The Home-coming | ICSE Class 9 English Literature Notes

This note covers Rabindranath Tagore’s The Home-coming, its plot, characters, village and city settings, family relationships, themes, language, key quotations, difficult vocabulary and the meaning of its ending.

Who wrote The Home-coming, and what kind of text is it?

Author and central situation

Rabindranath Tagore is the author of The Home-coming. It is a short story, a brief prose narrative centred on a limited sequence of connected events. Its central character is Phatik Chakravorti, a village boy of fourteen who goes to live with his uncle in Calcutta.

The story follows a painful change in his circumstances. At first, Phatik leads the village boys and looks forward eagerly to leaving home. In Calcutta, he feels unwanted, struggles at school and longs for his mother. His excitement gives way to isolation and illness.

How is the experience presented?

The narrator, the voice telling the story, stands outside the events. This voice describes actions but also reveals feelings that other characters fail to understand. Readers learn about Phatik’s hunger for affection even when adults see him mainly as troublesome or unsuccessful.

The story therefore asks readers to look beyond outward conduct. Phatik can be mischievous, rude and violent, yet he is also vulnerable and eager to please. Recognising both sides is essential to understanding his suffering without pretending that his behaviour is faultless.

The movement from a noisy village quarrel to an anxious sickroom changes the emotional direction of the narrative. The opening invites amusement at childish pride; the conclusion invites compassion for a child whose deepest wish is to return home.

What happens in the story, section by section?

The log and the brothers’ quarrel

Phatik Chakravorti proposes moving a heavy log lying on a river mud-flat, a muddy stretch beside the water. The log is waiting to be shaped into a mast, the upright support on a sailing boat. The boys expect amusement from its owner’s anger and surprise.

His younger brother, Makhan, sits on the log and refuses to move. Phatik threatens to beat him but loses courage. Instead, he orders the boys to roll the log with Makhan still on it. Makhan falls, attacks Phatik and goes home crying.

Phatik then sits on a sunken barge, a flat-bottomed boat used for carrying goods. A stranger asks where the Chakravortis live. Phatik gives an unclear direction and then answers rudely. A servant soon carries him home despite his resistance.

His mother accuses him of hitting Makhan. Phatik denies this and asks her to question his brother. Makhan repeats the accusation. Phatik now strikes him in anger at the lie. His mother beats Phatik, and he pushes her aside, provoking another angry accusation.

Bishamber’s visit and the departure

The stranger arrives during the quarrel. He is Bishamber, the mother’s brother. He had gone into business in Bombay and has returned to Calcutta. After learning where his widowed sister lives, he comes to see her.

When Bishamber asks about the boys’ education, their mother describes Phatik as troublesome and Makhan as well behaved and fond of reading. Bishamber offers to educate Phatik with his own children in Calcutta. Both mother and son readily accept the proposal.

The mother feels relief because she fears Phatik may endanger Makhan. However, she is somewhat distressed by Phatik’s eagerness to leave. Phatik is intensely excited. Before departing, he gives Makhan his fishing-rod, big kite and marbles to keep permanently.

An unwelcome guest in Calcutta

Phatik’s aunt already has three boys and resents the extra responsibility. When she gives him a task, he is so pleased to be useful that he overdoes it. She responds by calling him stupid and sending him back to his lessons.

The city’s houses and walls surround him. He remembers his village meadow, river-banks, brook and companions. Above all, he longs for his mother. Her earlier prejudice against him does not prevent him from yearning for her presence.

At school, Phatik cannot answer questions and suffers beatings. While other boys play, he looks out at distant roofs. Seeing children playing on a terrace intensifies his longing. He finally asks his uncle when he can go home.

Bishamber tells him to wait for the holidays, which will not come until November. There is still a long time to wait. The promised holiday becomes the point towards which Phatik directs his hope of returning.

The lost book and attempted return

Phatik loses his lesson-book. Preparing lessons was difficult even with it; without it, preparation becomes impossible. The teacher repeatedly canes him, and his cousins, ashamed to acknowledge him, mock and insult him.

