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Anita Desai’s The Village by the Sea was published in 1982 and was awarded with Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in the year 1983. The novel presents a vivid portrayal of two contrasting worlds. On the one hand, we have the rural simplicity of the village and on the other hand the teeming and bustling complexity of the metropolis. The novel is set in a small fishing village called Thul in coastal Maharashtra and the urban landscape of Bombay (now Mumbai). Desai meticulously enlivens these two settings to juxtapose the difference in lifestyle, values, and opportunities experienced by the protagonist, Hari. The novel also explores the formative influence that migration plays on a young mind like Hari.

Four siblings, Hari, Lila, Bela, and Kamal, reside in Thul with their bedridden mother and inebriated father. The two oldest children, Hari and Lila, are young and responsible for managing the disturbed and dysfunctional household. The village of Thul is beset by culture and tradition. The village is simple where tranquillity runs supreme. The lives of the inhabitants revolve around the rhythm of nature and everything is at peace. In such a place, Hari’s family is the discordant note that breaks the music of joy and fulness of rural life.

Thul is a village where rural family functions as a cohesive unit. In the village, everyone gets along well and is united by common beliefs and practices. Desai describes the large stretches of fields, the sea, and the cosy familiarity of close-knit relationships. In Thul, social structures are shaped by long-standing traditions and hierarchies, and livelihoods are primarily derived from agriculture and fishing.

Desai succinctly titled the novel “Village by the Sea” rather than “Home by the Sea”. The children are left to fend for themselves at the outset of the novel, stripped of the security that their home should have offered. Their home do not fulfil their physical and emotional needs. The disintegration of home mirrors what awaits the village at last. As Laskar (2022) says:

Not only is the home of Hari not able to provide him with the security needed for a child but also his homeland is fast disintegrating in the face of industrialisation. It is at “not home” therefore that Hari and Lila begin their journey and therefore the necessity to embark outside to find home. The journey does not necessarily mean that the outside world will take over as home but rather it reflects on the capability of the protagonist to reconstruct “Home” from the vestiges of “Not Home”. For Hari, this journey is a literal journey outside his home and village to Mumbai (Bombay) in search of employment and a possibility of securing a better life for his family members (Desai 80-81)

Compelled by poverty and abject helplessness, Hari leaves his home in search of a job in Bombay, the city of endless possibilities and opportunities. At the very beginning of the novel Hari knows,

. . .in his heart that he would leave one day. Thul could not hold him for long – at least not the Thul of the coconut groves and the fishing fleet. Perhaps if it really did turn onto a factory site one day, he would stay on here, living a new kind of life. . . He would go away – cross the sea in a boat, somehow find his fortune in Bombay. . .(Desai 41)

The second half of the novel brings the readers to Bombay which symbolizes modernity. It is a bustling metropolis of “terrifying traffic” (Desai 74) teeming with energy, bewildering experiences and diversity. Desai vividly captures the flavour of urban life:

He walked along between the sea and the building till he came to a small sandy beach so crowded with people and stalls of coloured drinks. . .there were balloons held up on bamboo poles, pavement stalls selling flower garlands, plastic toys and magazines… (Desai 86-87)

There is a detailed description of the city’s noise, crowded streets, towering skyscrapers and rampant commercialism. This is a place where ambition, technology and innovation fuel the hopes and desires of its dwellers. But for someone like Hari, who is caught between these two opposite worlds, lies the challenges and a string of bittersweet experiences.

But here there was everything at once as if all the traffic in the world had met on the streets of Bombay – cycle, rickshaw, hand-carts, tongas, buses, cars, taxis and lorries – hooting and screeching and grinding and roaring past and around him (Desai 74).

Beneath the façade and veneer of development and progress lies the bitter reality of class inequality, urban poverty, exploitation, commercialism and corruption. Hari struggles to survive in the city's unyielding streets and corners. Desai juxtaposes the village and the city to reinforce the disproportion in socio-economic status.

In Thul, the villagers are bound by the constraints of scarcity, with scanty opportunities for education and employment. Their lives are marked by privation. They often struggle to make ends meet in the face of adversity. However, the village also offers a sense of belonging. The community is deeply rooted in rural values, culture and tradition.

On the other hand, Bombay represents upward mobility, commercial success and financial opportunities. The city holds the promise of an improved life. Bombay offers ample employment opportunities that will eventually lead to economic independence. Yet, for Hari, the harsh realities of urban life, poverty and exploitation prove to be bitter. With no one to guide him in the metropolis, Hari discovers that the city's unabating pace and aggressive competition can leave anyone disenchanted.

By contrasting the actual lived realities of the village and the city, Desai has explored the intricate interplay between modernity and tradition as part and parcel of post-independence modern India. Through Hari’s experiences of the rural and urban divide and his quest for a better future in Bombay, she interrogates the one-dimensional notions of progress and development.

