What do I need to know about ... Krishna's Home?


Brief Description

General Information:
· Located a town called Malgudi, made up by R.K. Narayan
· There are two houses, Family House and “The Jasmine Home”
· Susila was impressed by the bathroom tiles on the wall at the Bombay Anand Bhavan Hotel. It is perhaps ironic then that she contracts Typhoid in a bathroom

House they intended to buy (The Jasmine House > Susila’s House):
· Jasmine Home: named after Susila, Krishna pet-name for Susila is Jasmine
· Meant to symbolize the start of their new life > Married couple
o Ironic, Death of Susila (Typhoid, eventual cause of death and incorrect diagnosis by doctor [Western])
o Leads to Krishna starting a new life due to death and consequent circumstances > Irony in an Irony
o Closer to the river compared to the ‘Family House’
§ River > Represents cleansing (Eastern tradition)
§ Susila, washes feet in river
· Contracts typhoid through feet, ironic in that the river is meant to protect from/cleanse Disease (People bathe in the river, Krishna's 'enlightenment')
Family House:
· Family Home: The house where Susila’s death occurred, house which they settled down in

Key Quotations

'What an awful kitchen!' [Krishna's Mother'
This shows how Krishna and Susila may have wanted to move house eventually, indirect cause to Susila's death. Krishna is very obedient towards his mother and also Susila is his mother pupil in that she is being taught how be to a housewife, therefore such a statement would have exerted considerable power over these two characters
'We can't have everything our way in a house thats built by someone else...'
This shows that Susila wants the house to suit their everyday life and that it feels awkward that there was a previous owner that was here


Its role in the novel

Family House - The family house is the house in which a majority of the event surrounding Krishna's family occur i.e. the death of Susila
The Jasmine House - House which Krishna and Susila were intending to purchase [Chapters 2 and 3]