1

Preface This thesis deals with the major female characters in three novels by the famous

Trinidadian novelist of Indian origin V. S. Naipaul. The novels are as follows: The Mystic

Masseur, 1957, The Suffrage of Elvira, 1958, and A House for Mr Biswas, 1961. I have

analyzed Naipaul’s women according to several criteria. I have examined the social standing

of the heroines, the way they are portrayed, their relationships to other protagonists, especially

the male ones, and their attitudes towards their positions in Hindu society. The main aim of

my thesis is to find similar features of and differences between the female characters and to

compare them from various points of view.

The work is divided into three main chapters, each devoted to one of Naipaul’s novels

and consisting of a general introduction, a brief description of the novel’s plot and an

examination of three or four major female protagonists. I focus on the women’s roles in the

society (especially on the roles of wives and mothers), on their opinions of traditional Hindu

values, which influence their social positions, and on their typical features and traits. In

conclusion I summarize the similarities and differences which I have discovered by means of

the criteria stated above.

I have chosen this topic because I am very interested in the issues of women in

different societies and because I like V. S. Naipaul’s early fiction, particularly for its warm

humour, kind irony and almost invisible criticism of the society. Even though some marks of

slight contempt for the characters can be traced, Naipaul treats them, even the heroines, fairly

and sometimes with sympathy. The choice of this topic has been also influenced by my

attending an interesting course in Anglophone Caribbean literature led by PhDr. Věra

Pálenská, CSc. I have also taken up this topic to learn more about the Caribbean region and

literature, as they are, at least in my opinion, little known and dealt with in this country.

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Introduction 1. Indo-Caribbean Women

The Indians began to flow to the Caribbean region in the 1830s as indentured

labourers to work on sugar plantations which were abandoned by African slaves due to the

abolition of slavery. Indian indentureship represented a system of contractual labour and

indentured Indian immigrants who were contracted to work for a five year period in the

Caribbean with the possibility of returning to India after the expiration of the contract.

However, most of the Indians decided to settle there and were granted some land by the

colonial administration. Between the 1830s and the 1910s, approximately 1,120,000 Indians

were transported to different parts of the world as indentured labourers. Nowadays, people of

Indian origin form more than twenty per cent of the Caribbean’s nearly five million English-

speaking population. The island of Trinidad became the place where Indians constituted the

largest ethnic group, comprising 40.3 per cent of the entire population (Singh).

Indian women came to the Caribbean with their husbands and families, they came to

seek refuge as runaway wives, or they arrived to work there as ordinary prostitutes. In the

times of indentureship, women significantly outnumbered men so that not more than an

average of 25 per cent of the labour force were women. This disparity between sexes and the

dominant patriarchy created social problems and made women’s lives harder. They were

oppressed by men, received lower wages and could not purchase land. At the end of the

nineteenth century the relationships between Indian men and women were so ill that

numerous murders of women (especially of wives) occurred. In Trinidad Indian women’s

positions worsened further when a petition allowing men to prosecute their unfaithful wives in

courts was made law in 1881. Moreover, as women earned less than men or were not paid at

3

all, they were completely dependent on men who took advantage of their superior positions

(Rampersad).

When the indentureship came to an end in 1917, Indian women were withdrawn from

the plantations in the domestic sphere and were supposed to become perfect wives. This ideal

of a perfect wife was itemized by Pundit Mehta Jaimini, a Hindu missionary, and had five

points – “chastity, devotion towards husband, mistress of the house, to produce children who

were good citizens and useful to the society, and to bring forth peace and happiness in the

family and society” (Rampersad). This transition of women from plantation labourers to

household keepers has led to their absence from the public sphere and almost all political

struggles and resistance movements.

Indian women’s conditions in the Caribbean region ameliorated with the expansion of

educational and employment opportunities in the 1950s. An increasing number of women

entered primary and secondary schools to receive education that was seen as a means to a

career and independence and that drew them away from their culture and their unwished

subordination to men. With the economic boom in Trinidad in the 1960s and 1970s women

began to acquire jobs in the commercial and industrial sector, to take up teaching professions

and some of the women with university education won recognition in law. These changes

enabled Indian women to become independent and to effectively face the patriarchy in the

Indian communities. The framework of their resistance to male oppression was probably

borrowed from African-Caribbean women who fought the subjugation of women by means of

organized and informal resistance movements (Rampersad).

Women represent essential components of the Indian society and, of course, of the

family unit. Throughout the days of indentureship, the Indian families were extended in

structure, with brothers, their wives and children living in one household headed by the men’s

fathers. Women were subordinated to the male members of the family and moreover,

4

exploited by mothers-in-law. In Trinidad the Indian bride was considered a property and was

treated in that way by her parents-in-law to make it clear that she was possessed by them.

After the 1940s and 1950s the number of extended families began to decrease and a trend

towards nuclear families emerged. Nuclear family forms made the lives of Indian women

more bearable, as they became more independent and did not have to endure the abuses from

their husbands’ relatives any more. Today, Indo-Caribbean women are increasingly accepting

western values and attitudes towards family and marriage, and their positions are improving

in respect of education, occupation and their social and economic conditions (Singh).

2. Indo-Caribbean Women in Literature

Until recently, every piece of literature about Indo-Caribbean women was written by

male writers of Indo-Caribbean or non-Indo-Caribbean descent. The non-Indian authors

depict Indo-Caribbean women characters mainly as exploited, separated and rejected

personalities, whereas the Indo-Caribbean male authors idealize them and see the purposes of

their lives in motherhood and in keeping the stability and security of the family. Ameena

Gafoor suggests that in both these cases of literary portrayal, women play crucial roles within

the family that is matriarchal in nature, but patriarchal in appearance, which means that

women have limited power and opportunities for independence. She also claims that if the

preservation of family contributes to the stability of the whole society, then the fictional Indo-

Caribbean women have greatly supported the social and spiritual development of the Indian

society (Gafoor 128-9).

In the texts written by male authors, the Indo-Caribbean female characters are dealt

with on the periphery of the action and as the ‘victims’ of the patriarchal system. They are

marginalized, sometimes misunderstood and neglected. The only exceptions to this treatment

of fictional women are Edgar Mittleholzer’s Corentyne Thunder, which for the first time

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presents an independent and self-realized young woman, Samuel Selvon’s Turn Again Tiger,

which deals with the issue of self-fulfillment through knowledge, and Ismith Khan’s The

Jumbie Bird, which is concerned with Indo-Caribbean women’s independence (Gafoor 130).

Rambai Espinet argues that Indian women are ‘invisible’ in West Indian fiction

because the male authors have not been yet able to pay attention to their existence in the

Caribbean. She condemns the prevalent notion of Indian woman as submissive, shy and timid

personality and says that according to sociological and historical studies most of the Indian

women decided independently to come to the Caribbean, not only as companies of their male

counterparts. As for the depiction of Indian women in fiction, they are predominantly set in

peasant, village culture, sticking to the traditional values and not mingling with the external,

non-Hindu world. They live in the shadows of the male figures and are completely dependent

on them. Espinet claims that this is the main flaw in the characterization of Indian women – to

perceive them as functioning only within the boundaries of family and separated from the

outside world. In reality they are more varied and complex and they suffer from this false

image (Espinet 425-7).

The most famous Caribbean writer using the Indian experience in his writings is V. S.

Naipaul. In Espinet’s view, in the novels by this author women play only supporting roles and

are not so successful as their male counterparts. She claims that the invisibility of women in

V. S. Naipaul’s novels springs from the old Hindu custom which declaims against actually

seeing Indian women (Espinet 427). In my thesis, however, I will not deal with the Indian

women’s invisibility and marginalization in V. S. Naipaul’s fiction. Despite the scarcity of

their appearance in the novels, I will try to focus on their relationships with men, their roles in

and attitudes towards the Hindu society.

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Chapter 1 – The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul1

1.1 In General

V. S. Naipaul’s novel The Mystic Masseur was first published in 1957. In this satirical

work Naipaul examines the life of an Indian community in Trinidad in the 1940s and

describes the journey through life of an Indian Ganesh Ramsumair (Procházka 551). The

author sometimes develops the comic scenes in the work into sharp satire or into humorous

farce (Benson 1074). The Mystic Masseur also represents a typical example of the

interspersion of Standard English and Trinidadian dialect (Griffith 73).

1.2 The Plot

The novel takes place in Trinidad, in an Indian community, and traces the life and the

career of a young and ambitious man, Ganesh Ramsumair, who “begins as ‘a struggling

masseur’ and rises to occupy the highest position his society can offer” (White 64). V.S.

Naipaul puts down Ganesh’s struggle with the fate, the relationships with his wife and friends,

and his gradual acquiring of fame. Naipaul’s narrative is quite ironic and sarcastic and it

seems that he is denouncing his characters for their simplicity and deals with them in a

derisive way.

Ganesh studies at the Queen’s Royal College in Port of Spain but he is not satisfied

there. He is shy and ashamed of his Indian name and cannot stand that he is laughed at by

other boys for his language, manners and the awkward way of dressing. His only friend there

is Indarsingh, another Indian boy, who is very clever and, unlike Ganesh, everybody likes and

respects him.

After graduating, Ganesh refuses his father’s suggestion to get married and becomes a

teacher in Port of Spain. His disillusionment is great – the pupils are stupid and he gives up

7

trying to teach them anything. After an argument with one of the teachers, Ganesh leaves the

school for good and returns to his native village Fourways. However, bad news is waiting for

him: his father has died and, as his mother is dead too, Ganesh is now left to cope with his life

on his own.

