Name of the book; Village by the
see
By; Anita Desai
Story; of an Indian family A
story of an Indian family, staying in a village, called Thul, almost 14 miles
away form Mumbai one of the most famous cities of India. This family consists
of a mother who is very sick and lying in bed all the time, father who drinks
all the time and is unable to work due to his hard drinking habit, three
sisters and a brother, the two younger sisters who are studying at school, and
an elder sister who has stopped going to school due to economical problems, and
now looking after the family and a younger brother who also stopped going to
school sue to the same reason and is supposed to look after the family.
These two the elder sister and
the younger brother are the sole food provider to the family while having
nothing behind them or at hand. A very small hut and a small piece of land
which is not adequate to make a living on, so the life is very difficult and
full of sorrows, to be honest I wept sometimes while reading this novel
sometimes because of their tough condition of life and their wisdom and
sometimes because of the success of them over something difficult which gave me
an inner happiness, victory and joyful tears. This book is really very
emotional and sensitive, in fact you should have that feeling other wise you
won’t realize it.
I will not reveal anymore about
the book, you will have to read it so it can be more interesting and
understandable.
Now I will give a brief analysis of the
book from my point of views
The book covers the following
aspects which every one in its own turn has its own unique role in the life of
the family or as a whole for all human beings. They are as follows;
1.The village, its living
conditions and the simplicity of the people;
It is really very clear that the
condition of living in a village is having very low standard comparing to
cities. There is very less opportunity of a job in a village than in a city.
There is no clean water, very poor health care facilities, having low standard
schooling and many more problems. And so are the people very simple, having no
high ambitions and are satisfied with what ever they have at hand. They have
got a small piece of land, a fishing boat a hut and nothing else. And at the
same time they are having a very calm and relaxed type of life. They have to
work only season wise and have their daily siesta very joyfully. Which are
mentioned in a very good flow in this book.
2.The families the roles of the
parents in a family and the vigilant boy and girl who are really very young and
are vulnerable at this phase of age but still manage it.
When you hear the name parents
what would be your feelings? Definitely loving ones who really takes care for
you, who raise you, who make you laugh and cry for you, who provide foods,
clothing, shelter and medicine for you and still don’t want any compensation
and never regrets for their doings. The role of the parents in a family is very
vital and crucial. But in the book it is different; the father is careless the
mother is unable due to her sickness and weakness. And in result the boy and
the girl play the role of them respectively.
They become vigilant, loving and
concerned about their sorrowful life. They develop more consciousness, and make
wise decisions but at the same time the condition of the village living,
especially their status is making them very vulnerable at this stage of life.
But still they have the spirit to survive and manage their life through
different ways that they can afford to do.
3.The city of Mumbai the
complexity, the crowd, the hard living conditions of the city life especially
for the poor people.
The life in a city is well
standardized comparing to villages, but still we don’t have to forget that all
the comforts in a city come through money and wealth, so we still have people
under poverty line even in the cities. Those who live in the slums have a
painful life. They see all the modern things but can not afford, they do work
but do not earn enough, they are alive but with pain and grief.
4.The difference between rich and
poor, the city man and a villager, an educated man and an uneducated person.
The rich, the city man and an
educated stand in one category and the poor, a villager and an uneducated stand
in an other category, the rich has a distinguished feature, a city man is
supposed to be smart and an educated person intelligent, and the other category
is just the opposite of them. Many a times the first category of the people
fools and ridicules the second category of the people, which is unfair.
5.The changes taking place in
life and how people should adapt to them.
As we see today’s rapid growth
and so many other changes in life are all due to globalization, deregulation,
free movement of the people, free markets and free trades, in fact all are
tremendous changes which have taken place in a very narrow span of time in this
twentieth century. The villages and their lands, groves and deserts have been
replaced by great companies. The natural environment does not exist anymore as
it was earlier. These changes are profitable in the short-run but destructive
in long-run.
