The Story Archive

A House for Mr Biswas

V. S. Naipaul · 1961 CE · Novel · Caribbean · Contemporary

Born with six fingers and the wrong horoscope, Mohun Biswas paints signs, writes for a Port of Spain paper, and marries into the Tulsis, a Hindu clan whose house swallows its sons-in-law whole. Everything he attempts across forty-six years is aimed at a roof he can call his own. Naipaul's largest book, built from the life of his father, and the one he never disowned.

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Attributes

Genre
TragicomedyComedy
Theme
Identity & SelfIndividual vs SocietyClass & InequalityIsolation & Alienation
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
EverymanAnti-Hero
Plot structure
BildungsromanGenerational SagaChronicle
Symbol / motif
The HouseThe Book / ManuscriptThe Estate
Conflict
vs Societyvs Self
Mode / tone
RealistComicIronic
Culture / tradition
Caribbean

Closest analogues