A House for Mr Biswas

by

V. S. Naipaul

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The fictional town to which Mr Biswas moves after his father’s death. Tara and her relatives live here.

Pagotes Quotes in A House for Mr Biswas

The A House for Mr Biswas quotes below are all either spoken by Pagotes or refer to Pagotes. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
).
Part 1, Chapter 2 Quotes

As fatigue overcame him he began to long for the day to end, to relieve him of his freedom. He went back to the dark rooms tired, empty, miserable, yet still excited, still unwilling to sleep.

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Ajodha, Bhandat
Page Number: 61
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 3 Quotes

How often did Mr Biswas regret his weakness, his inarticulateness, that evening! How often did he try to make events appear grander, more planned and less absurd than they were!

And the most absurd feature of that evening was to come. When he had left Hanuman House and was cycling back to Pagotes, he actually felt elated! In the large, musty hall with the sooty kitchen at one end, the furniture-choked landing on one side, and the dark, cobwebbed loft on the other, he had been overpowered and frightened by Seth and Mrs Tulsi and all the Tulsi women and children; they were strange and had appeared too strong; he wanted nothing so much then as to be free of that house. But now the elation he felt was not that of relief. He felt he had been involved in large events. He felt he had achieved status.

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Shama, Mrs Tulsi, Seth
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 1, Chapter 5 Quotes

There was no need to ask where Jagdat was going. He was going to his family. He too, then, lived a divided life.

Related Characters: Mr Biswas, Tara, Ajodha, Jagdat, Rabidat
Related Symbols: Houses
Page Number: 241
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 4 Quotes

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: 421
Explanation and Analysis:
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Pagotes Term Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the term Pagotes 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
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...birth and early years,” a truth he first encountered at the Canadian Mission school in Pagotes, where his teacher Lal—a convert from Hinduism to Presbyterianism—asked him for his age and birth... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...also grew constipated, and his unpredictable defecation led him to leave Jairam and return to Pagotes. (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...not let the same happen to him. And so Jairam sent Mr Biswas back to Pagotes. (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Alec returned to Pagotes, now covered in paint instead of grease. Mr Biswas watched him paint a sign for... (full context)
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Tulsis
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...and look the other way. But Shama glanced back, too, and so upon returning to Pagotes Mr Biswas announced to Alec, “I got a girl in Arwacas,” to his friend’s delight.... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
...most absurd part of all was that he was overjoyed on his way back to Pagotes. He still felt strong-armed by the Tulsis, but he was elated that “he had been... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...notified the registrar, they became “unapproachable” and he was too ashamed to tell anyone in Pagotes that he was to marry. He felt unacknowledged and invisible at Hanuman House, as even... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...being neglected in front of her family, Mr Biswas packed his things and returned to Pagotes, coming to see the whole affair as a “good fright.” However, Bipti immediately began praising... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...Mr Biswas had returned so fast, Shama asked whether he was “tired catching crab in Pagotes”—that occupation was “the lowest of the low.” He said he had returned to “help all-you... (full context)
Part 1, Chapter 5: Green Vale
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...going to Hanuman House, changed his mind back and forth, and took the bus to Pagotes. (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 1: “Amazing Scenes”
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...night. He had not chosen what way to turn at the junction—to the north were Pagotes and Port of Spain (where Ramchand and Dehuti lived), and to the south his brothers—but... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
...and enjoyed “a day of freedom” paralleled only by the one he spent wandering around Pagotes when Bhandat’s rumshop abruptly closed. Walking along the crowded streets, he marveled at the various... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 4: Among the Readers and Learners
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Mr Biswas started taking his children to Pagotes on Sundays, and quickly struck up “an easy, relaxing relationship” with Jagdat: although they did... (full context)
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...children, Ajodha was insulted and replied, “who collecting for you?” Gradually, the family stopped visiting Pagotes. (full context)