Bim Das, a history teacher. The unmarried, eldest Das daughter, now over forty, still lives in the decaying family home situated on the outskirts of Old Delhi. Slightly heavy and turning gray, Bim is not particularly attractive and makes little effort to be so. Her energy and capability, along with her keen understanding, compensate for whatever she lacks physically. Shown through flashbacks in her younger years, Bim has always been at peace with herself and managed to convey that quality to others. She represents the old India: spiritual, peaceful,...
Look at the following character's in the novel and provide a character sketch for one of the following character. The above is an example of what I am looking for. Tara, Misra, Baba, Bakul, Raja, Hyder Ali. Due Tuesday.
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Raja Das is an ambitious and intellectual individual in the Das Family. He is enthusiastic about learning new cultural ideas especially those concerned with the Islamic way of life, for instance, learning how to speak in Urdu. Raja has a thirst for reading and writing poetry which struck Bimla [his elder sister] due to the fact that she finds it very admirable because she too loves poetry [knowledge]. In fact, one of the persons in the Das family, whom Raja was mostly acquainted with was his elder sister Bimla. During their childhood days, they [Raja and Bim] had similar ideas as to what they’d want to do when they grew up such as becoming ‘superheroes’. Furthermore, as said previously, Raja would share his poetry with Bim, hence the close bond between the siblings. Raja accomplished to go to an Islamic college named Jamia Millia, which created conflict with the other members of the Das Family especially with his father. There was an ongoing religious conflict among those of the Hindu and Muslim faith which made the father find it eccentric and unfit for Raja to attend to an Islamic College. However, in the end Raja still went and pursued his studies in writing in Urdu language. Hyder Ali Sahib, a Muslim, was Raja’s remodel; he admired the way in which Hyder Ali lived, his library, his gatherings at his house; Raja loved it all. This is one of the reasons why Raja defended the Muslims so very well; he wanted to ignore the political situation or conflict between the two races and think that there should be unity and peace instead. When he became older he became an affluent business and family man. He got married and had three children; two girls and a boy.
ReplyDeleteBaba, the youngest of the Das family, was born with a mental disability. He was cared for by Aunt Mira Masi who taught him how to play pebbles which throughout the novel became one of his passions in life. This is so as even as an adult he still played with his pebbles and found then to be quite amusing. Baba somewhat represented sameness. The book even stated that the pebbles were now smooth as a result of overuse. Also Baba still plays his gramophone using the same records that he has been using from his childhood. This shows that his mentality has not changed despite his aging. Additionally, the loud music from his gramophone serves as an invariable reminder of Baba’s presence in the house. These fixations show that he is afraid of change and that he wants everything to remain the same.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, he is observed as one who is aggravated by the simplest of things. For example, in the novel when crossing the street on the way to work he witnesses a man abusing a horse which he reacted to by screaming and running back home with is face in his palms. This emphasizes his mental state. Baba is the quietest of the Das children who included Tara, Raja and Bim with whom he didn’t really have much of a relationship. However supposedly there may have been a stronger relationship with Bim as opposed to the others as they were the only siblings who remained in the house. This could be blamed on his mental state since he was not as outgoing or aware of his surroundings as much as the other children. He was not as quick to grasp things as they were. The blame could also be put on the fact that he was always locked away in his room either playing with his pebbles or his gramophone. It always seemed as though Baba was in his own world.
Shemez Browne
Sharia Greene
Aunt Misra is the aunty of Bimla, Raja, Tara and Baba and lived the remainder of her life in old Delhi taking care of her sister children after her husband died and was mistreated by his family. Aunt Misra immediately takes on the role of parent hood since her sister and her husband was never around, and then permanently took on the role of parent hood after they died. Aunt Misra provided the love and care the children needed along with a stable home for the children to grow up in. Apart from Aunt Misra providing love and a stable home for the children, the children in turn also gave her stability since she was desperately trying to deal with the sudden lost of her husband. Aunt Misra does not seam to be a strong person since she turned to alcohol to ease her pain, and it seamed like she increased her alcohol intake after Raja and Tara Left. Especially Tara since she was closest to her. Aunt Misra took Tara’s leaving the wrong way and may have believed that everyone leaves her or will be leaving her only in a matter of time. Aunt Misra alcohol abuse then became more frequent which eventually led to her down fall in the end.
