14 V. S. Naipaul: A House for Mr Biswas

Dr. Alice Samson

I: Introduction to A House for Mr. Biswas

Listed amongst the 100 best novels written in English language in the twentieth century, V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas is one of the most significant novels to have been written by a Caribbean author. The novel describes the travails of the protagonist Mohun Biswas, who seeks to own a house in Trinidad. The novel is set in the first half of the twentieth century. Even as the novel depicts the desires and insecurities of Mohun, it rather humorously depicts the lives of the various members of the gregarious Tulsi household. The novel provides a commentary on the relations between sexes in Indo-Trinidadian society, also throws light on the complexities of race and of impending exit of the colonial rule in the island.

A House for Mr. Biswas, published in 1961, won V.S. Naipaul immediate international recognition. Naipaul based his novel on the life of his father Seepersad Naipaul. Seepersad Naipaul, a son of indentured Indians, was a self taught writer. At a very young age, Seepersad, an emaciated yet ambitious young man, was married into the influential Capildeo (Kapil Dev) family. The novel is set in the first half of the twentieth century and all the main characters in the book are Trinidadians of Indian origin.

A House for Mr. Biswas portrays the dynamics of the Indo-Trinidadian community. It throws light on the superstitions, and the culture of the emaciated descendants of Indian origin on the island. The description of the lifestyles of the Ajodha and the Tulsi family is a record of the  in detail. The action in the novel is situated in the first half of the twentieth century, a period which witnessed massive political changes across the world. It discusses the genealogy of coolie—the indentured labourer from various parts of South Asia, to Trinidad. It portrays the prejudices and the malice prevalent in the Indian community residing in Trinidad. It depicts the troubles that the community faces to keep its religious (Hindu) and caste identities intact. The novel demonstrates that the Indian community in Trinidad, despite its contestations, is cultivating ‘hybrid’, and ‘hyphenated’ identities.

 Life and Background of Lord Vidiadhar Suraj Prasad

Lord Vidiadhar Suraj Prasad, a descendant of indentured immigrant workers from India, Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. Naipaul, today, is perhaps the most celebrated and the most widely read Caribbean prose author who writes in English. Born to Droapatie and Seepersad Naipaul who was a self taught journalist and a published creative writer; Naipaul grew in the multicultural milieu of rural Trinidad. Through his mother, Naipaul is a descendant of Capildeo’s (Kapil Dev) family, which enjoyed considerable economic and political clout in Trinidad. In 1983 in his “A prologue to an autobiography” (1983) Naipaul describes how his father’s reverence for writers and for the writing life spawned his own dreams and aspirations to become a writer.

Naipaul completed his schooling from the Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain and in 1950 won a Trinidadian national scholarship to study in Oxford. In England Naipaul met Patricia (Pat) Ann Hale whom he secretly married in 1955. Patricia was his first reader and critic. Naipaul’s marriage to Patricia ended when she died in 1996. In 1996, two months after the death of his first wife Naipaul married Nadira Khannum Alvi, a British journalist of Pakistani origin. Naipaul adopted Nadira’s daughter from an earlier marriage as his daughter. Between 1954 and 1956 Naipaul worked on the Caribbean Voices, a weekly program for the BCC. Naipaul first completed work is the Miguel Street a collection of short stories. However his first novel The Mystic Masseur (1957) was his first published work. His other works of fiction include The Suffrage of Elvira (1958), Miguel Street (1959),  A  House  for  Mr  Biswas (1961), Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion (1963), The Mimic Men (1967), A Flag on the Island (1967), In a Free State (1971), Guerrillas (1975), A Bend in the River (1979), The Enigma of Arrival (1987), A Way in the World (1994), Half a Life (2001) and Magic Seeds (2004). For In a Free State Naipaul won the much acclaimed Booker prize.

Naipaul is also a prolific author of nonfiction. Since the 1960s Naipaul has emerged as a powerful political and cultural critic. He courted several serious controversies. He is known for his strong and often objectionable remarks on various subjects including India and Islam. However, Naipaul is celebrated for his unique literary style and the range of subjects his writings deal with. His prominent works of nonfiction include The Middle Passage (1962), An Area of Darkness (1964), India: A Wounded Civilization (1977), Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey (1981), A Turn in the South (1989), India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990), Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples (1998), and The Masque of Africa (2010). In 2001 Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”.

Besides V.S. Naipaul there are two published writers in his family. They include his father Seepersad Naipaul, and his brother Shiva Naipaul.

