Anand Character Analysis in A House for Mr Biswas

Anand is Mr Biswas and Shama’s second child and only son. Anand is three years younger than Savi and was also born while his father was absent, working at The Chase. In his earliest years, Anand is timid, anxious, diminutive, and often afraid to talk to his disappointed father, who gives him little attention and lets the Tulsis “claim” him. He has trouble in his first years at the mission school, but eventually becomes Mr Biswas’s favorite son, particularly after staying with his father at Green Vale “because they was going to leave you alone.” Anand quickly takes after his father’s interests in science, religion, and especially literature. After Mr Biswas convinces him to move to Port of Spain with promises of real ice cream and Coca Cola, Anand becomes something of a prodigy at school, winning affection and support from everyone in the family, much as Owad had. He becomes “strong” and starts to look down on his “weak” sisters; later, despite believing he failed his exhibition exams, he actually scores near the top of his class and wins a scholarship to the local college. His academic successes lead him to first revere, and then resent, Owad upon his return from England. At the end of the book, when Mr Biswas dies, Anand is abroad, also on scholarship. Many scholars have suggested that, especially since Mr Biswas represents V.S. Naipaul’s father, Anand represents Naipaul himself and could even be seen as the book’s narrator.

Anand Quotes in A House for Mr Biswas

The A House for Mr Biswas quotes below are all either spoken by Anand or refer to Anand. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

“I don’t want you to be like me.”

Related Characters: Mr Biswas (speaker), Anand

Page Number and Citation: 359

Explanation and Analysis:

It was now that he began to speak to his children of his childhood. He told them of the hut, the men digging in the garden at night; he told them of the oil that was later found on the land. What fortune might have been theirs, if only his father had not died, if only he had stuck to the land like his brothers, if he had not gone to Pagotes, not become a sign-writer, not gone to Hanuman House, not married! If only so many things had not happened!

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Savi, Anand, Raghu, Myna, Kamla

Page Number and Citation: 421

Explanation and Analysis:

Mr Biswas went past Dehuti to look at the body. Then he did not wish to see it again. But always, as he wandered about the yard among the mourners, he was aware of the body. He was oppressed by a sense of loss: not of present loss, but of something missed in the past. He would have liked to be alone, to commune with this feeling. But time was short, and always there was the sight of Shama and the children, alien growths, alien affections, which fed on him and called him away from that part of him which yet remained purely himself, that part which had for long been submerged and was now to disappear.

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Shama, Savi, Anand, Bipti, Dehuti

Page Number and Citation: 461

Explanation and Analysis:

“Communism, like charity, should begin at home.”

Related Characters: Mr Biswas (speaker), Anand, Mrs Tulsi, Owad

Related Symbols: Houses

Page Number and Citation: 533

Explanation and Analysis:

Anand Character Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the character Anand appears in A House for Mr Biswas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon

...whenever Shama had gone home. She had a son, whom Mr Biswas agreed to name Anand at Seth’s behest, three years after Savi, who stayed at the Tulsis’ house. He visited... (full context)

...emotional strength. She went back to Hanuman House while he fantasized about flying kites with Anand and determined that he would not visit Shama until she reached out—and then did go... (full context)

...his towel slipped and he became furious at Shama, who went to Hanuman House with Anand. (full context)

...bought nothing for his son. This was as usual, for he truly knew Savi but “Anand belonged completely to the Tulsis.” The Tulsis already knew about the dollhouse, and everybody fell... (full context)

Mr Biswas already felt disappointed in Anand, who was small, shy, and anxious around his father. He implored Savi to let Anand... (full context)

...brought Savi’s clothes. Mr Biswas led his daughter outside and did not even think of Anand until he got to the High Street. (full context)

Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon

That Saturday, Shama, Anand, and Myna came with Seth to fetch Savi. While doing his usual work with Seth,... (full context)

...build. He tried to convince Savi to stay with him, but Shama took her and Anand home on Sunday night. Mr Biswas still felt alone but took comfort in the fact... (full context)

...Mrs Tulsi and Owad came home on the weekends. But holidays continued jovially, as before. Anand had begun going to the mission school, which he despised and feared, and his family... (full context)

One day, Mr Biswas found Anand kneeling in a corner of a room because, as Savi revealed, he was ashamed that... (full context)

Outside, Anand loitered next to Mr Biswas’s bicycle, saying nothing. Mr Biswas, “irritated by his shyness” but... (full context)

...there, only to see that the iron in question was rusted and misshapen. Savi and Anand questioned whether it would suffice, but Seth lowered the price from five to three dollars,... (full context)

Anand, Savi, and Shama came on a lorry with the corrugated iron that weekend; none of... (full context)

...it.” In the next, from atop a hill, he saw a crying woman—who was “Shama, Anand, Savi, his mother [Bipti]”—seeking help but wanted her to go away. Tarzan was outside the... (full context)

...care for the children, and her clothes. In the bed, Mr Biswas separated himself from Anand with a wall of pillows. (full context)

...screamed and cried as he tried to push himself through it. With Tarzan, Savi, and Anand right below him, he tried to kick Shama and struck her in the stomach. Women... (full context)

As his family packed, for some reason, Mr Biswas insisted that Anand stay. Anand pet Tarzan in silence, while each of his parents asked him to go... (full context)

After Shama left, Mr Biswas reverted from fatigue to restlessness and turmoil. Anand spent one day in the fields with his father but then decided to stay home... (full context)

...house. While “he feared solitude more than people,” he felt comfortable moving because he had Anand. He cleaned the small room, although the asphalt snakes were stuck on the floor, and... (full context)

...in his flour sack sheets, rocked in his chair, accidentally crushing Tarzan’s tail. He made Anand repeat “Rama Rama Sita Rama” and asked whether the boy wanted to leave—which was “the... (full context)

One afternoon, two men approached Anand in the yard and brought him with them to the road, claiming to be “digging... (full context)

One morning, Anand got up—earlier than Mr Biswas, as usual—and, with a blank expression and quivering mouth, showed... (full context)

...sky darkened, with thunderstorms looming by four in the afternoon and no time to take Anand back that day. They cooked and listened to the rain; Mr Biswas said that Anand... (full context)

...followed a roaring wind and struck the leaky roof so loudly that Mr Biswas and Anand could not hear one another. The water flowed down to the road, lightning lit up... (full context)

...repeated “Rama Rama Sita Rama” in bed. “A fresh cycle” of heavy rains began, and Anand noticed that the room was full of winged ants falling from the ceiling and biting... (full context)

The heavy rain returned, and Anand started killing the ants with the walking-stick until one bit his hand—they were climbing up... (full context)

The men returned with Anand sad and sleepy and Mr Biswas in Govind’s arms, “deeply exasperated and fatigued.” Although he... (full context)

Mr Biswas went to the book room, where Anand joined him. He asked what the adults have been saying about his column, and Anand... (full context)

The furniture moved yet again, finding ample space in its new home. Anand and Savi were reluctant to move, but after an initial visit Savi began to love... (full context)

...milk in “proper milk bottles with silver caps,” and began to wish the same for Anand. (full context)

They went for a swim in the harbor and, joking around, Mr Biswas told Anand to hold his head under water for as long as he could, and then Owad... (full context)

...Monday, Mr Biswas published a complaint about the need for warnings at the harbor, and Anand showed him an English composition, “A Day by the Seaside,” about his experience (it did... (full context)

...took off. Mr Biswas felt “a hole in his stomach” at Owad’s departure; he took Anand to a café for ice cream and Coca Cola. Life resumed as usual the next... (full context)

...all his own problems and gave him the strength to continue plodding along. He told Anand, “I don’t want you to be like me,” and they saw the vulnerability in one... (full context)

One day, Anand came into Mr Biswas’s room and stuttered his way through a story: “Once upon a... (full context)

Anand was miserable during the week, occupied with tedious memorization for the “exhibition class, where no... (full context)

...started breaking things. Seth’s workers started building a shed for his lorries in the yard; Anand refused his father’s offer of a walk and went upstairs to find much of the... (full context)

...hall lived a new brother-in-law who immediately found Mr Biswas distasteful—when his son bragged to Anand about his books, which were all by W.C. Tuttle, Mr Biswas called them “trash,” and... (full context)

