Essay about Heroes and Heroism in Anita Desais Clear...

Heroes and Heroism in Anita Desais Clear Light of Day When one asks a child, What do you want to be when you grow up? a usual response is a fireman or a ballerina. In Anita Desais Clear Light of Day, however, the young Bim and Raja are somewhat more ambitious; they answer that they want to be a hero and heroine. Later, Bim asks somewhat bitterly, The hero and heroine-where are they? Down at the bottom of the well-gone, disappeared (157). Bim has lost track of her heroes; however, Raja and Tara have not. The three siblings have very different relationships to heroic ideals. Raja is the most obviously hero-conscious character. First of all, he is extremely artistic and idealistic, so he adores poetry, in†¦show more content†¦For Raja, the majestic Hyder Ali on his great white horse, preceded by a yelling servant and followed by a leaping dog, inspires awe and respect. Hyder Ali is Rajas most immediate idol, whom the young man does his best to emulate, first writing Urdu poetry and then planning to go to a Muslim college. That particular plan falls through, but Raja does succeed in marrying Hyder Alis daughter Benazir and succeeding to Hyder Alis rich estate, so that part of his dream comes through. The way Raja tries to become a hero is not by becoming a hero to someone else, which is more or less out of his own control, but by turning into a replica of his own heroes. In this he does succeed extremely well. Raja was already, as a youth, a hero to his younger sister Bim. He shared his love of poetry with her, and though she lacked his own artistic sensibility, she tried to participate in it and, above all, admired it profoundly. She imitated him in some ways; her professed desire to be a heroine, for example, was merely because Raja had first said that he wanted to be a hero. Even while nursing Raja through his tuberculosis and annoyed at his petty, nagging complaints, She felt her exasperation blotted out by wonder at Rajas ways of thinking and feeling, so different from anyone elses at that time or day. She could not help admiringShow MoreRelated Comparing Tension and Conflict in Things Fall Apart and Clear Light of Day983 Words   |  4 PagesTension and Conflict in Things Fall Apart and Clear Light of Day      Ã‚  Ã‚   How does the tension between traditional and modern views of the world play itself out in Achebes Things Fall Apart, and Desais Clear Light of Day?      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     In both Achebes and Desais novels, tension and conflict between the new and the old, traditional and modern are the strong undercurrents that move the story and the reader into an unconscious emotional uneasiness.    In both novels