Name: Fathia Maesha

ID: 22208032

Section: 04

Book: The Home and the World

Final Book Review

1) Introduction:

The Home and The World (1916) is a great novel written by a great poet, writer and

philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore is known for winning the only Nobel

prize in writing in South Asia in 1913. The Home and The World novel is a love tale among the

characters of the story with a political overview of that time. Rabindranath Tagore improvised

the “Swadeshi Movement'' in this novel. Rabindranath Tagore wrote this novel in a narrative

style, where he explained the characters' story in his own voice. This novel takes place in the

early twentieth century. Rabindranath Tagore expressed his political view through his various

writings. Rabindranath Tagore expresses the theme of nationalism, dynamics of relationship

through this novel. Swadeshi movement (1905) is a movement against the British to boycott

British goods in Favor of using Indian products more. This novel highlights the concept of

boycotting British goods.

2) Recap of Chapter 1 to Chapter 5:

In the initial chapters, we were introduced with our three main characters. Nikhil, Bimala,

Sandip. As per the novel, Bimala is the main protagonist of the novel. Rabindranath Tagore

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beautifully mixed a love story and the Swadeshi movement together in this novel. Nikhil was

introduced as a modernist character. And his wife, Bimala was a traditional housewife of that

era. Sandip was the antagonist of the novel who was introduced by Nikhil. At the beginning of

the story, we see Bimala explaining the social dilemmas to face as a not fair woman and how she

got married to Nikhil. Nikhil wanted to make her wife modern. She basically worships Nikhil in

the beginning of the story. But then Sandip was introduced. As the story continues, Bimala gets

more and more attracted to Sandip. At the end of the first half of the book , we see Sandip

engaging towards Bimala to assert his dominance.

3) Short Summary and Analysis (Chapter 6 to Chapter 12):

The main story starts from the second half of the novel, as Bimala confronts her husband

about the European goods he allows to be sold in his market and asks him to establish an

embargo1, but Nikhil remains steadfast. Sandip begins supporting domestic terrorism, advising

Amulya, one of his comrades, to sink the boat of a merchant who is importing foreign goods. He

also asks Bimala to secure money for their cause. He suggests stealing it from her husband’s

treasury. Even though he does not need this much. He must pay bribe money to the police, and

he is further working to suppress the Muslim population. Bimala comes back to him to tell him

that she cannot get that much money, and he lowers the amount.

Bimala knows that her husband keeps money that is to be donated in Rani’s name in a safe in his

room. Bimala steals the key and takes packages of gold worth 6,000 rupees to deliver to Sandip.

Amulya is there, and she feels disgust at herself and Sandip. Sandip goes to embrace her, but she

1 Cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.

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pushes him into a table, briefly knocking him out. Sandip regains his senses and gathers the

money.

Feeling extreme guilt, Bimala attempts to replace the money that she stole. She employs Amulya

to sell her jewels and advises him against following Sandip. However, Sandip intercepts Amulya

and takes the jewels back, delivering them to Bimala spitefully. Amulya offers Bimala 6,000

rupees, as he stole it from a treasury earlier, but he will not tell her how he got it. She insists that

he return the money. While he says this is impossible, he promises to make everything right for

her and leaves. Sandip attempts again to win Bimala over with words, but she is beyond his

control. Nikhil comes to tell him that he must leave, as Nikhil has decided he will be taking

Bimala to Calcutta the next day. It is no longer safe for them, as there have been reports of

Muslim uprisings.

Bimala cooks and feeds the house with them, and Nikhil packs with his sister. An inspector

comes with Amulya, who has tried to deposit money back into the treasury. Amulya explains

that Bimala’s wish has been fulfilled. Nikhil is afraid to ask about the robbery as he does not

wish to know Bimala’s connection to it. Later at dinner, Nikhil and Rani ask Bimala if she has

seen the safe key. She casually admits that she took the money, and little more is said about the

matter. They are preparing to leave, but Chandranath comes to report that a neighbor’s house is

under attack by Muslims, who are raping the women. Nikhil goes to help, while Rani and Bimala

await his return. He comes back carrying a palanquin 2with a potentially fatal shot to the head,

and Bimala learns that Amulya has been shot in the heart and is dead.

2 A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

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4) Character Analysis:

● Bimala:

Bimala's journey embodies the tension between duty and desire. She

arguably undergoes the most transformation in the story, beginning as a devoted

and loyal companion of her husband Nikhil until Sandip appears. As mentioned in

a review, Bimala was given the freedom to explore new relationships and

education by her Liberal husband Nikhil. (Kumari, 2010)(P.37) But she realizes

she is bored of her husband and is easily seduced by the impulse driven Sandip,

though she consistently feels shame for this and occasionally longs to feel the way

she once did about her husband. She discovers Sandip’s treachery and

manipulation when he convinces her to steal money from her husband Nikhil, and

ultimately grows to feel personally empowered when she rejects Sandip and

admits to stealing Nikhil’s money. The things she decides makes us wonder if

she’s doing the right thing and if she's really making her own choices. In Chapter-

8, we see a concerned Bimala who worries for Amulya. She questions the

integrity of the country as a Mother. (Tagore, 1916)(p.148) As the story

progresses, she takes on different ideological stances, experimenting with

Sandip’s ways of thinking, but ultimately developing a moderate way of thinking

somewhere in between her husband’s moral humanist and Sandip’s

Machiavellian3 approaches to life.

