A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipul: A vivid portrayal of post-colonial struggle

The ending was so sad, but more significantly it was triumphant. In A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipul, the last words read, “…while Shama and the children went back in the Prefect to the empty house.” Mr. Biswas gained his house, but it took him a lifetime. This struggle in life and against its cruelty is universal to all cultures, although it has a special similarity with Philippine culture: the impact of colonialism is tremendous. Owad is the typical Indian who goes to England to earn a degree; he is also the typical Filipino who goes to the United States for the same purpose. In A House for Mr. Biswas, the far-reaching and long-lasting consequences of British colonial rule are implicitly written, in detailed and sometimes ironic prose. That Naipul would include someone who ‘started a conversation on anchors’ or the expectation of a ‘someone who would take notice’ is proof of his literary flair. The Tulsi family is matriarchal; it has something to say about the condition of women in Trinidad. Just look at the Tulsi daughters. The relationships among in-laws is also seen.

A very interesting thing in A House is Mr. Naipul’s treatment of education. Everyone has a chance to go to school, but Anand and Savi earn their chance to go to England. So he is saying that hardwork nullifies the handicap of poverty. However, education itself cannot be treated positively all the time. Like Owad, who became a Communist after going to England. He belittles and disapproves of the cousin of Shekhar’s wife, who, in his words “went to all the way to Canada to learn the violin… [while] people are starving, not getting enough to eat here in Trinidad.” He later marries her. It goes to show how comic, but at the same time tragic (hence “tragic-comic”, a term often used by reviewers of this book) Naipul’s work is.

No wonder he won the Nobel Prize. I may check out another work of his later, so that I will see Trinidad more. Or maybe I’ll try to reread The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, and see it in a new light. Whatever I do next, I know that through Mr. Biswas I have gained knowledge of Indian life, and found it strangely familiar.