When Phatik tells his aunt about the loss, she complains about the expense of buying books. Later, he has a headache and shivers. He feels that he is going to have an attack of malarial fever, and fears becoming another nuisance to her.

The next morning, Phatik is missing. Searches fail during heavy rain, and Bishamber seeks police help. By the end of the day, two constables bring Phatik back, drenched, muddy, trembling and feverish. He says that he was trying to go home.

The sickroom and final words

Bishamber calls a doctor and stays beside Phatik through the night. In his fever, the boy asks whether the holidays have arrived. He also cries out to his mother not to beat him, insisting that he is telling the truth.

During a brief conscious interval, Phatik looks around as if expecting someone. Bishamber tells him that he has sent for his mother. The doctor later describes the boy’s condition as very critical. Phatik repeats river-steamer calls about measuring the water’s depth.

His mother finally rushes in and calls him her darling. Phatik briefly becomes still, then slowly turns his head. Without seeing anybody, he tells her that the holidays have come. The narrative ends with these words rather than a described journey back to the village.

How are the main characters presented?

Phatik: a leader who needs affection

Phatik begins as a confident leader among his companions. He invents the log prank and wants to maintain his authority when Makhan challenges him. His response is inventive but irresponsible, since it exposes his brother to danger for the boys’ amusement.

His anger does not explain his whole character. When departure approaches, he gives Makhan his valued possessions with great generosity. In Calcutta, his excessive eagerness to complete his aunt’s tasks reveals a wish for approval. These details complicate the image of an entirely disobedient boy.

Phatik’s school silence also differs from his village confidence. Among his companions he commands; before the teacher he cannot answer. This contrast, a placing together of differences, draws attention to the effect of his surroundings and relationships on his confidence.

Makhan and the mother

Makhan is stubborn during the log incident and refuses to yield to Phatik’s threat. After falling, he physically attacks his brother. His later false accusation conflicts with the mother’s description of him as exceptionally good. Her judgement is therefore partial.

The mother is prejudiced against Phatik and fears for Makhan’s safety. She quickly believes the younger boy and punishes the elder. Yet she is somewhat distressed by Phatik’s eagerness to leave, and her final cries express affection and anguish.

These mixed responses matter. Her conduct wounds Phatik, but she cannot be reduced to someone without any feeling for him. Equally, her affection at the end does not erase the earlier unfairness. The story holds the injury and the attachment together.

Bishamber, the aunt and the cousins

Bishamber offers practical help by taking responsibility for Phatik’s education. He responds to the disappearance by organising a search and asking the police for assistance. During the illness, he calls the doctor, holds Phatik’s hands and sends for his mother.

The aunt sees Phatik as an unwelcome addition to a household already containing her three sons. Her dismissive responses make him afraid to admit difficulties. Even when he is brought home seriously ill, her first response emphasises the trouble he has caused.

The cousins deepen his humiliation by being ashamed of their connection with him and joining the mockery. Their behaviour removes a possible source of companionship within both the family and school. Phatik is surrounded by relatives but still feels isolated.

These characters reveal different failures and forms of care. Bishamber’s compassion becomes especially visible in the sickroom; the aunt’s impatience and the cousins’ ridicule intensify Phatik’s distress. The mother remains the person he most longs to see.

How do the village and Calcutta settings shape Phatik’s experience?

Space, movement and belonging

Setting means the place and surrounding circumstances in which events occur. The village offers Phatik a meadow, river-banks and a brook. His remembered activities include kite-flying, wandering, singing, shouting, diving and swimming. These spaces are linked with movement and familiar companionship.

Calcutta is experienced through surrounding houses and walls. Phatik feels oppressed by neglect in his aunt’s home and wants to breathe freely in open country. The physical restriction and his emotional discomfort reinforce each other in the description.

This does not make the village a place without conflict. The log prank, Makhan’s accusation and the mother’s punishment all occur there. Phatik longs for home despite these painful experiences because it remains connected with familiarity, freedom and his mother.

