Summary

At Green Vale, Mr. Biswas is once again sharing living space with strangers, this time in a barracks with eleven other families. He is more determined than ever to get a house of his own. He is ineffective in his job overseeing laborers on the estate, and they mock him. He is unhappy and has more quarrels with Shama about the situations he keeps getting into because of her family. Shama goes back to Hanuman House and continues to live there much of the time.

He buys an elaborate dollhouse as a Christmas present for Savi, but the extravagance of the gift causes conflict among the other families and Shama feels compelled to destroy the dollhouse in order to keep peace. Mr. Biswas is enraged when he finds out and calls her a bitch. Indignantly, he takes Savi back to Green Vale with him, but her...