Essay Analysis Chapter 1 Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

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Clear Light of Day – chapter one At the beginning of the chapter one, the reader discovers the siblings of the family. There are Bim, Tara, Raja and Baba. At first, the links between these characters seem really unclear. Their relationship looks knotty and messy. The atmosphere is gloomy and dark. Firstly, even though it is very early in the novel, the reader can already see that the family is used as a symbol of Indian Muslim microcosm (the country get slip up to India and Pakistan as the family blow up). Maybe it's due to the huge difference of maturity between the two sister (the one who left home, get married and became a mother is representing the child figure). There's also the fact that Bim is taking the mum figure, nursing her brothers and sisters, taking care of the house, keeping the garden alive and so on. However, she's also destroying childhood memories (as the rose) to refresh everybody's purpose. Perhaps Desai wants to remind the reader that they are grown adults, they have to let their infancy (and everything attached to it) behind them to finally move on. Perhaps the writer is trying to give a message to the reader. Finally, what if she was giving the family a chance to regenerate? Firstly, Desai's using a metaphor comparing the family to a rose. It says “a fully bloomed rose dangled. It came apart instantly revealing […] a few pathetic stamens”. It makes the family looks like a flower. The rose is impressive and stately on the outside but extremely weak on the inside. As some unfortunate events shake it (Tara and Raja leaving home, mum and dad dying...), the family instantly crumble and shatter. It also means that, they're strong together but unnecessary and ridiculous when they're separate. This statement is supported by “a pearl […] flashed than flowed”. The pearl is incredibly gorgeous and precious (giving the hearty image of the sun

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