VS Naipaul's Miguel Street Chapter 2

Chapter 2: “The Thing Without a Name”

The narrator introduces Popo, a self-proclaimed carpenter whose unfinished workshop is always full of hammering and sawdust. Whenever the boy asks what he is making, Popo gives the same mysterious answer: “the thing without a name.” The narrator tries making an egg stand for his mother, but she uses it for a week and then forgets it—prompting Popo to insist that nameless things are the only things worth making.

Though Popo is friendly and thoughtful with the boy, the men on Miguel Street think he is conceited because he takes a glass of rum outside each morning, dips a finger in it, and waves to passersby. His wife works while he makes no money, giving Hat another reason to question Popo’s manliness. The narrator, meanwhile, enjoys visiting her workplace and the garden maintained by its handsome gardener.

Then Popo’s wife disappears. Heartbroken, Popo stops working, drinks heavily, and becomes angry and tearful. The men who once mocked him gather at his workshop to keep him company. Hat even revises his opinion: Popo is now “a man like any of we.” But their friendship doesn’t make Popo happy, and he eventually leaves to look for his wife.

The search ends in a calypso-worthy scandal: Popo has beaten up the gardener who took his wife. The street delights in the song that follows, and the narrator boasts about knowing the famous “carpenter fella.” When Popo returns, he drives away his drinking buddies and resumes working. He paints his house bright green with a red roof, fills it with new furniture, and—soon enough—his wife comes back. Hat jokes that she’s returning for the newly decorated house, not Popo. Popo is happy, and the old “thing without a name” refrain returns.

But the mystery has a less poetic explanation. Popo is jailed for stealing the furniture—and apparently the paint and brushes too. He had been remodeling stolen goods and selling whatever he didn’t want. The neighborhood treats the news as a shameful but oddly impressive bit of street life; Popo returns from jail as a local hero. The narrator, however, feels sad: Popo has become a conventional, productive carpenter, making chairs, tables, and wardrobes. When the boy asks about the nameless thing, Popo snaps at him to go away.

Personalities

• The narrator — A boy who admires Popo and watches his rise, troubles, and transformation.
• Popo — An eccentric would-be carpenter devoted to “the thing without a name.”
• Hat — A sharp-tongued neighborhood commentator whose opinions of Popo shift over time.
• Popo’s wife, called Auntie by the narrator — Works as a cook and later returns to Popo.
• The gardener — The man who takes Popo’s wife away.
• Bogart — Another man on the street, briefly mentioned as a contrast to Popo.