...promised fixes and improvements to the house, everybody started dismantling trees and building temples, and Anand decided to convince the kids to start scraping off the house’s paint in an effort... (full context)

Anand disliked his “weak” sisters. Myna had “a bad bladder,” and the young Kamla started sleepwalking.... (full context)

...widow wailed for days. However everyone forgot him after W.C. Tuttle took over driving. Later, Anand found Hari and his wife sitting gloomily at the dining table and recited a poem... (full context)

One night, Anand discovered Savi’s birth certificate—listing her real name, Basso, and Mr Biswas’s name for her, Lakshmi—alongside... (full context)

Anand dreamed that he was in the bus to school and his sisters were standing above... (full context)

Savi and Anand “heard a heavy breathing,” which turned out to be a mule following them, and walked... (full context)

News even spread to Anand’s school, where he was shamed for admitting Mr Biswas’s lower-paying job, and the fact that... (full context)

...often left alone to contemplate the house’s atmosphere of tension and conflict. One day, when Anand asked Ajodha to donate to his fund for Polish refugee children, Ajodha was insulted and... (full context)

Chinta and Govind’s son Vidiadhar began a rivalry with Anand at school, where they were both in the exhibition class. One day, they ran into... (full context)

Meanwhile, “Anand lived a life of pure work,” taking private lessons before and after school and doing... (full context)

Anand brought Mr Biswas to the London Theatre, where a mob pushed them through the entrance,... (full context)

On the Saturday morning of the exhibition exam, Anand crammed while Vidiadhar did puja; the family gave each boy various accessories and pens, good-luck... (full context)

That night, when Anand returned home from watching a football match with his classmates, he was sure he had... (full context)

...and support rather than ridicule and shame, he began drafting and redrafting the letter with Anand’s help, turning it into “a broad philosophical essay on the nature of man” that quoted... (full context)

Mr Biswas and Shama decided that, regardless of his examination results, Anand must go to college—for one, Vidiadhar was already studying college subjects—but worried about how to... (full context)

In fact, seven of the twelve scholarships went to boys from Anand’s school; everyone was surprised that the overall winner was “a Negro boy of astonishing size”... (full context)

Mr Biswas was the college’s most enthusiastic parent; he decorated all of Anand’s books and was the only one to fill out the homework validation sheet everyone else... (full context)

...much money as he wanted to; he spent it on Savi’s schooling and better food, Anand’s asthma treatment and higher-quality suits for himself, which he quickly started obsessing about and showing... (full context)

One evening, Mrs Tulsi stopped Mr Biswas on the verandah to ask about Anand’s health before mentioning Owad’s flowery letters about England and affection for Mr Biswas. To his... (full context)

Immediately, Anand, Savi, and Myna approached Mr Biswas with tales of “Owad’s adventures in England”—his rescue efforts... (full context)

...while the brothers played bridge. One morning, Shekhar and Owad argued about modern art, and Anand thought it would be funny to scatter the matches they were betting and proclaim, “Portrait... (full context)

Anand visited Mr Biswas, who was calculating travel expenses in a rare jovial mood, and demanded... (full context)

...walk and could not sleep because of the dining room light; he asked Shama and Anand to block it with cardboard, but they failed, and he grew furious—at which point the... (full context)

...felt especially bad for Shama, whom all the sisters blamed for his actions. At school, Anand quickly switched to deriding Owad’s Communist and literary heroes. (full context)

...better all his life and now lacked anything to wait for—“except the children.” Savi and Anand both went abroad for school, which eliminated any possibility of repaying the debt in five... (full context)

...invariably sweltering downstairs in the afternoons. He worried about his heart, his five years, and Anand. (full context)

...hospital, his condition much worse than before. Savi promptly wrote to announce her return, and Anand sent another “strange, maudlin, useless letter.” After six weeks, he came home to no warm... (full context)

Then, Mr Biswas got fired, with three months’ notice, and felt that Anand was the only person who could possibly understand him or assuage his pain. He wrote... (full context)

...and a job that paid far more than any of his. In a letter to Anand, Mr Biswas asked, “How can you not believe in God after this?” (full context)