SahityasetuISSN: 2249-2372Year-4, Issue-4, Continuous issue-22, July-August 2014 |
Shama-Biswas Relationships in V. S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas
Abstract:
The principal objective of this paper is to explore the relationships of Mohun Biswas and his traditional bent-minded wife, Shama. A House for Mr. Biswas is a gripping tale by V. S. Naipaul. ‘Does any love exist between Shama and Biswas?’ ‘Were they antagonistic in nature?’ ‘Does Shama like the company of her husband or her family members?’ Answers of these above questions have been tried to ask by the researcher. Shama and Mr. Biswas’ married life proves to be a failure due to Mr. Biswas’ perversity and atrocity. Mr. Biswas becomes audacious and impudent as he thinks that he is duped by Tulsi family. He likes neither Shama nor her joint family that becomes a rift in their nuptial–knot. He is driven by circumstances to stay at Shama’s home. His dream of encumbrance on Tulsi estate is falsified and he has to live an artificial and suffocating life there. That’s why; there is always exchange of sarcastic remarks between them. He considers it his insult to work like labourers on his mother-in-law’s estate. He does not like the traditional style of Tulsi family. He is always annoyed with Shama and her family members. Shama-Biswas rugged relationships, their consequences and patch up between them have been explicitly explored in this paper by the researcher.
Key-words:
Mr. Biswas, Shama, Relationships, Tulsi-family, Cultural-clash, Traditionalism, Diaspora.
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Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born on August 17, 1932 in Chaguanas in Port of Spain, the capital city of Trinidad. It is one of the islands which are now commonly known as the West Indies. Naipaul’s grandfather emigrated from Benares (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh to Trinidad as an indentured labourer. Naipaul’s novels are The Mystic Masseur (1957), The Suffrage of Elvira (1958), Miguel Street (1959), A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), Mr. Stone and the Knights Companion (1963), The Mimic Men (1967), Guerrillas (1975), A Bend in the River (1979), Half a Life (2001), and its sequel Magic Seeds (2004). He has written two short-story collections “A Flag on the Island” (1967) which consists “My Aunts Gold Teeth”, “The Raffle” etc. ten stories and other short-story collection is “In a Free State” (1975) which consists “Prologue, From a Journal”, “One out of Many” etc. six stories. His travel and history books are The Middle Passage (1962), An Area of Darkness (1964), The Loss of El Dorado (1970), India: A Wounded Civilization (1977), The Return of Eva Peron (1980) and India: Million Mutinies Now (1990). His recently published work is The Masque of Africa (2010).
Naipaul’s satirical novel A House for Mr. Biswas (1961) is a story of dissatisfied married life of Mr. Biswas and his self-assertive wife, Shama. This novel has a dozen or more subsidiary figures and some tragic implications. The novel revolves around a cheeky-fellow Mr. Biswas’ identity crisis. He develops more ravelment or complexities in his personal matters. The identity has been explored though the symbols of different homes in it. Champa Rao Mohan rightly contends:
In A House for Mr. Biswas, the story is portrayed through a series of homes which symbolize Mr. Biswas’ personal identity. Mr. Biswas was trapped in the clutches of Tulsidom. He has dream of his own house. The house of his dream is highly symbolic. It is an archetypal symbol, which connotes stability and permanence, something solid in life. (Mohan 05)
There are some deeply moving and poignant scenes when one analyses the relationships of Mr. Biswas and Shama. When Shama is introduced in the novel, she is one of the fourteen girls of Mrs. Tulsi. She is sixteen year old, thin girl, having medium height and no good voice. Mr. Biswas is “enchanted by her smile.” (Naipaul 83) She works as a sales-girl in Tulsi store where Mr. Biswas goes to paint sign-boards. Tulsis are known for their affluence in Hindus there: “The Tulsis have some reputation among Hindus as a pious, conservative, land-owning family.” (Naipaul 81) Mr. Biswas goes in this house after a scrutiny: “Mr. Biswas went to Hanuman House to paint signs for the Tulsi store, after a protracted interview with a large, moustached, overpowering man called Seth, Mrs. Tulsi’s brother-in-law.” (Naipaul 82) While working on the shop Mr. Biswas is surprised to learn that there were several assistants who were working in Tulsi store and all these people were the members of the family having one or the other relationship. Shama is a charming girl who catches Mr. Biswas’ attention. One day Mr. Biswas goes to Shama’s counter and in the sway of his childish emotions passes a crumpled and slightly dirty love-note to her proposing that he likes her and he wants to meet her: “I love you and I want to talk to you.” (85) She neither accepts nor rejects his proposal and remains passive to Mr. Biswas’ note. Unexpectedly, this love note is found by Mrs. Tulsi. She and Seth call for Mr. Biswas. He has no identity of his own and he introduces himself: “I am the nephew of Ajodha. Pagotes” (Naipaul 89) According to Mrs. Tulsi Mr. Biswas is a suitable match for her daughter as he is Brahmin by caste. They converse:
‘You don’t like the child?’
