Clear Light of Day

by

Anita Desai

The Das Mother Character Analysis

Like their father, the Das siblings’ haughty, preoccupied mother spends most of her time playing cards with her country club friends. She only does the bare minimum to manage her serious diabetes, and she has little patience for or interest in raising her children, who have virtually no relationship with her growing up. For instance, when she sees Baba facing developmental challenges, she makes no effort to help him—instead, she gets angry at the ayah and brings in Aunt Mira to come take care of the children. Like their father, she dies suddenly when the children are young and remains nameless throughout the novel, which reflects her emotional distance from and indifference toward her children.

The Das Mother Quotes in Clear Light of Day

The Clear Light of Day quotes below are all either spoken by The Das Mother or refer to The Das Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family, Love, and Forgiveness Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

You must remember that when I left you, I promised I would always look after you, Bim. When Hyder Ali Sahib was ill and making out his will, Benazir herself spoke to him about the house and asked him to allow you to keep it at the same rent we used to pay him when father and mother were alive. He agreed—you know he never cared for money, only for friendship—and I want to assure you that now that he is dead and has left all his property to us, you may continue to have it at the same rent, I shall never think of raising it or of selling the house as long as you and Baba need it. If you have any worries, Bim, you have only to tell—Raja.

Related Characters: Raja (speaker), Bim, Baba, The Das Mother, The Das Father, Hyder Ali , Benazir
Related Symbols: The Das House
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

Usually the mother did not take exercise. She either sat up at the card table, playing, or lay very still on her bed, with a suffering face tilted upwards in warning so that Tara did not dare approach. Even now she kept her distance. She paced slowly, obediently, her arms folded, her chin sunk into her neck, as if considering a hand of cards, while Tara, in her nightie, skipped and danced after her, her bare feet making tracks through the misty dew on the grass.

Related Characters: Tara, The Das Mother
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:

No one could help noticing how slow he was to learn such baby skills as turning over, sitting up, smiling in response, talking, standing or walking. It all seemed to take an age with him. He seemed to have no desire to reach out and take anything. It was as if his parents, too aged, had given birth to a child without vitality or will—all that had gone into the other, earlier children and there had been none left for this last, late one. […] His mother soon tired of carrying him about, feeding him milky foods with a silver spoon, washing and powdering him. […] “My bridge is suffering,” she complained. There was the ayah of course, Tara’s ayah made nurse again, but she could only be made to work twelve hours a day, or sixteen, or eighteen, not more. She could not stay awake for twenty-four.

Related Characters: The Das Mother (speaker), Tara, Baba, Aunt Mira, The Ayah
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

The girls became infected with something of Raja’s restlessness. It made Bim more ambitious at school […] She was not quite sure where this would lead but she seemed to realize it was a way out. A way out of what? They still could not say, could not define the unsatisfactory atmosphere of their home. They did not realize now that this unsatisfactoriness was not based only on their parents’ continual absence, their seemingly total disinterest in their children, their absorption in each other. The secret, hopeless suffering of their mother was somehow at the root of this subdued greyness, this silent desperation that pervaded the house. Also the disappointment that Baba’s very life and existence were to them, his hopeless future, their anxiety over him. The children could only sense all this, they did not share it, except unwillingly.

Related Characters: Tara, Bim, Raja, The Das Mother, The Das Father
Related Symbols: The Das House
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4 Quotes

Although it was shadowy and dark, Bim could see as well as by the clear light of day that she felt only love and yearning for them all, and if there were hurts, these gashes and wounds in her side that bled, then it was only because her love was imperfect and did not encompass them thoroughly enough, and because it had flaws and inadequacies and did not extend to all equally.

Related Characters: Tara, Bim, Baba, Raja, The Das Mother, The Das Father
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Das Mother Quotes in Clear Light of Day

The Clear Light of Day quotes below are all either spoken by The Das Mother or refer to The Das Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family, Love, and Forgiveness Theme Icon
).
Part 1 Quotes

You must remember that when I left you, I promised I would always look after you, Bim. When Hyder Ali Sahib was ill and making out his will, Benazir herself spoke to him about the house and asked him to allow you to keep it at the same rent we used to pay him when father and mother were alive. He agreed—you know he never cared for money, only for friendship—and I want to assure you that now that he is dead and has left all his property to us, you may continue to have it at the same rent, I shall never think of raising it or of selling the house as long as you and Baba need it. If you have any worries, Bim, you have only to tell—Raja.

Related Characters: Raja (speaker), Bim, Baba, The Das Mother, The Das Father, Hyder Ali , Benazir
Related Symbols: The Das House
Page Number: 27
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 3 Quotes

Usually the mother did not take exercise. She either sat up at the card table, playing, or lay very still on her bed, with a suffering face tilted upwards in warning so that Tara did not dare approach. Even now she kept her distance. She paced slowly, obediently, her arms folded, her chin sunk into her neck, as if considering a hand of cards, while Tara, in her nightie, skipped and danced after her, her bare feet making tracks through the misty dew on the grass.

Related Characters: Tara, The Das Mother
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:

No one could help noticing how slow he was to learn such baby skills as turning over, sitting up, smiling in response, talking, standing or walking. It all seemed to take an age with him. He seemed to have no desire to reach out and take anything. It was as if his parents, too aged, had given birth to a child without vitality or will—all that had gone into the other, earlier children and there had been none left for this last, late one. […] His mother soon tired of carrying him about, feeding him milky foods with a silver spoon, washing and powdering him. […] “My bridge is suffering,” she complained. There was the ayah of course, Tara’s ayah made nurse again, but she could only be made to work twelve hours a day, or sixteen, or eighteen, not more. She could not stay awake for twenty-four.

Related Characters: The Das Mother (speaker), Tara, Baba, Aunt Mira, The Ayah
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:

The girls became infected with something of Raja’s restlessness. It made Bim more ambitious at school […] She was not quite sure where this would lead but she seemed to realize it was a way out. A way out of what? They still could not say, could not define the unsatisfactory atmosphere of their home. They did not realize now that this unsatisfactoriness was not based only on their parents’ continual absence, their seemingly total disinterest in their children, their absorption in each other. The secret, hopeless suffering of their mother was somehow at the root of this subdued greyness, this silent desperation that pervaded the house. Also the disappointment that Baba’s very life and existence were to them, his hopeless future, their anxiety over him. The children could only sense all this, they did not share it, except unwillingly.

Related Characters: Tara, Bim, Raja, The Das Mother, The Das Father
Related Symbols: The Das House
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4 Quotes

Although it was shadowy and dark, Bim could see as well as by the clear light of day that she felt only love and yearning for them all, and if there were hurts, these gashes and wounds in her side that bled, then it was only because her love was imperfect and did not encompass them thoroughly enough, and because it had flaws and inadequacies and did not extend to all equally.

Related Characters: Tara, Bim, Baba, Raja, The Das Mother, The Das Father
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis: