The story “B.WORDSWORTH”by V.S.Naipaul reflects a universal theme - the search for identity and meaning in life.

The story “B.WORDSWORTH”by V.S.Naipaul reflects a universal theme - the search for identity and meaning in life.

 The main  themes of this  postcolonial story “B.WORDSWORTH” by V.S.Naipaul are varied but they  mainly depict struggles of native people against the difficulty to establish their own identity, the unpredictable changes in economy, the uncertainty of future and cultural confusion, issues too unsavory to devour. B. Wordsworth is in many ways an archetypal figure in that he embodies a universal theme - the search for identity and meaning in life. He fights to the finish to maintain his independence and identity. However, he falters in his calculations and fails miserably and remains a kind of everyman whose identity crisis is a never ending story.

The imperious colonizers had a deep rooted mindset that compelled them to control their colonies and change their national identities and interests by means of education. They impacted the thoughts and ideas held by the impressionable younger generation through implanting colonial ideologies in their minds. Consequently, the original culture and identity and the fossilized mindset of the coming generation were lost in the new pendulous world order. Understandably, for the realization of their so called noble aim of bringing about civilization in the illiterate, indecorous and uncivilized world, they introduced their literatures to the colonies and tried to eliminate their native, indigenous cultures. It is because of this that B.Wordsworth has a fascination for imitation of western ways as well as writing of poetry in the colonizer’s language. He imitates and reflects colonizers’ lifestyle and views. "He was a small man and he was tidily dressed. He wore a hat, a white shirt and black trousers. The man was so impressed by the dress sense of the British that he chose to cling to the laid down parameters of the British dress code.

I asked, "What you want?" He said, "I want to watch your bees." His English was so good, it didn't sound natural, and I could see my mother was worried. She said to me, "Stay here and watch him while he watch the bees." The man said, "Thank you, Madam. You have done a good deed today." He spoke very slowly and very correctly as though every word was costing him money.” His impeccable and flawless English intimidates the young boy because he feels  that the man is highly educated and refined. When the young boy asks his name the man responds, "Black Wordsworth. White Wordsworth was my brother. We share one heart." He got up and said, "I am a poet." I said, "A good poet?" He said, "The greatest in the world." I can watch a small flower like the morning glory and cry.” The "White Wordsworth" that the man spoke of is William Wordsworth. This famous Romantic poet was known for his love for Nature. The imitation of colonizers identity made him establish an instant correlation with the literary tradition of English literature.   He wrote in the pattern of the great poet, Wordsworth, a poem that would address humanity when it was ready after twenty two years. He said, "I have been working on it for more than five years now. I just write one line a month. But I make sure it is a good line." I asked, "What was last month's good line?" He looked up at the sky, and said, "The past is deep.” His choice of William Wordsworth as his mentor poet, underlines that he has lost his original identity to the West.

B. Wordsworth is a lover of Nature. Surrounded by overgrown weeds, bushes and trees, he lived in Alberto Street in a one-roomed hut. “The yard seemed all green. There was a big mango tree. There was a coconut tree and there was a plum tree. The place looked wild, as though it wasn't in the city at all. You couldn't see all the big concrete houses in the street. The mangoes were sweet and juicy.”

 The story also explores the relationship between the individual and his society, and of course the unending, gnawing and damning dilemma, he  experiences to adjust in. The colonial experience made Africans feel they were living in-between two worlds. They were “hybrid people.” Their zealous wish to keep their culture and tradition alive, made them inextricably cling to them but at the same time they could not escape the inexorable elements that they explored to satisfy their craving for modernity or that the modern world imposed on them.

