Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit dem ersten großen Roman des aus Trinidad stammenden, in England lebenden Literaturnobelpreisträgers Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas. Naipaul schildert aus der Erinnerung den Lebensweg seines eigenen Vaters im spätkolonialen Trinidad, der gekennzeichnet ist vom Kampf um Unabhängigkeit und Eigenständigkeit, von der Suche nach Orientierung und einer gültigen Ordnung in einer von gesellschaftlichen Umwälzungen geprägten Umgebung.
Biswas' individualistische Suche spielt sich ab vor dem Hintergrund einer traditionellen hinduistischen Großfamilie. Das einzigartige gesellschaftliche Gefüge der Westindischen Inseln in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts und insbesondere das Vorhandensein einer zahlenmäßig beträchtlichen indischen Minderheit bedarf zunächst einer knappen geschichtlichen Herleitung. Die Strukturen und Ordnungsprinzipien der indischen Gesellschaftsgruppe – und die Entwicklungen, denen diese unterworfen sind – werden dann anhand der Tulsis, der Großfamilie, in die Biswas einheiratet, näher beleuchtet.
Im Anschluss daran folgt eine Auseinandersetzung mit Biswas selbst. Zum besseren Verständnis seines Charakters erfolgt zunächst eine Untersuchung seines eigenen familiären Hintergrunds. Dieser bildet eine Erklärungsgrundlage für Biswas' Orientierungsversuche. Verschiedene Orientierungsangebote, die sich ihm im Laufe seines Lebens eröffnen, werden auf ihre Gültigkeit für Biswas hin untersucht. Abschließend wird neben dem Versuch einer Klärung der Ausgangsfrage – konnte Biswas' Sehnsucht nach Ordnung gestillt werden? – auch den Besonderheiten des Autors Naipaul, der Leser und Rezensenten in Ost und West gleichermaßen fasziniert wie polarisiert, einige Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet.
At a glance
- Grade: 1.0 (1.0 is the best grade)
- Considers an anthropological reading alongside historical sources
- 25 sources in the bibliography
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
2. EAST INDIANS IN TRINIDAD: A BRIEF HISTORY
3. THE TULSIS
3.1 THE ORDER OF TULSIDOM
3.1.1 Ritual
3.1.1.1 Religious Rituals
3.1.1.2 Secular Rituals
3.2 CHANGES
3.2.1 The Weakening of Inherited Notions: The Example of Caste
3.2.2 The Decline of the East
4. M. BISWAS, OUTSIDER
4.1 BISWAS'S FAMILIAL BACKGROUND
4.1.1 The Veil of Memory
4.1.2 Behind the Veil
4.2 IN SEARCH OF HIS BEARINGS
4.2.1 A Second Chance, or: Can't the Tulsis Be a Substitute Family?
4.2.2 Religion
4.2.3 The Role of Education
4.2.3.1 School
4.2.3.2 Literature
4.2.4 Journalism
4.2.5 'When Huts of Mud and Grass Are Pulled Down They Leave No Trace': A House for Mr Biswas
5. CONCLUSION
Objectives and Themes
This study examines order and chaos in V. S. Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas, asking how the protagonist seeks independence, stability and a sense of belonging within the changing society of colonial Trinidad. It considers the historical background of the East Indian community, the Tulsi family's inherited order and the alternatives Biswas encounters.
- East Indian migration and colonial Trinidad
- Family hierarchy, ritual and caste among the Tulsis
- Biswas's childhood, memory and outsider status
- Religion, education, literature and journalism
- The house as a symbol of independence and security
Excerpt from the Book
4.2.3.1 School
That, unlike his two brothers and his sister, Biswas is sent to school, is first of all a stopgap; his mother Bipti "had no plans for Mr Biswas, since he was still young and she assumed that the education he was receiving was provision and protection enough" (50). To what extent that holds true, how far and in what way his education, and especially the resultant access to literature, can make up for the lack of stability that is the determining experience of his life, is, once more, a tricky question.