The villagers are opposing but
who will listen to their yelling. The government is implementing its master
plans with force. And in result the small farm and land owners become the
labors and workers of the various companies established in the area or start
doing some thing else. Their calm, relaxed and joyful life turns to a
hardworking and restless lobar life.
Characteristics (LILA)
The Village by the Sea written by
Anita Desai depicts the story of a family living in the small village of Thul.
Lila is shown to be the main character within the story.
Lila is shown to have multiple
characteristics that create depth to her personality. In the opening chapter
Lila 'took the flowers from her basket and scattered them about the rock, then
folded her hands and bowed.' This shows that Lila is very spiritual and has strong beliefs that she has most likely been
taught from birth. Her strong beliefs are shown when she 'came to begin the
morning with an offering of flowers to the sea.' Another point that is
acknowledged is that she is an inquisitive
thinker through her prayers. When she prayers she has time to think and
reflect on what her priorities in life are.
A challenge that Lila is
confronted with is the challenge of aiding for her extremely ill mother. Love, affection and devotion are the
characteristics expressed through Lila's actions. The simple act of 'stopping
to add extra milk to the tea' shows the reader that she acts as a caregiver and
she is very nurturing. Her
relationship with her mother is very strong because of her condition.
The relationship with Lila's
father is somewhat different. Within the story it is shown that her father is
intoxicated most of the time and he is unable to support his family so he looks
to Lila and her brother Hari to support the family. Lila had to take
responsibility ever since she was a little girl. 'It was the smell she had
known and hated since she was a small girl.' In this case this is referring to
the smell of alcohol. Lila is shown to have a fear of her father. 'But no one
dared tell him, least of all her mother.' From this sentence the reader is
immediately given the idea that the father's personality is erratic and
uptight.
Hari
- he is the protagonist of the story
- he is the only son of the family
- he has to assume the duty of taking care of his
parents and his siblings.
- he leads a hard life as he has to make decisions
which adults have to make
Lila
- she is the eldest daughter of the family and is the
elder sister of Hari
- given up school to help maintain the house
Bela and Kamal
- they are the younger sisters of Hari and Lila
- they are dtill schooling
- both of them help Lila in managing the house.
Mother
- She is the mother of Lila, Hari, Bela and Kamal
- She fell ill with anaemia and is getting weaker by
the day.
- She is unable to take care of her children, protect
them from their drunkard father nor work
Father
- he is the father of Lila, Hari, Bela and Kamal
- irresponsible father
- drunkar
- wastrel
- wastes money on toddy
- turned over a new leaf in the end
Pinto
- the pet dog of Hari's family
- faithful to the family especially Lila as she spent
the most time with him
Bijiu
- richest man in the village that Hri and his family
live in
- owns the first diesel powered boat in the village
- proud and arrogant
- looks down on the other villagers
Ramu
- he is the friend of Hari
- knew that many factories are going to be built in
the village and believes that he will be able to get a job there.
Jagu
- he is the owner of the Sri Krishna Eating House
- gave Hari a job when he is in Bombay
- lives in a slum
Mr Panwallah
- He is a watch mender
- popular with his neighbours
- taught Hari how to mend watches
de'Sivas family
- rich and generous family from Bombay
- comes to Thul during the holidays
- owns a bungalow in Thul
- brought Hari's mother to the hospital and paid for
the medical fees.
watchman of the factory
- hostile towards the villagers
- looks down on the villagers
Sayyid Ali
- supported the point that factories should not be
built in Thul
- spent his time drawing birds
Adarkar
- member of the Maharashtra State Legislative
assembly
- led the villagers to Bombay to protest against the
building of factories in Thul
Hira bai
- she is an old women who is interested in herbs and
cures
- loves toddy
- sent the medicine man to Hari's mother.
Jagu's wife
- cares very much about her family
- her family is not very rich so she was unhappy when
her husband brought Hari home to her house to stay for a day as this adds
on to her family's burden
Policeman
- guarded Hari when he slept in the park
Khanekar brothe
- drunkards
- sons of Hira bai
- wastrels