ReplyDeleteAunt misra and and mira is same
DeleteTara Das, is the second youngest of the Das family. She was the one who would run to Aunt Mira-masi for comfort and protection as a child when she was bullied by Bimla [her older sister]. Tara was like the "baby" of the family despite Baba being the youngest. Tara would always run to Aunt Mira-masi to complain about Bim troubling her, or laughing at her aspirations of what she wanted to be when she grows up; then Mira-masi would then tell Bim and Raja to leave Tara and not interfere with her.
ReplyDeleteTara eventually left the Old Dehli, got married to Bakul [her husband] and started a family of her own. Returning to Dehli Tara replayed her childish act when she saw the rose walk, she saw a shiny object and thought it was a pearl, but to her surprise it was a snail; just like in her childhood days. Tara realised that the Old Dehli hasn't changed, it was all the same as how she left it. Bimla and Baba were living the same lifestyle because they were afraid of change and overall they didn't want to change. She [Tara] was very grateful to be back in Old Dehli but was worried about Bim and Baba. She thinks that because Bim took on the great responsilbility of caring for the home she doesn't want change. Tara had a great bond with Aunt Mira-masi, they always talked, played together. Tara was glad that she could share such sentiments with Mira-masi because Raja and Bimla were already an item and they were always picking on her or saying something to her that made her go to Mira-masi for reassurance.
Tara became a caring, responsible and loving mother, wife and sister. She found these attributes within herself when she left Old Dehli and started a new life. Tara kind of had an idea that Bimla and Baba didn't want change in Old Dehli, but she grew to accept that her culture and heritage will always be the same, even though she changed.
Tara Das is quite different from Bim, she is not as outspoken , confident and brash as her sister.In school Tara is so afraid to just let go and be herslf that she comes off to her classmates as being quite stuck up. She does not make as much friends as Bim in school, and is not as confident as her sister. Many childhood occurences seems to still haunt Tara as a grown adult the fact that she believes that she is to be blamed for what occured with Bim and the bees, shows that she is one character who does not seem to be quite confident within her own skin. How could she blame herself for this, situation which at that young age could not have done much, for she herself would have been harmed.Tara though she is one character which represents freedom for she has escaped from the family home, she still seems to be quite trapped within many memories within her past.It can be said that she cant let go of her past. Tara, is however able to move on with her life unlike Bim and marry and have children, which is good for her for she has achieved some form of happiness.
ReplyDeleteRaja Das, is a very interesting character within the novel he is very intelligent, and knows what he wants and goes after it. Therefore he is a determined person.As a young boy he is fascinated by Hyder- Ali and sees him as a sort of hero. He seems to be the only character who attains full freedom out of the Das family. He represents change thoroughly he has moved on, with his life has gotten married, has five children and is succesful within his career.One characteristic which should be admired about Raja is that though he goes through many tough times he is always capable of pulling through. Take for example him being ill and the many arguments which he had with his father. He is a very strong person and should be admired for his personality.
ReplyDeleteHyder Ali Sahib in the novel is the richest and prestigious character through out the novel. Hyder Ali is also one of the kindest characters in the book. His kindness is displayed to Raja, the oldest of the four Das children as he welcomes him with "open arms" into his house where Raja spent more of his time. Also he generously allows Raja to borrow countless amounts of books from his library and if his kindness and generousity cannot be more evident and seen, after his death Raja inherits all of his wealth having married one of his daughters.
ReplyDeleteBakul is Tara’s husband. He is a handsome, intelligent, sophisticated and ambitious gentleman, who Tara met through socializing with the Misra sisters. He is a member of the Foreign Service and as a result he is prone to frequent travelling. Bakul is also seen as a bit self-centered, thinking that his way of life and standards are superior to any other. It is for this cause that Bakul objects to the way in which Tara’s family presents themselves, because he has travelled the world, he thinks that he is a class above and better than those living in Old Delhi. This is Bakul spends less time at the house and prefers to visit his family in the city. He is not very favorable of Bim because of her intimidating, strong personality, even though it is ironic how Bakul wished that Tara was more like her elder sister. He would have been more pleased to marry someone who was more high spirited like Bim, who shared some of Bakul’s qualities (e.g. ambition and also the habit of smoking) but as pretty as Tara. Since Tara was the prettiest of the family, Bakul choose her for marriage. He felt that he had to get Tara out from Old Delhi to show her what the real world was like and to rise to his level.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Nikki Tara is the last sister.She seemed to be a happy person with the exception of that when the bees attached her sister and she was not quite sure how her sister felt. She took that burden with her throughout her life! She is a person who does not exactly move on from the past until its resolve. Tara got married and had children but yet at the same time she did not give her all to her own family for she could not forget her past! Tara memories were clear and insightful for she remember life with her mother and other members of the family. Tara was well loved by all even aunt misra but I don't think Tara knew she had so much love for she can't forget the negative things of the past. But one thing about Tara she shared her happiness with all who surround her!