 Naipaul’s works and themes

Naipaul wrote extensively on varied themes. His works are set in India, Africa, Caribbean islands, and England. His subjects included Indians, people of Indian, African, and Caribbean origin, the white skinned colonialists, the decolonized subjects from the third world who now constitute the diaspora. Naipaul’s fiction largely deals with the longing for a home. The lead characters are self driven, ambitious and are worthy of their education. Their quest drives them toward displacement and exile. Towards the end of the novels, their quest notwithstanding, Naipaul lead characters are defeated by the socio-political milieu. For instance A Bend in the River, which begins with the sentence “the world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it” deals with the travails of Salim, a progeny of immigrants from South Asia to Africa, who was forced to relocate from the East coast of African to its hinterlands. Salim works hard and manages to prosper through his shop when the change in the political structure and the subsequent decolonization ruins the business. Salim is forced to abandon his shop and seek refuge overseas. He is thus coerced to migrate twice in his life. A House of Mr. Biswas portrayed the protagonist longing for owning a house. The Mimic Men describes the personal and political travails of the businessman politician Ralph Singh, who returns to the Caribbean island after completing his education in England. Ralph dabbles in island’s politics and is exiled by his former friends. A deeply hurt Ralph returns to England.

Willie Somerset Chandran is perhaps the most displaced amongst Naipaul’s protagonist. The lead character in the novel Half a Life and its sequel The Magic Seeds, Chandran migrates from India to London and then to Africa. The political uncertainty in the African nation forces him to shift to Berlin. Chandran is disappointed with life in Berlin and his sister arranges for him to shift to India and fight alongside the communists. Chandran does not share the enthusiasm of his comrades. However, left with no option Chandran participates in the movement. He is arrested by the Indian state. On his release he settles down in England.

Naipaul is often criticized for painting a grim picture of postcolonial societies. He depicts the postcolonies as lawless, crumbling societies which are ruled by inept and corrupt megalomaniacs.

Naipaul is often accused of essentialising various communities. His writing is complex and his political views are often contentious and contradictory. At a literary event held in New Delhi in 2002, a few hours after he delivered an address which dealt with the anguish of the exile in Britain, Naipaul declared “Banality irritates me. My life is short. I can’t listen to banality. This thing about colonialism, this thing about gender oppression, the very word oppression wearies me”. He further added “If writers talk about oppression, they don’t do much writing. Fifty years have gone by. What colonialism are you talking about?”

Many Indians found Naipaul’s views expressed in the Indian trilogy An Area Of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilisation, India: A Million Mutinies Now rather intolerable. In India: A Wounded Civilization Naipaul stated that the “calamitous effect of Islam on its subject peoples – it was much worse than colonialism”. He further stated that “Islam destroyed India,” before declaring that “there is this ill-informed idea that it was the British, in the short time that they were there, that ruined and defaced all those temples you see. The bitter fact is that the people of India were ill-equipped to face the organised military power of Islam and were destroyed by it”. “The intellectual life of India, the Sanskrit culture, stops at 1000AD. Islam was the greatest calamity that befell it. Now people think only the Muslims built anything but what they brought was a slave culture that lasted in some parts of India until almost the other day”.

In Among the Believers and Beyond Belief, Naipaul stated that “To be a Muslim you have to destroy your history, to stamp on your ancestral culture. The sands of Arabia is all that matters. This abolition of the self is worse than the colonial abolition, much worse.” Naipaul’s writings indirectly helped the rise of Islamophobia and xenophobia in the world. Various reactionary forces, at various times, have appropriated his writings.

 Summary I of A House for Mr. Biswas

Bipti and Raghu Biswas are second generation descendants of indentured labourers of Indian origin residing in Trinidad. The couple produce four children Pratap, Prasad, Dehuti and the youngest Mohun Biswas. Mohun Biswas is born on a dark night at his maternal grandparents’ home with six fingers. The Pandit declares that Mohun is an inauspicious child who will cause his father’s death and warns that the child should be kept away from water. Mohun is not sent to school and is instead asked to take care of his neighbour’s calf. When Mohun, for the first time in his life, comes across a lake he is distracted with the sight of water. The calf meanders away. Scared of reporting the loss of the calf, Mohun silently comes home and hides under the bed. The family is worried and searches for Mohun. As the villagers inform Raghu that Mohun was spotted near the lake, Raghu repeatedly dives into the lake and is drowned.

