The Big House Symbol Analysis

Built on an old water-filled mine where four-year-old Jodie Bagshot once drowned, the Big House on Meena’s street is a mysterious building with unknown residents. The secretive, potentially dangerous nature of the place makes it a symbol of the threats that lurk in Tollington itself, such as aggression and racial hostility. However, Meena’s later discovery that an Indian man lives there turns the Big House into the opposite: a symbol of hidden diversity and kindness in the midst of turmoil. Meena enters the Big House’s compound on two occasions: while following Anita, after which the two girls are pursued by an angry dog, and while following Tracey, who ultimately falls and almost drowns in the pond. These two episodes are marked by stress and danger, compounded by the belief Anita has instilled in Meena that the house is inhabited by an evil witch. On both occasions, though, Meena draws comfort from signs of her own culture in this hostile environment: a hidden statue of the Hindu god Ganesha in the yard and the presence of Harinder P. Singh, the Indian owner of the house. The Big House thus reveals that it is not as threatening as Meena had thought. Rather, it is capable of making Meena feel newly welcome in the community, which has become affected by racial tensions. By turning from a place of terror to a symbol of a shared foreign culture, the Big House optimistically suggests that one can always find potential allies, even in the most threatening environments.