so close to him could escape so easily" (368).Though Mr.Biswas is contented in
family life, he has a sense of lingering anxiety to escape. He has brought the
Sentinel photographer to take the snap of Owad before his departure and
published an article entitled 'Trinidad Man Off To U.K. For Medical Studies.' He
is so generous that he bade farewell to Owad. "The weakness that had come to
him at the touch of Owad's hands remained with Mr.Biswas. There was a hole in
his stomach. He wanted to climb mountains, to exhaust himself, to walk and walk
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and never return to the house, to the empty tent, the dead fire-holes, the disarrayed
furniture" (382).
Soon after the departure of Owad, Mrs.Tulsi goes to the Hanuman House.
There are changes both in the Hanuman House and the Sentinel office. Mrs.Tulsi
has lost interest in the family. Seth is distanced from Tulsidom. It denotes the loss
of authority and harmony. The gradual disintegration of the hegemony of
Hanuman House shows the dissolution of colonial regime. It throws the subjects
into decay and disorder. Shekhar's wife is disliked by Shama's sisters, as she
used to wear short frocks and sells the tickets at a cinema. She is a symbol of
modernity. There is discord between modernity and tradition in the Hanuman
House. Mr.Burnett informs Mr.Biswas that he is likely to be sacked. Mr.Biswas
too is assigned the job of reporting the court proceedings. There is decline in his
profession. He feels humiliated at the office. He is sometimes sent to collect the
reports about unimportant cricket matches.
He shows his protest by absenting himself from the office and read books for
solace. "Then it was that he discovered the solace of Dickens. Without difficulty
he transferred characters and settings to people and places he knew. In the
grostesques of Dickens everything he feared and suffered from was ridiculed and
diminished, so that his own anger, his own contempt became unnecessary..."
(394). He chooses books to gain strength to face the hardships of life. His articles
do not attract the attention of people. He has lost interest in work and is constantly
suffering in anguish. The new regime in the office is indifferent. Mr.Biswas
imagines that he will die in a road accident, leaving his wife and baby daughter
uncared for. He is again attacked by panic. "He spoke continually of his fear,
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ridiculed it and allowed himself to be ridiculed. But as the afternoon wore on his
agitation became more marked, and at the end he was quite frantic, anxious to go
home, yet fearing to leave the office, the only place where he felt safe" (396).
At home, Shama has to face financial crisis. Her food has become worse.
There have been quarrels between Mr.Biswas and Shama. He blames her that he
is trapped in her family. She retorts that he would be in his grave, if her family has
not supported him. He has become frantic again, when he sees his rose garden
destroyed one afternoon. The ground is leveled by Seth to keep his lorries there.
In his anger, he is about to hit Seth with a stone. He in his fury throws out his
own household articles. He orders the children to cut down the rose trees. "Cut
down the rose trees,' Mr.Biswas was shouting. 'Cut them down. Break up
everything else" (409).
Tulsis have bought a new estate at Shorthills. They have decided to move
from Arwacas to Shorthills. It is due to the disagreement between Tulsis and Seth.
Both Mrs.Tulsi and Shama have convinced Mr.Biswas to move to the estate. The
house is situated in the midst of solitude and bush. Mr.Biswas lives in a room in
the upper floor. One of his brothers-in-law is the reader of W.C.Tuttle, who has
criticized him for having fascination for Samuel Smiles. He is a business man and
has bought a lorry to hire it to the American soldiers who came to Shorthills to
build a post in the mountains. There are problems among the children. It has
made Mr.Biswas to withdraw from the Tulsi family at Shorthills and build his
own house there. He expedites the process of building a wooden house of his own
with the timber of estate at Shorthills.
He had found a site such as he always wanted, isolated, unused and full of
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possibilities. It was some way from the estate house, on a low hill buried
in bush and well back from the road. The house was begun and unblessed,
completed in less than a month. Its pattern was precisely that of the house
he had attempted in Green Vale, precisely that of thousands of houses in
rural Trinidad. (447).
