From New National to World Literature: Essays and Reviews by Bruce King

Author:Bruce King [King, Bruce]
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Literary Criticism, Comparative Literature
ISBN: 9783838268569
Google: tI-0CwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Perseus Books, LLC
Published: 2016-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Part Two

The second half of the novel is, except for 2.3 and short trips, set in Port of Spain and covers the last fifteen years of Mr Biswas’s life. It coincides with the rapid social changes caused by increased wealth brought about by the American presence on the island and by planning for post-war development and the proposed West Indian Federation.

2.4 Chapter 2.4 is rich in incident and social history. Life outside Port of Spain is no longer possible for those who have tasted urban entertainments and whose future depends on education. Biswas puts his Shorthills house up for sale and moves back with his family into two rooms in Mrs Tulsi’s Port of Spain house where he is increasingly crowded by the many children of the Tulsi family who have also come to the city for education “the only protection” (p. 436) in this new world. Although Biswas is made an investigator of the Deserving Destitutes and given a by-line again by the Sentinel he feels his career is blocked, and is frustrated at his inability to make use of the new opportunities and ambitions raised in the island. Govind drives taxis for the Americans and has new suits; W.C. Tuttle hires his lorries to Americans; there are new cars and new buildings. Biswas’s only possession is a dining table (p. 444). He writes unfinished escape stories (p. 453), barely disguised, about himself. His sense of achievement is now dependent on the future of his children; he worries “what awaited Anand? A job in the customs, a clerkship in the civil service: intrigue, humiliation, dependence” (pp. 439-440). “You are a funny sort of family” Ajodha said. “Father collecting money for destitutes. You collecting for Polish refugees. Who collecting for you?” (p. 457). The point of view is often Anand’s: “a simpering lip-licking Vidiadhar” (p. 471).

Rivalry between the Tulsis has replaced conformity and Biswas is now the rival of W.C. Tuttle. The Tulsi sisters who formerly were so intimidating at Hanuman House are increasingly pathetic and hopeless in this new world. Everything they touch fails. By contrast some of Biswas’s relatives are now among the richest people on the island.

2.5 Biswas is offered a job as community welfare officer that leads to a holiday trip to Sans Souci and the purchase of a car. Thinking his career closed and losing hope of owning his own house after moving back with Mrs Tulsi, Biswas is revivified by his new job which makes him part of the new era (p. 496). He acquires new suits (p. 508), fancy cigarettes (p. 511), reads books on folk dancing and psychology (pp. 497-498) as well as Dickens and discovers Shama has her own opinions which he never suspected (p. 504). Tuttle buys a house (p. 516) but Biswas is still dependent on Mrs Tulsi who moves from her Port of Spain house to a tenement while the house is redecorated and then allows him to return to one room at the back. Humiliated, “he was

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