B. Wordsworth falls into this category. Despite his western inclinations, he has not  lost his traditions and values, as is seen in the expression,  "How you does live, Mr. Wordsworth?" I asked him one day. He said, "You mean how I get money?" When I nodded, he laughed in a crooked way. He said, "I sing calypsoes in the calypso season." He has not acquired the love for monetary gains as preached by the Western thought. He keeps on writing in spite of the fact  that his poetry fails to do business. Nobody is ready to buy his poetry. “He pulled out a printed sheet from his hip-pocket and said, "On this paper is the greatest poem about mothers and I'm going to sell it to you at a bargain price. For four cents." I went inside and I said, "Ma, you want to buy a poetry for four cents?" My mother said, "Tell that blasted man to haul his tail away from my yard, you hear."  I said, "Is a funny way to go round selling poetry like that. Only calypsonians do that sort of thing.” 

He is shown to have an appreciation for all things natural, showing a thoughtful insight toward Trinidad and its surroundings. “We went for long walks together. We went to the Botanical Gardens and the Rock Gardens. We climbed Chancellor Hill in the late afternoon and watched the darkness fall on Port of Spain, and watched the lights go on in the city and on the ships in the harbour.”

The impact of colonization can be seen here. The story is set in Trinidad on Miguel Street during the Great Depression. There are many beautiful sights to behold in Trinidad, but no one has the time or money to admire them. In times of economic hardship, people are more bothered about making both ends meet  than wasting time in watching  bees or other beautiful  sights.

 The colonized subjects learn how to speak the settlers’ language, and bit by bit, they find themselves mixing their native language with that of the colonizer. This is obvious in the language spoken by the mother and son. They do not speak refined English- My mother said when I got home, "Where you was? You think you is a man now and could go all over the place? Or the boy "But why you does keep on going round, then?"  "You really think I is a poet?" "You sell any poetry yet?"  "Mister Wordsworth, why you does keep all this bush in your yard? Ain't it does make the place damp?"

According to Ninkovich, “An identity crisis is a period of disorientation in which values and relationships once taken for granted are thrown into question. Questions of self-adjustment  bedevil individuals caught up in an identity crisis like” who am I?” and “where do I belong?”

The torn between two worlds local who reflected the feelings of the native subjects but supported western education and self consciously followed the western ideology as a sign of superiority,  had difficulty in finding his real self. He faced the dilemma of recognition and  had to  struggle to prove his identity. He was a lost man caught in the vicious circle of  who he really is, and where he really wants to belong. This is poignantly expressed when the policeman questions him, "What you doing here?" B. Wordsworth said, "I have been asking myself the same question for forty years."

It was obvious that such a man experienced identity crisis and was alienated and perceived as a stranger to his own people. Now, to satiate his earnest quest for belongingness, he preferred to create his own world, a world of “reconciliation” with tradition and bearing of the new identity. He wanted to maintain bonds with his community so that he did not remain alone or alienated. He did not want to be alienated in both  worlds, the world he lived in and the world he normally belonged to. But he was mostly unsuccessful in bridging the gap and the natives could never repose faith in him or praise his endeavors. The mother of the narrator looked at him with distrustful eyes and ordered her son to keep a close watch. She thrashed the boy when he returned late one evening after meeting B.Wordsworth and she refused to buy his poetry and called him “blasted man.”What is surprising is that the man is accustomed to such treatment by the natives- “B. Wordsworth said, "It is the poet's tragedy." And he put the paper back in his pocket. He didn't seem to mind.”

Toward the end, we find B. Wordsworth caught between the two worlds. No respect and appreciation from his world and no acceptance by the world of his aspirations. He is a true artist having feelings of consideration   and  concern for humanity. He does not want the boy to follow his footsteps and end up wrecked and broken or meet the same fate. That is why he declares to the narrator that he had fabricated everything. He said, "The poem is not going well." "When I was twenty I felt the power within myself." He said, "But that-that was a long time ago." And then-I felt so keenly Death on the shrinking face. He pulled me to his thin chest, and said, "Do you want me to tell you a funny story?" That story I told you about the boy poet and the girl poet, do you remember that? That wasn't true. It was something I just made up. All this talk about poetry and the greatest poem in the world, that wasn't true, either. Isn't that the funniest thing you have heard?" But his voice broke.”

He could see before his eyes his artistic magnificence wrecked and his struggle to create an identity for himself thwarted and stifled.