Home and the World by Tagore - Book Report/Review Example

Home and the World by Tagore Institution Home and the World is probably the most widely read of Tagore’s novels beyond Bengal, and following its translation into English, got so much attention throughout Europe, because of the accolades its winning the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. The book takes a sharp focus on nationalism, a matter that was at the time generating a lot of controversy both in his home country and in Europe where the book had enjoyed an extensive readership. In 1984, the book was made into a movie by the same name, giving it an even wider reception and opening wide the doors of both positive and negative criticism. The novel revolves around the lives of three characters and draws heavily from their individual experiences to develop the plot during the terrible period of terrorism (swadeshi). There is Nikhil (whose name means “free”), a generous, free-thinking and tolerant zamindar (landlord) his friend since their childhood and a vociferous, egotistical but charming autonomist, Sandeep. There is also Bimala, Nikhil’s wife, whose name means (“pristine”). Bimala was content with her role of being a landlord’s wife, though the husband was constantly nudging her out of her comfort zone into the then rapidly changing India, where the role of a woman was constantly evolving. The writer depicts Bimala as a feeble being who easily falls for the charming and carefree demeanor of Sandip. Her interaction with him had serious implications on her marriage and perspective of life in general. Nikhil and Sandeep appear to symbolize two contrasting visions for the country – with Bimala, caught in the middle, unable to decide what ought to be her guiding principle – suggesting Bengal dithering between the two likelihoods. Nikhil’s perspective is progressive, compassionate and worldly. He foresees a world living in harmony and equality amongst individual nations and at a personal level. Sandeep’s view, on the other hand, is deep-seated, narrow-minded, and argumentative with regard to nationalism. This point of view encourages a powerful feeling of patriotism in people, which in Tagore’s view, threatens to substitute their moral responsiveness with fanaticism ethnic hatred. Without the presence of compassionate leaders such as Nikhil, the state of Bengal demarcated into two (the present day Bangladesh and West Bengal). The attainment of this goal came with millions of casualties in the form of children who lost their lives so that the wishes of self-centered and power-hungry political class were hell-bent on delineating the region based on ethnicity and religion. In retrospect, the warning of the writer has been vindicated by the sporadic violence taking religious and ethnic dimensions that has been experienced in the region. He points out that the evils of society especially greed, selfishness and hatred would be ruinous to the Bengali society. This ominous likelihood was also imagined in another poem by this author, “The Sunset of the Century,”. It said to have been penned on the last day of the 19th Century. Gender issues raised in the book Nikhil loves Bimala unreservedly, though his wife constantly flirts with Sandeep in his presence. He however, does not demand the same of his wife and holds the view that she should reciprocate at her convenience. As a progressive man, this would be unbecoming of him to force her to do love him back, though his wishes are that she should reciprocate and his heart would be heartbroken if his fears are confirmed. Constantly, he prays that his wife’s sexual and ideological fascination with his archrival, Sandeep would eventually pass, as he seems to thinks that it is phase that his wife is going through. From his condescending pedestal, he thinks his simply depicting the character of someone who was previously not exposed and is thrust into the larger world without warning. Nikhil hopes his wife will eventually overcome her crush on Sandeep and a grip of herself. Nikhil is a great supporter of universal education. He argues that it is through education that India can overcome its myriad of social and cultural problems through the intellectual engagement of the populace, and by restoring lost moral and religious values of the society at large. Based on this idea, Nikhil hires an English tutor Miss Gilby, for his wife Bimala, hoping to instilling in her worldly views and ways of life. Nikhil saw it wise to impart knowledge in his wife Bimala, in order for her to imaginatively figure out the world and build a relationship amongst various entities in life, in a harmonious way. He felt his wife needed to go beyond the fringes of her traditions and overlook her former ways of life and adopt a more exciting, dynamic and people-friendly person. Nikhil fights against racial, religious, class and sexual prejudice. This exemplified by his defense of Miss Gilby when she is disgraced by Sandip and his men, who poured torrents of racial abuse towards her, owing to their indoctrination into nationalist idiocy. Nikhil is kind and compassionate towards her. To Nikhil, Miss Gilby is as human as anyone including him, and she did not deserve unfair treatment owing to her European descent and the perceived enemy her country was. It would have been grossly unfair to her to compartmentalize her with such prejudice just because she happened to be English. Tagore appears to want to eliminate the age-old likening of a wife to the goddess Rama-the faithful and obedient wife of Sita. The writer is keen on the empowerment of women and therefore models the character of Bimala on the ideals of goddess Durga, the brave goddess, the wife of Shiva. Bimala is portrayed as strong but calm, homely and in control of herself, besides being shown as a brave and independent woman. Therefore, as shown throughout the novel, the writer tries to point out that Indian women are