The Village by the Sea

The Village by the Sea  
The Village By The Sea (1982) is a novel written by the popular Indian American writer Anita Desai. It is based on the poverty, hardships and sorrow faced by a small rural community in India.
{text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Plot
The Village by the Sea is set in a small village called Thul, which is 14 km (8.7 mi) from Bombay. Lila, the eldest child among the four siblings, is thirteen years old. Her twelve-year-old brother Hari is the only person with whom she can share her troubles. Their mother is ill and needs constant care and nursing. She is anaemic due to malnourishment and is growing weaker and weaker by the day. Their father who has been out of work for months is a drunkard, and always yells at his family about everything when he is not in a drunken state.
With two younger sisters to take care of as well as their mother, life for Lila and Hari is not easy at all. Their father is not very helpful as he is often away at the local toddy shop. There is a constant need for money as the family is almost always in debt. Hari decides that he has had just about enough and leaves for Bombay (now know as Mumbai).
Lila is left alone to manage her sisters Bela and Kamal, as well as her mother, and somehow keep the family strings together. Help comes from an unexpected source, the rich De Silva's.
Meanwhile, Lila, Bela and Kamal are forced to admit their sick mother in town hospital through the help of the De Silvas. Their father turns over a new leaf, and accompanies their mother throughout her 7 month treatment without drinking and without having any debts. While Hari returns, he returns as a child who is adapted to the changing environment like the birds that are symbolized.
  Themes
The themes in 'The Village by the Sea' are:
  Harsh living conditions in India
      Adaptations to changing environments
      Poverty, hardships and sadness of rural Indians
      Hari as a central character of this and... [continues]

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