With Raghu’s death the family disintegrates. Pratap and Prasad are sent to stay with relatives from their paternal side, while Bipti, Dehuti, and Mohun reside with Tara. Tara is Bipti’s sister. She is married to Ajodha and the couple are childless. The couple is rich and own many commercial enterprises. Mohun is sent to school, while Dehuti is assigned domestic chores. Unable to stay with the Ajodhas Dehuti elopes with Ramachand, a ‘low caste’ domestic help. Mohun is pulled out of school and is sent to apprentice with Jayaram, a Hindu priest. Mohun is unsuccessful and comes back to stay with the Ajodha family. At the Ajodhas’ home Mohun cultivates a love for books. He reads extensively.

Mohun is sent to stay with Bhandat, the younger brother of Ajodha and assist him in the liquor business. Bhandat, a ‘lecherous’, ‘womanizing’, ‘spendthrift’ who is constantly cheating Ajodhas and the customers, distrusts Mohun. Bhandat manhandles Mohun and forces him to leave the shop.

Mohun decides to look out for himself. He seeks out his school friend Alec, and begins to paint signboards. An assignment takes him to Tulsis’ shop. He sees Shama at the shop and instinctively writes her a love letter. The letter lands him in trouble as the Tulsis interpret it as a proposal for marriage. The wedding is quickly arranged and performed at the Tulsis’ residence—the Hanuman House. Mohun and Shama are asked to stay in one of the many rooms in the building. Mrs Tulsi and her brother in law, Seth, want Mohun to work in their shops.

Mohun is not prepared for a married life and finds the environment in the Hanuman house stifling. He yearns for independence and constantly finds means to express himself. Very early into his marriage he realizes that the Tulsi household does not provide any reasonable means to live an independent and contended life. The marriage produces four children.

Mohun heartily dislikes the gargantuan Tulsi household which he finds regressive. He rebels at every opportunity, tries to ascertain his independence on every occasion and wants to break away from the Tulsis. He detests every member in the household. He names Mrs. Tulsi the ‘old queen’ and the ‘old hen’. He calls Seth ‘big boss’ and the ‘big bull’. He dislikes the highhandedness of his brothers-in-laws Owad and Shekhar whom he mockingly calls ‘gods’. He is repelled at the sight of Hari, the son-in-law who serves as the spiritual leader of the household. Hari’s obsession with his illnesses, his food practices, and religious books irritate Mohun. He distrusts Padma who is the wife of Seth. Mohun tries to seek the company of the rustic and illiterate Govind. Govind betrays Mohun’s trust as he reports Mohun’s complaints to Seth. Residents at the Hanuman house brand Mohun a trouble maker.

Mohun is often humiliated and is isolated. On one occasion Govind manhandles Mohun. For Mohun the Tulsis come to signify a decadent old order, which is crumbling and has no place in the contemporary world which is constantly making and remaking itself. He deems himself trapped by circumstances and wants to escape from the situation, reclaim his agency and live life on his terms.

The Tulsis finally give away and allow Mohun to run a shop on one of their properties. For the first time in their marriage, Mohun and Shama live independent of the Tulsis. Mohun becomes a shopkeeper and his family resides in a house located behind the shop. Initially Mohun is successful at managing the shop. However, at Shama’s insistence Mohun gets the shop ‘blessed’. Mohun gets into trouble and is in a legal case. Mohun loses the shop and the family is forced to return to the Hanuman House.

Summary II of A House for Mr. Biswas

Mohun, however, does not live with the Tulsis for long. He rebels and is employed as a driver and an overseer on the family’s plantation estate. Mohun’s family is forced to live alongside ten other families in the barracks. Mohun resents the housing arrangement and the nature of his job. He is inept as an overseer. He tries to build his own house on the plantation. However, due to financial constraints he is forced to compromise on the quality of the raw materials and ends up procuring a weak house. The frail house is destroyed during a storm and Mohun is devastated.

Mohun is forced to return to the Tulsi household again. He is emotionally estranged from them, moves to live with his sister in Port of Spain, and begins to seek employment in the city. Luckily, soon enough he lands up a job as a journalist with the Sentinel. As a journalist Mohun is sensational and is not very efficient at his job. Mohun relocates his family to Port of Spain. He begins to enjoy his independence and the new job. He aspires to become a writer. He buys a typewriter and types a few sentences.

Mrs. Tulsis intervenes again and manipulates the situation. Mohun and Shama reside as tenants at the family house in Port of Spain. Mohun’s new job wins him the friendship and respect of his brothers-in-law. Shekhar is married to Dorothy, a Presbyterian of Indian origin. Owad leaves for England to study medicine at Cambridge. Seth and Mrs. Tulsi begin to disagree on most things and the Tulsis seem to be on the verge of breaking up.

Mrs. Tulsi and her children, along with their families, move away from Arwacas to set up a new house on a plantation at the Shorthills. Much to his irritation and discomfort Mohun is also forced to relocate to the new house. He achieves professional success and begins to build his own house on the estate. An accident leads to the house being burnt down.

