A Review for Mr Biswas

A House for Mr Biswas is a compassionate yet unsympathetic portrayal of the simple and unremarkable life of Mohun Biswas. Based mostly on his father's life in Trinidad during the 30s and 40s, Naipaul describes the life of a perennial loser. The story in itslef moves forward with a montonous undertone, no twists, no surprises, just a mundane life. But in this mundaneness lies a wealth of charecters and their relationships.

Biswas grows up without a home to call his own. He doesnt share love for his mother and even his marriage, in his own words, is a "cat in the bag affair". Shama, his wife, accepts him as her fate and displays no outward feeling of love. Biswas openly rebels against his mother-in-law, Mrs Tulsi and her brother Seth. He refuses to assimilate into the genteel din of the Tulsi household. Without a proper means of living he is forced to live on the generosity of the Tulsi family.

He considers himself trapped in a limiting society and openly blames the Tulsis for his situation. One sentence clearly captures his predicament, "He was married for life and only death would change his situation". But he reads alot and believes himself to be good with words. After a multitude of failed jobs, he lands up as a reporter for the Trinidad Sentinel, a local paper which relies more on fun facts than real news.

It is with his son, Anand that Biswas shares a real friendship. He takes pride and joy in Anand's success at school. Biswas's life long yearning is to own a house, for he fears loss of dignity even in death, among the squalor of the Tulsis. Even the World War II does not seem to change his position for the better or worse. It is only towards his end that he is able to buy house. This gives Mr Biswas all the joy, in spite of acquiring a huge debt.

Naipaul's comic portrayal of characters and cold assessment of life in a small Indian community in Trinidad offers wonderful insights. He portrays a people whose only source of identity is their caste which has little relevance in their present country or in their daily life. Biswas represents the beauty of the mundane and the aspirations of those who live in limiting societies.