● Sandip:

3 The beliefs or actions of people who advocate thorough or complete political or social reform.

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 Sandip's charisma and radicalism make him an enigmatic4 figure. His

manipulation of Bimala exposes the darker aspects of his ideology. He symbolizes

the dangers of blind fanaticism5. Early in the story, he comes to live with Bimala

and Nikhil, despite the fact that ideologically, he disagrees a great deal with

Nikhil’s notion of an Indian revolution. If Nikhil represents temperance and logic,

Sandip represents extreme thought and passion. He sees some of his own passion

and beliefs about reclaiming India, and he attempts to seduce her both as his

political counterpart and lover, although even his conscience prevents him from

acting otherwise. Although he is skilled in maintaining composure during

philosophical arguments, he does not like to feel powerless or foolish, and this is

shown as he grows angry as Bimala begins to pull away from him after his initial

seduction of her.

● Nikhil:

Nikhil's rationality and tolerance stand in contrast to Sandip's radicalism 6.

He represents a more moderate approach and embodies Tagore's views on

balanced progress. According to Indrani (1995), Rabindranath remained

committed to a universal humanism. We can see the reflection of humanism in

Nikhil's character, who is educated and progressive. He sees his wife as his equal,

and he would go to great pains to see her happy, even if that means her leaving

him. As the story progresses, he begins to feel as though he is not enough for his

wife. So he distances himself from her and focuses on improving himself as he

4 (in India and the East) a covered litter for one passenger, consisting of a large box carried on two horizontal poles
by four or six bearers.
5 Difficult to interpret or understand; mysterious.
6 Blind faith, the mistreatment of the political or religious rebel and the absence of reality.

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 anticipates her leaving. Nikhil is a humanist 7, and he sees dignity in all people,

even his enemies. Nikhil’s humanist stance also prevents him from siding with

one particular faction; he sees value in both traditionally Indian and English ways

of thinking. This becomes problematic for him as the story progresses because his

inability to condemn European colonialism creates an issue because some people

start to believe he supports it. Similarly, his humanist stance is problematic in that

it leads to low self-worth. Nikhil rarely asserts himself when people take

advantage of him because he often feels he has no power or right to his own

possessions or thoughts.

● Amulya:

Amulya's youthful idealism expresses the generation gap and the potential

for impulsive actions influenced by situation based ideological beliefs. We see

that he plays an important role in the second half of the story, as he both adopts

and exhibits the implications of Sandip’s thinking. He has no issue in suggesting

that he and Bimala kill a cashier for money. As Bimala takes a more maternal or

sisterly role toward him, she is able to convince him of Sandip’s villainy, and he

attempts to reform himself and renounce Sandip’s extreme views.

● Chandranath Babu:

Chandranath is Nikhil’s school master. Both Chandranath and Nikhil believe

7 Advocates for human rights, free speech, progressive policies and democracy.

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 home, Panchu ultimately loses respect for Chandranath because Chandranath does
not ultimately help him to reach a better place in life.

5) Conclusion and Recommendation:

In conclusion, “The Home and The World” is a novel that expresses the exploration of

personal identity, role in society, feminism and incorporating the Swadeshi movement with it.

Rabindranath Tagore, expressed his political views and his main objective of this novel which is,

exploring the positive aspects with the negative is beautifully upheld in the story. This novel can

be recommended to those who like to explore themselves. Also by those who wants know about

the history through allegory8. This novel is an example of feminism. The protagonist of the story,

Bimala who was at first an ordinary traditional housewife, becomes the lead character of the

Swadeshi movement. I would highly recommend this novel as this can provide us with the

historical context of the Swadeshi movement.

8 Ban, restriction, interdiction, proscription.

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References:

● Tagore, R. (2005). The home and the world (W. Radice, Ed.; S. Tagore, Trans.).

Penguin Classics.

● Mitra, I. (1995). “I WILL MAKE BIMALA ONE WITH MY COUNTRY”:

GENDER AND NATIONALISM IN TAGORE’S “THE HOME AND THE

WORLD.” Modern Fiction Studies, 41(2), 243–264.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/26285526

● KUMARI, S. (2010). Home and the World [Review of Domestic Goddesses:

Maternity, Globalisation and Middle-class Identity in Contemporary, by H.

Donner]. Economic and Political Weekly, 45(20), 37–39.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/27807024