Though the new house has been built with great speed, it has presented many
difficulties. Shama has to walk a mile to go for shopping. Mr.Biswas's children
have felt imprisoned, as there are no pastimes in the village. One night Anand
wakes up suddenly and finds the house on fire. Mr.Biswas tries to extinguish the
fire. But he could not do it. The children are chanting 'Rama, Rama' on their way
to Mrs.Tulsi's house. Instead of feeling sadness, Mr.Biswas comforts himself.
"A snake was found burnt to death less than twenty yards from the kitchen. 'The
hand of God', Mr.Biswas said. 'Burning the bitch up before it bite me" (456).
Mr.Biswas's attempts to have a house of his own have been aborted by
Providence. He resigns himself to fate and the work of God.
Mr.Biswas, after his failure to be the house-owner, becomes the tenant again
' in the house of Mrs.Tulsi at Port of Spain. Naipaul deftly moves the narrative
from the village to city. It is symbolic of a shift from tradition to modernity, from
the world of agriculture to that of education. As usual, Mr.Biswas is found to be
restless in Port of Spain. He has found himself to be in quarrel with the family of
Govind and the reader of Tuttle. There has been a change in the life style of
Govind, who has passion for modernity. The reader of Tuttle too has gone for the
modernity. He possesses many beautiful tables and a statue of a naked woman
holding a torch. The members of Tulsi family have understood the value of
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education.
Mr.Biswas finds the house noisy, as it is full of pranks and mischiefs of the
grown-up children. "The house was never quiet, and became almost unbearable
when W.C.Tuttle bought a gramophone" (459). Mr.Biswas is irritated. He has the
occasional disputes with Govind, as the vehicles are parked in the same garage at
the side of the house. It is difficult to take them in the morning. Mr.Biswas is
restless due to the noisy atmosphere of the house. So he goes out with Ananad
sometimes for long night walks. He escapes to the office of the Sentinel and hates
to return in the evening. The noisy ambience has produced the acute indigestion
of Mr.Biswas, Savi's skin rash and Anand's asthma. He finds himself in the weak
condition, as his financial status is very miserable. "Self-disgust led to anger,
shouts, tears, something to add to the concentrated hubbub of the evening, the
never-torn helplessness" (463).
He meets the Indian farmers to collect material for his article on Prospects for
this Year's Rice Crop. They are illiterate, but they have treated him as a superior
being. Though they are illiterate, but they are leading decent lives. They have
bought lands, built mansions and they have sent their sons to America and Canada
for medical studies. Mr.Biswas is depressed that his knowledge does not take him
to the great heights of prosperity. "And from this money, despite Marcus Aurelius
and Epicteus, despite Samuel Smiles, Mr.Biswas found himself barred" (463).
Mr.Biswas's failure is not because of his literacy and knowledge, but because of
his weak sensibilities. They arise from his rootlessness and displacement. As he is
struggling to carve out his niche in the world of identity-less faces, he miserably
fails. Sentiments of confusion pervade his mind. He is unable to take decisions,
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as he is moving from place to place. He never hesitates to blame others for his
weak purpose. "He blamed his father; he blamed his mother; he blamed the
Tulsis; he blamed Shama. Blame succeeded blame confusedly in his mind; but
more and more he blamed the Sentinel, and hinted savely to Shama..." (464). He
is driven by the idea of finding the job of a labourer with the Americans. He is
pained to see the development in the financial status of his illiterate brothers-inlaw.
