A House for Mr. Biswas

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1961

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1, Chapters 1-2

Part 1, Chapters 3-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-6

Part 2, Chapters 1-3

Part 2, Chapter 4-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 1, Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: "Green Vale"

Mr. Biswas and his young family move again. After leaving the burned down store in the Chase, they move to a new business on a sugarcane plantation named Green Vale, which is "damp and shadowed and close" (132). Seth owns the plantation, and he hires Mr. Biswas to work as a sub-overseer, whose duties involve driving and ensuring that the "impudent" (133) laborers do as they are told. Rather than a house of their own, Mr. Biswas's family must live in the same rundown barracks as the laborers which intensifies his desire to live in a "real house" (134). These laborers do not like Mr. Biswas. They are suspicious of his presence and envious of him earning twice as much as them. Mr. Biswas does not like these living arrangements, so he begins to save for a house. He hopes that owning a house will help him to lure him family back from the Tulsis. At Christmas, he purchases "a large doll's house" (138) for Savi. The doll house is destroyed by Shama, much to the annoyance of Mr. Biswas. He leaves Shama and the family, taking Savi with him. His departure shocks Shama and Savi is "dispirited and submissive" (142). Eventually, Shama apologizes for destroying the doll house, claiming that she was motivated by jealousy that she had to do it to "satisfy" (144) the jealous attention of the Tulsi family. The family reaches an arrangement whereby Mr. Biswas will live in the laborers' barracks and the family will return to Hanuman House, where he will visit regularly. In this fashion, the children will be able to attend the local school. Soon, Shama is "pregnant for the fourth time" (145).

After a string of petty arguments with various members of the Tulsi family, Mr. Biswas still craves independence. He wants a home of his own to share with his wife and children, especially Anand, who is increasingly showing his "fragility" (151). He talks to a carpenter named George Maclean, who believes that he can "build a house" (152) with relatively little money. Mr. Biswas requires money to hire Maclean. Knowing that Tara and Ajodha do not like the Tulsis, he decides to ask to "borrow the money" (154) from them. However, he fails to ask the question. After losing his nerve, he meets Rabidat and Jagdat, the spoiled sons of Bhandat and the nephews of Ajodha. These men are distinguished from most in the community because they have romantic relationships with women "of another race" (156), rather than Trinidadian-Indians. The ethnic difference means that the brothers cannot introduce their partners to their parents. Returning home without any borrowed money, Mr. Biswas spends what he has on "materials and labor" (161). He purchases sheet metal from Seth. The metal is cheap but "bent, warped and richly rusted" (164). Mr. Biswas and Maclean make cheap, makeshift repairs to what they can as the house slowly begins to take shape.

At the barracks, Mr. Biswas feels perpetually threatened by the laborers after receiving "threats, delivered as friendly warnings" (167). He arms himself with a big stick and a puppy named Tarzan. The "threats of illiterate laborers" (170) continue to haunt him. He continues to feel alienated from his family, struggling to deal with a form of hopeless loneliness regarding the "futility" (171) of life. As a result, he becomes depressed. When his family visits, he worries that they can "tell what [is] going on in his mind" (174). Shama does not react well to his depression. She decides that she cannot stay with Mr. Biswas in Green Vale and Mr. Biswas feels "violently angry" (175). They argue and, in the chaos, he kicks his pregnant wife "on the belly" (176). Mr. Biswas is immediately horrified by his actions and Shama, recovering, prepares to leave with the children. Following his father's desperate pleading, Anand stays with his father. He does not want to leave his depressed father alone. Hopeful for a "positive action" (179), Mr. Biswas decides that he and Anand should move into the half-built house which is filled with leaks. Rather than making him happy, however, he is only made sadder. Tarzan, his dog, is killed in a brutal attack and his body is "flung down carelessly" (182) outside the home. Anand wants to return to Hanuman House. Mr. Biswas promises to take him back, but a brewing storm prompts him to wait one more day. During the storm, the rain pours through the leaks and an infestation of ants attacks Mr. Biswas and Anand. Lightning and a fallen oil lamp start a fire in the half-built house.

Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: "A Departure"

The half-built house burns down. News of Mr. Biswas's "tale of calamity" (188) reach Hanuman House. The Tulsi men decide to fetch Mr. Biswas and they bring him back to their home, hoping that he will recover soon. They try to heal him with traditional Hindu medicine and rituals, and they also hire a doctor—a "Roman Catholic Indian" (190) man—to heal him. The ruined possessions from the destroyed house are retrieved and then disposed of. Mr. Biswas's condition prompts his brothers and his brother-in-law to visit him. Ramchand, Dehuti's husband, invites Mr. Biswas to visit his family in Port of Spain when he recovers. Ramchand now works in a "Lunatic Asylum" (192), and he talks about the good money he is making.

Seth tells Mr. Biswas that the laborers on the plantation have burned down what was left of the half-built house. This time, it is not an "insuranburn” (192) scheme. When thinking about the birth of his youngest child, Myna, Mr. Biswas feels very old. He reflects on his life and how little he has accomplished since he was a teenager. He realizes that he has “no vocation, no reliable means of earning a living” (194). Deciding that he must break free of the Tulsis, he believes that he should become more independent. Still feeling the lingering effects of his depression, he announces that he will leave Hanuman House. Shama and the children, however, remain behind. When he steps outside, he is thankful that the “spasms of terror” (195) seem to have gone.

Part 1, Chapters 5-6 Analysis

As Mr. Biswas grows older, his depression becomes more pronounced. He has felt sad on many occasions, and he has been dissatisfied and frustrated for many years. These negative emotions begin to coalesce into a recognizable mental health problem, however, as he abandons all hope that he has the power to change his life. For many years, Mr. Biswas fixated on home ownership at the only viable model for success in his life. The longer he lives, the further he feels from this goal. He either lives in rented properties on the whim on the Tulsi family or he tries to build a house of his own which is burned down in a storm. Mr. Biswas feels hated by the laborers. His father was a laborer who died trying to save Mr. Biswas's life, so the hate from the laborers hurts him particularly badly. Their judgement feels like the judgement of his father, blaming him for his guilt and for betraying his father's profession. In this sense, Mr. Biswas's depression takes on colonial overtones. He is a colonial subject, a Trinidadian-Indian man who lives under the imperial authority of the British Empire. In a minor replication of the colonial apparatus, Seth's ownership of the plantation and the exploitation of the laborers is an echo of the centuries of colonial exploitation which occurred in Trinidad. In this position, Mr. Biswas is a product of the laboring class who is used by the ruling class (Seth, in this instance) to maintain order and ensure the profitability of the plantation. On a deeper level, Mr. Biswas feels like a class traitor who has abandoned his past and the memory of his father in exchange for very little from the exploitive Tulsi family. He is depressed by his powerlessness and the lack of optimism he feels for the future.

This sense of powerlessness manifests as depression in Mr. Biswas's life and he cannot envision a better future for himself. As a result, he lives vicariously through his children. Anand is the focus of his attention. Mr. Biswas hopes that he can make Anand more successful and wealthier than he could ever dream of being. He wants to give Anand an education because he hopes that this will give Anand a control and a sense of agency that he covets. Mr. Biswas's desire to live vicariously through his son comes at the expense of Savi. She is often overlooked and ignored. While Anand is pampered and encouraged, Savi receives very little attention either from her parents or from the narrative. She grows up in her brother's shadow. By the end of the novel, the decision to overlook Savi proves to have tragic consequences for Mr. Biswas.

Part 1 of A House for Mr. Biswas culminates with the protagonist rejecting the influence of the Tulsi family on his life. After another instance in which he and Shama have been forced to return to Hanuman House following another failure at living independently, Mr. Biswas makes a radical decision. He chooses to leave Hanuman House and the Tulsi family and to do so without his family. The independence he has craved for so many years cannot be achieved when he is materially bound to the Tulsis and dependent on them to put a roof over his family's head. After making his family miserable, he believes that he can help them by establishing his own independence and providing this independence to them in the future. The Tulsi family is a threat to this independence, so he makes the decision to sacrifice his immediate obligations to his family so that he can help them even more in the future. They, like Mr. Biswas, are bound to the Tulsi family in an escapable fashion. The depression and the lack of agency become such pressing concerns that Mr. Biswas truly believes that the only way he can save his family is by striking out for independence on his own.