ReplyDeleteRaja is the the male figure in the household and to be honest, quite a good one. Raja is seen as a forward-thinking individual who is very opinionated and has a mind of his own, this is seen through his ability to connect with the religion of the Hyder Alis. His decision to attend the school of his choice as opposed to the one that is "accceptable" to his religion and his family illustrates this and indeed highlights a very admirable quality in him - he stands firm for what he believes in. Raja is seen as a strong, capable and relentless individual and doesn't fail to display his true self. Though he has alot going for him personality-wise, he does have his short-comings, for Raja is seen as ungrateful. Case and point, after Raja receives the mass amount of wealth from Hyder Ali he has the nerve to tell Bim in a letter that he will "let" her stay in the house for a "price". After all that Bim had done for him while he was sick Raja still had the gall to do this, for crying out loud, she is his sister!!!!!!!!!(Let me calm down....) I still stand by Raja's good qualities though, for as they say, 'one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole basket".
ReplyDeleteBy Adama Roberts
Aunt Miras could be seen as a heroine to a certain extent. The reason for this being that she was the care taker for the children since their parents were never around. To the children Aunt Miras was considered a parent figure, someone who comforted them when they needed her. She provided the children with a stable home and in return the children provided her with love. Although after the departure of Tara who was her closest companion and after Raja's illness, Aunt Miras took this situation myserably. This
ReplyDeletedrove her to alcohol which seemed to her a means of comfort and freedom. Even though, all but Bim abandoned her, Aunt Miras still remained a state of mysery and despair. She never said to hersel 'let me just move on'. We could therefore conclude that Aunt Miras is a troubled and weak individual as mentioned by Marlia.
As I failed to mention earlier the children was a source of comfort to Aunt Miras after the death of her husband. They provided her with love which filled the empty gap in her life.
ReplyDeleteTara appears to be a shy person who doesn't really share all the details of her live. It would seem that she has feelings of guilt for 'deserting' Bim; leaving her with the 'burden' of caring for Baba while she went out and made a life for herself, with her husband; having a family and frriends in a life in which her sister and brothers are not apart of. It wouldseem that when she returns 'home' that she tries to 'make things right' trying to get Bim to engage in a relationship with the the doctor and trying to get Baba to leave the house and do other things but play with his marbles(pebbles)and listen to the same old records everyday.
ReplyDeleteTara the middle child of the Das family goes unnoticed, married to Bakul and has two kids.Upon her visit to her family.She realizes that nothing has change, everything is exactly the same. One could say that Tara has accomplish her dreams(of marriage and becoming a mother) but i beg differ i think that tara's trip back home is awakens her to her life. tara is still trap in old delhi her life is stilled control by her husband.and her emotional guilt of leaving her sister and brother behind.
ReplyDeleteTara of the Das family is bim’s younger sister. She is the third child of the family; she is the most quiet of the children, well, next to Baba. She also felt left out as a younger sibling since the older ones were more close-knitted. She also felt that she could not amount to what was expected of her. Tara hurt easily especially by Bim who was often cruel and rough towards her. Tara would cling on to Aunt Misra for comfort whenever she felt neglected by her siblings. Aunt Misra, who she shared a bond with, who she would run to if she had a problem or when her brother and sister would trouble her until she decided to leave and go to venture on her own, solely loved Tara.
ReplyDeleteAs a result of this Tara grew up to be a respectable adult, a mature mom and wife who is happy with her husband Bakul. Tara became the person she is, because of what she went through as a child all the neglect and pressure by her siblings. Later on Tara paid a visit to her old home in Delhi, to visit the rest of the family who still lived there. Tara is what one would say she flew the nest, however in doing this she freed herself from the entrapment she experienced living at the old Delhi and now a strong woman who appreciates the value of her culture and well-being.
