B.

WORDSWORTH
BY
V.S NAIPAUL

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 B. Wordsworth
appears in Naipaul’s
‘Miguel Street’ which is
a collection of linked
short stories with each
story focussing on a
single character. B.
Wordsworth is a
calypsonian poet, who
befriends the
narrator, a young
impressionable and
inquisitive boy. The
story is written with
the aim of motivating
the readers to
appreciate poetry and
beauty in the nature
that surrounds us.
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 Whereas the
The protagonist young boy lives
B. Wordsworth in Miguel
lives in a small Street. The
hut in Alberto story is not set
Street on a particular
day or time .

It stretches over to a
long period which
fosters the boy’s
friendship with B.
Wordsworth.

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 ❖ The story is set in
postcolonial, Trinidad, Port
of Spain during the Great
Depression, a time of
economic hardships. The
author is making a point
that people care more about
themselves rather than they
do about nature that
surrounds them.
 Different instances of
the story take place at
different places. It
starts with the strange
man coming to the boy’s
home to watch bees. A
week later the story
shifts to B.
Wordsworth’s small hut
where the boy relishes
mangoes. There are also
different real places
mentioned that forms
the part of the story.
 Unlike other
houses in It was all green
Miguel street and had a
or Alberto coconut, a
Street, his mango and a
yard was filled plum tree.
with bushes.

“The place looked wild,

as though it wasn’t in
the city at all”.
B. Wordsworth He being a
felt and showed warm-hearted
love and man, offered
affection for the boy ripe,
the young red mangoes
fatherless boy. from his yard.

When the boy was

upset and angry with
his mother the man
comforted him.
He took the boy out
for a walk.

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 The protagonist B.
Wordsworth clarifies that
B in his name stands for
Black and ‘White
Wordsworth’, the great
nature poet is his brother.
Like William Wordsworth,
he is also a lover of
nature. He loves to walk
outside, he is fond of
watching a variety of
objects in nature.
 Failure and disappointment is
an important theme of the
story, “B. Wordsworth”. He
was the society’s solitary
creative voice. On superficial
level, being creative and
intellectually curious alienated
him from his neighbours, who
were leading materialistic life.
B. Wordsworth, as a lover of
nature, observed even the
smallest marvels like the path
of a pin in water and from
these observations, he distilled
lessons.

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 Escapism is
Escapism is one defined as a
of the themes of habitual diversion
the story of the mind to
reflected purely
through the imaginative
protagonist, B. activity or
Wordsworth. entertainment as
an escape.

It allows people to forget

about the real problems of
life. In an attempt to deal
with the futility of inner-
city life in post-colonial
Trinidad, he embraces
escapism .

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