In the final analysis, the novel becomes a tale of the human spirit and its resilience and endurance in the face of hardship. It’s also a story of the power of hope. Hope to surmount the limitations of place, adversity and circumstances. Hari's arrival in Bombay is marked by a sense of expectation and anticipation, as he yearns to escape the vicious cycle of abject poverty and deprivation that has plagued his family in Thul. Hari becomes one of the many migrants who throng to cities in search of a better life. His story becomes the microcosm of the bitter realities faced by innumerable migrants who come to cities like Bombay leaving behind the security that their rural roots furnish. Desai critiques the issues of exploitation, urban poverty and relentless struggle through Hari’s experiences.

However, Hari’s inceptive hope and optimism are quickly shattered as he begins to face the stark realities of urban life. He remembers the “first night in Bombay, how amazed he had been by the lights, the great buildings, the crowd.” (Desai 119) As he makes his way through the overcrowded and dirty slums to the inhuman living conditions and fierce competition for meagre wages, the city proves to be unforgiving. With little education and no experience, he suffers intense alienation. As Prof. M.K. Bhatnagar says Desai’s novels lay bare,

... alienation, the ‘inscape’ of a guest for the elusive self, existential yearnings in claustrophobic environs, the interaction between the old and the new, the dilemma of choosing between the instinct to conform and the urge to rebel (2).

For Hari, Bombay is nothing but a confusing maze. It’s a land of contradictions. The divide between the rich and the poor is glaring. Against the glint of the wealth stands juxtaposed the world of petty criminals, street vendors and beggars. Hari cannot make sense of the hustle and bustle of Bombay. Eking out a meagre existence becomes a gargantuan task for the young boy.

He is confronted with challenges that test his resilience and endurance at every nook and corner of the city. He is ruthlessly exploited and discriminated against by indifferent employers. It’s an absurd situation for Hari. He is caught in a cycle of loans/debt and poverty/despair. His dreams are repeatedly dashed. This takes a toll on his health. He feels isolated, homesick and alienated. He longs for the sense of community and belonging that Thul offers. As N.R. Gopal says, “In Desai’s stories action is subordinated to psychology. The central themes revolve around the mental and spiritual developments of the dramatis personae and not on their physical adventure” (10).

At times, amidst the bewilderment, there are moments of fleeting joy and companionship that offer glimpses of hope for Hari. He forms friendships with fellow migrants and finds solace in minor acts of help, kindness and generosity. Such moments of kinship serve as a reminder of the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for love, compassion and empathy to surmount social and economic barriers.

In conclusion, Hari's experience in Bombay in Desai's Village by the Sea is a strong and powerful testament to the stark realities faced by millions of migrants who move to the city in search of a better life. Through Hari's eyes, Desai offers a potent critique of urban poverty and exploitation Whatever moments of hope and humanity that Hari finds remind us of the enduring power of the human spirit to persevere in the face of hardship and adversity. While the novel primarily focuses on the struggles and aspirations of the protagonist Hari and his dysfunctional family, Desai also critiques the rampant influence of commercialism and its insidious impact on traditional ways of life. One of the major themes in the novel is the clash between traditional values and the encroachment of modernity. Bombay epitomizes commercialism in the city. Commercialism is portrayed as a force that disrupts the flow of rural communities by seducing young boys like Hari with the promise of financial prosperity, enticing consumer culture and quick upward mobility. However, as Desai argues, this pursuit of money comes at a cost, as it uproots the traditional bonds of kinship and community. In Bombat Hari is reduced to a mere cog in the machinery of capitalism, his labour is commodified and he falls prey to exploitation. Despite the seduction and allure of the city, it fails to provide the deeper sense of fulfilment and belonging that can be found in traditional ways of life. “If ever grinding poverty was written about without the least taint of self-pity it is here” rightly says Jagannath Dubashi In doing so, Desai offers a poignant meditation on the challenges and complexities of modernity and the ever-rooted importance of cultural identity and community in an increasingly commercialized world.

Works Cited

Bhatnagar, Manmohan K. and Rajeswar. M. The Novels of Anita Desai: A Critical Study.
New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors

Desai, Anita. The Village by the Sea: An Indian Family Story, New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1982.

Dubashi, Jagannath. “Book review: The Village By The Sea by Anita Desai”, April 15, 1983,
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19830415-book-review-the-village-by-the-sea-by-anita-desai-770628-2013-07-25

Gopal, N.R. A Critical Study of The Novels of Anita Desai. New Delhi: Atlantic, 1999.

Laskar, Rizia Begum. “Finding Home in Children’s Literature: Anita Desai’s The Village by
the Sea.” IIS Univ. J. A. Vol.10, Issue 3, pp. 79-89, https://iisjoa.org/sites/default/files/iisjoa/March%202022/6.pdf