The Home and the World was interesting to read and Tagore’s choice to have the three main characters have their own point of view chapters was important to the effect of the book. Although Bimala is the real protagonist, her ideas and thoughts can only convey so much about the issues in this book. By allowing the reader to see parts of the story from Nikhil’s point of view, or Sandip’s, each character’s motivations are clearer and the emotional impact of some of their choices is much stronger. When we see how much Nikhil cares for Bimala, even though he fears he is losing her to Sandip, it makes us appreciate him more as a character and how unique he is. He treats his wife with respect and tries to help the people of his region be self sufficient and live as well as they can. He is unlike all other zamindars which is why he and Sandip have such an interesting relationship. They do not agree with each other about the swadeshi movement yet they never become violent towards each other or shout, as they both respect each other. Sandip eventually gets caught up in the fervor of the movement and starts to turn greedy and selfish while Nikhil becomes even more selfless, going to help the people of his region and ultimately dying trying to restore order. Sandip does not look for the long term solutions, he is living for the moment and each day brings a new goal for him. Bimala has to watch this transformation of Sandip throughout the story and only towards the end does she see how much it has changed him, while her husband has stayed loyal and steadfast in his beliefs. She realizes that he is the only man she wants in her life but then he is snatched away from her, leaving her a widow to live in regret of what could have been. Although sad, I think this ending is brilliant as it shows how important is is to live life to the fullest. Nikhil never stopped trying to improve the lives of his people and he tried and tried to free his wife from her simple existence to be educated. Bimila unfortunately wasted much of her time simply being, not living like her husband.
"Bimila unfortunately wasted much of her time simply being, not living like her husband'' I think both Bimila and her husband lived life to the fullest in accordance to what was important to them. Bimila took advantage of the freedom her husband granted her and actively participated in the Swadeshi movement. She even went on to have an affair and try to manipulate her husband for the “benefit” of the movement. Although, I do not approve of her choices, she did live life. She was one of the selected few women who have the opportunity to have discussion with their husbands and disagree with him without it being disastrous. Nikhil also lived by supporting the Swadeshi movement by investing his time and money into the local people and even dying for them in the end. I think the only regrettable thing about the lives of the two characters was their inability to communicate directly with each other. Had they done that I am sure that the affair would have never happened and they could have lived together longer as husband and wife.
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