The financial crisis has affected the psyche of the children too in the
disordered society. Not only does Mr.Biswas suffer, but his son, Anand, too has
carried the crucifying experience if financial instability. A new school game has
existed in Port of Spain that the boys are being challenged to say what their
fathers' profession is. Mr.Biswas is pained to hear the new school game. He
blames the Sentinel for his financial crisis. He is appointed as an investigator of
the new project of the Sentinel, 'The Deserving Destitutes Fund' . He feels
uneasy and is scared of visiting the destitute daily. It is very ironic that he, being
homeless, is sent to investigate the lives of the destitutes. "Deserving Destitute
Number One,' he told Shama, `M.Biswas. Occupation: investigator of Deserving
Destitutes" (446). He is unable to help his relatives, the penniless widows of the
Tulsi family and the pathetic Bhandat. The irony of the situation is that once
Bhandat had exploited and tortured Mr.Biswas, when he was working in his rumshop in his younger days. Bhandat is now under the mercy of Mr.Biswas. He
lives in a low windowless room in the slum with his Chinese mistress. He
becomes deaf.
Mr.Biswas goes to Ajodha's house with his children on Sunday to drive out
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his restlessness. But his children do not like the atmosphere. Govind's family
dominates the house. Govind, his wife Chinta and their son Vidiadhar have
proved to be enemies to the family of Mr.Biswas. There is competition between
the children of these two families. Anand's sisters have quarreled with the other
children to establish the superiority of Anand over Vidiadhar. Anand has gone to
school with Mr.Biswa on his Royal Enfield bicyle and Vidiadhar goes by his
father's taxi. Mr.Biswas takes part in the meeting of the literary group. When he
has started writing a short story, he could not complete it. He receives the news of
his mother's death. He is overwhelmed by grief. Having lost his father at the
tender age, his mother has been the source of his inspiration. Though he is
separated from her, he nourishes great affection for her. He is moved on seeing
his mother's body. Naipaul describes the sentimental presence of Mr.Biswas thus,
"... as he wandered about the yard among the manners, he was aware of the body.
He was oppressed by a sense of loss: not of present loss, but of something missed
in the past. He would have like to be alone, to commune with this feling" (507).
Mr.Biswas has become conscious of his original self through the image of his
mother. It begins to submerge with her death. He is unable to grieve for his
mother in the midst of people.
He is very angry with the doctor, who has demanded fee for signing the death
certificate of his mother. Mr..Biswas is deeply hurt not only about the doctor's
avarice, but also for his religious conversion. Dr.Rameshwar has got himself
converted in Christianity. He accuses him of abandoning his religion for political
and social gain. The anger of diasporic Indian is expressed in the following
passage, "He compared the doctor to an angry hero of a Hindu epic, and asked to
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be forgiven for mentioning the Hindu epics to an Indian who had abandoned his
religion for a recent superstition that was being exported wholesale to savages all
over the world (the doctor was a Christian)" (510). He writes a letter in eight
pages. He is reminded of his mother, when he wakes up one night. He starts
writing a poem to his mother in his neurotic state. He longs for mother's care. In
the moments of anguish, he expects solace from the source of his mother. "He
wrote of a journey he had made a long time before. He was tired; she made him
rest. He was hungry; she gave him food. He had nowhere to go; she welcomed
him" (511). After writing a poem to his mother, he is relieved from his agony.
His anguish is further relieved by the phenomenal success of Anand, who has
secured the third position in the exhibition examination. Anand is extremely
happy and he shares his happiness with his friends. They have visited hotels,
gardens to celebrate his success. Mr.Biswas is delighted, when he receives a letter
from Dr.Rameshwar, who has acknowledged his error.
After a half-a-life and the futile attempts to build his 'own' house, he has
resigned his life to fate. He is unable to control the events of his life. He is
confident that only education would give a ray of hope to the displaced and
dispossessed people. He has encouraged Anand to study well. In the midst of
sophisticated and materialistic brothers-in-law, such as Govinda and the reader of
Mr.Tuttle, he strives to show his sense of identity. Even while he is appointed the
investigator of the Deserving Destitutes Fund, he does not indulge in any unfair
means of corruption. The sense of honesty is explicit in his displaced life.