Ganesh spends a lot of time reading books and in the company of Ramlogan, the local

shopkeeper. Soon Ganesh realizes that Ramlogan is a foxy opportunist with startling mood

changes and that greed motivates everything he does. Despite this fact, he is talked into

marrying his daughter Leela, a sixteen-year-old shy girl. Ganesh’s aunt, nicknamed The Great

Belcher because of her everlasting belching, comes to help her nephew with the wedding

preparations. During the traditional kedgeree-eating ceremony2, Ganesh manages to extort a

lot of money out of Ramlogan, which enrages him so much that Leela fears for her husband’s

life. To make peace with Ramlogan, Ganesh promises to use the money to establish Cultural

Institute at Fuente Grove, where he and Leela have moved, and to designate Ramlogan as the

donator.

Fuente Grove is an unpromising, out-of-the-way village but Ganesh takes advantage of

it and dedicatedly tries to write his own book. However, his pains take too long and Leela

becomes impatient and reproaches Ganesh for being unable to earn some money. His friends,

Beharry and his wife Suruj Mooma, support him very much and in the end they manage to

push Ganesh into finishing the book. Unfortunately, his book is an utter failure and therefore

Leela and Ganesh’s aunt decide to urge him to become a spiritual healer. This time luck is on

Ganesh’s side. He gradually becomes a famous masseur respected for his ‘powers’ and his

prestige rises. Ganesh does not hesitate and uses his fame to win recognition also as a writer.

Growing more confident and daring, Ganesh takes part in the election campaign of

1946 and becomes the President of the Hindu Association and thus replaces his archenemy

Narayan. Later Ganesh enters the Legislative Council and then he takes the office of the

8

Member of the British Empire. He is now a public figure of great importance and the most

beloved politician in Trinidad. He changes his name to G. Ramsay Muir and is determined to

forget his past and deny his former identity of a struggling Indian boy.

1.3 Female Characters

The women in Naipaul’s The Mystic Masseur are rather peripheral characters but they

are unique individuals and play significant roles in men’s lives. I will deal with them

according to the frequency of their appearance in the novel: Leela, the aunt (The Great

Belcher), Suruj Mooma, and Leela’s sister Soomintra.

1.3.1 Leela

Leela first appears in the novel as a shy but cheerful girl, a daughter of Fourways’

shopkeeper Ramlogan and later Ganesh’s wife. Ramlogan boasts about Leela’s intelligence

and education, which means that she can read and write and is extremely fond of punctuation

marks. Leela is treated as goods by her father and is used to seal a contract between Ganesh

and his father-in-law who wants to profit from their marriage. At the beginning Leela is glad

that she can marry such a well-educated man but for Ganesh this match is only a business,

which later stigmatizes their relationship. It seems that their marriage will be a disaster but

Ganesh and Leela can think quickly on their feet, and this is very important for their success.

Leela has to face the endless disputes between Ganesh and Ramlogan, which put her in a

difficult situation. On one hand she is supposed to love and respect her father, on the other

hand she is supposed to love and support her husband. She is confused and does not know

which side to join.

Leela’s and Ganesh’s relationship is not very good at the beginning, Leela often cries

and Ganesh beats her for that. However, it seems that beating is socially agreed and approved

9

of and it “becomes a source of pride for both husband and wife, a sign that the marriage is

working as it should” (Dooley). The narrator himself explains that the beating is a kind of

privilege of married women and nobody questions it:

“It was their first beating, a formal affair done without anger on Ganesh’s part or

resentment on Leela’s; and although it formed no part of the marriage ceremony itself,

it meant much to both of them. It meant that they had grown up and become

independent” (The Masseur 55).

Beating simply belongs to the Indian tradition and functions as a confirmation of the marriage

and of the husband’s power over his wife.

Leela’s and Ganesh’s marriage is quite ordinary with some quarrels and problems, but

what it lacks is mutual love. They are reconciled with their roles of a wife and a husband, they

respect each other, but do not dare to ask for more. It soon becomes clear that Leela will not

have children and Ganesh “lost interest in her as a wife and stopped beating her. Leela took it

well, but he expected no less of a good Hindu wife” (The Masseur 69). Leela gradually

changes from a stupid young girl to a mature self-confident woman who knows how to ‘tame’

her husband. She becomes a ruler in the household, Ganesh respects her, listens to her advice

and “in time, though they would never have admitted it, they had grown to love each other”

(The Masseur 69). Gillian Dooley catches the situation in this sentence: “Significantly, once

there is no beating, or presumably sex, in their marriage, it becomes an extremely successful

working partnership” (Dooley).

After one dispute with her husband about his inability to earn some money, Leela

leaves Ganesh for some time. She acts independently, which a proper Hindu wife should not

do, and causes thus a disturbance in the village, especially among women who do not

understand it. One of them is Leela’s friend Suruj Mooma who condemns her deed and

blames education, which is in that part of the world unusual, for her foolishness: “That is the

10

trouble, giving girls education these days. Leela spend too much of she time reading and

writing and not looking after her husband properly” (The Masseur 86). This quotation proves

the antediluvian attitude of the society toward women: they should spend their time in the

household, cooking and looking after their husbands and they should let them earn money, for

what they do not need any education.

Leela runs away also because she feels ashamed for her husband who loses “all sensa

values” and is “dragging my name in the mud” (The Masseur 110). Moreover, she has to face

her rich sister Soomintra who looks like a typical Indian wife: she has several children and is

“growing plump, matronly, and important” (The Masseur 80). Leela envies her sister whose

biting remarks about Ganesh’s incapacity make her depressed. When she learns that Ganesh

has written a book, she is pleasantly surprised and cries: “Look, I go run and tell Pa. And we

must let Soomintra know. She wouldn’t like it at all at all” (The Masseur 94). Now, Leela is

proud of her husband and returns to him. She is glad that she does not have to undergo

Soomintra’s mockery anymore.

However, Ganesh’s book is not a best-seller. Leela is bitterly disappointed and has to

urge her husband again to earn some money. She, together with the aunt The Great Belcher,

tries to persuade him to become a mystic masseur and use his outstanding ‘powers’. In the

end, Ganesh tries his fortune and succeeds at last. Leela is proud of him and his being useful:

“Man, I take back all the bad things I say and think about you. Today you make me feel really

nice. Soomintra could keep she shopkeeper and she money” (The Masseur 130). It seems that

Leela is a little bit calculating and thinking more of her own good and reputation because she

supports Ganesh only when he is successful, and when not, she scolds and despises him.

As Ganesh becomes wealthy and recognized, Leela grows conceited and snobbish:

“Every day Leela became more refined. She often went to San Fernando to visit Soomintra,

and to shop. She came back with expensive saris and much heavy jewellery” (The Masseur

11

150). She tries to look important and educated, but she is rather ridiculous and affected. With

the help and support of The Great Belcher, Leela takes up charity work. She does not know

how to do it and is not interested in it, but rich women are supposed to do so and therefore,

she cannot drop behind. Ganesh regards Leela as his equal partner when he asks her advice

whether he should go in for the general election or not. She supports him but at the same time

warns him against “all sort of low argument with all sort of low people” (The Masseur 194).

When Ganesh gets ahead in politics, he decides to move to Port of Spain. He and Leela have

to part with their friends and relatives, which is difficult especially for Leela. She does not

take to Port of Spain and often travels about with The Great Belcher and visits her relatives.

Nevertheless, she still abides with her husband, respects him and encourages him in his

political aspirations.

To sum it up, Leela undergoes a fast process of development throughout the novel. At

the beginning she is a shy and tearful girl who turns into a strong woman, able to get what she

wants. Leela does not represent a typical Indian wife. A good Hindu wife is supposed to ask

no questions and do what she is told. Yet, Leela does not want to put up with her submissive

position and is brave enough to oppose her husband, to repulse him and object his rash deeds.

Despite her relative emancipation, she still appreciates her husband and is quite satisfied in

this ‘equal’ marriage, even though without romantic love.

1.3.2 The Great Belcher

Ganesh’s aunt, The Great Belcher, is a very enthusiastic, practical, brisk and wise old

lady who does not trust local doctors and is therefore “suffering from this wind” (The

Masseur 48). She behaves in a motherly way to Ganesh, she is always willing to advise her

nephew, to share her experiences of life with him and she fervently looks after his well-being

12

and career. The aunt also respects the old Hindu traditions and teaches Leela how to be a

proper Hindu woman, in which she is not much successful.

The Great Belcher appears already at the funeral of Ganesh’s father, but she begins to

interfere in Ganesh’s life more substantially during the wedding preparations. After the

wedding ceremony she decides to give her nephew the facts of life: “These modern girls is

hell self. And from what I see and hear, Leela is a modern girl. Anyway, you got to make the

best of what is yours” (The Masseur 52). The aunt is not very fond of Leela, but she does

everything to help the couple to make their marriage favourable. As I have already mentioned

both Leela and The Great Belcher support Ganesh in his writing and later, after the failure of

his book, in becoming a mystic masseur. The aunt supplies Ganesh with old books and sacred

texts and tries to persuade him that she knows what is best for him. She is so convincing and

has such strong arguments that Ganesh cannot oppose and is soon talked into it. Later, when

Ganesh hesitates over his participation in the elections, she resolutely claims: “Is your duty to

go up and help the poor people” (The Masseur 194).

