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| Plot Summary of A House for Mr. Biswas |
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""A House for Mr. Biswas" portrays through a series of homes he had and fairly brief life of a poor journalist turned civil servant in Port of Sapin, Trinidad, in the years before and after World War II.
Born into an Indian family whose father worked in the sugar cane estates, Mr.
Biswas, as he is called by the author from infancy on, becomes a sigh painter, and at the age of sixteen, is tricked into marrying Shama, the daughter of the large and poweerful Tulsi family.
From one room in the Tulsi House, he moves into a home he is building
in"the chase", an area near he fields where he becomes an overseer. But Mr. Biswas does not have enough money to complete the house.
He loses his mind temporarily, and moves back with the Tulsis. Shama is now expecting their fourth child.
When his madness abates,Mr. Biswas decides to move into the city of port of Spain, and gets a job with a newspaper,"The Sentinal". as a sign painter again. From this position, he is promoted to a journalist.
Because of a series of stories he writes about the "Deserving Destitute", he secures a position in the civil service as a Community Outreach person, complete with a company car.
His mother=in-law persuades him to move with the family into a palatial estate she buys in Shorhills, an hour from the city.
From one room here, he moves back into Port of Spain where he buys a two=storey home that is falling to pieces.
Mr. Biswas's life, always begun, in his abortive attempts to write,"At the age of thirty-three, when he was already the father of four children, never allowed him to complet a short story, or live in a well build house. But the insouciant attitude with which he endures his adventures allows him to transcend the indignaties he suffers."
Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar
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"Mr. Mohun Biswas, a journalist working with a newspaper in the Port of Spain, is sacked just before his death. The novel begins with this description and then goes on to unravel the life of Mr. Mohun Biswas bit by bit. Mr. Biswas feels very much alienated with the society in which he is living. He has no feeling of being a part of that society. His father was a farmer in the sugarcane fields of Trinidad and Tobago, who had come from India as a contracted labourer. Mr. Biswas is totally against the traditions of his family. He neither identifies with India nor with the people of Port of Spain. This lack of identity makes him miserably rebellious....he struggles whole of his life for an identity...."
DHAWAL KUMAR, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A House for Mr. Biswas |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- upbeat
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Life of a profession:
- clerk
- writer
Inside culture (main char)
- Indian (Ghandi, not Sitting Bull)
Other aspects:
- story of the poor
- immigrant story
Poverty, surviving
Yes
Kind of living:
- general poverty story
Strong "rags to riches" component?
Yes
Family, struggle with
Yes
Struggle with:
- In-laws
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- midlife crisis
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Culture clash?
- family young v. old guard
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Outside culture (society)
- African Black
If story of urban/rural...
- Small town life
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender life
Yes
Brain/Body disability?
- mental illness
Wisdom from homeless/bum?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Indian Indian
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
- society
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- homemaker
- small businessman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 9 ()
Africa
Yes
Kind of Africa:
- Black Africa
The Americas (not US):
Yes
The Americas:
- The Caribbean
Island?
Yes
Island:
- food/shelter preoccupation
- Caribbean Islands
City?
Yes
Farm/Ranch?
Yes
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- touching of anatomy
- actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of play on words
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
- written like a journal/diary/letters
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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