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Time is something inescapable Nobody can stop or arrest the passing of time. All human beings are slaves oftime. But there is a deep truth underlying this paradox. The passage of time does not destroy everything because certain things are indestructible and imperishable. Infact, certain things acquire a greater validity, a greater weight and a greater solidity, in course of time. Two examples are the ancient Roman culture, and the ancient Indian culture. These two cultures still exist. The epigraph from Eliot reads:
See, now they vanish, The Faces and places, with the self which as it could loved them. To become renewed transfigured, in another pattern. Here the emphasis is on the concept of time as the Destroyer and the preserver. The 'Faces' around the Das children vanish-their parents, Mira Masi, the Hyders are all dead and gone but they continue to appear and reappear in the memory of Tara and Bim. Through memory, they acquire a kind of permanence. Tara's words, "Nothing's over, ever", (P.173) provide a significant pointer towards the theme of the novel which is based on the concept continuity and change. Since nothing is lost, and the past and the present always exist in time future, the entire story revolving round time and memory assumes symbolic significance. Desai admits that childhood experiences are "the most vivid and lasting ones." In clear Light of Day, the protagonist and her sister pass through the sweet and bitter childhood and girlhood memories that have left lasting impressions on them.
In this novel the past and the present run side by side and Anita Desai's power of comprehending and portaying the complexity of human nature reaches its culmination. She creates a double sense oftime: at one level, it is the flow oftime from day to day episodes, often in lyrical narrative relating to the growth of Bim and her siblings, from childhood to youth and to maturity. At another, there is an obsessive concern with the chaotic flow of emotions of a middle-aged spinster who bitterly evaluates her situation in life and holds Raja responsible for her troubles. The novel further concerns itself with the unity and comprehensiveness of a mind that has achieved coherence and self-actualization. The novel is divided in four parts...