The aunt is also a very sociable person, gathering news about what is going on in

Trinidad and providing all possible gossip. Her clinging to the Hindu traditions is expressed

by her way of life. She behaves like a proper Hindu woman whose ‘job’ is to attend on her

husband, or in the aunt’s case on some male relative, and to go to funerals and weddings that

are very important for Hindu social life. There she expresses her emotions by exaggerated

weeping and crying and it seems that she enjoys it because it is her obligation and she is fully

aware of it. In short, The Great Belcher is a warm-hearted, caring and “delightful creation and

our one glimpse in the novel of an older Indian way of life dominated by the family rituals of

weddings and funerals” (White 70).

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1.3.3 Suruj Mooma

When Ganesh and Leela move to Fuente Grove, they make the acquaintance of the

local shopkeeper Beharry and his wife Suruj Mooma. Even though their features and attitudes

are very different, Leela and Suruj Mooma become friends. Suruj Mooma is a typical married

woman and mother, looking after her husband and children and keeping her house attentively.

On the other hand, she is able to be assertive and strict and knows how to control her husband

when it is needed.

Suruj Mooma’s friendship with Leela is shaken when Leela leaves her husband and

goes to her father Ramlogan. Suruj Mooma is unpleasantly surprised by Leela’s deed and

cannot understand it. She cries, as Hindu women are supposed to do, and forcibly claims that

she would never abandon her husband and son, she even could not do that because she is not

educated. In her opinion, education is a very dangerous thing that leads women away from

their duties. Suruj Mooma is loyal to her husband and Hindu traditions and greatly despises

Leela’s behaviour.

Their friendship is tried and tainted second time when Leela becomes rich and

conceited due to Ganesh’s achievements. Leela visits Suruj Mooma frequently, boasts about

her new clothes and pretends that she is very tired of her responsibilities. When Beharry signs

to his wife that she is jealous, she gets enraged and bursts out: “Tell me, Suruj Poopa, what

cause I have to jealous a thin little woman who can’t even make a baby? I never leave my

husband and run away from my responsibility” (The Masseur 136). After some time,

however, Suruj Mooma stops to be envious and when Leela moves to Port of Spain, it is

difficult for both of them to part.

Suruj Mooma, like the Great Belcher, is fond of all sorts of gossip. She precisely

knows what is going on and thoroughly observes the course of events in the village. Her

husband comments on her ‘ability’: “These women and them, pundit, they does notice thing

14

we can’t even see with magnifying glass. They sharp as razor-grass, man” (The Masseur 140).

However, it is essential for a village woman to be informed and it is certain that Suruj Mooma

can make the best of it for the benefit of herself and her family.

1.3.4 Soomintra

Leela’s sister Soomintra is a typical Hindu wife, putting on weight and being properly

beaten, and she is duly proud of it. She has married a hardware merchant in San Fernando and

keeps growing rich and fat. She represents a source of jealousy for her sister:

“Soomintra got plumper and looked richer, and it was a strain for Leela not to pay too

much attention when Soomintra crooked her right arm and jangled her gold bracelets

or when, with the licence of wealth, she complained she was tired and needed holiday”

(The Masseur 80).

Leela hates the mocking tone in which Soomintra talks to her, but, as soon as she becomes

equally rich, she tries to look and behave just like her sister.

Soomintra represents a successful Hindu woman, taking care of her children and her

capable husband. She has what she wants and is admired and respected by other women. On

the other hand, Soomintra is not very likeable as a personality. She enjoys showing off and

boasting and it seems that everything she is interested in is money and her good reputation.

1.4 Conclusion

Women in Naipaul’s The Mystic Masseur are unique personalities with different

natures. Moreover, they are depicted in different roles. Leela, Suruj Mooma and Soomintra

are predominantly presented as wives, although each of them behaves in a different way:

Leela is somewhat ‘modern’, self-confident and independent; Suruj Mooma is loyal and

devoted to her husband; and Soomintra enjoys her status of a good and rich Hindu wife. The

15

Great Belcher symbolizes a typical, tradition-respecting Hindu woman who, more or less,

takes over the role of Ganesh’s mother and becomes an irreplaceable adviser for him.

However, all these women have one thing in common. They are more practical and

reasonable than their male counterparts, thus being essential and invaluable parts of the men’s

lives and fates.

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Chapter 2 – The Suffrage of Elvira by V. S Naipaul 2.1 In General

The Suffrage of Elvira, published in 1958, is Naipaul’s second and most overtly

political novel. It describes the Indians of the 1940s attempting to gain entry into Trinidadian

political life full of bribery, intrigues and corruption. Naipaul deals with this serious subject of

the political development of the Indian in Trinidad with great comedy and irony (Christian).

At the same time he is satirical about human qualities and vices and provides a “dispassionate

observation of human behaviour” (Daiches 387).

2.2 The Plot

The novel The Suffrage of Elvira tells a story of Mr. Surujpat Harbans who runs for

elections in Elvira, a small village at Elvira Hill, “the highest point in County Naparoni, the

smallest, most isolated and most neglected of the nine counties of Trinidad” (The Suffrage of

Elvira 9). As in Fuente Grove in The Mystic Masseur, there is nothing exciting or attractive in

that village. The inhabitants are simple and superstitious villagers, some of them also very

cunning and profit seeking heelers.

When Harbans is driving to Elvira to arrange something for the election, two strange

mishaps occur on the way. First, he almost kills two women, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and then

almost runs over a black dog. He is convinced that this incident forecasts that something bad

will happen, probably in connection with the election. And he is not far from the truth.

The first person Mr. Harbans visits with the intention to ask for help is Mr. Baksh,

quite a wealthy and powerful local tailor. Baksh is also the leader of Muslims in Elvira and is

known for his heavy drinking, boasting and big talking. He does not hesitate and takes

advantage of the election to make more money. He reasons that Harbans needs a campaign

17

manager who would help him to win and immediately suggests that he and Foam, his eldest

son, will take care of it. Foam accepts this job not only because of the prospect of money, but

mainly to upset his rival Lorkhoor who has deprived Foam of the job of announcing cinema

news and who works for the Preacher, Harbans’s opponent. At this moment Mrs. Baksh is

introduced to the action as Baksh’s wife and as a devoted mother of seven children. She does

not approve of this election and fears that it could endanger her family’s happiness.

After the agreement with Baksh, Mr. Harbans asks Chittaranjan, the local goldsmith

and the most important person in Elvira, for his support. Chittaranjan agrees on condition that

Harbans’s son will marry Nelly, Chittaranjan’s beloved daughter. Nelly does not want to get

married, but at the same time she knows that her father wants the best for her. Harbans

accedes to the goldsmith’s conditions and thus, Mr. Baksh and Chittaranjan together with

Dhaniram, the pundit, and Mahadeo, the overseer on the Elvira Estate, can form the election

committee and begin to make plans for Harbans’s campaign.

The campaign is in full swing, but suddenly it is tainted with the news about black

magic and obeah3. The cause of this fuss is a small black puppy which has been found by

Herbert, Foam’s brother, when they were campaigning together. Herbert hides the puppy,

called Tiger, in their house. When it is discovered, Mrs. Baksh is convinced that somebody is

playing obeah on her family and orders Foam to get the dog out of the house. The rumours

about the obeah spread quickly and surprisingly, they are circulated by Mr. Baksh himself, for

whom it is very difficult to hold his tongue. Foam gives the puppy to Nelly, but it returns to

the Bakshes after some time. Everybody in Elvira is afraid of Tiger, nobody dares to touch

him. However, the committee has a plan how to kill two birds with one stone: they blame the

Witnesses, who are dissuading the Spanish people from voting and thus doing damage to their

campaign, for playing the obeah. The Witnesses are driven out of Elvira and the panic about

18

the obeah together with them. In the end, Tiger is absolved from his bad reputation and

becomes a protection against the future obeah.

Throughout the whole novel Naipaul ridicules the fact that the election does not do

without bribery, corruption and selling of votes. Harbans has to give out more and more

money to pay his committee members and to get more voters on his part. He pays for rum,

petrol, he gives money to people who are ill and who have asked him for help. Harbans

himself comments on his situation: “This democracy is a strange thing. It does make the great

poor and the poor great (Elvira 156). He is not very enthusiastic about spending so much

money, but his desire to win the election is so strong that he is willing to undergo almost

everything. When one of the villagers dies, Harbans’s committee takes advantage of that to

organize the funeral and thus show that Mr. Harbans cares for the people of Elvira and that he

deserves being given a vote.

As the election draws to an end, several radical changes occur. Baksh stops working

for Harbans and wants to run for the election himself. Lorkhoor betrays the Preacher, sells the

votes to Harbans and leaves with Dhaniram’s daughter-in-law. Meanwhile, Mr. Baksh

changes his mind and tries to sell his votes to Harbans too, but when he realizes that he won’t

persuade him to buy them, he voluntarily gives them up on Harbans’s behalf.

Mr. Harbans of course wins the election and becomes the Member of Legislative

Council. He cries with happiness, but at the same time he swears that he will never come back

to Elvira again because he is fed up with local people and the electoral fuss. However, he is

forced to come once again and drink the promised whisky with his committee. He arrives in a

brand new car and suit and looks properly conceited. The people of Elvira begin to gather

expecting to get a sip of whisky. When they are told that the drink is only for the committee,

the crowd protest and grumble. The event turns into a disaster for Harbans. He is

19

unscrupulously sworn at and moreover, the indignant villagers burn his new car. Thoroughly

disgusted, he quickly leaves Elvira and tries to forget about it.