Among the homeless destitutes, he stands apart. "These were the times (for the
children were not excluded from this talk about money) when Mr.Biswas
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delivered insincere homilies on the honest manner of his livelihood, and told his
children that he had nothing to leave them but good education and a sound
training" (464-465). Though Anand differs from his father's psychotic
sensibilities, he sincerely follows his father's dictum of education. It has given
him strength and power. Anand is none other than Naipaul himself, whose
tremendous success in creative writing is due to his father's gift of creative
writing,
Mr.Biswas in Port of Spain has lost the dreams of possessing his own house.
He has regained his hope again, when he has got a job in the Community Welfare
Department. He has got decent salary and enjoyed security. Miss.Logie helps
him get a job of Community Welfare Officer. He equips himself in borrowing
books of sociology and village construction from the library. His new job helps
him to lead a good life. He has bought new suits and a new brand car. The
prosperity of his family makes other relatives jealous. He has bought a car on a
government loan. He has undertaken excursions with his family to Sans Souci
and Balandra.
The happiness which he experiences is short-lived. The reader of W.C.Tuttle
has bought a house in Woodbrook, Mrs.Tulsi comes to stay in the house at Port of
Spain. She is accompanied by Sushila and Miss.Blackie. She is counting her last
days. She is irritable and angry with her daughters. Mr.Biswas is restless when
he hears that Owad, a doctor, is returning to his mother's house from England. He
is to occupy the room of Mr.Biswas, who has to move to an unpainted wooden
room with shaky floor and naked galvanized roof in one of his tenements. He is
unable to buy a house with a little amount of six hundred and twenty dollars. He
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shows his irritability with Shama and his children.
When he goes to Hanuman House for his official work, he stays there. It is
occupied by a widow of the Tulsi family. The Tulsi store is occupied by the
Scottish firm. He opines that the desolation and quietness of Hanuman House is
preferable to the noisy atmosphere of his room in Port of Spain. He describes the
new atmosphere of Hanuman House thus: "A large red advertisement for Bata
shoes hung below the statue of Hanuman, and the store was bright and busy. But
at the back the house was back." (560). After the house of Port of Spain is
renovated, Mr.Biswas moves again with his family to one room at the back of the
renovated house.
Towards the end of the novel, Naipaul makes his hero, Mr.Biswas to realize
the ambition of possessing a house for his own. Mr.Biswas has earlier rebelled
against Mrs.Tulsi family, soon after his marriage. His revolt has resulted in his
movement from house to house. It has not brought out any positive change.
Mr.Biswas has undoubtedly experienced the moments of transient and illusory
happiness. His job as a journalist in the Sentinel and his purchase of car has given
him momentary relief from his suppressed emotions. His girmitya angst of
perpetual restlessness has always put him in despair.
The girmityas had sought relief in possessing minor delights. However, they
constantly kept themselves distraught with the trauma of losing home country. In
the place of their loss of home country, they endeavoured to find such as one in
their fantasies. The inexplicable sense of loss drove them to mental aberrations
such as neurosis, schizophrenia and so on. The nameless indentured labourers,
who sought to earn or to escape to the alien lands, would have stood on the shores
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and wept, shrieked and cried for the loss of their land, their relativesand of course
culture. Though there are no empirical data on the psycho-traumatic experiences
of those girmitya workers, it is understood that they had got embedded in their
psyche and had been carried forward to their succeeding generations. Seepersad
Naipaul, though he did not have first-hand experience of girmitya angst, had
carried its remnants of irritable temper and restlessness. He in turn influenced his
son, V.S.Naipaul in carrying the feelings of displacement.
In A House for Mr.Biswas, the protagonist, Mr.Biswas has succeeded in
moving to his own house, due to his son, Anand's revolution. When Owad
returns from England after his studies, he is greeted by the people with awe. He
amuses his audience with the description of his experiences in England. He
expresses his affinity with Russia and its revolution. He tells others highly about
the greatness of communism. Anand, who appreciates the political and artistic
views of Owad, does not accept his opinion about Picasso. He plays the card
game worse, as he is the partner of Owad. Owad angrily shouts at him and Anand
retorts. He is slapped hard on the cheek by Owad. Anand weeps and tells
Mr.Biswas to move away from the house.