What does the window reveal?

The school window places Phatik close to a view of other children’s play but apart from their enjoyment. When he sees children on a terrace, his heart aches. The scene makes his exclusion visible through a simple action: standing and looking.

The contrast is centred on Phatik’s experience, rather than a claim that every city child is unhappy or every village family is kind. The particular household and school responses explain why this move becomes so painful for him.

Rain also shapes the final crisis. The search takes place in a downpour, and Phatik returns drenched and feverish. These are concrete conditions of his failed attempt to go home.

What themes and message emerge from the story?

A theme is a central idea developed through characters and events. The Home-coming connects the need for affection with the experience of growing up, being misunderstood and living away from home. Its message emerges through suffering rather than a direct instruction from a character.

The need for love and recognition

Phatik’s eagerness to help his aunt shows how much a small sign of acceptance matters to him. He overdoes tasks because being asked makes him happy. Her criticism turns a possible moment of belonging into another experience of rejection.

The story suggests that providing a child with a place to live and an education is not the whole of care. Recognition, meaning acknowledgement of someone’s feelings and worth, is also needed. Phatik’s circumstances improve in intention while his emotional distress grows.

The vulnerability of adolescence

Adolescence is the stage of growth between childhood and adulthood. The narrator describes the awkward position of a fourteen-year-old who may be criticised for sounding either childish or too grown-up. Physical changes and self-consciousness make acceptance particularly important.

The harsh description of the boy as a nuisance is followed by an account of his craving for love. This change of emphasis invites readers to reconsider the impatient adult judgement. Phatik’s awkwardness is a reason for understanding, rather than a reason to withhold kindness.

Homesickness and belonging

Homesickness is distress caused by being away from home and familiar people. Phatik remembers places and companions, but his strongest attachment is to his mother. The story presents this longing as deeply felt and difficult for him to express.

His earlier delight at leaving does not cancel his later longing. Before departure, he imagines the excitement of Calcutta. After arrival, experience changes his feelings. The reversal shows the difference between anticipating a new life and actually living within unfamiliar relationships.

Unfair judgement and delayed understanding

The mother accepts Makhan’s accusation, the teacher punishes Phatik’s failures, and the cousins ridicule him. These responses repeatedly judge the visible problem without meeting the boy’s need for help. His fear of troubling his aunt makes even illness something he dreads revealing.

Compassion, sympathetic concern for another’s suffering, becomes clear in Bishamber’s vigil and the mother’s final arrival. Yet it comes after Phatik’s distress has become critical. The ending gives urgency to the need to notice unhappiness before a crisis exposes it.

How do language and literary devices create sympathy?

Humour at the beginning

Humour initially comes from describing a quarrel between boys in grand language. Makhan appears like a philosopher, a person engaged in thoughtful reflection, while Phatik worries about his dignity like a ruler. The language makes their small contest seem comically important.

A simile is a comparison using words such as “like” or “as”. Makhan’s apparent resemblance to a philosopher contrasts with the childish stubbornness of remaining on the log. He only appears thoughtful; the description does not establish that he is actually thinking philosophically.

Images of helplessness and longing

Imagery is language that evokes sensory experience. The remembered meadow, river-banks and brook help readers imagine the freedom Phatik misses. Against these pictures, the city’s houses and walls suggest the narrowness of his new life.

The comparison of a scolded adolescent with a stray dog that has lost its master communicates abandonment. It shifts attention from behaviour that adults find irritating to the uncertainty of someone who lacks a secure source of affection.

Phatik’s longing for his mother is compared with a calf’s lowing at twilight. Lowing means the deep calling sound made by cattle. This comparison presents his attachment as almost an animal instinct, a need felt deeply rather than explained through polished speech.

The school comparison with an overladen ass, a donkey carrying too much, stresses the burden and passive suffering of the beaten boy. His silence can therefore be understood as part of his distress rather than evidence that punishment is helping him learn.

Repetition and the final sea image

Repetition, the recurrence of a word or phrase, gives the holidays growing emotional force. First they are the future time when Phatik may return. During his illness, asking about them reveals how completely that hope occupies him.