At the end of the novel almost everybody is satisfied. Harbans is elected, Lorkhoor has

a job in Port of Spain, Foam gains Lorkhoor’s job of announcing and Nelly leaves for London

to study and enjoy the dances there. Only Chittaranjan is disappointed because Harbans has

broken his promise and refused to get his son married to Nelly. Nevertheless, the election is

over and the people of Elvira can return to their everyday lives.

2.3 Female Characters

The female characters in The Suffrage of Elvira are dealt with rather marginally, but

despite the fact that they occur only on the periphery of the main plot, they are individuals

with their own features, qualities and patterns of behaviour. In this section I will be concerned

with Mrs. Bakhs, Nelly Chittaranjan and Dhaniram’s daughter-in-law, called the doolahin.

2.3.1 Mrs. Baksh

Mrs. Baksh is presented as a fresh, young and well-built wife of Elvira’s tailor and as

an unselfish mother of seven children. She loves and protects her children and is willing to do

anything to keep the family peace and unity: “Mrs. Baksh valued the status of her family and

felt it deserved watching” (Elvira 22). At the same time she is rather strict and authoritative,

and her children and also her husband have to obey and respect her. Her son Foam always

refers to her as ‘they’, which could be either a sign of respect for his mother or perhaps an

indication of impersonal relationship between them. It seems that Mrs. Baksh enjoys the role

of a mother and wife and her only wish is that her family is properly cherished so that nobody

could slander her.

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The democratic election in Elvira, as Mrs. Baksh is convinced, poses a dangerous

threat on her family: “She saw threats everywhere; this election was the greatest. She couldn’t

afford new enemies; too many people were already jealous of her and she suspected nearly

everybody of looking at her with evil eye” (Elvira 22). She does not approve of her husband

participating in this matter full of bribes and traitors. The only thing she does not mind is that

Baksh could bring home more money. Mrs. Baksh warns that at the beginning the election is

“sweet sweet” for everybody, but it is “going to end damn sour” (Elvira 40) and it seems that

she is right. When the electoral slogan “Vote Harbans or die!” is recreated with paint into “ten

die” by an unknown person, she even forbids her husband to speak about the election. In the

end, however, when the danger of the evil spirits is warded off, Mrs. Baksh becomes

interested in the election, she supports her husband to go up for it himself and it seems that

she “was not only reconciled to the election, she was actually enjoying it, though she

pretended to be indifferent” (Elvira 179).

As far as Mrs. Baksh’s relationship to her husband is concerned, she is not portrayed

as a typical submissive and obedient wife. On the contrary, she is rather dominant, assertive

and knows how to treat her husband in order to get what she wants. She perfectly knows her

husband’s vices, so that when he says that he is going to do some campaigning, she knows

that in fact he is going “to do some drinking” (Elvira 54). Mrs. Baksh is quite ironic, even

sarcastic, when speaking to her, now already sober, husband who claims that he saw a big

black dog at night: “Who bite who? You bite the dog, or the dog bite you?” (Elvira, 60). After

discovering Tiger, the black puppy, in her house, Mrs. Baksh suspects that somebody is

playing obeah on her family. She gets angry and blames her husband for everything what is

happening in their house:

“Is this election sweetness that sweeten you up so. And now you seeing how sour it

turning. You having people throwing all sorta magic and obeah in my house, you

21

having all my sons lying to my face, and you having my biggest son talk to me as if I

is his daughter” (Elvira 64).

Mr. Baksh sometimes tries to protest against his ‘lower’, almost unimportant position in the

family and reproaches his wife that she has not brought up their children properly. Mrs. Baksh

holds her own: “You carry them nine months in your belly? You nurse them? You clean

them?” (Elvira 82). Mr. Baksh cannot find an answer to this argument and better gives in.

Despite their occasional disagreements, however, the couple fosters mutual respect for each

other and tries to create a content family background for their children.

As I have already mentioned, Mrs. Baksh is presented in this novel as a caring but, at

the same time, strict mother. She tries to treat all her children equally and, as many mothers, is

proud of them and boasts about them. However, she cannot stand when her natural authority

is undermined and when the children are cheeky or ungrateful: “Is just the sort of gratitude I

getting from my own children, after all the pinching and scraping and saving I does do”

(Elvira 57). It is also not very easy to fool her. When she has suspicion that some of the

children is lying or does not want to confess his or her bad deed, she uses a trick with the

Bible. The Bible is opened at random and put on a key so that the book hangs over it. Then

the name of each child is mentioned and when the Bible turns and falls down, it means that

the named child is guilty. In this way, it comes to light that Herbert brought the puppy and

Mrs. Baksh thus does her duty and punishes him with a belt: “She held the belt idle for some

moments, looking down at it almost reflectively. On a sudden she turned; and lunged at

Herbert, striking out with the belt, hitting him everywhere” (Elvira 64). On the other hand,

she can also protect and stick up for her children. Once Herbert upsets his father who wants to

punish him and tries to grab him, but Herbert hides behind Mrs. Baksh’s chair because “he

knew that his mother was in a sympathetic mood. And Baksh knew that in the circumstances

Herbert was inviolate. Still, he made a show. He danced around the chair. Mrs. Baksh put out

22

a large arm as a barrier. Baksh respected it” (Elvira 81). It is apparent from this quotation that

Mrs. Baksh does not want anybody to intermeddle in the upbringing of her children and even

her husband has to tolerate it. Mrs. Baksh observes with anxiety that Foam, her eldest son, is

becoming adult and that he begins to oppose her: “Mrs. Baksh sighed. Only three months ago,

if Foam had talked like that, she could have slapped him. But the election had somehow

changed Foam; he was no longer a boy” (Elvira 195). However, it seems that she is prepared

to reconcile with and accept this new situation.

Mrs. Baksh is also depicted as an attractive, well-built and modern woman. However,

there are only two references to her looks in the novel. The first one describes her modern

knee-length skirt and the second one is as follows: “Her bodice tightened and creased right

across her bosom; her skirt tightened and creased across her belly” (Elvira 61). What is very

interesting is Mrs. Baksh’s way of combing her hair: “Mrs. Baksh held her hair in front of her

bodice and combed. Particles of water sped about the room. She cleared the comb of loose

hair, rolled the hair into a ball, spat on it a few times and flung it among the dusty scraps in a

corner” (Elvira 145). Another way of clothing is described in connection with the doolahin,

who I will deal with later in this section.

2.3.2 Nelly Similarly to Leela in The Mystic Masseur, Nelly Chittaranjan, the daughter of the local

rich goldsmith, is also only an article in her father’s marriage policy. She is supposed to marry

Harbans’s son because this match would be very profitable for Mr. Chittaranjan, from the

business as well as religious points of view – both Nelly and Harbans’s son are Hindus.

Chittaranjan is very proud of his daughter’s intelligence and education and wants her to get

into a good Hindu family. Nelly does not want to get married so soon, she would rather go to

London to study and enjoy her life. On the other hand, she also knows that her father means it

23

well to her and she does not dare to oppose. Nelly’s father pays for her evening classes, but it

seems that he does it only because he thinks that education could make it easier for her to find

a suitable and wealthy husband.

Foam tries to impress Nelly by different means and wants to become close to her. At

first Nelly behaves quite coldly and little scornfully to Foam, but when he gives her a lift, she

opens her heart and tells him how unhappy she is about the marriage. They begin to meet after

Nelly’s evening classes, even though Nelly knows that it is wrong to go out with a Muslim

boy. It seems that she is not in love with Foam and only wants to experience something

adventurous: “The thought of meeting a boy at night in a lonely lane had kept her excited all

afternoon. She had never walked out with any boy: it was wrong; now that she was practically

engaged, it was more than wrong” (Elvira 84). She continues in this relationship despite the

fear of the reaction of her father who is modern but not “advanced enough to allow his only

daughter to walk out with a boy before she was married” (Elvira 84). Nelly considers Foam

more and more likeable, but she is still quite ironical and reserved in her behaviour towards

him.

When Chittaranjan gets to know about his daughter’s relationship with Foam, he gets

enraged and is afraid of the consequences. Dhaniram, one of the members of the election

committee, thinks that this is caused by the perfidious modernity: “In the old days you coulda

trust a Hindu girl. Now everything getting modern and mix up” (Elvira 129). Chittaranjan

immediately intervenes, goes to the Bakshes to tell Foam not to bother his daughter and sends

Nelly away from Elvira for some time. When the election is over and Mr. Harbans does not

need Chittaranjan’s help any longer, “he is glad to be handled a reason for breaking his

promise to Chittaranjan - his son couldn’t possibly marry a girl who walked out with

Muslims” (White 80). This suggests that Harbans’s son is a kind of bribe for Chittaranjan and

Nelly is a poor victim of these two men’s thoughtlessness. However, she is perfectly satisfied

24

because now she can realize what she has only dreamt of – she leaves for London where she

can feel free and lead a life of an independent woman.

Nelly, as many women in that community, is treated as a servant in the house of her

father. She has to serve the guests, she has to clean everything and obediently fulfil her

father’s orders. Despite this fact, Nelly seems to be a very decisive girl, she can insist on her

attitudes, she can defend herself sufficiently and she is not naïve as men think a girl should be.

