Student Question
What is the name of Hari and Lila's village in The Village by the Sea?
Quick answer:
Hari and Lila's village in The Village by the Sea is called Thul, located in Western India. Anita Desai notes that Thul is a real place and the characters are based on its residents, with only their names changed. The village is characterized by the sounds of exotic birds and the natural environment, providing a contrasting backdrop to the family's struggles with poverty and their dilapidated home.
In The Village by the Sea, the name of the village in which Hari and Lila's family live is Thul, which is located in Western India.
As Anita Desai tells us in her author's note, Thul is a real place, and all the characters in the book are based on people who live in the village. All that's changed are their names.
The village has its own distinct sounds, consisting of the songs of exotic birds such as crested bulbuls, drongos, crow pheasants, and magpie robins. All of these sounds constitute the voice of the village, as much as the mighty roar of the waves and the sound of the wind in the palms.
They also seem to tell Lila to be calm and happy and that everything will turn out just fine. And yet when Lila takes a look at the rundown little shack in which she and her family live, she realizes that all is not well, whatever the myriad birdsongs might suggest. The truth is that the hut is falling to pieces and should have been re-hatched years ago.
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