"Time is a destroyer as well as a preserver": Treatment of time in Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day

‘Clear Light of Day’ is one of Anita Desai’s most outstanding novels and may be regarded as one of the masterpieces in the field of Indo-Anglican fiction. This novel is distinguished chiefly by its messages of psychological analysis of unbreakable ties of blood and kinship and the paradox of time i.e. time as a destroyer as well as a preserver.

It is a well-known fact that time is a great destroyer. ‘Clear Light of Day’ shows the destruction which time works in the sphere of domestic life and domestic relationship and only to a very small extent in the life of a nation. ‘Clear Light of Day’ deals mainly with the fortunes and misfortunes of the Das family. The passing of the years works havoc with the members of this family. There is, for instance, the case of Mira-masi who has seen the destructive power of time. She was married at the age of twelve and became a widow at the age of fifteen and she died due to excessive drinking at a premature age. Mira-masi died after the deaths of both Mr. and Mrs. Das; but these deaths were among the misfortunes of the Das family. Years later, time dealt a heavy blow to the relationship between Bim and Raja because of the humiliating letter which Raja wrote to Bim about the house rent of the old house in Old Delhi in which Bim and Baba were living as tenants. Instead of sharing the responsibilities with his sister, Raja showed his owner like attitude that was very humiliating. The very offensive letter made a long lasting wound in Bim’s heart and destroyed the relationship between Bim and Raja.

The passing of time can disrupt the life of a whole nation. The slaughter and riot of 1947 have vividly, though very briefly, been depicted by Anita Desai in the novel.

It is, of course, a paradox that time which is a destroyer should be regarded as a preserver. The passage of time does not destroy everything because certain things are indestructible and imperishable. In the novel ‘Clear Light of Day’, we find that certain things of human beings continue to be remembered by them and even by others. Time is the greatest healer. With the passage of time, everything changes. There is Bim’s infinitive love for Baba. She looks after the helpless and mentally retarded Baba most sincerely and affectionately sacrificing her own life. Then by Tara’s persuasion, she thinks over the matter of forgiving Raja for his humiliating letter. She remembers the dying words of Emperor Aurangzeb and tears off his humiliating letter. Listening to the song of Mulk from Mishra’s ‘Aged Guru’, Bim remembers T. S. Eliot’s line: “Time, the destroyer is time, the preserver”. Thus, Bim’s love for her sister, Tara and for her brothers, Raja and Baba gains a new life.

Time as a preserver proves triumphant at the end, while time as a destroyer, which played a major role throughout the novel. Anita Desai has surely achieved a major success in establishing her thesis that this novel is about time as a destroyer as well as a preserver.