Customer Reviews

The Home and the World (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A prolific Bengalese writer, Tagore structured this novel such that three main characters represent the turbulence of the Partition that was yet to come to India in 1947. Nikhil is married to Bimala, living in the traditional domestic manner; for herself, Bimala has no expectation of her life ever deviating from her wifely path. The concept of "Swadeshi", a renewed appreciation of everything Indian, and a denial of everything British, particularly British imported goods and grains, rages throughout the country. The egocentric Sandip, a guest in Nikhil's home, is a fierce proponant of Swadeshi. Sandip finds himself passionately attracted to Bimala; he idealizes her as the epitome of "Mother" India, and pursues Bimala without reservation. Flattered by Sandip's attention, Bimala begins to question the nature of her marriage, and the three embark upon an emotional journey that will forever alter their lives, just as India begins a lengthy period of upheaval and unrest. Of the three, Sandip is transparantly shallow, while Nikhil thoughtfully considers every aspect before embarking on a course of action. Both men indulge in lengthy discourses, but the introduction by Anita Desai does much to frame this novel in the appropriate perspective. The allegorical nature of this tale is evident as the characters plunge headlong into the future.

This book is largely a parable about the conflicts in Bengal in the early twentieth century. Tagore uses a triangle of husband and wife and outside suitor. Bimala, the wife is a sort of central figure as the novel largely revolves around her conflicting feelings towards both her husband Nikhil and Sandip. She feels excited by Sandip's passion but also has a bond with her husband. Nikhil is the reserved and dignified religious man who is not swayed by the mob mentality that was sweeping through the Bengal state. Sandip is the passionate, xenophobic leader pushing for the immediate gain. The narrative is written threefold. All three characters take turns telling the story from their own point of view. This is an interesting effect that adds dimension to the tale. Tagore obviously feels empathy towards Nikhil but he refrains from being too judgmental toward Sandip. Bimala becomes the most sympathetic character simply because she faces the most ambivalence in the book. There are many blatant political overtures in this book but I find that it works well as human drama as well. You needn't be knowledgeable about the conflicts in India to appreciate the moral dilemmas presented in this tale. Reading this book made it easy to understand why Tagore was awarded a Nobel Prize.

Tagore is Bengali, and apparently, the Bengali style is a higly rhetorical, ornate one. Therefore, the dialogue can come off sounding stiff and unnatural, and requires some getting used to. Beyond the artifice of the language, however, the characterizations are the real strength of this book. The internal struggle of Bimala, between her noble husband, Nikhil, and the charismatic Sandip, is a beautiful parallel to the struggle the Indian people themselves have experienced, between righteous but non-violent indignation, and the frustration of an occupied land, feeding a desire for violent change. It is as this sort of parable that The Home and the World succeeds best.

One aspect that non-Indian readers will completely fail to realise is the boldness with which Tagore used to weave his imagination based on stark solid reality. Tagore was socially ostracised for his depiction of the passion (always cloaked and shrouded in the garbs of the civilsation, norms of the society) of an honourable aristrocatic married lady, which acts as the metaphor for the passions the society was undergoing in those turbulent days of political upheaval against the British Empire. A brilliant picture of the torment of the human character caught in the web of desire of ecstacy and quest for contentment, peace and bliss, this narrative draws a beautiful parallel to the miopic frenzy of the mob in its quest for subversion with the destructive consequences of unbridled passion, and an individual's attempt to bring harmony and order in the chaos, attaining salvation. Technically brilliant, this disturbingly beautiful tale is another of Tagore's timeless creation.

My heading for this review is a quote from this engaging novel. In some ways I now understand that indeed the greater truth may exist in the things that haven't happened, where the actions of people are imposed upon by their personal constraints - often to the detriment of all. But what a sentence for the writer to produce!!

This novel is told from the perspective of three people - Nikhil, his wife Bimala, and the activist (in the name of national India) Sandip. By hearing the story from each of them we understand their individual constraints and the drives they have, or lack, to realise their ambitions and desires. Rabindranath Tagore has not written this novel from the perspective of an all-seeing observer and this leads us - the readers - to be deeply entrenched in the individual characters' drives, passions, doubts, uncertainities and failures.

For me this is a very personal expose of my own drives, passions, doubts and failures. If only I could have the views of those around me similarly exposed - if I had some indication of their drives, passions, doubts and sense of failure I am sure that I could respond to them with greater confidence. But, of course, Nikhil, Bimala and Sandip do not have knowlege of each other's innermost thoughts (unlike we, the readers) so their struggle - all three of them - is just as difficult for them as mine is for me.

Did I end up liking any of these characters? Did I admire any of them? Was I appalled by any of them? These are questions I will not answer - read the book for yourself and you will develop your own views which may be as different for you as my constraints are as different from yours.

Here is another quote:

'What harm if you did have a wholesome fear of me? Does anybody know anybody else in this world?'

This book is terrific. Although written with the idea of a parallel to the problems of Bengal and her people at the time of Swadeshi, in my opinion this book is a masterpiece in the depiction of human nature and its contradictions; as depicted in the characters of Bimala, Nikhil and Sandip. The push and pull between a sense of righteousness and the equally compelling force of passion is brilliantly portrayed. It will endure as a classic for a long time to come.