capable of emancipating themselves and exploiting their full potential. Bimala is closely linked to goddesses such as Durga and Kali as opposed to Sita or Savitri, two goddesses associated with submission and devotion. Nikhil’s sincerity, unselfishness and idealism are, on the other hand, countered by Sandeep’s sly, greed and blatant self-absorption nature. The writer portrays Nikhil as divine, while at the same time depicts Sandeep as conniving. Nikhil is shown as possessing the positive traits as espoused in the Bhagavad Gita. His prominent element is light so it follows that he is regarded as wise, bright, progressive and righteous. Sandeep, on the other hand, is given a personality emblazoned with fire so his character is portrayed as greedy, cruel, and disparaging. His words reek of Marxist and Machiavellian ways of thinking. He is quoted as saying that man has to sin and is seen ridiculing his friend Nikhil, severally. He constantly condones brutality and greed amongst men. Nikhil, being an idealist to the core, is disheartened by such sentiments from his friend. He reckons that it is that kind of thinking that has fueled the greed and self-seeking attitude in the society of today. Nikhil is lost within the teachings of modern thinking and ways of life and chooses to stick to his roots. The corruption in society is portrayed by the character of Sandeep who, being as self-serving and dodgy as he was, had the guts to make a move at his friend’s wife right under his very eyes, or to incite her to steal from her very own husband. He incites the young people of Nikhil’s village into a well-thought out act of violence against their poor, blameless neighbors for the simple reason of terrorizing them into and forcing his ideologies down their throats, resulting in a religious war that leaves Nikhil. This is as a result of the fierce confrontation that ensues when the Sandeep meets out violence on Nikhil’s subjects on a religious basis. Sandeep made his friend pay with his life owing to his selfishness and egotistical nature, though he had really helped him by giving him a job and supporting him. It was sad that he had to pay with his life for being a good friend. Sandeep character is depicted as vain, conceited, insatiable and nihilistic. Tagore and Nikhil are of the opinion that all mankind is part of a higher calling meant to illuminate the rest of humanity with good deeds. That all men are parts of a bigger puzzle that is as huge as the entire universe. He also cites that humanity is called to spread love and compassion to fellow human beings. Therefore, it behooves all and sundry to work towards uplifting the society and towards the height upon which mankind would no longer be bedeviled by the problems of yesteryears. The author raises the need to forge a head towards a world society, with inbuilt structures meant to instill doctrines of inclusiveness, equality and empathy of all human beings towards one another. Tagore decries the unchecked clamor among nations to be independence. Nationalism, according to him, cultivated hatred and xenophobia, enslaving people in lie that self-rule and exclusivity triumphant. Nikhil has proven time and again that he adores his country, possibly more than Sandeep does, though he is quick to point out that he cannot allow this love to cloud his judgment. The idea that he can incite fellow countrymen into this belief that this is what turns Sandeep into a terrorist who purports to fight for the establishment of a nation, in the first place. He is not averse to the use of force to achieve his goals even if people get hurt in the process. He would use trickery and other captivating ideas to get his point through. So long as the work is done, Sandeep is home free. Therefore, when Nikhil’s’ wife is naively smashed by cries for a nation, he skillfully prevails upon her to give him all her jewellery so as to be able to finance his nationalist movements. He also steals money from a relative of Nikhil’s to finance the same rotten course of his. This disturbs Nikhil a lot because the sister-in-law is a very close friend of his and he cares about her. Sandeep misses many other people to further his course, especially young and impressionable youths that are easily manipulated. Nikhil portrays a familiar sentiment throughout the novel and this shows out when he is caught in a argument with his friend Sandeep. Sandip subjectively compares god with nation, while Nikhil tries to show how it is incumbent upon them to draw the entire human race closer to one another, in order to find god. He tries to show him the idea of nationalism only succeeds, in cultivating a culture of national pride and an over bloated national ego, which is not beneficial to this exercise. With such noble ideas and a knowledgeable worldview, Nikhil plays the role of a real humanitarian in a fictional work of art. A zamindar, he could have taken advantage of his position to exploit other people, but he chose not to and he took up the role of a benevolent patriarch who does his duties for the betterment of humans in his surrounding area. He believes it is worth investing in education and was very articulate and handy in ensuring all his workers a bit of formal education, even going as far as offering scholarships to the best performing students. This was idea of nation building as opposed to endless bickering and backstabbing. He believed that his country could make significant progress in development if it focused a lot of her efforts on educating her huge populace. He believed that India could solve most of her societal and economic problems through education. He also held the view that education was the key to establishing high moral and religious values in that country. This is the reason he took his wife to school so she could at least gain a decent education to help her in her day to day activities. This was to assist her understand the world better, especially