A metaphor describes something through another thing without an explicit “like” or “as” comparison. Near the end, Phatik’s repeated depth calls lead into the image of an unfathomable sea, water whose depth cannot be measured.

The familiar river-steamer calls become a way of imagining an unknown passage. This supports a reading of the ending as approaching death. The image suggests that meaning; it does not supply a literal account of another boat journey.

Why are the title and final holidays significant?

A promised return

The title The Home-coming directs attention towards a return home. At first, however, Phatik wants to leave. This reversal gives the title force: the destination he eagerly abandons becomes the place he desperately wants to reach.

Bishamber’s answer connects return with the November holidays. For Phatik, holidays therefore mean more than freedom from schoolwork. They also promise reunion with his mother and release from the feeling that he is unwanted in his aunt’s household.

His attempt to leave before that time shows how painful the waiting has become. The police bring him back to the Calcutta house, while he explains that he was going home. Being returned to a place of residence does not satisfy his longing for belonging.

What does the ending allow us to infer?

Inference means a conclusion drawn from evidence rather than directly stated information. The doctor’s grave concern, Phatik’s confused speech and the image of the unmeasurable sea support the inference that he is approaching death.

His final declaration that the holidays have come can therefore suggest release from suffering. This is an interpretation of the ending. The final sentence does not explicitly report his death, recovery or arrival in the village.

Irony is a meaningful contrast between expectation and outcome. The expected homecoming would be a living boy’s return to familiar surroundings. Instead, the closing scene brings his mother to his sickbed while his condition is very critical.

The mother’s arrival gives the scene a partial emotional fulfilment: the person Phatik longs for is finally present. Yet he speaks without seeing anybody. Her presence does not turn the ending into an uncomplicated, joyful reunion.

The word holidays thus joins his earlier hope with the final crisis. It can be read both as the confused language of a feverish boy and as an image of release. Keeping these levels distinct preserves the ending’s tenderness and uncertainty.

Which key quotations help answer questions about character and meaning?

Resistance, excitement and belonging

“Go and find out,”

Speaker and context: Phatik replies to the stranger asking where the Chakravortis live. His answer reveals discourtesy and defiance. It prevents a sentimental reading that makes him perfectly behaved before his suffering begins.

“Oh, yes, uncle!”

Speaker and context: Phatik accepts Bishamber’s invitation to go to Calcutta. His enthusiasm matters because the later homesickness reverses his own expectation. He does not begin the journey as a reluctant boy forced to leave against his wishes.

“Wait till the holidays come.”

Speaker and context: Bishamber answers Phatik’s request to go home. The response places reunion in the future. For a boy already unhappy and isolated, the interval before November becomes emotionally difficult to bear.

The failed escape and final declaration

“Uncle, I was just going home; but they dragged me back again.”

Speaker and context: Phatik explains his disappearance after the police return him. The sentence identifies his purpose directly. It also reveals why being brought back feels painful to him, even while Bishamber is concerned for his safety.

“Mother! I am telling the truth!”

Speaker and context: Phatik cries out during his fever after pleading not to be beaten. His words recall the earlier experience of not being believed. Illness brings both his need for his mother and his fear of punishment into speech.

“Mother, the holidays have come.”

Speaker and context: Phatik speaks after his mother reaches the sickroom. The phrase returns to the earlier promise of going home. Its possible suggestion of final release depends on the critical illness surrounding it, rather than on the word “holidays” alone.

Each quotation connects a precise moment with a larger change in Phatik’s experience. Together they move from resistance and eager departure to longing, attempted return and the final ambiguous declaration. Their contexts prevent a phrase from being treated as if it explained the whole story independently.

