Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Issue of Hurt in Clear Light of Day

In Clear Light of Day, most if not all of the characters seemed to have experienced hurt in some form at some point within the book.

The Family- The family on a whole was hurt when the cow they had died as a result of it drowning in the well one night. A smaller section of the family, namely the children, were hurt by the fact that their parents were rarely ever around in the house since they were always at the club and playing cards with their friends.

Mr. Das- He seemed to be hurt by the fact that his wife had diabetes and she was in so much pain all the time and had to take injections of insulin all the time. He was also even more hurt when she died.

Aunt Mira- There were quite a few instances when Aunt Mira was found to be hurt. Firstly, she was hurt because her husband died shortly after they got married when she was about 13 years old. This was a very sad time in her life, and her new family, (husband's parents) didn't make it any easier for her since they blamed her for his death. As a result they gave her a lot of work to do and did not appreciate her at all. Aunt Mira was also hurt that she was not that pretty and was unable to have her own children. When Tara left her in the house with Bim and the others it appeared as though she was hurt since her and Tara seemed to share a special bond when she stepped foot into the house and was always there for her when Bim and Raja would exclude her.

Raja- He seemed to be hurt because Hyder Ali left and did not tell him anything about his departure. He was also very hurt when his mother died as well as not being able to go to Jamia Millia and did not care to play games or have fun for a while. When he got sick in bed with tuberculosis, he felt helpless that he could not do much or go anywhere and felt hurt in the end.

Bim- Bim was hurt by the mere fact that all her siblings, except Baba that could not really leave, left her in the house to take care of the house, Baba and Aunt Mira on her own. She was hurt when Tara left because she was now married to Bakul, and she was hurt that Raja left to go to live in Hyderabad. In addition, the letter Raja sent Bim hurt her a lot, since she could not believe that Raja would still let her pay rent for the same house they both lived in and she nursed him in when he was sick. Even though the book does not make this point very evident, one can argue that Bim was also very hurt at the fact that she was the one who stayed in the home and did not move on much with her own life in terms of having a family and new experiences that she could not have while staying at home and taking care of everyone. It seems as though she was hurt and disappointed with the specific path that she chose for herself.

Tara- She felt hurt when Bim and Raja made fun of her for wanting to become a mother when she grew up instead of becoming a heroine like Bim. Tara was also hurt when Bim and Raja did not include her in the games and other activities they would do together. In addition, when Baba was born, Tara felt hurt that she was not getting much attention since she was not the "baby" of the family anymore.

Baba- Baba was feeling very hurt when his records stopped playing on the gramophone and when Bim shouted at him and seemed to threaten him by saying that she will send him to live with Raja. Even though the book did not really mention it, it is posited that Baba was hurt that he had such a disability and was restricted from doing certain things because of his disability.

Dr. Biswas- He was hurt at the fact that he was putting so much effort in trying to get Bim to like him and go out with him and she was not paying much attention to him or trying to see if it could possibly work. She was more concerned with taking care of her family and not having much fun. He felt hurt for Bim as well since she seemed to be burdening herself with her family's problems and not doing what she wants to do but what she thinks she has to do.

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