from a political and economic point of view and possibly alter her thinking towards the nationalist movement headed by Sandeep. Colonialism crated outmost effects on both the in individuals and the countries that did partake in the whole affairs. This is because the colonial projects b that were inculcated by the missionaries into the full implementation of the full colonial effects, focused on the improvement of both the economies of the fore affected countries and the general livelihoods of the residents. This is because the colonialist focused and coveted most of the natural resources in the geographical areas of the countries they colonized. Post colonialism which comprises intellectual examination of the present effects that colonial era did present to the people that were involved. This focuses the cultural legacies that colonialism did left behind and acts of imperialism that reminds them of their changed history and ways of life and customs adopted by the individuals from their colonial masters. The act which is some form of contemporary history, and which focuses on the re-invention and the foreseen challenges that are presented in our cultures and customs. This brings into concern the different fields in the human careers such as the history and social sciences in relation to the humanities field. This helps to study concepts such as anthropology and social relationships including linguistics and the study of the issue of gender. This is in relation to the gender empowerment on the perception of women. The most conspicuous and the effects that light should be shade on amicably on the context of the effects the process did brought into place are numerous among them being; increase in the context of research in the dynamics that focus to improve the rapidly developing sector. the research are focused on the improvement of the problems that were related in the past colonial past and focus on re-accessing the history in a positive way. The internal issues that directly affected the individual citizens is a key factor that saw the transformation of the diverse societal set up a more positive way to fit the customs and the traditions of the fast changing world in the technological advancement. This is on the concern of the diversity in the fast changing and complex world, which has been made a global village by technology. The economic set up within most of the countries improved amicably in a way that showed a keen increase in the gross domestic product of the countries concerned. This is because the concern of most colonial masters was to tap the available resources in the wide diverse fields of the rich hinterlands of the colonized countries. The resources saw the conversion of the raw materials in the agricultural sector into the fully finished products that are of benefit to the economy of the countries. The transformation, of the economies of the countries marked the imposition and the transformation of the current countries in the postcolonial era. The impact of colonialism marked the comparative advantage that was developed in the production sectors of the economies of the nations. This includes the cultures that the countries develop in the realization of the technical competence they have in the production of a particular product over the others. This was contributed by the exploitation of the rich areas that made the citizens continue in the production in the specified areas. Finally, the colonial are saw the transformation of the cultures of the diverse societies. This lead to the adoption of the new cultures, western and modern education being one of them. Colonialism and post colonialism are key factors in determining the current rate of development that we see in the various parts of the world. Through an in-depth an in-depth analysis of a number of instances throughout history, it is evident that colonialism determines what this countries are at their present day. Colonialism and some aspect of post colonialism, explains the principle fundamentals of the varied political dynamics in different regions across the globe, which is of essence in partly explaining why a large number of developing countries are deeply buried in heavy mountains of poverty. During the early periods of the 16th and the 17th many European countries, embark on extending their control over a greater part of the world. The Portuguese and Spaniards established colonies in Latin and Central America. On the other hand, Britain and France began to colonize the northern America and some parts of the Middle East. The majority of the countries that currently forms the European Union expanded their territories and took interest in many African and Asian countries. Colonialism at a greater extend gave the colonial masters the sole opportunity to enhance, expand and develop their economic pillars at the expense of their colonies. This greatly paralyzed the economic growth and development of these colonies long after their independence. In the world today, Haiti remains to be the best example of a country fully exploited by its colonial masters. During the 1790’s, Haiti was among the most successful and richest countries due to its lucrative sugar industry. Unfortunately, its colonizers took its large returns from the sugar industry. This did end even after its independence in 1804; the country still had to pay reimbursements to the French government, thus shelling out up to 80 % of its national budget. This translated to flourishing of the French economy at the expense of Haiti. This led to massive impoverishment of Haiti despite its enormous resources. In conclusion, despite the fact that colonialism is not sufficient enough to prove why some countries are more developed than others, in terms of gross domestic product, it is quite evident that, more than 30 nations which were at one point colonies, are among the world’s most poorest countries. Works Cited Read More