In the Canadian Mission school Biswas attends after his father's death, he gets instructed by a tragicomical teacher. Stuck halfway between his Hindu background and an ill-understood modernity – "Lal had been converted to Presbyterianism from a low Hindu caste and held all unconverted Hindus in contempt" (41 f.) –, this teacher exhibits the zeal of the convert. "He believed in thoroughness, discipline and what he delighted to call stick-to-it-iveness, virtues he felt unconverted Hindus particularly lacked" (44). The discipline Lal so ardently believes in is accomplished through corporal punishment and humiliation of his pupils.
Like so many of Naipaul's minor figures – compare, for instance, Pankaj Rai, Misir, Moti and Seebaran –, Lal is a remarkable character, roughly sketched and yet presumably easily recognisable to the insider. "It is widely held that most of the Indians who converted to Christianity did so because it was the only way to elevate themselves economically and socially in a society which treated all non-Christians as pagans. Until the early 1960's no one in [...] Trinidad could have become a teacher without converting to Christianity."
When it comes to teaching, Lal seems concerned more with form than with content. The syllabus he sticks to lacks even the slightest relevance for his pupils' lives and could not be further removed from their everyday experience. Naturally the textbooks are British. Mr Biswas
learned to say the Lord's Prayer in Hindi from the King George V Hindi Reader, and he learned many English poems by heart from the Royal Reader. At Lal's dication he made copious notes, which he never seriously believed, about geysers, rift valleys, watersheds, currents, the Gulf Stream, and a number of deserts. He learned about oases, which Lal taught him to pronounce 'osis', and ever afterwards an oasis meant for him nothing more than four or five date trees around a narrow pool of fresh water, surrounded for unending miles by white sand and hot sun. He learned about igloos. In arithmetic he got as far as simple interest and learned to turn dollars and cents into pounds, shilling and pence. The history Lal taught he regarded as simply a school subject, a discipline, as unreal as the geography; and it was from the boy in the red bodice that he first heard, with disbelief, about the Great War. (46)
Chapter Summaries
1. INTRODUCTION: The study introduces Naipaul's background and explains its approach to order and chaos, literary interpretation and the historical context of the novel.
2. EAST INDIANS IN TRINIDAD: A BRIEF HISTORY: This chapter outlines Trinidad's colonial history, the abolition of slavery and the arrival of indentured Indian workers.
3. THE TULSIS: The analysis explores the family's social order, religious and secular rituals, changing caste practices and response to cultural change.
4. M. BISWAS, OUTSIDER: The chapter examines Biswas's family background and his search for orientation through the Tulsis, religion, education, literature, journalism and the idea of a house.
5. CONCLUSION: The final chapter reflects on Naipaul's portrayal of insecurity and on Biswas's search for order and individual fulfilment.
Keywords
V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, colonial Trinidad, East Indian diaspora, order and chaos, identity, extended family, Hinduism, caste, ritual, individualism, education, journalism, home
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this study about?
It is a literary analysis of order, chaos and the search for independence in V. S. Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas.
What are its central themes?
The study considers family, identity, colonial society, religion, cultural change and the desire for a home.
What is the primary research question?
It asks how Biswas seeks orientation and order in his life and considers the competing forms of stability available to him.
What method does the study use?
It combines close literary interpretation with historical and anthropological sources to contextualise the novel and its East Indian Trinidadian setting.
What does the main analysis cover?
It examines the Tulsi family's organisation and changing traditions, then turns to Biswas's upbringing and his encounters with family, religion, education, literature and journalism.
Which keywords characterise the study?
Key terms include colonial Trinidad, identity, order and chaos, caste, ritual, individualism and home.
Why does the study examine the Tulsi family?
The Tulsis provide a structured extended-family environment against which Biswas's desire for autonomy can be explored.
How does education feature in the analysis?
The study considers Biswas's colonial schooling, his reading and the ways literacy opens opportunities for creative work.
Why is a house important to the discussion?
The house brings together questions of security, independence, individuality and Biswas's wish for a place of his own.
- Quote paper
- Dietrich Arlart (Author), 2004, Order and Chaos in Colonial Trinidad: V. S. Naipaul's Novel "A House for Mr Biswas", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/40522