2.3.3 Doolahin Doolahin has been deserted by her husband soon after their wedding and now she lives

with her father-in-law Dhaniram and his ill and impuissant wife. She looks like a good Hindu

girl, “about eighteen perhaps; barefooted, as was proper; a veil over her forehead, as was also

proper” (Elvira 44). It is apparent from the text that doolahin functions and is considered as a

servant, doing whatever she is told, taking care of her mother-in-law and supposed to ask no

questions. No wonder that she is not satisfied with her role and low status and is fed up with

the everlasting fussing about Dhaniram. Sometimes she tries to oppose her father-in-law who

shakes his head over his daughter-in-law’s boldness: “Only two years she husband leave she

to go to England to study, and you see how she getting on. In the old days you think a

daughter-in-law coulda talk like that to a father-in-law? In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if she

ain’t got somebody sheself” (Elvira 129). Doolahin does not want to be mischievous, she only

wants her father-in-law to take her seriously and stop treating her as if she was a thing.

When Dhaniram learns that doolahin has left with Lorkhoor to Port of Spain, he is

properly astounded and bitterly disappointed because “now it ain’t have nobody to look after

me or the old lady” (Elvira 177). He suffers a lot not from the loss of his relative, but from the

loss of such a perfect servant. Now he is quite busy and cannot solely devote himself to the

election: “With no doolahin about, he had to empty his wife’s spitting-cup; he had to cook for

25

her; he had to lift her from her bed, make the bed, and put her back on it. He had no time to

think about the election” (Elvira 186). Dhaniram becomes desperate because “modernity

cannot compensate for the loss of a girl of the right caste to do his cooking and housework”

(White 81). He feels that he cannot stand this situation any longer. Therefore, he is very happy

when his brother-in-law dies suddenly and Dhaniram’s sister comes to live with him and his

wife.

2.4 Conclusion

The novel has many male protagonists whereas women characters are quite peripheral

and function as some kinds of supplements to make the story more vivid. As in The Mystic

Masseur women in this novel are described as more reasonable and sensible than men, they

can insist on their opinions and they change their attitudes very rarely, unlike their male

counterparts. Although the women in The Suffrage of Elvira play completely different roles,

they have one thing in common - each of them has her wish or desire: Mrs. Baksh’s goal is to

make her family satisfied and happy, Nelly longs for studying and having a good time in

London, and doolahin yearns after getting rid of her father-in-law and living a peaceful life

with Lorkhoor. Neither of the women is exaggeratedly emancipated, but there are some

outward indications of their dissatisfaction with their positions and the ways they are treated.

They are not afraid of trying to change the things they disapprove of, because they are

practical and can think quickly on their feet.

26

Chapter 3 – A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul 3.1 In General

A House for Mr. Biswas was published in 1961 and is considered the best of

Naipaul’s work. The major theme of this novel is Mr. Biswas’s struggle for independence and

dignity which is represented by his lifelong effort to build a house of his own. The character

of Mr. Biswas is based on Naipaul’s father and the book also describes Naipaul’s childhood

and the relationship with his father (Procházka 551). Moreover, the novel depicts the negative

relationship between an individual and the society he lives in: “It is a novel dealing with

human problems of universal application, drawing on a mass of local detail to make itself

credible, but open to all whose identity is at odds with their society” (White 126).

3.2 The Plot

The novel tells the lifetime story of Mohun Biswas from his birth to his death and

takes place in Trinidad before, during and after World War II. As already suggested, Mr.

Biswas’s life is full of obstacles which he has to overcome: he comes from poor background

and has to cope with a constant lack of money, he struggles for independence and thus has to

endure his undying and corrosive desire for his own house, and last but not least he has to

stand the endless conflict with the Tulsi family.

Mohun Biswas is born to his mother Bipti and father Raghu in Parrot Trace. He comes

into the world with six fingers on his hand, which is considered a bad luck. Still a child, he

works for his neighbour and looks after his calf. One day the calf drowns and Mohun is

supposed to be drowned too. In an effort to rescue him, Mohun’s father dives for him, but

unfortunately drowns himself. After this misfortune Bipti together with her children Mohun

and Dehuti moves to Pagotes to her wealthy sister Tara. Dehuti works as a servant at Tara’s

27

and Bipti with Mohun live in the back trace, which he later does not reminiscence with

pleasure. He attends local school where he becomes friends with his schoolmate Alec.

Mr. Biswas’s aunt Tara, who partly takes over the role of his mother, wants him to

become a pundit and sends him to Pundit Jairam to be trained. Nevertheless, after stealing

some bananas Jairam punishes him by sending him back to Pagotes. There he works in a

rumshop owned by Ajodha, Tara’s husband. He is not satisfied in the shop and together with

his friend Alec takes up sign-writing. In this period of his life he is contemplating about the

purpose of life and wonders what to think about love.

The sign-writing brings him to the Tulsi’s store at Arwacas where he meets Shama,

one of the Tulsi daughters. He sends her a note which is spotted by Mrs. Tulsi and he

suddenly finds himself engaged with Shama. The wedding ceremony is prepared, but he does

not get any dowry and feels trapped. The family seems to be strange and mean and Mr.

Biswas bitterly regrets that he has written the note to Shama. He moves to Hanuman House,

the residence of the Tulsis, which he calls ‘a blasted zoo’. Hanuman House is “a place of

order, a communal organisation with degrees of precedence all the way down from Mrs. Tulsi

and Padma [her sister] to Mrs. Biswas’s own children, well down the scale but valued and

protected as future assets” (White 109). Mr. Biswas has to be obedient in the house and is

under Mrs. Tulsi’s control, which he abhors and expresses his resistance against the family

and its values.

After some time Mr. Biswas and Shama move to The Chase where they run a shop.

Mr. Biswas finds it easy and enjoyable and he also realizes that his relationship with Shama,

who meanwhile gives birth to their daughter Savi and son Anand, has improved. Soon,

however, Shama feels lonely in the village and often goes to Hanuman House, leaving Mr.

Biswas alone. Mr. Biswas has serious problems with the debtors and when Seth, Mrs. Tulsi’s

28

brother-in-law, suggests him to leave The Chase and work as a driver at Green Vale, he

accepts the offer.

At Green Vale he lives in an old barrack and works as a sub-overseer at an estate. He

does not like the job because his nature is not assertive enough and the labourers do not take

him much seriously. In the end he is ignored by them and this is the cause of his sleepless and

restless nights. During the stay at Green Vale he begins to change his attitude towards life:

“Then one evening a great calm settled on him, and he made a decision. He had for too long

regarded situations as temporary; henceforth he would look upon every stretch of time,

however short, as precious” (A House for Mr. Biswas 265). With this new determination, Mr.

Biswas plunges into building his dreamt-of house and moves there with his son Anand

(Shama and other children stay at Hanuman House). However, as the house is not of high

quality, it is completely destroyed in one stormy night. Mr. Biswas is again forced to move to

Hanuman House where he suffers from deep depressions and feelings of helplessness.

Recovered a little from his despair, Mr. Biswas goes to Port of Spain to look for a job

and after long time he feels free and excited. He becomes a journalist in Sentinel newspaper,

he writes successful short stories and travels a lot. When he returns to Hanuman House,

Shama and other relatives treat him as if he never left: “Neither Shama nor the children nor

the hall carried any mark of his absence” (Biswas 329). Mrs. Tulsi proposes him to live with

herself and her son Owad in a house in Port of Spain. Mr. Biswas is excited at the prospect of

living in a new and clean house and immediately accepts the offer: “It was an experience, so

new he could not yet savour it, to find himself turned all at once from a visitor into a dweller,

in a house that was solid and finished and painted and elegant all over” (Biswas 333). And for

some time he is reconciled with Mrs. Tulsi and her commanding manners. In Port of Spain

Mr. Biswas begins to attend to his children properly and supports them (especially Anand) in

education.

29

When Mrs. Tulsi decides to move to an estate at Shorthills, Shama persuades her

husband to undergo ‘the Shorthills adventure’ too. First Mr. Biswas likes the site, but then the

Tulsis ruin the garden, neglect the domestic animals and he finds himself surrounded by

devastation. No wonder that he is fed up with the Tulsis and wants to build another house of

his own. He fulfils his wish, but it seems that building the house at Shorthills is not a lucky

solution: Shama has to go a mile to do the shopping, he and the children have to commute to

Port of Spain and water has to be brought from the cocoa woods. One evening Mr. Biswas is

clearing the land by burning, but due to his carelessness the fire goes out of his control and the

site and a part of the house are burnt.

Mr. Biswas and his family move back to the Port of Spain house where they have two

rooms for the disposal. This time more boarders come to the house and it becomes

unpleasantly crowded and noisy. Mr. Biswas’s only solace is that Anand is a very clever and

successful student and has gained an exhibition which enables him to study abroad. Mr.

