A House for Mr Biswas

by

V. S. Naipaul

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A fictional town, named after the indigenous Arawak people and based on V.S. Naipaul’s childhood home of Chaguanas, where the Tulsi family lives in Hanuman House.
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Arwacas Term Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the term Arwacas appears in A House for Mr Biswas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2: Before the Tulsis
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...world to yield its sweetness and romance,” and first saw Shama at Hanuman House in Arwacas “in this mood of expectation.” (full context)
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Tulsis
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“Hanuman House stood like an alien white fortress” in Arwacas, with the Tulsi Store downstairs and a statue of “the benevolent monkey-god Hanuman” standing on... (full context)
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...so upon returning to Pagotes Mr Biswas announced to Alec, “I got a girl in Arwacas,” to his friend’s delight. News quickly spread, and although Bhandat’s older son (Jagdat) openly bragged... (full context)
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...talked him down and called the Sentinel, which printed a two-inch notice on the AAA (Arwacas Aryan Association) the next day. (full context)
Part 1, Chapter 5: Green Vale
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...brothers Pratap and Prasad who “had married nondescript women from nondescript families.” He went to Arwacas the next day and stopped in a store to buy Christmas gifts on sale for... (full context)
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...no longer wanted to visit Hanuman House—sometimes he turned back once he had already reached Arwacas—and “did everything as noisily as he could” but nothing in his life changed, not even... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 1: “Amazing Scenes”
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...response was to accidentally whisper, “fish-face.” He gave her the letter from the doctor in Arwacas, but felt like “a fraud” when she started reading it. He waited for his appointment... (full context)
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Soon thereafter, Mr Biswas visited Arwacas, marching into Hanuman House to a grand welcome: “You are the Scarlet Pimpernel and I... (full context)
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...superlative characters. Owad and Shekhar found it hilarious, as the “Most Evil Man” was from Arwacas. (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 3: The Shorthills Adventure
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...war and Seth was already at war with the family, having decided to stay in Arwacas, although Mr Biswas could not figure out precisely why. The families’ children did not speak,... (full context)
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The Tulsis moved out of Arwacas, renting out their land and store, selling one of their rental tenements in Port of... (full context)
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...a number of the men ended up sharing puja duty. News of Padma’s death in Arwacas came a couple weeks later, and this frightened everyone in the house, especially because she... (full context)
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When the women returned from Arwacas, they revealed that Seth’s new property was an enormous grocery store, and they feared that... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 4: Among the Readers and Learners
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...them all to various ailments, as Mrs Tulsi started sending in her friends’ children from Arwacas, too. Unable to bear the house, Mr Biswas spent as much time as possible hiding... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 5: The Void
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...for her enjoyment and insisting that they take her favorite remedies. Old friends visited from Arwacas and pundits—a different one every time—came to perform pujas until she tired of Hinduism and... (full context)
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...his rotting tenement at night. One of his assignments was running a “‘leadership’ course” in Arwacas, where he stayed at Hanuman House with its sole inhabitant, a widow Seth never found... (full context)