Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-64).

This thesis examines the spatial representations of India as respectively a nation-state, a colony, and a member of the third-world countries in modern history in Anita Desai¡¦s Clear Light of Day. According to Henri Lefebvre, space is simultaneously a part in the production and a product. An abstract space has a goal in homogeneity; however, the realization of spatial plan is usually interfered by different ideologies. The flow of the entangling ideologies embedded in the novel is embodied in the family house, the modern city, and the imagination of India as a tourist attraction. Chapter One applies Cathy Caruth¡¦s traumatic theory to demonstrate the family house as a symbol of the dominating Hindu nationalist discourse. The separation of the Das family is taken as an allegorical representation of the Partition. Recollecting the traumatic past, the Das encounters repetitively the crisis of identity caused by the separation and the diversity of discourses. The Hindu nationalist discourse has occupied the family house as the position of articulation. The authoritative discourse promotes the establishment of India as a nation-state through excluding the elements of difference. In addition, the colonial design of establishing New Delhi as a modernist capital reflects the British government¡¦s plan to assimilate Indian colony. Chapter Two applies Michel Foucault¡¦s theories of power and space to analyze first British governmentality in making the new capital a homogeneous space and, secondly, the potential resistance generated from the variety of local cultures. Eventually, New Delhi exhibits itself a synthesis of the modern and the tradition, of the western and the local. Chapter Three explores Indian intellectuals¡¦ dilemma of cultural identity in diaspora. As Rey Chow indicates, the third-world intellectuals articulate for the marginalized; however, the minor of the minor has still been left in the dark. While the diplomat Bakul decides to tell the foreigners only the glory of India exclusive of the socio-political calamities, the local reality is estimated as dispensable for the first-world imagination. Furthermore, the Eurocentric grand narrative embedded in the third-world studies locates the diasporic¡¦s recognition of India oscillating between homeland and tourist attraction.

Thesis (M.A. )--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1997. / Restricted until May 1998. Bibliography: leaves 105-114. Also available online.

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to analyze the parent-child relationship in selected novels by Anita Desai. The novels chosen for the analysis are Cry, the Peacock; Clear Light of Day; Fire on the Mountain; Fasting, Feasting. The aim of the theoretical part is, firstly, to introduce Anita Desai and her style of writing, secondly, to lay the theoretical basis for further analysis of the attachment between children and their parents. In this part the author presents the Attachment theory, behavioural patterns and parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, uninvolved). The theoretical part is concluded by a portrait of Indian society and typical Indian family structure - the environment in which Desai's protagonists live. The practical part consists of thorough analysis of the selected novels. The analysis shows Desai's tendency to portray such parenting styles that instil insecurity in children. The results prove that these approaches to raising a child affect the personality development negatively. It was interesting to find out that gender bias influences not only the life-path and self-concept of the protagonists but also the quality of their relationship with their parents.