Biswas decides to leave the Sentinel, starts working for the government as the Community

Welfare Officer and for the first time he can afford to go on holiday with his family. He does

not like the returns to the Port of Spain house and so he looks for some house to live in. In the

end he buys a cheap jerry-built house in Sikkim Street. Despite being terribly mortgaged and

despite the quite dangerous defects in the house, he is glad that he has managed to acquire his

own house: “He thought of the house as his own, though for years it had been irretrievably

mortgaged. And during these months of illness and despair he was struck again and again by

the wonder of being in his own house, the audacity of it” (Biswas 8). When the Welfare

Department is abolished, Mr. Biswas returns to the Sentinel office, but is soon sacked because

of his heart illness and thus becomes more and more querulous and even lethargic. After

hearing about her father’s health state, Savi comes back to Trinidad from her studies abroad,

30

gets a job and makes trips with her father to cheer him up. Mr. Biswas dies in a botched-up

house, but in a house of his own and surrounded by his family.

3.3 Female Characters

The women in A House for Mr. Biswas, similarly to The Mystic Masseur and The

Suffrage of Elvira, are not central characters. They rather serve as ‘supplements’ to the main

story though they fundamentally influence the protagonist and play very important roles in the

Hindu family and society. I will deal with the major female characters in the order in which

they appear in the novel: Bipti, Tara, Mrs. Tulsi and Shama.

3.3.1 Bipti

Mr. Biswas’s mother Bipti is mostly depicted as an unhappy woman who has lost her

husband and who always suffers from the lack of money. It seems that she has not married

Raghu out of love because when he drowns, she, instead of crying and mourning, thinks of

sending messages about her husband’s death. The funeral is arranged by her sister Tara, a

very energetic woman, and Bipti has to undergo the ritual of becoming a widow: “Bipti was

bathed. Her hair, still wet, was neatly parted and the parting filled with red henna. Then the

henna was scooped out and the parting filled with charcoal dust. She was now a widow

forever” (Biswas 32). Shortly after the funeral she moves to Pagotes to live in a back trace of

her sister’s residence.

Bipti is not portrayed as an ideal mother. She passes her daughter’s upbringing to Tara

because “in four or five years Dehuti would have to be married and it was better that she

should be given to Tara. She would learn manners, acquire graces and, with a dowry from

Tara, might even make a good match” (Biswas 35). On the one hand Bipti thinks of Dehuti’s

good, on the other hand it seems that she is glad that she is relieved of the burden represented

31

by marrying her daughter off. With Mr. Biswas she has no warm relationship. Mr. Biswas is

thoroughly depressed and hurt by her impenetrability and spleen. She often bewails her fate

and is shy to show him affection. When he returns from Pundit Jairam, he is welcomed very

coldly: “She looked so depressed and indifferent […] and it did not then surprise him that,

instead of being pleased to see him, she was alarmed” (Biswas 57). Her son reproaches her for

unconcerned behaviour and blames her that she has never done a thing for him. She only

shifts the blame onto her fate: “It is my fate. I have had no luck with my children. And with

you, Mohun, I have the least luck of all” (Biswas 65). Mr. Biswas cannot understand her

mother and is unable to find his way to her heart.

When Mr. Biswas needs to be comforted and to feel motherly love, he has to go to his

aunt Tara who treats him kindly and with sympathy. After moving to Hanuman House, Mr.

Biswas breaks off relations with his mother and visits her very rarely and without enthusiasm.

Once he visits her during Christmas time and finds out that

“she was happy where she was and did not want to be a burden to any of her sons; her

life was over, she had nothing more to do, and was waiting for death. To feel

sympathy for her he had to look, not at her face, but at the thinness of her hair. It was

still black, however: which was a pity, for grey hair would have helped to put him in a

more tender mood” (Biswas 191).

This quotation shows that he does not feel sorry for his mother, that he does not care about her

anymore as she does not care about him.

However, Bipti’s mood and attitude towards life immensely improves when she moves

to her son Pratap: “She was active and lucid; she was a lively and important part of Pratap’s

household” (Biswas 328). Her relationship to Mr. Biswas though remains rather calm. When

he invites her to his new house at Shorthills, she still does not behave as a loving mother:

“Her feelings could not be read. He was at first extravagantly affectionate. But Bipti remained

32

calm, and Mr. Biswas followed her example. It was as if the relationship between them had

been granted without their asking, and had only to be accepted” (Biswas 426). Despite this

coldness, she is quite kind and helps him with work so that for the first time in his life Mr.

Biswas enjoys being with his mother and later he often recalls her visit.

One would think that Mr. Biswas, considering his mother’s strange behaviour, will not

mourn for her much, but the contrary is the case. After her death he is silent, sad and

“oppressed by a sense of loss: not of present loss, but of something missed in the past”

(Biswas 480). He feels that he has lost something important, something that has been part of

his self and his life.

3.3.2 Tara

Tara, Mr. Biswas’s wealthy and reputable aunt, is portrayed as an old-fashioned

woman and as “a defender of the old ways” (White 100). She is keen on preserving old

values, which could be quite expensive, but she admits that she can afford it. In one paragraph

Naipaul also describes her appearance:

“Her arms were encased from wrist to elbow with silver bangles which she had often

recommended to Bipti. […] She also wore earrings and a nakphul, a ‘nose-flower’.

She had a solid gold yoke around her neck and thick silver bracelets on her ankles. In

spite of all her jewellery she was energetic and capable, and had adopted her

husband’s commanding manner” (Biswas 32).

This suggests that she is quite self-confident and assertive.

Moreover, she functions as a mother to Mr. Biswas when Bipti is unable to fulfil what

is expected of her. Tara is very unselfish, she cares about Mr. Biswas’s future and comforts

and encourages him. After his return from Pundit Jairam, Mr. Biswas tells her about the stolen

bananas and “when he noticed that Tara was giving him sympathy he saw his own injury very

33

clearly, broke down and wept, and Tara held him to her bosom and dried his tears” (Biswas

58). Mr. Biswas considers Tara the embodiment of humanity and charity and therefore visits

her very frequently.

After marrying Shama and realizing his plight, Mr. Biswas goes to Tara to pour out his

heart. She embraces him and gives him some money. Although she is unhappy and

disappointed about his marriage to such a mean family, she thinks that he had better return to

his wife and try to reconcile with his fate. Later in his life, Mr. Biswas frequently goes with

his children to see her and both the sides are pleased. Mr. Biswas is glad that he has such a

compassionate relative and remains friends with her all his life.

3.3.3 Mrs. Tulsi

Unlike Bipti, Mrs. Tulsi seems to be a good mother. She has several daughters and two

sons and these live with their own families together in Hanuman House. As her husband is

dead, she is alone in bringing up her daughters. Once she confesses to Shama how it is

difficult to marry all her children off: “Think of the worry I had when your father died.

Fourteen daughters to marry. And when you marry your girl children you can’t say what sort

of life you are letting them in for. They have to live with their Fate. Mothers-in-law, sisters-

in-law. Idle husbands. Wife-beaters” (Biswas 200). She is aware of the fact that marriages

without romantic love can cause the unhappiness of her daughters, but at the same time she

knows that it is necessary for a proper Hindu woman to be married and to give birth to as

many children as possible.

Mrs. Tulsi is the ‘boss’ of the Hanuman House, everybody has to obey her orders and

the Tulsi daughters are ‘trained’ to satisfy all her wishes. It is this exercising of her power that

Mr. Biswas truly hates and fights against. Mrs. Tulsi’s attitude to her rebellious son-in-law is

not clear: she neither hates him nor likes him. It seems that Mrs. Tulsi is rather two-faced: on

34

the one hand she openly criticizes Mr. Biswas and on the other hand she sometimes stands up

for him. Landeg White fittingly describes her in this way:

“What she demands is total submission of thought and will, absolute devotion to

herself. She works through blackmail, inviting victims to share her maudlin nostalgia,

then springing her demands at a moment when it will seem insulting to refuse. Her

ultimate weapon is her faint, an elaborate performance uniting the household in

resentment against the offending son-in-law for whom equally elaborate penance is

prescribed” (111).

And Mrs. Tulsi faints quite often. Whenever this happens “a complex ritual was at once set in

motion” (Biswas 126). Almost all the women in Hanuman House have to attend to Mrs. Tulsi

and there is a lot of fanning and massaging her body and forehead. But however unpleasant

she may look, she is also capable of forgiving by means of her comment “What is past is past”

(Biswas 204).

The fact that Mrs. Tulsi is the most powerful person in the household is proved when

she moves with her son Owad to a house in Port of Spain. Then a proper upset turns up at

Hanuman House:

“During her absence the accepted degrees of precedence at Hanuman House lost some

of their meaning. Sushila, the widow, was reduced to nonentity. Many sisters

attempted to seize power and a number of squabbles ensued. […] Seth exacted the

obedience of everyone; he could not impose harmony. That was re-established every

week-end, when Mrs. Tulsi and the younger god [Owad] returned” (Biswas 231).

Mrs. Tulsi invites Mr. Biswas and his family to live with her and Owad in the Port of Spain

house. Mr. Biswas accepts and for a while he becomes reconciled with his mother-in-law and

her bossiness.

35

After some time Mrs. Tulsi returns to Arwacas and Hanuman House, but she is not

able to regain her power and control over the household. She becomes a cantankerous invalid

and it seems that she has lost the interest in her family. Her zest for life reappears for a

moment when, after the quarrel with Seth, she decides that the whole family will move to an

estate at Shorthills. Soon, however, she loses her enthusiasm again: “As suddenly as she had

emerged from her sickroom to supervise the move, so Mrs. Tulsi had now withdrawn. […] It

was as though her energy had been stimulated only by the quarrel with Seth and, ebbing, had

depressed her further into exhaustion and grief” (Biswas 404). Without her supervision the

family gradually disintegrates and the household becomes unorganized.

