A House for Mr Biswas

by

V. S. Naipaul

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on A House for Mr Biswas makes teaching easy.
A fictional town, located in a lush valley among the hills of Trinidad’s Northern Range, where the Tulsis move after leaving Hanuman House and Mr Biswas builds and burns down his second house.
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Shorthills Term Timeline in A House for Mr Biswas

The timeline below shows where the term Shorthills appears in A House for Mr Biswas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2, Chapter 3: The Shorthills Adventure
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...decided to move on” to a new estate in the mountains of Trinidad’s north at Shorthills. Christmas shopping was stunted by the war and Seth was already at war with the... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...of the talk about horses and sheep, and his children were apprehensive about moving to Shorthills. Shama was incredibly morose about the whole conflict, defining their Christmas with her insistence on... (full context)
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...Spain and raising the rent on the house Mr Biswas and Shama were living in. Shorthills’s people were of mixed race, “a closed, distinctive community” that spoke a mixture of English... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
When Mr Biswas moved to Shorthills, he felt there were more Tulsis than ever before. He and Shama moved into one... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...get home before 8:00 in the evening unless they left just after lunch for the Shorthills bus. (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Mostly, the children just walked in the direction of Shorthills, singing songs at Mrs Tulsi’s suggestion, until they encountered a bus with space for them.... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...hand got stuck in the car door, and Mr Biswas decided he was done with Shorthills. (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
...many people dreamt of Padma that night that they decided her spirit must have visited Shorthills. More stories of Padma sightings followed, with the Tulsis finding various messages in her appearances,... (full context)
Part 2, Chapter 4: Among the Readers and Learners
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Mr Biswas was “released” from the Shorthills house after all the Tulsis’ transportation options deteriorated beyond repair, so he moved his family... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Realizing that they could rely less and less on the Tulsis, the widows at Shorthills started sending their children to live with Basdai. The overpopulated house and quarreling children quickly... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
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...people” were visiting—he worried that they might be eager Destitutes. In fact, it was the Shorthills widows, who were wondering if he might be able to write them into his column,... (full context)
Social Status and Hierarchy Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
Gender and Family Theme Icon
Colonialism, Oppression, and Escape Theme Icon
...a literary club. He went on Friday evenings, when the rest of the widows from Shorthills came to Port of Spain. Mr Biswas felt “a little out of his depth” at... (full context)
Independence vs. Belonging Theme Icon
Education, Work, and Language Theme Icon
...he started another letter, this time addressed to her, remembering her clearing the brush in Shorthills and welcoming him home in his childhood. He felt that “he was whole again” and... (full context)