‘Yes, I like the child.’
‘That is the main thing. We don’t want to force you to do anything. Are we forcing you?’
‘You are not forcing me.’ (Naipaul 91)
Thus, they propose Mr. Biswas to marry Shama. Mr. Biswas, at first, feels elated at this proposal. Since Mr. Biswas was at fault, he could not deny for this marriage. He is now trapped. He does not completely accept this proposal under pressure; he was lured by Tulsi estate also: “Good family you know. Money, Acres and acres of land. No more sign-painting for me…I ask to see the mother. Rich people, you know. Big house” (Naipaul 93) He expects to get a good dowry, perhaps a good job and a home also. Mrs. Tulsi is very clever and sapient. She has her own plans for Shama’s marriage. She arranges their marriage in the registrar office to waive expenses of a traditional marriage. To great dismay, she does not give Shama any dowry and even Mr. Biswas is not given the money for sign painting for Tulsi store. As Mr. Biswas has no house of his own, Mrs. Tulsi finds him a suitable person to work on Tulsi estate as a worker and she provides him a home like a labourer. He is accommodated at Hanuman House in a portion of a long room on the top floor.
Mr. Biswas is shocked to learn that almost all son-in-laws live in Hanuman House as assistants in Tulsi estate under the guidance of Seth. Mr. Biswas is already angry with Tulsi family who has given him neither dowry nor job. He immediately rebels and in less than a fortnight, he ties to break all relations from this family by leaving this house. Shama does not try him to stop. She says: “Yes, take up your clothes and go. You came to this house with nothing but a pair of cheap khaki trousers and a dirty old shirt” (Naipaul 99) Mr. Biswas’ search for home starts from here. Ghosh says on Mr. Biswas’ search for his home:
The protagonist’s feeling for his own house is similar to that of a soldier who has won a long and difficult war. The house attains the stature of self-identity, self worth and his unique foot print on the flow of human history. (Ghosh 584)
Mr. Biswas gets attracted towards Shama due to her charms but one can hardly say that there was love between Shama and Mr. Biswas. There was no any romance in their married life. They loved each other but actually they were not in love. Their heart never pulsated for each other. Neither Mr. Biswas nor Shama want to develop intimacy in their relationships. Both of them nurture a mutual feeling of antagonism between them. Mr. Biswas can’t help passing comments to Shama and Tulsi family due to her loyalty to her family. Secondly, Mr. Biswas shows ungrateful attitude towards Mrs. Tulsi and her family members who give him shelter, sustenance and free food; still Mr. Biswas is not satisfied with this benevolent family. Thus, Mr. Biswas seems to be a despicable and unpleasant character for Tulsi Household. He proves to be an ungrateful, arrogant, stubborn, weak, fickle-minded, gullible and malicious character for this family. To Cudjoe:
Mr. Biswas entered the world of Tulsis unaware that his romantic ego would be crushed by a hierarchical order that did not allow for the expression of the individuality.” (Cudjoe 54)
Mr. Biswas has to leave Hanuman House without Shama due to her quarreling nature and senspensory attitude. He returns to Hanuman House at her aunt Tara’s suggestion but nobody pays any attention to him. Even Shama is also not happy at his return. She says that he has come back because he must have been tired of catching crabs in Pagotes. By crab-catching Shama wants to indicate that he was engaged in the lowest occupation there. Mr. Biswas replies to her comment that he has come back to help the whole Tulsi family in catching crabs. Then Shama subsides.
