“The Homecoming” by Rabindranath Tagore
A brief note to the readers/students: The analysis presented here will guide the learners as to how to approach a short story in its fullest depth and dimension. The given short story “The Homecoming” written by Rabindranath Tagore has been discussed from every literary angle that will eventually shape their taste for literature. This will prepare them for their future readings — ultimately refining their outlook.
Story in Brief
The title of the story “The Homecoming’’ seems to suggest some sort of separation and reunion. There is a streak of sadness and pain that runs as an undercurrent throughout the story. This is perhaps a reflection of the personality of Rabindranath Tagore who occasionally used to have bouts of depression, best identified with his famous poem “Ekla Chalo Re’’ (Walk alone).
Tagore could not receive the full-time attention of his parents during his growing years. His mother had already died, while his father Debendranath Tagore travelled widely during the Indian National Movement. All this meant isolation for the young Tagore who grew up lonely from within.
The story begins against the backdrop of a rural setting in a village nearby Calcutta (modern-day Kolkata). The protagonist Phatik Chakravorti is carrying out acts of mischief with his friends. He enters into a quarrel with his younger brother Makhan. After all of this happens, a boat carries a “middle-aged man, with grey hair and dark moustache” to the shore. The man asks Phatik the whereabouts of the Chakravorti family of the village, but the young lad refuses to answer. Later it is discovered that the man is none but his maternal uncle Bishamber.
Bishamber stays happily with the Chakravorti family for some days. After some days, he offers to take Phatik with him to Calcutta for his education. Phatik’s joy knows no bounds after hearing this proposal. Before leaving, he ensures to make peace with his brother Makhan and gives him his toys — fishing rod, kite, and marbles.
When Phatik reaches Calcutta, much to his dismay, he is unwelcome at his aunt’s house. The aunt despises the young lad as an economic burden for the family. Phatik is not well-received in his school also (where his cousins studied). His teachers beat him mercilessly for not doing his lessons. He even loses his lesson book.
Fearing his aunt and annoyed by all this, Phatik leaves his uncle’s home one day. He is later retrieved by the police in a very feverish condition. Phatik, who was already missing his home and his village, continually asks his uncle when the holidays would come. But he is asked to wait. However, Phatik’s conditions worsen. At last, his mother comes running to see him, and Phatik has only one thing to say before the story ends on a heartfelt note, “Mother, the holidays have come.”
The Homecoming of Phatik Chakravorti by Rabindranath Tagore
The Homecoming story by Rabindranath Tagore
Themes
Themes are the ethos and essence of a literary work that serve as undercurrent ideas throughout the story.
1. The contrast between country-life and city-life
The country-life is generally understood to be pure and uncorrupted. The same holds in this story. There is green lush of “glorious meadow”, river banks and open spaces. A city is deprived of such natural gifts, instead, it is congested with concrete jungles.
Phatik was a “ringleader” amongst his friends in the village, while in Calcutta, he is left neglected “like a stray dog that has lost its master.” The boy whose proposal was unanimously seconded in the village, finds himself being jeered and insulted by his cousins in Calcutta!
2. State of confusion at growing ages
Tagore has made interesting observations on a boy of fourteen. It is indeed true that puberty and teenage are times when we are in a state of confusion, owing to physical, mental and moral changes in ourselves. Puberty is the intermediate stage — the ages of transition — between childishness and youthhood. We fail to identify ourselves with either. That is why we crave a sense of belongingness at this age. Phatik too longs for love and acceptance in his aunt’s home but fails to get it.
3. Narrow acceptability of urban education
The story reveals how modern education in cities is unwelcoming to village folks who may not be acquainted with the nuances of city life. Phatik was dubbed the most “backward boy” in his school; however, the teachers, instead of making a genuine effort to understand him, see him as an “overladen ass” to be caned unmercifully. Thus, Tagore seems to suggest that modern education is a sort of homogenization, rather than differentiation, and it fails to cater to all as per their differential needs.
4. Search for economic prospects in urban centres
The story highlights the pull-off factor for urban centres, and thus touches the theme of migration in some way. Bishamber had already earned a fortune in Bombay, and now he wanted to finance Phatik’s education in Calcutta so that he could better his family’s economic position, given that Phatik had already lost his father and was supposed to be the sole breadwinner for the family.
5. Wavering between uncertain paths
When we are young, we think future days have something interesting in store for us. When we reach there, we miss the memories of youth. The same holds for Phatik in some ways. The boy who was pestering his uncle to go to the city now wanted to get back to his village!
The Homecoming short story
Motifs
Motifs are literary structures that recur throughout the story to reinforce the thematic ideas.
1. Holidays
Phatik keeps asking his uncle in Calcutta “Have the holidays come yet?” and “When can I go home?” This incessant questioning assumes the form of the literary device — refrain. (A refrain is some particular line in a story, poem or even a musical composition that gets repeated at regular intervals. For example, in Enrique Iglesias’ song “Ring My Bells”, the phrase “Ring My Bells”, has been used as a refrain that is sung after regular intervals).
In the end, Phatik himself answers the refrain, saying,’’ Mother, the holidays have come.”
It may be assumed that the lonely, isolated and feverish Phatik set off for the holidays of eternity and deep slumber (perhaps death) after getting a glimpse of his mother. True to Robert Frost, he was waiting for his mother to see because he had “miles to go” before sleep.
