Identity crisis through the words of VS Naipaul:

VS Naipaul’s most loved and celebrated work, A House for Mr Biswas is not just a novel. It is an emotion, common to all those who have been uprooted from their ancestral belief and yearn to lay fresh roots for generations to come. I remember distinctly, the goosebumps I felt when Sir Naipaul quite aptly described the identity crisis faced by the protagonist. Although I have grown up in a different time and place, this crisis touched my heart.

Before I proceed further, I would like to elaborate on the Identity crisis. It is a state of mind where one wonders what their identity might be. To some, it might be nationality, religion or even language. 

What happens when you don’t identify with the same ideology as your family?

A simple example of this is families that migrate from their hometown to an alien land. While the parents still identify themselves with their native town, their children who are born and raised in the new place identify themselves with that land. This creates a clash of ideologies between the two generations. Generally, the younger generation is ostracized for their evolution and inflow of fresh ideas.

That is when one undergoes an identity crisis. Although it isn’t popularized, it is a mental struggle. To come to terms with who you are, to love and accept yourself is a long ride uphill. This issue is the underlying theme of this tale.

The story is based in Trinidad. Much like Naipaul, the main character Mohun Biswas belongs to a family of Indian immigrants. His grandparents arrived from their homeland to work in plantations, owned by the British. Over a period of time, they settled down but passed on the orthodox traditions and customs they grew up practising. They identified themselves as Indians. But their children grew up as Trinidadians. They continued practising the customs in a mechanical manner. They had grown apart from their parents.

Mohun Biswas grew up in an Indian locality of Trinidad. He was forced to go into priestly studies, but he quit this form of education as soon as he started it. He moved from one house to another practically living out of boxes. Each house depicted his internal state of turmoil. Once he got married to Shama, he witnessed something for the very first time, a joint family. A single unit with multiple relatives and children made him feel lost. This added fuel to the fire of the existential crisis brewing within him.

He faced a lot of obstacles from his wife and her family. He was also blamed for breaking up a tightly glued household. With nobody on his side, his resilience only grew stronger. After the birth of his children, he moved out to a new house. But it burned down in a tragic accident. Heartbroken and middle-aged, Mr Biswas didn’t cry over the spilt milk. He pulled the strings and gathered money to buy a house of his own. Only after moving in, did he realise that the house was a rickety mess. It was built in such a flimsy manner that on touching one side, the other threatened to break into pieces. Mr Biswas lived in that house till his last breath.

The final resting place of Mr Biswas represents his very existence. Broken, confused and eternally in an identity crisis. All of these pieces were unified under a single motto of building a home and laying fresh roots for his children. His roots were of a Trinidadian, evolving and learning with every new generation.

This chronicle of Mr Biswas is an evergreen one. With every new age group, comes a new set of ideas and thoughts. The generation gap only grows larger if one isn’t flexible and open-minded. Orthodox mindset, stereotypical thought processes and dogmatic rules would eventually lead to the decay of the society. 

As Rabindranath Tagore aptly expressed,

” Where the clear stream of reason, has not lost its way,

 Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit”.

 The world is headed towards evolution. Let us embrace it with open hearts.