Mr. Biswas is not solely responsible for this pitiable plight. His wife also does not co-operate with him. That’s why Shama does not deserve forgiveness at some occasions. She may have her personal reasons not to leave Hanuman House but she should have cooperated with her husband but every time she sticks to her family and tries to copy what her other sisters do. She eats, behaves and lives as her other sisters do. If all other Tulsi son-in-laws work for Tulsi family; her husband feels humiliated in doing that job; she should have left her mother’s home and should have started living a new life with her husband wherever he would have lived. She holds her husband responsible for his humiliation in her family. She thinks it her insult if her brothers, Uncle Seth or mother Mrs. Tulsi are humiliated by Biswas. She raises her voice against it. When her Uncle Seth calls Mr. Biswas and he denies going, she can’t help saying:
What you been doing and saying? You getting everybody against you. You don’t mind. But what about me? You can’t give me anything and you want to prevent everybody else from doing anything for me. (Naipaul 109)
Mr. Biswas also does not keep quiet and he replies: “I ain’t got a damned thing. But I not going down to see Uncle. I not at his beck and call, like everybody else in the house.” (Naipaul 109) Mr. Biswas starts calling names to the members of Tulsi household. He calls Mrs. Tulsi ‘an old hen’, ‘a cow’; Mr. Seth ‘a bull’ and Shama’s younger brothers ‘two little monkeys’: “Eh, monkey, bull, cow, hen. The place is a like a blasted zoo, man” (Naipaul 123) He does not call it a family: “Family, Family? This blasted fowlrun, you calling family?” (Naipaul 106) Shama is very loyal to her family and retorts Mr. Biswas. Thus, Tulsi family becomes the central point of their discord in their domestic matter. There is no any good relationship established between them. They don’t live a happy married life like a newly married couple. They talk to each other in aggressive mood. Shama thinks that Mr. Biswas adjusted himself in the Hanuman House like other son-in laws but he proves to be rebellious and trouble-maker. Mr. Biswas does not do not any work, rather he finds fault with the scraps of food provided free to him by Tulsi family. He condemns the people of the Tulsi family who have given him shelter and food. He compares the Hanuman House to a zoo. Shama also calls him ‘a barking puppy dog’ and says if Hanuman House is a zoo and as he lives in it then he is also a part of it being a dog who always barks. Mr. Biswas’ ill-conceived attempt to persuade Chinta’s husband, Govind is a wrong decision of Mr. Biswas. He, being a Pundit, does not like to eat non-vegetarian food and non-vegetarian food is given to him and even her children also. Mr. Biswas does not like this. He argues on many issues with Tulsi family. During such arguments he loses his control. He does a big mistake by spiting on Owad deliberately:
Owad: I marking what you doing, Mr. Biswas. But I standing up right here and if spit on me again I going to tell Ma’.
Biswas: Tell, you little son of a bitch. (Muttering spits on him)
Owad: O God!
