Jeppe Højmark, 1.d !
English: Clara’s Day

06.05.2011

Clara’s Day: Analysis and interpretation
“Clara’s Day” by Penelope Lively takes place in a school in London, approximately in the mid 80s.
15 year old Clara Tilling takes her clothes off in morning assembly one day, and walks naked through the crowd into the form-room, where she put on a science overall. Moments later a teacher brings her clothes, and Clara continues school. People are patting her back and giving her attention, which wears off at lunch time. Later, Clara is called to the Head’s office where they talk about the event of the morning. Clara’s answers are not quite clear and she does not come up with any points on why she acted the way she did. As she says that
When Clara is sitting in the Head’s study, described as a sitting-room, it is like she is sitting in a box go glass listening and yearning for the outside and could not get out. It almost seems like the painting Study of a Nude by Francis Bacon portrays the whole day at Clara’s school, and her current life-situation, because it displays a naked person, visible to all, on the edge of a square
(which is referring to the rooms Clara are placed in throughout the story). The same feeling from
“Clara’s Day” where she wants to break free, get ‘out of the box’ and see her father again is abducted in this painting. The blue and depressing colors matches the rancor from Clara’s life, and how much she misses her father in her life. Clara wants to break free, and she is headed for the

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Jeppe Højmark, 1.d !
English: Clara’s Day

06.05.2011

light, just like the naked person in the painting is heading against the white colors in the background. “Clara’s Day” is about a missing love, in this case from Clara’s father, and wanting to break free from the teenage life and all the things that come with it: uncomprehending parents, annoying teachers and the need of both not feeling left out and trying to stand out from the others. Clara takes a step into her new life when she walks naked through her school, and she realizes how much she needs her father at the end of