The story takes place in India in the setting of Old Delhi with few references to New Delhi. The author places the story at the turn of the Indian revolution when India and Pakistan are separated and there is tension between the Hindus and Muslims. It depicts the life of an Indian and allows us to delve into a culture way different from our own. It places us right in the heat of the terror when unleashes as the Hindus and Muslims waged war against one another. Anita Desai allows us to view the war and the death of Mahatma Gandhi through the eyes of an Indian. These political and religious issues place a strain on the relationships between the characters of the play. Raja had always admired Hyder Ali Sahib,as he rode on his great white horse with a servant in front and a dog behind. Raja is ecstatic when Hyder Ali invites him to his home and allows him to borrow books from his library. Raja frequently visits Hyder Ali's home. Raja'a family becomes sceptical of his realtionship with Hyder Ali as they were of different religious and political backgrounds. Hyder Ali encourages Raja to go to a Muslim school and major in literature but raja's father refuses to send him as he is aware of the revolt that will soon take place between the Muslims and the Hindus and he does not want raja to be killed, as he is a Hindu. so raja's choice of school was affected. also his consortium of friends was affected, as he was "pro-Muslim", many of his associates became sceptical of him as he was in support of what they were against. Anti-Muslim terrorists who attended his school tried to get him to join their group but when he refused and threatened to report them, they reported him instead as a traitor to Hindus. The revolt began and his dear friend, Hyder Ali and his family, is forced to flee...Raja fell sick with tuberculosis and was extremely disturbed when he learnt that they had left without informing him. He then puts pressure on Bim who was his closest sibling, to find out what was going on with the Hyder Alis. This puts a strain on their relationship. Bim and Raja's doctor, Dr. Biswas, were beginning to go out, though Bim was not entirely interested. When Bim goes with him to meet his mother, on her way home she hears of Mohammed Gandhi's death. At this, Bim runs unto a bus to tell Raja of this mishap, leaving Dr. Biswas standing there all alone. This was the end of her first and last romantic interest. Raja is perturbed at the news but is relieved when he hears that Gandhi was killed by a Hindu and not a Muslim as this would cause a great on slaughter of the Muslims putting Hyder Ali and his would be wife, Benazir, in danger. This whole religious and political disturbance then in turn determines Raja'a final home, as he leaves to go to Hyderabad to be with his dear friend Hyder Ali and his daughter Benazir who he would soon marry. This drives a hedge between Bim and Raja. Their relationship was never quite the same again.
Symbols found in the book are the rose walk, the well, the family’s house, Old Delhi and New Delhi. The rose walk may be described as a representation of the passage of time. As upon Tara’s visit home, the first place she brings her sister to is the rose walk. Here is where she sees most of the unchanged things, for although the roses are still there, they are slimmer and weaker. Thus, the rose walk is mentioned several times throughout the book. The well symbolises death to the family. The well is located in the garden of the family house and becomes a strong symbol of death to the siblings especially with the death of their cow that drowned in the well. The novel takes place almost entirely at the family's house. Although characters come and go as they pass away or grow up and move out, the house itself remains unchanged and those who remain in it, Bim and Baba, seem unchanged, as well, when Tara arrives to visit as an adult, years later. Old Delhi is the place where the children grew up with their family and where their house still sits, unchanged. The house symbolizes no change. New Delhi is the city where everything changes and where all the action seems to be far removed from the unchanged Old Delhi.
A theme is the central idea or ideas, image, or motif, repeated or developed throughout a work. A work of literature may have more than one theme. The themes of politics and of women’s situation in India are the main themes utilized in the book, Clear Light of Day. The novel deals with the political situation in India before, during, and after Independence in 1947, and how the partition in turn affected both India as a country, and individuals on a personal level. Through the characters in the novel we are given an insight into how everyday Indians dealt with the crisis, and how their lives have been in the aftermath of the partition. Desai’s focus is mainly on the women of the Das family, and through the various female characters we get to see the different choices they have in life. The theme of politics may be seen throughout the book as the setting for the story takes place at the time when British India became independent and was divided into Pakistan and India. This division had a great impact on the characters of the novel and also influences major life decisions made by these characters. For example, as there was a war between Pakistan and India, the Muslim and Hindu, the Hyder Ali family was forced to move from Old Delhi to Hyderabad. This resulted in Raja moving to be with this family in Hyderabad. This action started the distance both physically and emotionally between Raja and his closest sister Bim.
The theme of women’s situation in India is also very prevalent in this novel as it is based upon the experiences of two sisters, Bimla and Tara. For example, Tara is portrayed as the traditional Indian woman who doesn’t go to college but gets married as a teen, being loyal to her husband and having children. On the other hand, Bimla was completely independent and went against the traditional way of life for an Indian woman. She went to college and pledged never to get married.
Descriptions of even tiny things like the rose garden, the verandah and the wildlife are so exact that the imagery used can be said to be very vivid. One of the girls' childhood memories was of a cow that their aunt bought for the fresh milk, which later fell into the well and drowned. Thereafter, the girls were terrified of going anywhere near the well. Their fear is palpable. Poetry is used throughout the book to highlight the sisters' feelings, which links into their childhood when their brother Raja thought of himself as a poet. The story is told by switching between the views of Bim and Tara. There is quite a lot of cross story-telling - we read about the same event more than once, from the angle of the sister telling the story at the time. This could have been boring, but somehow the author manages to embellish the language in such a way that it was just as fascinating, if not more so, when reading if for the second time.
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