Clear Light of Day

Stream-of-consciousness is a key literary device used by Desai in this novel. Pick a scene to explore in depth and consider how this technique works to build both character and theme.

At first, the two sisters seem to have chosen vastly different paths in life. Bim is the independent and modern woman and Tara the conventional wife and mother. Yet it becomes clear by the end of the novel that the sisters have more in common than first appeared. Have they grown together over the course of the novel, or have they recognized a commonality that was always there?

Discuss the following T. S. Eliot quote from Four Quartets in terms of Bim’s epiphany (or epiphanies) at the end of the novel: “Time the destroyer is time the preserver” (183).

The novel uses literary quotations and allusions throughout. Choose one and explore in depth how it informs the novel. 

How do the historical and political happenings in India affect and reflect the lives of the Das family?

How does Baba break free of his symbolic role to become a character in his own right? Since he is nonspeaking, and the narrator does not enter his perspective, how do his wishes and feelings make themselves known?

What does Raja’s fascination with the Urdu language and literature reveal about his character? By studying the literature of the Mughal Empire (16th-19th century) is he effectively resisting British colonialism? Is he dreaming of an independent and united India, or merely retreating into a romanticized view of the past?

What are the roles of the characters Baba and Bakul in the novel? Are they symbols of an unchanging past and a modern present? What is the relevance of their relationships with the sisters?