When she is tired of Shorthills, she comes to live in the house in Port of Spain again.

Mr. Biswas has moved there shortly before her and is not very glad that he will have to live

with her under the same roof. She keeps all her daughters busy, all her caprices have to be

tolerated and her irritable moods have to be endured. When she does not like anything, she

cries that all her children are waiting for her death and threatens them with expelling them

from the family. She does not enjoy anything and in the end she becomes obsessed with her

illness: “The more she was recommended not to exert herself the less she was able to exert

herself, until she appeared to live only for her illness” (Biswas 522). Although she is not the

head of the family anymore, she still greatly influences her daughters and sons-in-law and

manipulates with them for her own benefit.

3.3.4 Shama

At the beginning the relationship between Mr. Biswas and his wife Shama is quite

cold and without affectionate feelings. Mr. Biswas is “overpowered and frightened” (Biswas

92) by Mrs. Tulsi, who is very particular about marrying her daughters, and is forced to the

marriage. Shama takes it as a matter of course and does not protest. After the wedding Mr.

36

Biswas establishes his rebellion against the Tulsis. Shama, ashamed of being the wife of the

rebel, tries to avoid him as often as possible. However, when they are alone in their room,

“Shama was not the Shama he saw downstairs, the thorough Tulsi, the antagonist the family

had assigned him. In many subtle ways, but mainly by her silence, she showed that Mr.

Biswas, however grotesque, was hers and that she had to make do with what Fate had granted

her” (Biswas 103). Alone with her husband, Shama is irritated and suppliant, but in the

presence of somebody else, Shama’s attitude changes and she pretends to be silent and to

suffer. During their stay at Hanuman House there is still little love and friendliness in their

marriage.

Their relationship ameliorates in The Chase where Mr. Biswas moves with his

pregnant wife. Mr. Biswas is surprised by the change in Shama’s behaviour: “Away from

Hanuman House, the need to disown Mr. Biswas disappears. At The Chase, she treats him

with morose affection which contrasts sharply with her behaviour among the Tulsis” (White

119). She gives him comfort and support when he is depressed by the loneliness and silence

of the shop, she cooperates with him and behaves “as though she moved into a derelict house

every day. Her actions were assertive, wasteful and unnecessarily noisy. They filled shop and

house; they banished silence and loneliness” (Biswas 146). For the first time Mr. Biswas also

learns how a woman can nag and is astonished by Shama’s prowess at it: “So Shama nagged;

and nagged so well that from the first he knew she was nagging. It amazed him that someone

so young should show herself so competent in such an alien skill” (Biswas 148). Shama is

gradually changing from a frolic girl into an adult brisk woman and skilful housekeeper.

When the couple argues, it is almost always because of Shama’s dependence on

Hanuman House and her family. After quarrels she always retreats to Hanuman House, she

even gives births to all their children there. Mr. Biswas cannot stand this habit and when

Shama urges him to move from The Chase back to Hanuman House, he gets so enraged that

37

he for the first time hits her: “They were both astonished. She was silenced in the middle of a

sentence; for some time afterwards the unfinished sentence remained in his mind, as though it

had just been spoken. She was stronger than he. Her silence and her refusal to retaliate made

his humiliation complete” (Biswas 192). Mr. Biswas regrets his deed, but Shama packs her

things, goes to Hanuman House and does not see her husband for several months. What Mr.

Biswas hates most about Hanuman House is that all its inhabitants are immoderately envious

and competitive. Once he buys a beautiful doll house for his daughter Savi, but Shama

destroys it because of her family’s psychic pressure on her:

“You didn’t know what I had to put up with. Talking night and day. Puss-puss here.

Puss-puss there. Chinta [her sister] dropping remarks all the time. Everybody beating

their children the moment they start talking to Savi. Nobody wanting to talk to me.

Everybody behaving as though I kill their father. […] So I had to satisfy them. I break

up the dolly-house and everybody was satisfied” (Biswas 226).

This clearly shows that she does not want to be on unfriendly terms with her sisters and rather

submits to their pressure.

Gradually, however, Shama learns to break away from a habit of running to Hanuman

House every time something goes wrong, and begins to follow her husband. She moves with

him to Port of Spain, then to Shorthills and to their house in Sikkim Street: “Since they had

moved to the house Shama had learned a new loyalty to him and to their children; away from

her mother and sisters, she was able to express this without shame, and to Mr. Biswas this was

a triumph as big as the acquiring of his own house” (Biswas 8). Shama turns into her

husband’s support and behaves as a dutiful wife. When Mr. Biswas is depressed by his

mother’s death and by loss of his job, she comforts him and tries to cheer him up. She even

does not criticize him for buying the creaky house in Sikkim Street: “Shama had never

38

reproached him for the house, and he had begun to credit her with great powers of judgment”

(Biswas 585). Thus, they eventually come to respect and trust each other.

Shama has four children whom she loves and takes care of properly. She does not

mind that her husband does not assist her at bringing them up, she is convinced that she will

manage it herself. She is not afraid to use beating when she thinks it is necessary. The beating

is not viewed as maltreatment but as something every child has to go through and every

mother has to exercise. It gives a child some kind of status and perhaps admiration: “At

Hanuman House the sisters still talked with pride of the floggings they had received from

Mrs. Tulsi. […] And there was even some rivalry among the sisters as to who had been

flogged worst of all” (Biswas 199). Shama enjoys Anand’s and Savi’s study achievements and

is glad when she, Mr. Biswas and the children can go on holiday and spend some time

together. However, one can trace some marks of her family’s influence in the upbringing of

her children. One day Anand has a disagreement with his uncle Owad and Shama wants her

son to apologize even though she knows that Anand is not at fault. She is aware of her

injustice, but she does it to keep peace in the family and to show respect to her brother, who is

now the head of the family. Thus, she ‘sacrifices’ Anand to keep old Tulsi values and to be on

good terms with her family. Despite this misdemeanour she seems to be a loyal and solicitous

mother.

Shama is mainly depicted as a traditional Hindu woman whose main purpose in life is

to be a good obedient wife and a dedicated mother: “For Shama and her sisters and women

like them, ambition, if the word could be used, was a series of negatives: not to be unmarried,

not to be childless, not to be an undutiful daughter, sister, wife, mother, widow” (Biswas 160).

Shama looks after her husband’s satisfaction and also his appearance, but she herself is a

modest woman who does not spend much on her clothes: “On herself Shama spent little.

Unable to buy the best and, like all the Tusli sisters, having only contempt for the second-rate

39

in cloth and jewellery, she bought nothing at all and made do with the gifts of cloth she

received every Christmas from Mrs. Tulsi” (Biswas 347). Similarly to The Great Belcher in

The Mystic Masseur, Shama is very interested in Hindu favourite social occasions such as

weddings and funerals where she sings, wails and mingles with her relatives. Once in the

novel she is also described as a clever and modern woman, namely when they go on holiday

with her husband’s employer, Miss Logie. Shama communicates with her and is “showing

herself self-possessed and even garrulous. She was throwing off opinions about the new

constitution, federation, immigration, India, the future of Hinduism, the education of women”

(Biswas 504). Mr. Biswas is astounded by her knowledge and for the first time he realizes that

Shama is not a mere stupid woman without opinions, but that she knows much about life and

is able to express her attitudes.

3.4 Conclusion

The female characters in Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas are pictured as proper and

traditional women: they respect and obey their husbands or brothers, they are beaten, they do

not complain and do what they are supposed to do. Bipti tries to be a good mother, but she is

not very successful because of her depressions after her husband’s death. Biswas’s aunt Tara

seems to be an obedient wife, diligent housekeeper and, though childless, she proves, by

taking care of Mr. Biswas, that she could be a good mother too. Mrs. Tulsi skillfully functions

as the leader of the populous household, takes care of her daughters and endeavours to marry

them to respectable families. Shama is an obedient wife, even though she at first does not love

her husband, she is a strict but also loving mother and works as a peacemaker between her

husband and her family. In short, all the women mentioned can be assertive and self-

confident, but at the same time they obey the rules that are prescribed to them and do not ask

for any revolutionary changes in their positions.

40

Conclusion

The women in V.S. Naipual’s novels The Mystic Masseur, The Suffrage of Elvira, and

A House for Mr. Biswas are depicted in various roles and positions. They are wives, mothers,

sisters and they also have different attitudes to their social standings: some of the female

characters are submissive, tradition-loving and dutiful (but sometimes decently assertive)

Hindu women, some of them do not want to reconcile with their inferior status and try to

change it in some way.

In my opinion we can distinguish two types of wives in the above novels: one can be

called ‘modern’ and the other ‘traditional’. The former is represented by Leela and Shama

who are modern in a sense that they speak their minds freely and when they do not like

something they can demonstrate it ostentatiously, for example by running away back to their

parents. During their marriages they learn how to manipulate their husbands and how to

derive benefit from that. Both Leela and Shama are forced to their marriages, but they are able

to resign to their fates and in the end they even manage to get on with and respect their

husbands.