Baba as the youngest Das child having a disability (which he was born with), is quite significant in my view simply because although he has this disability, he remains the same throughout the novel;in other words his character traits dont ever change for example,his pebbles which are his primary occupation as well as his loud music from his gramophone which often reminds us of his existence in the house. He had been occupying these hobbies since in his childhood and agreeing with Shemez this represents his sameness. Even as time progressed, Baba was his own person in his own world and basically refused to changeand by being the one child who didnt say much, it should have been gathered that as some characters accepted and adjusted to change for example Tara when she had left Old Delhi to start a new family and life and on her return worried about Bim and Baba's refusal of change . However, as previously mentioned Baba always clutched onto his sameness by spending most of his time in his room with the same things he always enjoyed i.e. the gramophone and pebbles.
ReplyDeleteCLYDECIA MOORE
Aunt Mira is a caring and loving person who is to be admired. In a way i pity her. I think she is a strong person though. Some of you may not agree but i said this because that is how I see her. She may have had a tragic end but like all strong persons we all come to a falling point.
ReplyDeleteBaba is the youngest of the Das children. He was born with a disability which was not evedent at first but became apparent as his development was significantly slower than regular kids his age. He was largely neglected by his immediate family but when Mira-Masi cmae on board she took him on as her 'special project.' She cared for him and taught him to do a few things. One of which was playing with his pebbles which he continued to do even into adulthood. Playing this game and listening to his old records on the grammaphone are what he is most noted for.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mira-masi dies Bim becomes his care taker and it is the two of them who reamin in the family home while the others move out and make lives for themselves.
It appears though that Baba is very much aware of what is going on around him. OF rexample when Bim came to ask him if he were going to the office today, he prepared to go but the author notes that he would have been happy if someone called him back. When he reached the gate, the sight of the horse being whipped was used as an excuse for him to run back into the home. THis cognisance of his surroundings and situation are manifest in other examples as the reading progresses.
Roland Moore
Bimla is the eldest of the children of the Das family. Her character in the novel clear light of day is strong, intelligent and out of the ordinary. She seems to be someone who lives by her own rules. This can be seen from the fact that she smokes, which is against the tradition of Indian people, women do not smoke in Indian according to Indian tradition. She is strong because when her parents died she immediately filled the space of parental figure to her siblings. One aspect of Bims character is that change is hard for her to accept. She is the only one in the novel who did not escape from Old Delhi. She remained behind to take care of Baba who was not capable of taking care of himself because of his mental disability. It should be noted however that she did have a chance to escape the unchanging family house through marriage to the doctor, but she refused. All through her childhood and into adult hood the house remained unchanged, why did Bim throughout the course of the years not change the decoration of the house in any way? Or replant the garden to encourage new life? Her character may be complex but one thing that stands out about her character is that change is not easy for her to accept. We see this in the fact of her refusal to forgive Raja after he left her behind in Old Delhi.
ReplyDeleteIn Clear Light of Day, Raja Das is one of the most significant character. He is intelligent, out spoken, smart and very determined towards his education and what he believes in or also whatever it is that he wants to accomplish. Like is older sister Bimla, Raja had a profound love for poetry and reading.
ReplyDeleteThroughout his childhood years, Raja had faced many obstacles. He had been sick for quite sometime and had to stay in bed most of the time, however this was when Bimla came into play as she now had to take care of her brother; which she did very well, she became a mother to him eventhough Raja was a bit stubborn at times, Bim took care of him. Another major challenge which Raja faced was; when he decided to attend the Islamic College (Jamia Millia), this grew conflict among the others members in the family especially with Raja's father who was very upset with him at the time. This was mainly because there was an ongoing conflict between the Muslims and Hindu at the time, thus Raja's father saw this college unfit for Raja.
But however, despite what his family thinks, Raja acted upon his own determination and risk, by attending the college, thus putting his childhood dreams into a reality. The driving force behind this whole idea of Raja wanting to attend the Islamic College was; despite the fact that the Hindu and Muslims were rivals raja grew to love the Muslims mainly because his role Model(Hyder Ali Sahib) was in fact a Muslim himself and he was a true friend to Raja. He was very generous to Raja and he granted him the opportunity to use his library to borrow books whenever he pleased which Raja did willingly.
Therefore, Raja was an out spoken character and he defended the Muslims to a large extent despite what his family thought or believed in. Raja was of the view that there should be "unity" amongst the two races.
Additionally, in the future, Raja became an intelligent businessman and family man; where he got married and had three children. It is safe to say that of all the "Das" children, Raja was the most determined and successful one.
Women's character in this novel is very important
ReplyDeleteI want to know about the contrast between Raja and Bim
ReplyDeleteI want to know the significance of the title of this novel
ReplyDelete