2. Scoldings
In his village, Phatik is scolded by his mother who sees him as a source of “perpetual nuisance.” In Calcutta, Phatik is rebuked by his aunt who sees the “country lout” as good-for-nothing. Thus, Phatik is destined to be reprimanded for many things that he cannot control much!
3. Abandonment
The story brings out how nothing but abandonment is destined for Phatik. First, his mother abandons him from his village. In the city, his aunt despises his presence. His cousins abandon him by mocking and insulting him. His teachers make no effort to understand him. Bishamber, who should have assumed a more responsible guardianship for Phatik remains a mute spectator all along, while all the other characters desert Phatik to desolation and loneliness.
When Phatik makes peace with his younger brother Makhan, we can assume that Makhan could become Phatik’s best confidant. However, it is already too late by now because by then Bishamber has already planned to take Phatik to Calcutta.
The Homecoming by Rabindranath Tagore
The Homecoming story of Phatik Chakravorti
Symbols
Symbols are used to predict the foreshadowing of events in the story.
1. The arrival of a boat on the shore towards Phatik
Phatik’s life in the village is full of mischief, happiness, fun, and leadership until the “grey-haired stranger”, i.e., his uncle arrives from a boat to the shore. Thus, it is hinted that the life of a village folk is peaceful until someone from outside intrudes into his life. That is because the intruder, often from a different world-view, brings with himself an uncertain glory of hopes, glamour, and money. Phatik too falls in the same trap.
2. Mother’s distress to see Phatik’s over-excitement before leaving for Calcutta
Phatik’s mother was indeed troubled by Phatik’s “perpetual nuisance”, yet she loved him as her dear son. Her distress to see Phatik’s “extreme eagerness” to leave for Calcutta rings a bell of caution as well as fear in the minds of readers as to what form the mother’s unease would take.
3. The peace-making effort of Phatik
Before leaving for Calcutta, Phatik shows exemplary generosity towards Makhan, as if he would never meet him again! He ‘bequeaths’ to Makhan in ‘perpetuity’ his fishing rod, his kite, and his marbles. It seems as if Phatik is signing his living will before he goes to a distant, far-off land from where there will be no ‘home-coming’.
4. Rain and Delirium
The last part of the story is set against the backdrop of torrential rain. Phatik is already down with a fever. Furthermore, his delirious state of speaking in sleep sets the mood for a very gloomy end.
The Homecoming story of Phatik by Rabindranath Tagore
Conclusion
The story “The Homecoming” brings out the sad fate of Phatik Chakravorti who fails to chip in through the city life. The last line of the story — “Mother, the holidays have come”- continues to haunt readers as to what exactly happened with Phatik. Did he leave for the ‘holidays’ forever? (Did Phatik die?). There is a strong possibility that Phatik entered into the long sleep of eternity. However, we are not told as to what happens next. It is left for the readers to surmise as per their understanding. And it is this ambiguity that makes this story so interesting.
One thing can be safely concluded that Phatik’s homecoming is not the village home that he longed for, but some other home. It is left for you and me to decipher the softer meanings of that other home where we all will enter, someday or the other.
Question for Discussion
Trace the character analysis of Phatik Chakravorti in the short story “The Homecoming.”
The protagonist of the story “The Homecoming” written by Rabindranath Tagore is Phatik Chakravorti. The short story traces the tumultuous journey of Phatik — from a “ringleader” to the likes of a “stray dog that has lost its master.”
At the beginning of the story, Phatik typifies a village boy laced with a carefree attitude. The author embarks upon setting a vivid contrast between the ‘rural’ Phatik and an ‘urban’ Phatik.
In the village, Phatik is involved in several acts of mischief. Notably, the story itself opens with Phatik carrying out a mischievous activity.
Phatik’s change in behaviour begins when he is about to leave for the city but ensures to make peace with his brother Makhan, and so gives him his toys. This is a significant change in Phatik, and it is insinuated as if Phatik must get all ready to embrace the changes on the anvil lest he should be swept away by those very changes. It is said that change alone is constant. Unfortunately, Phatik, a “country lout” and an “overladen ass” (as held by his aunt) fails to ‘chip in’ through the jostling of city life.
Phatik’s stay in Calcutta is marked by a string of attitudinal coldness displayed by the people he comes across. His aunt despises his presence, his cousins tease him, while his teachers flog him mercilessly. Phatik could have found a saviour in his uncle; however, Bishamber, his uncle, does not assume a proactive role in making the young boy feel at home in his home.
The author has designed Bishamber’s character such that he remains a mute spectator when Phatik is facing troubles. He had not even ‘briefed’ Phatik as to what all the young boy could anticipate in a city.
Phatik tries to escape but to no avail. He bears the brunt of his aunt yet again, and an unabated chain of scolding and taunting takes a toll on his health. It only ends up aggravating his ill-health. In the end, when his mother storms into Bishamber’s house Phatik opens his shivering mouth only to answer the question (“Have the holidays come yet?”) that he asks his uncle many times in the story.
The story ends up with the answering refrain “Mother, the holidays have come. “ It’s left open to the readers to surmise, as per their understanding, as to what Phatik’s answer entails. It may allude to some greater metaphysical debate, but then literature is a stream of social sciences — open to differing opinions and interpretations.
Hey, if you liked my work and would want me to write for your business or an academic assignment, you can contact me through:
E-mail — ranvirpoet3@gmail.com
LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/ranvir-k-pandey