You luck little monkey. (When he misses the target) (Naipaul 136)
This was the blunder by Mr. Biswas. When a son-in-law Govind comes to know about it, he hits Mr. Biswas with blows, cuffs and kicks. Govind has a sudden irruption on him and he does not give him any chance to rectify his mistake. Mr. Biswas is badly thrashed and other women make them apart when Mr. Biswas cries: O God! I dead. I dead. He will kill me” (Naipaul 139) Mr. Biswas gets infuriated and says: “I not eating any of the bad food from this house” and Shama also refutes him saying: “Well, nobody not going to beg you, you hear.” (Naipaul 142) Consequently, he gets expulsion orders from Hanuman House by Seth:
I don’t think we could stand you here any longer. You want to paddle your own canoe. All right, go ahead and paddle…This was a nice united family before you come. You better go away before you do any more mischief and I have to lay my hand on you. (Naipaul 144)
Mr. Biswas moved to The Chase and his own establishment is not good there. He goes there to take charge of Tulsi food-shop is not earning well there. Shama says in a resented voice: “In all my life, I never was so ashamed as today. People standing up and laughing. This is what you want to paddle your own canoe with? (Naipaul 149) Mr. Biswas also realizes his mistake: “He had never thought it would be like this when he found himself in an establishment of his own.” (Naipaul 149)
In The Chase also when Mr. Biswas and Shama quarrel, then Shama gets ready to go to Hanuman House. In Tulsi house all sisters go to Hanuman House after quarrelling with their husbands to earn sympathy. Shama also follows that tradition. Mr. Biswas says to her: “Pack up and go I suppose they are giving to give you some medal at the monkey house” (Naipaul 184) Ghosh contends, “The focus on this aspect of the ‘house’ acts as the symbol and metaphor of an individual’s search for anchorage in a world of flux as well as expresses a rootless, exiled writer’s need for creating a tradition and culture devoid of the dregs of the receding tide of a colonial past.”(Ghosh 582) At the suggestion of house blessing ceremony, Mr. Biswas shows his reluctance but Shama starts nagging him until he yields.
When Mr. Biswas and Shama move to Green Vale, they quarrel there also because Mr. Biswas passes sarcastic remarks to Shama’s family members. When this kind of situation arises, Shama takes her children and goes to Hanuman House till reconciliation takes place.
When Mr. Biswas’ house was wrecked with fire, these are Tulsis who help him and give him two rooms in Port of Spain. In the end, there is a furious quarrel between Mrs. Tulsi and Mr. Biswas when his son Anand falls under the influence of Awad. But this time Shama is not as rude to Mr. Biswas as she was after marrying Mr. Biswas. Shama remains loyal to her family till she lives in Tulsi house. Her loyalty does not falter, supersede or waiver except the very end of the novel. In the 1983 preface, Naipaul says that he is closest to this novel, “Of all my books, this is the one that is closest to me. It is the most personal, created out of what I saw and felt as a child.” (1983, 2003, p. 128) The chapter “The Void” also has Shama-Biswas hot arguments. Mr. Biswas picks quarrel with Shama saying: “I tell you what your philosophy is. Catch him. Marry him. Throw him in a coal barrel. That is the philosophy of your family. Catch him and throw him in a coal barrel.” (Naipaul 546)
Conclusively, Naipaul has wonderfully portrayed husband-wife relationships in this novel. The main reason of friction between Shama-Biswas relationships is that Mr. Biswas does what is not liked by Tulsi family; and Tulsi Family does what is not liked by Mr. Biswas. Tulsi family is not in favour of girl-education and Mr. Biswas does not like eating in brass plates. Shama follows and favours her family and Mr. Biswas criticizes it. Thus, they live not a happy married life due to strong streaks of morbidity in their nature that deepens when they got married in an immature age. When Tulsi family is broken up and Mr. Biswas purchases his own house; Shama’s attitude towards him undergoes a drastic change. Mr. Biswas acknowledges this change and starts speaking highly of her. They no longer hurt each other’s feelings and live a contended life forgetting all puniness of life.
WORKS-CITED ::
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Bijender Singh
V.P.O. Jagsi, Tehsil Gohana,
District Sonepat, Haryana
Mob: 91-9068814739 Email: bijendersingh@indiawrites.com
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