'Pa. We must move.'
Mr.Biswas turned.
'We must move. I can't bear to live here another day.'
Mr.Biswas heard the distress in Anand's voice.
But he was unwilling to explore it. 'Move?'
All in good time. All in good time. Just waiting for the revolution and my
dacha (583).
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Mr.Biswas, because of his son, proceeds to possess his own house in the land
of girmityas. Shama does not relish her son's revolt. She asks him to apologize to
Owad for his behaviour and Anand has obeyed. Both the father and son are
disturbed by the noise and disturbance in the house. They are further humiliated
by Owad's insulting remarks and giggles. When Mr.Biswas shouts and quarrels
with Owad and Mrs.Tulsi, she has told him to get out from her house and go to
hell. "Go to hell?' Mr.Biswas said. 'Go to hell? To prepare the way for you?
Praying to God, eh? Cleaning up the old man's grave" (588). He goes on to
comment on Owad's ideals of communism. "Communism, like charity, should
begin at home"(588). Mr.Biswas fervently searches for a house. A solicitor's
clerk shows him his house. Mr.Biswas is overwhelmed by the sight of the wellfurnished house. The clerk tells him that he wants to sell it, since his old mother
could not go upstairs. Mr.Biswas could not see the absurd shape of the house,
broken panels, the absence of backdoor and the staircase hanging dangerously at
the back of the house. He has only twelve hundred dollars. He has borrowed four
thousand five hundred dollars from Ajodha and has finally bought the house of
solicitor's clerk for five thousand and five hundred dollars.
The solicitor's clerk cheats him by selling the incomplete, the imperfect house
at a high price. He has to get it repaired before shifting to his own house. Shama
has borrowed two hundred dollars form Basdai to do the repairing work. Though
the house is uncomfortable, the family moves to the new house. Mr.biswas is
very happy when the reader of Tuttle and his wife do not notice the deformities of
the house. He plants the laburnum tree to give romantic aspect to the house. Joshi
says, "Thus even in the context of the Indian's search for a meaningful place in
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the creole world of Trinidad, though Biswas's shaky little house may signify
journey's end. It equally suggests that their position remains uncertain and
shadowed with anxieties" (136).
In the Epilogue, Naipaul brings out the last days of Mr.Biswas. The
Community Welfare Department is abolished and Mr.Biswas has joined the
Sentinel at a lower salary. His debt of four thousand dollars cripples his energy
and enthusiasm. His solace is that his children, Savi and Anand have got
scholarship and gone abroad. He writes letters to his son. He has sent him by air
mail a book entitled 'Outwitting Our Nerves'written by two women psychologists.
His extreme anxiety about debt makes him suffer from cardiac trouble. He is
admitted in hospital and is advised not to climb upstairs. However, his financial
needs push him to overstrain much. He stays in the hospital for six weeks. His
dismissal from the Sentinel adds to his misery. He is comforted by Savi's
company. Finally, he dies of cardiac arrest. The Sentinel carries the news under
the headline `Jouranlist Dies Suddenly.'
Mr.Biswas has started his life as a homeless labourer's son and dies as a
respectable journalist with a house in a city. "Biswas's contrary emotional states
during his last months of life are the consequence not only of his strokes but of a
lifetime of struggle and unrelieved tension made bearable by his unbearable spirit,
his irascible sense of humour and a few gratifying successes. For Biswas, release
is just a state of being at peace with his surroundings, of not having to struggle
anymore" (98).
The life of Naipaul's father, Seepersad Naipaul and that of Mr.Biswas are
interlinked. Naipaul has presented the grim vision of the girmitya labourers in his
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immortal classic, A House for Mr.Biswas.
The next chapter, Chapter III, entitled "Postcolonial Chaos: Ambivalence,
Mimicry and Liminal Space", discusses two of Naipaul's fictions, namely The
Mimic Men and A Bend in the River, highlighting the postcolonial theories of
ambivalence, mimicry and liminal space, from the diasporan point of view.