Glossary

• Ringleader — The person who leads others in mischief, as Phatik leads the village boys.
• Mud-flat — A flat stretch of muddy ground beside water, where the heavy log lies.
• Mast — The upright support on a sailing boat, for which the log is intended.
• Sauntered — Walked slowly and casually, as Makhan approaches the boys and the log.
• Manoeuvre — A planned action intended to achieve an advantage or overcome a difficulty.
• Discomfit — To defeat, embarrass or upset someone, as Phatik hopes to upset Makhan.
• Barge — A flat-bottomed boat used for carrying goods, on which Phatik sits by the river.
• Bequeathed — Gave something to another person, used grandly for Phatik’s gift of his possessions.
• In perpetuity — Permanently or for all future time, describing Makhan’s possession of the gifts.
• Impertinent — Rudely disrespectful, particularly towards someone older or regarded as having authority.
• Wistfulness — Sad longing for something absent, reflected in Phatik’s desire for familiar affection.
• Delirious — Mentally confused during illness, with speech or perceptions disturbed by the fever.
• Plumb-line — A weighted line used here to measure the depth of the water.
• Unfathomable — Impossible to measure in depth, and figuratively beyond complete understanding or knowledge.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Phatik initially hits Makhan before the log is rolled. Correct: He threatens him and orders the rolling. He actually strikes Makhan later at home, after the false accusation is repeated.
• Misconception: Phatik leaves for Calcutta unwillingly. Correct: He is intensely eager to go and gives Makhan his fishing-rod, kite and marbles before departing.
• Misconception: Makhan’s goodness is an impartial description. Correct: His mother praises him, but his stubbornness, attack on Phatik and false accusation complicate her judgement.
• Misconception: The mother has no affection for Phatik. Correct: She is prejudiced against him but somewhat distressed by his eagerness to leave; her final arrival expresses anguish and love.
• Misconception: Phatik loses five books each month. Correct: One lost lesson-book is narrated. The aunt’s complaint about buying books five times a month expresses her contempt, not a verified total.
• Misconception: The doctor confirms malaria. Correct: Phatik feels an attack of malarial fever is coming. The doctor later calls his condition very critical without naming a diagnosis.
• Misconception: The ending explicitly describes Phatik’s death or a successful return to the village. Correct: Neither event is narrated. Approaching death and release are interpretations supported by the final sickroom scene.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Makhan sits on the log and refuses to move. Phatik threatens him, then orders the boys to roll the log with Makhan still on it. Identify two qualities this conduct reveals in Phatik. [2 marks]

1. Phatik is domineering: he expects his younger brother to obey and responds to resistance with a threat.
2. He is reckless: ordering the occupied log to be rolled puts Makhan at risk in order to overcome his refusal to move.

Q2. Phatik’s mother calls Makhan good and fond of reading. However, Makhan refuses to leave the log, attacks Phatik after falling, and falsely claims that Phatik hit him. Explain three ways this evidence complicates the mother’s judgement. [3 marks]

1. Makhan’s refusal to leave the log shows stubbornness, so his behaviour is less consistently obedient than his mother’s praise suggests.
2. His attack after falling shows that aggression is not confined to Phatik; the younger brother also responds physically when angry.
3. His false accusation demonstrates dishonesty, making the mother’s favourable judgement partial rather than a complete account of his conduct.

Q3. In Calcutta, Phatik’s aunt resents his presence. He overdoes tasks because he is pleased to help, but she calls him stupid. At school, his cousins mock him and are ashamed to acknowledge him. Explain three aspects of his isolation shown here. [3 marks]

1. The aunt’s resentment makes Phatik feel unwelcome within the household, weakening the sense of security that family accommodation might otherwise provide.
2. His eagerness to help is met with criticism, so an attempt to gain approval becomes another experience of rejection.
3. The cousins’ mockery extends his humiliation into school and denies him supportive companionship from relatives who share his daily surroundings.

Q4. Phatik remembers a meadow for kite-flying, river-banks for wandering and a brook for swimming. In Calcutta he feels surrounded by houses and walls and watches other children playing on distant terraces. Analyse the contrast between the two settings in four points. [4 marks]

1. The remembered meadow associates the village with the pleasure of active outdoor play and the freedom to pursue a familiar pastime.
2. The river-banks and brook extend that freedom through wandering and swimming, giving his memories a strong sense of movement.
3. The surrounding houses and walls make Calcutta feel restrictive to him, contrasting with the openness of the places he remembers.
4. Watching distant children places him outside their enjoyment; the scene expresses loneliness through separation from play that he can see.

