Abstract:

The striking changes in the outer realities of India and their effects on the Indian people after the colonization period are the direct sources of the fragmented Indian identities. As a reflection, Indo-Anglican writers try to describe the tension and anxiety of being modern in a traditional society by paying their attention to gradual transformation of the societal changes. Being an Indian is important for the Indo-Anglican writers so that they attempt to depict Indian traditions, customs, way of living and culture by blending their seemingly western perspectives. In this way, because they represent both tradition and modernity, they become important for the literary domain in India and in England. As an Indo-Anglican writer, the difference of Anita Desai is her achievement to depict the psychology of her characters by focusing on their inner world in spite of the societal handicaps (Indian society is made up of groups rather than focusing on individual members) and the transformation of the society (past-present; traditional-modern). Indo-Anglican female authors have the conflict of being inter-cultural as a result of having western education. They tend to solve this crisis by looking back to their own past and through nostalgia, they try to regain their authentic identity. Likewise, Anita Desai in her novel Clear Light of the Day depicts individuals who are in search for their identity and Desai focuses especially on the painful voyage of the female character to find her identity by digging out her past. This article aims at analyzing Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of the Day in relation to the fragmented identities resulted from both the colonial and postcolonial effects over the individuals.  

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