The group of ‘traditional’ wives includes Suruj Mooma, Soomintra and Tara. Suruj

Mooma is an obedient wife who, though sometimes disagrees with her husband, tries to

support and respect him at any cost. She does not approve of education which, in her opinion,

prevents women from being loyal to their husbands. Soomintra is a typical Hindu wife having

several children, growing plump and being beaten by her husband. Her only interest is to

show off, keep her good reputation and make her husband happy by being obedient and

submissive. Tara is not dealt with very broadly, but some traces of her traditional nature can

be found. She looks after her husband and household very carefully and is keen on preserving

old Hindu values. The only character I would place into both the groups is Mrs. Baksh. On the

one hand, she is particular about her family and its unity and does not seem to protest against

41

the generally low status of women in Hindu society, but on the other hand she is authoritative

and does not want to put up with everything her husband does. Thus, she is ‘modern’ in the

sense that she is dominant and assertive, which is not acceptable for a proper Hindu wife.

Most women are also portrayed as good and solicitous mothers. Soomintra in The

Mystic Masseur is an embodiment of a good Hindu mother, taking care of her numerous

children and growing plumper, which is a sign of her contentment. Mrs. Baksh and Mrs. Tulsi

as mothers seem to be very similar. They love their roles of mothers and enjoy keeping the

family peace. They are strict and respect-demanding, but at the same time they love and

cherish their children, even though Mrs. Tulsi’s offspring are much older that those of Mrs.

Baksh. Shama is also depicted as a good and devoted mother. However, under her family’s

strong pressure and influence, she sometimes behaves in an unfair and improper way to her

children, but this is not very frequent and serious. There is also one exception between the

characters of mothers: it is Bipti, Mr. Biswas’s mother. She is presented as a rather selfish,

impenetrable woman who does not make efforts to be the support for her children and even

avoids meeting them.

As stated above, the women in V. S. Naipaul’s novels could also be divided into two

groups according to their attitudes towards their status in Hindu society. The first group of

women sticks tightly to traditional values. I have already mentioned the ‘traditionalness’ of

Suruj Mooma, and in some ways of Mrs. Baksh and Tara. Nevertheless, the most outstanding

woman in this respect is probably The Great Belcher in The Mystic Masseur. She, similarly to

Suruj Mooma, condemns education and everything which makes women too modern and, as it

behoves a proper Hindu woman, she is very sociable, attending almost every wedding and

funeral in the neighbourhood. Then there are also women who somehow revolt against their

social standings, even though they do not demand any revolutionary or fundamental changes.

Leela fights against being inferior to her husband and tries to win his respect. In The Suffrage

42

of Elvira Nelly Chittaranjan refuses to marry and stay in such backwoods, which Elvira

certainly is. She longs for studying in London, going out with friends and being master of her

own fate, in which she eventually succeeds. In the same novel the character of doolahin has to

endure her father-in-law’s everlasting complaints and nagging. When she is tired of this life,

she runs away with her lover and thus shows that women are capable of action and quick

decision.

I would conclude my thesis with the statement that the lives of women in these three

novels are almost the same or markedly similar. Perhaps it is the result of their common

Hindu background, similar living conditions and the social status they are automatically

assigned to. V. S. Naipaul presents his female characters as down-to-earth, practical and

sensible personalities and by no means perceives them as the inferior counterparts of men:

“Women, in Naipaul’s fiction, are rarely central but often important, and are not singled out

for his anger or contempt. They are, on the whole, treated with no less, no more, sympathy

and respect than their husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers” (Dooley).

43

Notes 1) V. S. Naipaul

V(idiadhar) S(urajprasad) Naipaul, a famous Trinidadian novelist, short-story writer

and essayist, was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in 1932 (Benson 1073). He studied at Queen’s

Royal College in Port of Spain (1943-9) where he also worked as a student teacher for half a

year. In 1950 he left Trinidad and took up attending University College, Oxford (White 5).

After his graduation he worked as a cataloguer in the National Portrait Gallery in London and

as an editor (1954-6) of the BBC’s ‘Caribbean Voices’ programme. In 1955 he married

Patricia Ann Hale, whom he met at Oxford. He has lived in England since his entrance to the

university, but he frequently travels abroad.

Naipaul’s early fiction, The Mystic Masseur, 1957, The Suffrage of Elvira, 1958, and

Miguel Street, 1959, portray the life of the Indian community living in Trinidad in the 1940s.

These works are written in a warmly comical way, dissolving into sharp satire (Benson 1073-

4). After the immense success of his A House for Mr Biswas, 1961 and Mr Stone and the

Knights Companion, 1963, Naipual’s writings become pessimistic, and the themes of

displacement and homelessness begin to prevail. He sees himself connected by birth and

education with three different societies (Indian, Trinidadian, and English) with which he is

unable to establish close contact. This attitude culminates in 1967 with the novel The Mimic

Men (White 6-8). Among Naipaul’s fictional works of the 1970s are a short-story collection

In a Free State, 1971, and novels Guerrillas, 1975, and A Bend in the River, 1979.

In his autobiographical novel The Enigma of Arrival, 1987, Naipaul describes a 38-

year-old writer’s career and his way to self-understanding. V. S. Naipaul is also the author of

a series of brilliant non-fiction writings. The Loss of Eldorado, 1969, deals with history of

Trinidad and in The Middle Passage, 1962, Naipaul gives a depressive account of his three-

month journey across the Caribbean. His travel trilogy An Area of Darkness, 1964, India: A

44

Wounded Civilization, 1976, and India: A Million Mutinies Now, 1990, was inspired with

Naipaul’s trips to his ancestor’s country and it is to a great extent autobiographical. His most

recent writings include two travel books Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey, 1981, and

Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples, 1998, an autobiographical

novel A Way in the World, 1995, a collection of correspondence Between Father and Son:

Family Letters, 2000 (Procházka 552-3) and two novels Half a Life, 2001, and its continuation

Magic Seeds, 2004 (Nasta).

V. S. Naipaul has been criticized for being unsympathetic to the politics and history of

developing countries. Although many of his critics have disagreed with his cultural, political,

and historical judgments, they admire the conviction, commitment, and consistency in his

writings. Despite the unfavourable criticism, Naipaul has received high praise and won

several literary awards, including the Booker Prize (1971), David Cohen British Literature

Prize (1991) and in 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Moreover, in 1989 the

government of Trinidad and Tobago bestowed on him the Trinity Cross, the country’s highest

honour (Benson 1073-5).

2) This is a ceremony of eating kedgeree which is “a dish consisting of rice and lentils often

scattered with raisins and sliced hard-boiled eggs” (Gaffney). During this ceremony the

bridegroom eats this dish while the guests offer him money till the kedgeree is eaten.

3) Obeah is “not a religion as such but a system of beliefs grounded in spirituality and an

acknowledgement of the supernatural and involving aspects of witchcraft, sorcery, magic,

spells, and healing. […] The practice of Obeah involves the ‘putting on’ and ‘taking off’ of

‘duppies’ or ‘jumbees’ (ghosts and spirits of the dead) for either good or evil purposes”

(Olmos 6).

45

Resumé

Ve své závěrečné práci jsem se zabývala zobrazením ženských postav v románech

známého trinidadského prozaika indického původu V. S. Naipaula, který byl v roce 2001

oceněn Nobelovou cenou za literaturu. Jedná se o následující romány: Mystický masér (The

Mystic Masseur, 1957), Volby v Elviře (The Suffrage of Elvira, 1958) a Dům pro pana

Biswase (A House for Mr Biswas, 1961). Tyto romány představují Naipaulovu ranou tvorbu,

která se výrazně liší od jeho pozdějších děl, jež jsou pesimistického ladění a pojednávají o

tématu odcizení jedince od postkoloniální společnosti. Romány, kterých se týká má práce,

jsou humorné a lehce ironické, i když někdy zabíhají až do ostré satiry.

Od poloviny devatenáctého století přicházeli na Trinidad indičtí imigranti, aby po

určitou dobu pracovali na třtinových plantážích a pak se zase vrátili zpět do Indie. Někteří

z nich se však na Trinidadu usadili a vytvořili početnou indickou komunitu. V. S. Naipaul je

potomkem právě těchto přistěhovalců. Ženy v jeho dílech nejsou nikdy ústředními postavami,

ale je velmi zajímavé sledovat, jak si počínají po boku svých mužských protějšků, jaké jsou

jejich vztahy k ostatním postavám a jak se vyrovnávají se svým podřadným postavením

v hinduistické společnosti.

Ženy ve zmíněných románech jsou většinou zobrazeny jako silné osobnosti, které si

dokáží prosadit svou vůli, které se nechtějí smířit se svou závislostí na mužích a snaží se proti

ní bojovat. Ačkoliv se všechny ženské postavy a jejich povahy v některých aspektech liší,

jejich životy a osudy jsou někdy až nápadně podobné. Cesty životem těchto žen nejsou zrovna

snadné, ale každá má svou metodu, jak se s nimi vyrovnat, nebo jak si je usnadnit. Tato

podobnost pramení převážně ze stejného prostředí a podmínek, ve kterých žijí, a z jejich

postavení, které jim hinduistická společnost přiřkla.

V. S. Naipaul nezobrazuje své hrdinky jako utlačované oběti patriarchálního systému,

ale jako výjimečné osobnosti a jako praktické a rozumné ženy, bez kterých by indická

46

společnost a muži nemohli existovat. I když jsou ženské postavy v Naipaulových románech

pouze okrajové a jen doplňují hlavní děj, můžeme sledovat některé jejich charakteristické rysy

a názory na svět a u některých dokonce pozorovat jejich vnitřní vývoj a cestu k sebepoznání.

47

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