As the tenants at the Tulsi house in Port of Spain vacate, Mohun begins to reside in Port of Spain. As a Community Welfare Officer, Mohun begins to enjoy his job. He focuses on the education of Anand, buys a car, and seems to be finally at ease with life. However, as various members of the Tulsi also relocate to Port of Spain, Mohun finds the house inhospitable and finds the environment stifling.

To add to the crowd Owad returns from England. Though trained as a doctor, his Marxist views notwithstanding, Owad is as regressive and prejudiced as any other member of the Tulsi household. Owad is overbearing and fights with Anand. His arguments with Mohun lead to a massive argument between Mohun and Mrs. Tulsi.

As the Community welfare department is disbanded, Mohun goes back to being a journalist with the Sentinel. He is now a seasoned journalist. His daughter Shama and son Anand win scholarships and find their way to England. Mohun is clearly middle aged and searches for a house of his own with more vigour. He finally finds a house, arranges a loan with the Ajodhas and buys it. The house is not as perfect as it looked and its faults render it dysfunctional. He realizes that the previous owner has cheated him.

Mohun suffers a series of heart attacks and is diagnosed with serious heart ailment. Mohun is in debt and is disappointed that his son and he do not share a warm relationship. However, he finds solace in the fact that Savi has proved to be an intelligent and a warm daughter. Mohun is gradually retired out of Sentinel, and the newspaper hires Savi instead. Mohun steadily reconciles to life and towards the end of his life he begins to live a contended life. Mohun, towards the end, succumbs to a heart attack.

Module V: Main themes in A House for Mr. Biswas

1. Explication of the idea of house

Mohun’s efforts towards the owning a house is a metaphor of his quest at finding his space in the modern world. Mohun seems to be a complex character whose family deems him to be a fickle minded, adventurous and misguided man. Mohun is alienated from his family members and seeks to find a place of his own.

Naipaul has stated that the character of Mohun was inspired by his father’s life. Seepersad Naipaul found himself choked amidst the Capildeo family. Like Mohun, Seepersad was quite alienated with his surroundings and craved for a better life. He constantly sought opportunities to improve himself and advance his goals. Naipaul remembers his relatives making fun of his father’s efforts. Despite several humiliations and insults, Seepersad focussed on making and remaking himself. His efforts paid off as Seepersad made his living as a journalist, became an author, owned a house and educated his sons in England. In a relatively short lifespan of five decades Seepersad, who was born to emaciated, almost illiterate and indentured labour couple accomplished many of the objectives that he set out for himself.

Mohun’s quest at owning a house emerges as a very significant marker. Even as the Tulsis laugh at his attempts to own a house and live an independent life, Mohun carries on with his quest. He tries to build or buy a house on several occasions. Every time fate intervenes and his efforts are nullified. The quest seems to be a doomed affair, notwithstanding the small awards that come his way. Even as he seeks to own a house of his own, Mohun buys a  bicycle and graduates to driving a motorcar. He is employed in office spaces which are meant for learned men where he can wear suits to work. His children win scholarships to study abroad. He finally buys and moves into a two storied house, which he realises is full of defects. Yet, very unlike him, Mohun is reconciled to its defects.

Mohun yearns for space, dignity and recognition; hence he seeks a house of his own. Space, dignity and individual recognition are a testimony of a person’s agency in modern society. Mohun is the only truly modern individual in the novel. He has comprehended that the old colonial order is being replaced by a new chaotic milieu and is aware that the new world brings in opportunities. Ironically, many members of the Tulsi household who initially mock Mohun, gradually copy him and strive for better jobs and education for their children.

2.  The breakdown of conventional societal structures

A House for Mr. Biswas depicts the breakdown of societal structures among the Indian community in Trinidad. Since nineteenth century people of Indian origin who stayed on in  the islands as indentured labourers strove hard to keep their identities intact. Though severely emaciated and poor, these labourers wanted to retain the caste hierarchies on the island. They practiced religious and caste rituals (and often created new rituals) to mark themselves as culturally distinct from the other communities. These religious and cultural practices provided the Indian community with a sense of identity. The Indian community often looked up to the family structure to uphold it sense of community. The family was expected to teach its children the cultural rituals which in turn made the children a part of the Indian community.

