The Home and the World

The Home and the World illustrates the battle between the ideas of Western culture and revolution against the Western culture in India. These two ideas are portrayed in two of the main characters, Nikhil, who is rational and opposes violence, and Sandip, who will let nothing stand in his way from reaching his goals. These two opposing ideals are very important in understanding the history of the Bengal region and its contemporary problems. The novel is set in early 20th century India. The story line coincides with the National Independence Movement taking place in the country at the time, which was sparked by the Indian National Congress.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali polymath, a poet, musician and artist from the Indian subcontinent. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his elegant prose and magical poetry remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Author of the 'profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse' of Gitanjali, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.