Q5. Consider these events: Phatik loses his lesson-book; without it he cannot prepare lessons; the teacher canes him repeatedly; his cousins mock him; his aunt responds with contempt when told about the book. Explain in five points how the loss intensifies his distress. [5 marks]

1. The lost book creates an immediate practical obstacle: Phatik cannot prepare the lessons required of him, so his difficulty has a clear material cause.
2. His inability to prepare makes the classroom a place of repeated failure, adding to the pressure associated with attending school each day.
3. The teacher’s repeated caning adds physical pain to the academic difficulty, intensifying distress instead of removing the problem of the missing book.
4. The cousins’ mockery adds humiliation to punishment, because relatives who might have offered companionship instead make his experience more painful.
5. The aunt’s contempt denies a sympathetic response when he reports the loss, leaving him without reassuring support at home as well as at school.

Q6. Bishamber tells Phatik to wait until the November holidays to go home. Later, the police return him from an attempted journey home. During a very critical illness he repeats river-steamer depth calls; the narrator imagines an unfathomable sea. He longs for his mother; she arrives, and he says that the holidays have come. Explain the title and ending in six points, distinguishing evidence from inference. [6 marks]

1. The title directs attention to returning home, while Bishamber’s promise gives that return a future time associated with the November holidays.
2. Phatik’s attempted journey shows that reunion matters urgently to him: he tries to reach home before the promised waiting period ends.
3. The police return him, so the attempted homecoming is interrupted. The supplied events do not describe a completed journey to his village.
4. The critical illness and unfathomable sea image support an inference of approaching death, although the final declaration does not explicitly announce death.
5. The mother’s arrival brings the person he longs for into the sickroom, giving his wish a partial emotional fulfilment at a moment of danger.
6. The final holidays can suggest release from suffering. This interpretation gives the expected homecoming a tragic meaning rather than establishing a happy physical return.

Key takeaways

• Phatik is both mischievous and vulnerable; his faults coexist with generosity, longing and an intense need for acceptance.
• The log incident exposes sibling rivalry and the mother’s partial judgement before the move to Calcutta takes place.
• Phatik eagerly accepts his uncle’s invitation, but neglect in the new household turns excitement into painful homesickness.
• The village’s remembered open spaces contrast with the houses, walls and social isolation of Phatik’s experience in Calcutta.
• The lost lesson-book deepens academic difficulty, punishment and humiliation, while the aunt’s contempt prevents a reassuring response at home.
• Bishamber shows compassion during the illness, and the mother’s final arrival reveals affection alongside the story’s earlier unfair treatment.
• The holidays connect the promised return with the ending; approaching death is a supported interpretation rather than an explicitly narrated event.

Test yourself

What was the heavy log intended to become?

It was waiting to be shaped into a mast for a boat.

Why does Phatik strike Makhan inside the house?

He loses patience when Makhan repeats the false accusation that Phatik had hit him earlier.

How is Bishamber related to Phatik?

Bishamber is the brother of Phatik’s mother, making him Phatik’s maternal uncle.

What does Phatik give Makhan before leaving?

He gives Makhan his fishing-rod, big kite and marbles to keep permanently.

Why does Phatik overdo tasks for his aunt?

Being asked to help makes him overjoyed, revealing how strongly he wants her approval and acceptance.

What distinction matters when describing Phatik’s fever?

Phatik suspects an attack of malarial fever; the doctor describes a critical condition without naming a diagnosis.

Why does the aunt’s complaint not establish five lost books?

It is her contemptuous complaint about expense. The narrative actually describes the loss of one lesson-book.

What does the final statement about holidays leave unstated?

It does not explicitly narrate death, recovery or a return to the village, although the surrounding details suggest approaching death.