V S Naipaul's 'A House for Mr. Biswas': Theme of Alienation/ Rootlessness/ Major themes/ Character of Mr. Biswas

-



















Theme of Alienation/ Rootlessness/ Major themes/ Character of Mr. Biswas


For sure, A House for Mr. Biswas is a psychological study of an alienated man, Mr. Biswas, in his search for identity, in his efforts to find out a house for himself with the surroundings. One may opine that the basic problem of this alienated man lies in a kind of intense desire to have his mental world uninterrupted and also in his desire that others will be conscious of it.

It is said by Naipaul that Mr. Biswas had no money or position. That he was of ill temper is evident from his throwing of food out of the windows on to a passerby’s head, referring to Mrs. Tulsi as old “she fox”, kicking his pregnant wife on the belly etc. The most significant account of his progression lies in his attempt at the pledge made earlier to his mother living shabbily in a room of her sister Tara’s hut. With his journalistic skill he got his final achievement – the Sikkim Street home. The hope is dashed in the absence of a commitment of support from the future generation. The all-knowing narrator represents the society. This novel is also known as Naipaul’s crypto-biography. The final judgement is to be found in the emotional involvement of his wife and children who felt a vacuum in the home after his socially unspectacular demise.












Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay-- Chapter wise Overview of the English Novel "Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay/Detailed chapterwise Summary of the novel "Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay/Synopsis of the novel "Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay/ Complete or Comprehensive chapter wise summary in easy language of "Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay/Thorough analysis and interpretation with deep understanding of "Rajmohan's Wife" by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

-
Image
Rajmohan's Wife  by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay the first ever English novel in India. Apart from that, this novel is the novelist's first novel ever. Published in 1864, t he theme of the novel is love and romance as well as depiction of strong women with twenty-one chapters in totaling. The first chapter of the novel is “The Drawers of Water”, while  the last chapter of the novel is “The Last Chapter in Life’s Book – and In This”. Now let's have an overview of the chapters -- Chapter 1 A tiny hamlet situated on the banks of the Madhumati River was very much important because of the rich zamindars living there. After a siesta, Kanak, a lady of about thirty years of age, went to a neighbour's house with four huts. There she came across a young housewife who was busy in her needlework. Chapter 2 When the sun was about to go down, Kanak and her companion, that is, the young lady of eighteen years of age, were returning home with pitchers in their h
Read more

Derozio’s “To India, My Native Land”: Critical Appreciation

-
Image
Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s love for India whispered into his ears to pay a homage to the land with the aid of his poem,  To India, My Native Land .  He is the first poet of Modern India to express his fiercely intense patriotism in poetry.  To India, My Native Land is a magnificent sonnet that depicts his pure patriotism. This sonnet also delineates his utmost will to emancipate India from the British bondage. In this patriotic poem, the speaker persona recalls India's past glory before the era of British bondage. She was suffused with name and fame, only glory but no worry during those days. She was over brimmed with cultural and spiritual richness at that time. Anyway, after the British reign, such abstracts went away in the twinkling of an eye. She became bereft of all such richness. In this poem, we come across rhetorical questions. Again, the image of eagle in this poem symbolise the royalty of the land in the then times. Dust  epitomises death, decay
Read more

Character portrait/Character/Character sketch of Sridhar in "Bravely Fought the Queen" by Mahesh Dattani

-
Image
  Character portrait/Character/Character sketch of Sridhar in Bravely Fought the Queen by Mahesh Dattani In the drama named Bravely Fought the Queen by Mahesh Dattani, Sridhar is depicted as Lalitha’s responsible husband. He, a worker of the Trivedi brothers, remains busy at taking care of advertising for the Re Va Tee product. He is a sincere and hardworking person. Also, he is very efficient. In this play, Jiten Trivedi stays obstinate and does not pay any attention to the intellect of Sridhar. In this play, we come to know Jiten’s character pretty well, especially when he argues that their aim is to attract men but not women, since it is the men who have the purchasing power. In this context, we can discern and find the male domination in the advertising world. However, Sridhar cautions them of the possible hostile consequences of the existing advertisement, since he is a very liable employee. Again, as and when Sridhar utters, “This is professional suicide”, Jiten, in utmost f
Read more