However, within a span of a century these bonds became weak. Notwithstanding the periodic visits to India and the regular visits of religious leaders from South Asia to the islands, the Hindu community in Trinidad faced a severe identity crisis. The crisis occurred due to several reasons including the rise of nationalism in the islands, the weakening of the colonial structure, the change in the political economy of the island and the migration of the young people to England. Naipaul points out that the indentured labourer could work on the plantation. The plantation offered work to a large section of the population. But in the twentieth century, as plantations gave way to the service industry, an individual had to be clever. The struggle against the colonial rule and the demands for self rule brought together the black and the Asian populations.

Main characters in A House for Mr. Biswas

1. Mohun Biswas

Ambitious, progressive and diligent son of indentured, poor parents, Mohun is a self-taught, self-driven man. He becomes a respected official and a journalist in Trinidad. For most part of the novel he is seen as an anomaly, however, by the end of the novel all other characters in the novel follow him and seek to advance themselves. Often, he takes more responsibility than he can handle and thereby most of the tasks that he has initiated are either left incomplete or are performed haphazardly.

2. Shama

The long-suffering wife of Mohun she is torn between the old order (her family) and her husband. She is religious, sceptical and conservative and seeks to maintain the status  quo. She handles every trouble that Mohun brings in. By the middle of the novel she stops protesting against Mohun’s outlook but silently seeks to restore order into the family’s life. Mohun, towards the end of his life, acknowledges that Shama is a better judge of circumstances. She is an excellent mother and it is due to her initiatives that her children are housed, and fed at the Tulsis’ household.

3.  Mrs. Tulsi

She is the matriarch of the Hanuman House and has an iron grip over the lives of her children. Mohun derogatorily calls her the ‘old queen’ and the ‘old hen’. She uses both financial and emotional modes which ensure that her daughters and their families stay within her control. She heavily relies on Seth, but towards the second half of the novel she falls out with him. She disapproves of any change in her household. She is conservative Hindu woman, who does not educate her daughters and marries them off as young brides to almost illiterate men. However, she takes great interest in the education of her sons. Her control over the household diminishes as the novel progresses. Her sons do not abide by her values.

4. Seth

Termed the ‘big bull’ by Mohun, after the death of Pandit Tulsi, Seth emerges as the patriarch of the Tulsi household. Bound to the Tulsis by marriage, Seth is a burly, unethical businessman who handles the business affairs of the Tulsis. After the death of his wife, the Tulsis distance themselves from him and he suffers serious business losses. Even his nephews do not reconcile with him.

5. Owad

A favourite of the Tulsi household, Owad is the younger son of Mrs. Tulsi. He leaves for England to pursue his higher studies and only returns towards the latter half of the novel. Owad is unable to accommodate cultural values that he was taught in Trinidad with modernity that he was exposed to in England. For the progressive discourse that he dispenses, Owad is intolerant and bossy. His strong views that Indians from the subcontinent do not adhere to caste dharma, and his highhanded behaviour towards Anand are indicative of the fact that his education in England has not really changed him. Towards the end of the novel, Owad (like his elder brother) marries a Presbyterian and moves away from the Tulsi household.

6. Savi

The eldest child of Mohun, Savi grows up in the Tulsi household and despises her father. Mohun tries his best to win her over to his side and gifts her toy house. Though Mohun does not display much interest in her education, Savi also wins a scholarship to study in England. She returns as a strong, independent, capable journalist who loves her father and financially supports him during his last days.

7. Anand

Anand as a child is very attached to his father, Mohun. Mohun invests time, energy, money and hope into Anand’s education. Anand is a diligent, sensitive and studious boy. He wins a scholarship and goes to England. However, the emotional bond between the father and son snaps and Anand seldom writes back to his father.

8. Ajodhas

The wealthy and childless Ajodha couple are the extended family of Mohun. They are Mohun’s guardians. They have a soft corner for diligent and intelligent young men. Despite their calculative behaviour Ajodhas financially aid Mohun as and when he asks them. They are meritocratic and are less prone to be influenced by family and caste ties.

References:

1. “A Nobel for Mr. Naipaul.” The New York Times .October 12, 2001.
2. Adams, Robert Martin. “V. S. Naipaul.” Hudson Review 33 (1989): 474-78.
3. Allen, Walter. “London Again.” The New York Review of Books 2.3 (1964).
4. Anderson, Linda R. “Ideas of Identity and Freedom in V.S. Naipaul and Joseph Conrad.” English Studies 59 (1978): 510-17.
5. Angrosino, M. B. “V. S. Naipaul and the Colonial Image.” Caribbean Quarterly 21.3 (1975): 1-11.
6. Applewhite, James. “A Trip With V. S. Naipaul.” Raritan: A Quarterly Review 10.1 (1990): 48-54.
7. Athill, Diana. “Editing Vidia.” Granta 69 (2000): 179-205.