"The Village By The Sea" -ANITA DESAI: Hari's Experiences

The Sri Krishna Eating House

About halfway through the story Hari is taken by the doorman to a restaurant where he can get food and shelter for the night in Bombay. The kind man, Jagu, gives him a job in this restaurant, but not before Hari witnesses the kind of place that he is in and it was "the meanest and shabbiest restaurant hari had ever seen." The restaurant has obviously never been cleaned and is therefore possibly the cheapest restaurant in the whole of Bombay "even in Thul and along the Alibagh-Rewas highway there were cafes that were pleasanter." So when Hari begins his new and first proper job, he is unable get enough rest as he finds it near impossible to sleep "in the eating house with its fiery heat and stale smell and stuffy air." Jagu has provided him with "one rupee a day, like the other boys" also he could work for his meals and this is what starts Haris new found motivation and determination to obtain his earnings and save them up for his family. Hari is so determined to earn all this money that he vows never to spends anything during his entire stay there, seeing as Jagu provides him with ever meal. Hari pleases Jagu so that Jagu will not fire him and he is silently impressed by Haris full commitment from day one. This was an experience of battling for what he wanted and making sure he never gave up despite the fact that the Sri Krishna Eating House was basically unbearable (especially in the monsoon season). Hari remained commited, determined and motivated throughtout this experience and had grown up as a man because of it. He understood what was important for him to focus on and pushed forward for his families sake.

Poverty in the novel "The Village By The Sea"

In the novel, poverty is what the main characters and their families and friends suffer from. They lack life's necessities, clean water, sturdy shelter, healthy and sufficient food, medical care etc. This means they struggle through their days fighting to obtain these basic needs, even though they are the simplest of things. We are shown in the novel how Lila is left to do all the chores because of her sick mother and young children. Her mother is sick due to nobody understanding what is wrong and there is no-one educated enough to tell them what to do. They are also unable to take her to a hospital because they have no means of getting there. Lila also has to do the chores herself because her younger sister need to get an education from the nearby school, whereas Lila will never have that kind of schooling. Hari, her brother, has also been forced to give up schooling to get a job in order to make that little bit of extra money that they desperately need for food and other basics. With their small amount of earned money, they can only afford the most plain, cheapest things that do not provide sufficient nutrients for the body, especially not for a sick person.

Throughout the story we are given plenty of examples of poverty, whether it is in the small village where families are very independent or in the large city of Bombay where there are lots of people and we are told of the crowded slums. These slums are a prime example of poverty. Hundreds are cramped into tiny tin shelters that give little or no protection from the weather and should not even be big enough for one to live inside. But whole families cower inside. Water is even harder to come by and food is almost a luxury.

"The Village By the Sea" describes these situations of extreme poverty where the characters still manage to survive somehow. Through sheer determination we are shown how they pull through.

"The Village By The Sea" characters-ANITA DESAI

LIST OF CHARACTERS

Family: Bela, Hari, Kamal, Lila, Mother, Father, Pinto

Villagers of Thul: Ramu, Biju

Bombay People: Jagu, Hira, Mr Panwallah, Sayyid Ali, the de Silvas

Others: Mr Pinto

HARI-MINDMAP:

Challenges

*Being a figure of authority

*Needing to find a job

*Struggling without a mother or father

*Knowing he is not educated enough to get a proper job

*Making the decision to go to Bombay

*Once in Bombay, Hari is basically lost

*Job in eating house in very hard and trying

*The rough life in Bombay is a huge challenge for Hari

*He must save money for his family back home

Important relationships

*Hari and Lila share an earnest to keep their family alive and well as the two oldest most capable children. Both strive to do good for the family and want to care for them and each other as much as possible being brother and sister.

*Hari and Jagu are a complicated pair who do not speak often but ended up with an understanding of each other even after Jagu made the mistake of taking Hari to his home in the slums. The two work alongside each other, and keep finding small details about one another that make them more similar than they had ever expected (such as both being from small villages).

*Hari and Mr Panwallah meet when Hari had begun his work at the eating house in Bombay. Mr Panwallah was kind to Hari in very small ways at first but eventually their little acquaintence led to Hari becoming Mr Panwallah's apprentice in the watch makers shop where he learnt many skills meaning he had a steady plan to make money for his family when he finally returns to Thul. Hari is very, very grateful towards him and his generosity.

Behaviour

*Hari quickly gave me the impression that he had lost all hope in his families survival and that was one to give up quite easily when the going got rough. He proved this when he made his somewhat foolish decision to go to Bombay to get away from his families destiny of ruin and despair. Although, when he was given the chance to try again and make his life work...he jumps at the opportunity, making the most of it and trying so hard to earn as much money to get by on and ended up not spending a single thing during his time in Bombay except for the presents for his sisters. Hari proves to be a very proud man who strives to get by with what he is given even though he seems a little lost at first.

Themes of character

*proud

*strong

*determined

*occasionally seems at a loss

*comes across very serious

*logical

*understanding

"The Village By The Sea" passage-ANITA DESAI

"They pushed and shoved because they were in turn being pushed and shoved by the Bombay crowds that thronged the docks - people in a hurry to get something done, so many people in such a hurry as the villagers had never seen before. It was only out of the corner of his eye that he saw, briefly, before being pushed on, the great looming sides of steamship berthed at the docks, cranes lifting and lowering huge bales, men bare-bodied and sweating carrying huge packing cases, boxes and baskets on their heads and shoulders, grunting as they hurried, women like the fisherwomen at home with their saris tucked up between their legs as they ran with baskets of shining, slithering fish from the boats to the market, straw and mud and fish scales making the ground dangerously slippery."

This passage from the novel "The Village By The Sea" by Anita Desai describes what the villagers of Thul enter into when they venture to Bombay to protest against the factory overtaking their town.

We see how they are overwhelmed with the fast-paced action that surrounds them. With so many people crowding the wharf, the villagers are "pushed and shoved" around and seem to be out of place simply due to their inexperience in these situations. Having never been to Bombay and only ever been a part of the small, relaxed village life, Hari is absolutely amazed and shocked by the size of everything. Desai tells of what he notices, and that being over sized boxes and machines operating everywhere and people rushing around to get so many jobs done. Everything he sees, even if only out of the corner of his eye, is described as "huge" or "great and looming" because this is what struck him most at that moment. Of-course it would, because of the life Hari is used to leading. Small, simple and uneducated.

As well as evoking a crowded, rushed, larger than life scene, the writer also adds the danger factor by saying the ground is a slippery mix of "straw, mud and fish scales." This encourages the idea that the city life is much more dangerous and unpredictable than the simple life in a small coastal village such as Thul. Hari notices the similarities between his insignificant village and Bombay, but notes that these similarities are set apart by the fact that everything is speed up and enlarged in this overcrowded city.