The Home and The World

Hello Monks....

    I am Riddhi Bhatt from Department of English. When in lecture discussing "The Home and the World" our teacher had given us a group task on three major character of this novel. Me and my group had discussed about the character of Nikhil in detail. Before discuss that let’s see brief introduction about this novel.

"The Home and The World" by Rabindranath Tagore :

The Home and the World (in the original Bengali, Ghôre Baire)  is a 1916 novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The book illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, between the ideas of Western culture and revolution against the Western culture. These two ideas are portrayed in two of the main characters, Nikhilesh, who is rational and opposes violence, and Sandip, who will let nothing stand in his way from reaching his goals. These two opposing ideals are very important in understanding the history of the Bengal region and its contemporary problems. The novel was translated into English by the author's nephew, Surendranath Tagore, with input from the author, in 1919. The Home and the World was among the contenders in a 2014 list by The Telegraph of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. So, let’s discuss some of the questions of ‘The Home and the World.’ 

Analyze the growth of individual characters:

The novel ‘ The Home and the World’ focuses on the three major characters, Bimala, Sandip and Nikhilesh. One of the interesting things about the novel is the character's individual growth. Who is this character ? - Nikhilesh.Nikhil is seen and described as an educated and gentle man. He is from kulin aristocratic family of landlords, and his family prides themselves in beautiful women. However, Nikhil is different in that he married not only a poor woman, but also one who was not particularly attractive. He is also unpopular in the town because he has not joined them stating, "I am not running amuck crying Bande Mataram." In light of this, the police also suspect him of harbouring some "hidden protest." In reality, Nikhil considers himself to be more aware of his country's role in a broader sense, and refuses to take part in Swadeshi.Nikhil demonstrates these beliefs in marrying Bimala, a woman considered "unattractive" as a result of her dark skin color. In the novel, Nikhil talks about disliking an intensely patriotic nation,

 "Use force? But for what? Can force prevail against Truth?"

On the other hand, Sandip has contrasting views for the growth of the nation believing in power and force, 

"My country does not become mine simply because it is 

the country of my birth. It becomes mine on the day 

when I am able to win it by force". 

Nikhil’s narratives are less emotive, more theoretic, idealistic- and fully introspective. In these narratives is marked his approach to life and the world around him, and this seldom seems practical. He is found to speak out his heart, diagnoses his own pang and realizes his own error in understanding and judgment. His statement is quite frank and self-analytical: "Men, such as I, possessed with one idea, are, indeed, at one with those who can manage to agree with us; but those who do not, can only get with us by cheating us. It is our unyielding obstinacy, which drives even the simplest to tortuous ways. In torturing to manufacture a helpmate, we spoil a wife." Of course, his assessment of Sandip is definitely very sober and appropriate, and not sentimental like his Bimal a's: "His (Sandip's) intellect is keen, but his nature is coarse and so he glorifies his selfish lusts under high-sounding names." 

Here I am putting my group task presentation on "Nikhils' narration". So you can see that and examine this things also.

The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore from Riddhi Bhatt

Physiological growth of character in the novel :

The Novel ‘ The Home and the World’ has only three main or we can say major characters. Bimala, Nikhi and Sandip. Tagore very beautifully presented whole characters.  Nikhil epitomizes the unselfish, progressive husband who wishes to free his wife from the oppressiveness of a traditional Indian marriage. In contrast, Sandip is a man who thinks only of himself, and who reduces man-woman relationships to brazen sexuality; he is interested in..

 "blunt things, bluntly put, without any finicking niceness" 

Bimala is represented as an innocent who, at least initially, is completely subservient to her husband. But Bimala is also much more than this. She is referred to as Durga, the female goddess of creation and destruction, and as Shakli, the ultimate female principle underpinning reality. In being so described, she represents the beauty, vitality, and glory of Bengal.  Sandip represents himself as a realist, one who brutally confronts the world. He criticizes Nikhil for how "he delights in a misty vision of this world". Sandip describes those who share his views as "iconoclasts of metre" . 

He and his fellow iconoclasts are "the flesh-eaters of the world; we have teeth and nails; we pursue and grab and tear". For Sandip, the end justifies the means, and he argues that virtually any human action can be excused if the stakes are sufficiently high. This is the only fundamental principle of existence.Nikhil and Sandip for Bimala is, then, a battle for the future of Bengal, as they represent two opposing visions for Bengal. Nikhil is the enlightened humanist who asserts that truth cannot be imposed; freedom is necessary for choice, and is critical to individual growth and fulfillment. It is this freedom which he insists is necessary if he and Bimala are truly to know one another. While Nikhil, like Tagore himself, initially supports swadeshi, he recognizes the value of the "outside world," and he looks to serve a greater cause than mere national interest. 

"I am willing," he insists, "to serve my country, but my worship I reserve for Right which is far greater than my country. To worship my country as a god is to bring a curse upon it" .

Rabindranath Tagore's art of characterization :

Tagore set up a new trend in his treatment of characters in his novels. There is a considerable digression from the erstwhile novels of Bankim Chandra. This new trend in Tagore’s novels discarded the simple heroic recitals or petty romances which have been the theme in the earlier novels, by the previous Bengali writers or in general Indian writers. As Mulk Raj Anand puts, “while Bankim was a recitalist, preaching a moral, Tagore saw what the novel is, a Tolstoy had insisted a dramatic presentation through space and time of the inner change in the life a character”. 

Tagore characterization, though dependent on realistic psychological exploration, does not involve any existentialist choice, as it were, since he is content with lying bare such determinants as are capable of clarifying social relationship and responsibilities deriving from the character’s engagement with life. Tagore was not a committed experimentalist; but to deny him any formal expertise or to judge him solely on the basis of recent innovation in novelistic technique would be indeed far from it. The art of characterization in Tagore’s novels, suffer from a certain weakness of craftsmanship which results in a kind of diffuseness and looseness a ‘flabbiness’ of narrative. 

The undue reliance on chance and coincidence in some of the novels and the contrived ending of some other point towards impatience on the part of the novelist in working out a structure of ordered episodes. These drawbacks however do not greatly diminish the merit of his novels which revel dispositions of design which are new to the novel in India. As Bhabani Bhattacharya has noted: “Each novel grown in its own individual mould, different from what has proceeded it or comes afterward. Some are more traditional in manner, other a total departure.”

THANK YOU..