Clear Light of Day: Bim and Tara relationship

Clear Light of Day

Anita Desai

Bim and Tara relationship in Anita Desai's novel, Clear Light of Day

Answer: The current trend of family relationships is a complex issue in any cultural emigration. In Anita Desai’s novel, "Clear Light of Day", we find some characters who are tied to family relationships, for example, we can take Bimala (or, Bim) and Tara’s relationship. Bim and Tara, both sisters but both have different personalities.

There is a relationship between two sisters in which love and rivalry - as well as violence and empathy - coexist, if not always easily. Both sisters know each other inside out. They know better than each other's hopes and dreams - and they know exactly what to do and what to say to hurt each other. It is a relationship that has appealed to Desai since time immemorial. From Sophocles to Shakespeare, from Tennessee Williams to Brian Friel, the sisters have starred with some relationships as portrayed in modern literature.

However, it is noteworthy that Bim Das is the elder sister of the family. She lived with her family as a child in that house and now runs it there. She is a history teacher and a great advocate of freedom and individuality. It is known that she was prematurely aged due to the pressure around her family. She took care of her brother and sick aunt (Aunt Mira) even when everyone else left her. She wrestled with anger towards her brother Raja, but she came to forgive him and find peace in her normal family relationship at the end of the novel.

On the other hand, Tara is the second youngest child in the Das Family. She is beautiful and sweet, but she is also less intelligent and confident than Bim. As a child she hated going to school and so she decided not to pursue higher education. Her only ambition was to become a mother, for which her older family members made fun of her. She married Bakul as a young woman and left India to live in different places abroad (although she met frequently). She expressed concern and avoided the issue of conflict, but at times Bim and Bakul showed more self-possession than her accomplishments.

One morning in 1980, Tara wandered around in her childhood home in old Delhi, feeling nostalgic. Her sister Bim is a history teacher and takes the onus of the household. The two of them discussed the old age home in the old days and drank tea after a while. Tara is appealing, however as opposed to the savvy and eventually reserved Bim, she is delicate, adaptable and dependent on Bakul as his wife.

Tara develops as a distinct, anxious child while Bim and Raja, their brother gain their development. Tara is terrified of starring in childhood incidents such as shooting a frustrated dog and firing a teacher for being in love with a foreigner. Bim, who does well at school and protects the principal when the teacher is shot, caused Tara to resent her.

As Raja grows older, Tara and Bim spend more time together, but there are many fractures in their relationship. Tara left Bim twice in a minor event - first after a bee attack and later when Bim forced her to smoke after wearing Ram's pants and discovered a sense of strength in men's clothing. Bim cuts Tara’s hair so she has trouble forgetting Tara, promising that she will grow curls later.

Over time, Tare began to separate from her sister and two sisters from the Misra Family, Jaya and Sarala Mishra, began to move closer, because they had more levity and life in their home than in their own. The Mishra sisters treated her kindly and often took her to clubs and other places. At the wedding party, Bim tells Tara that she refuses to marry Mishra girls without proper education; she insisted that she did not want to get married. Day by day, Tara spends more and more time with the Mishra sisters, whom Bims seem incredible. They meet Bakul there and are love-surprised, though Bim finds him stylish, arrogant and dull.

Tara tries to forgive Bim and Raja, but she does not believe. She also learns Bim’s financial problems and wonders how she is dealing with them. Bim becomes restless and angry and starts jumping on everyone, especially when a letter arrives about a financial decision from her father’s company. Thus, Raja is angry with the Raja for leaving him like this and jumps towards the father, who does not respond. They and Bakul tried to persuade Bim to seek the Raja's help, or at least Bakul's help, but he did not believe.

In fact, throughout the novel "Clear Light of Day", Anita Desai paints a picture of the relationship between Bim and Tara, and in the composition of this novel, Bim is portrayed as her personal victory. Bim emerged as the most obvious figure in the story and was therefore considered the protagonist of the novel. Bim is an introvert and Anita Desai is more interested in Bim’s interior landscapes. In doing so, Anita Desai has given us enough proof of her skill for psychological analysis. In this regard she followed the technique of the flow of consciousness in certain places in the novel.

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